Can you put an article written by someone else on your blog? Do you state who it's written by?

As long as you give them credit and a backlink to the original or their site, I'm sure it's fine.

It is best to ask the author's permission first.

I would like to point out that copying and pasting articles, even with permission is really frowned up and not the most productive use of you blog.

If you find an article interesting, why not write your blog yourself, calling out quotes or certain parts of the article that you found interesting and explain your own thoughts on the original article...being sure to provide a link to the original article.

Copying and pasting someone else's blog just makes you appear to be lazy and unoriginal.

Even if you give them credit and a back link it still breaks the copy write laws. You have to have permission.

There are lots of bloggers hunting down those who are copying content now- I'd agree with Bigtoe and get permission.

If you are really concerned about getting the appropriate permission for copying/pasting someone's article into your blog, then you should go to an article directory like ezinearticles.com. If you go to an article directory, then you are actually encouraged to use other people's articles on your site. Just as long as you follow the publishing guidelines (i.e. include the About the Author section, not tampering with links, etc.), then you should be fine.

dresden is right. Most authors well at least I don't care when I have found an article that I have written as long as I get the links and credit. If you need a couple articles email me I can let you use a couple.

Not to mention that the reason you are blogging anyway is to attract clients and improve your rankings. When you copy things, your ranking will be negatively impacted.

All the more reason to write it yourself. You will be way ahead of the game reading other articles that can provide you with topics and ideas to discuss.

Good Luck

Yes, state who it was written by. I wouldn't do too much of that though.

i would only do this with permission.

There are too many scrapers out there blatantly stealing content for high-profile bloggers to come after you with a DMCA. That said, I would do what Perky said and make sure you link back to the original article. I would let 1,000,000 people steal my content as long as each of them linked back to my original article (that's 1 million free links). I would also not copy someone else's blog article. Write your own article. Blogs don't do well on Google because Google likes text; they do well because bloggers are link-happy. But they won't link to your blog post if you don't bother spending time writing original content.

Original content is key, but I have seen what you are suggesting at tons of blogs. You can post someone else's content but give them credit and link back to the original article and they will love you for it. This is actually happening a lot right now.

This is incorrect. In theory this would work because it sounds like the right thing to do and the copyright owner would appreciate the reciprical link and credit.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work this way with copyright law. You can quote bits and pieces ( or linking ) by referencing the author but copy and pasting the whole article is illegal without direct consent from the copyright owner.

About a month ago, I faced a similar situation when we pasted a particular news article on our site. Proper credit was given including the name of author and copyright date. I can only assume it was "google" that brought the copyright owner to our site. She gave us a choice of cease and desist or fee.

We choose to take her material off our site.

Copyright law is serious business. The search engines make it that much easier for rightful owners to protect/monitor their work from potential infringers. Copyright theft can cost up to $150,000 per infringement.

I am also aware of a couple websites that have violated our trademarks and copyright. We sent cease and desist letters with
screenshots of the offending material. We then wait...the longer they violate the more they will have to pay down the road.

I hope this helps.

I wouldn't bet that someone "high profile" won't come after you.

Lenn Harley, a very respected and prolific blogger on ActiveRain has written a bit about copyright infringement. she has gone after people and I wouldn't put it past her to do it again. she has sent them the option of paying lots of money to settle out of court, or go to court and pay more money. Unfortunately the ActiveRain servers are down right now so I can't find her articles. Just google Lenn Harley Copyright Violations and she'll be right there on top.

It's just not worth it.

and the point of a blog is to introduce readers to YOU, not to stuff any moron can find on Google or Yahoo. Be original, or don't bother!!!!!