Don't develop a blog, that's simply designed to host AdSense ads - and avoid pre published blogs, in general.
Blogs and websites that are blatantly designed as ad hosts are classified as "MFA" ("Made For Ads") - and are never accepted as AdSense hosts. AdSense, and Blogger, want blogs with quality content - informative, interesting, and unique.
Legitimate and useful blogs start with content that is important to the blog owner.
Blogger, some time ago, explicitly prohibited sale of blogs.
Either Blogger will delete the blog as spam - or AdSense will classify it as "MFA".
If you buy a blog, "blogspot.com" or custom domain, with content already in place, it will probably contain copyrighted material. If Blogger does not delete / lock it as spam, AdSense will probably classify it as "MFA" - and the blog will never display ads.
Blogger blogs are based on personal interest. When you buy a pre published blog / domain, you're buying somebody else's discarded personal interest.
Most people who sell blogs do so after learning that what they have won't host ads or get traffic. Pre used blogs are frequently subject to disapproval, by AdSense - or DMCA / Spam classification, by Blogger.
If you do the research, you'll find out why the previous owner sold it to you.
You'll probably end up with a disabled AdSense or Blogger account - and doing the research, you'll find out why the previous owner sold it. It's like a "lemon law" car. If the price seems too good to be true, it probably is just that.
You would never, knowingly, buy pre worn underpants. Why would you buy a pre published blog? Start with an available URL, and add your own content. That's how you get content, reputation, and traffic.
#Blogger blogs are supposed to be based on personal experience or interest - using content that's informative, interesting, and unique. Purchasing a previously published blog, with content left in place, violates that principle.
A smart blog owner starts with an empty blog - using an available URL, and adds content.
Some blog owners publish blogs, with subjects completely unsuitable for AdSense ads - which would produce legal liability if endorsed by AdSense / Google.
One completely unsuitable subject, for AdSense, is healthcare and medical advice.
Healthcare is not a suitable blog subject, to host AdSense ads, for several reasons.
- Medical advice needs to be given by certified professionals.
- Blogs and websites published by medical professionals do not need ads.
- Google does not want legal exposure, from endorsing uncertified medical advice.
Medical advice needs to be given by certified professionals.
Healthcare and medical advice needs to be dispensed by certified medical professionals - based on individual and regular medical examinations, provided in person. Medical advice, on anonymous blogs and websites, should not be trusted.
Be skeptical. Things that sound too good to be true often are. You want current, unbiased information based on research.
Certified medical professionals are (indirectly) well paid, by their patients - and have no need to publish blogs and websites that cannot provide reliable results, financed by ads. And their time is better spent, caring for their patients - not publishing blogs of dubious future.
No experienced medical professional will provide anonymous advice, using a blog or website. They know that proper medical procedure requires direct, in person conversation and examination.
Blogs and websites published by medical professionals do not need ads.
Blogs and websites, published by reliable and well known medical institutions - like any company blog or website - do not need ads, to supplement income. Medical institutions, like medical professionals, are financed (directly, or indirectly) by the patients in their care.
Non certified professionals - and outright amateurs - cannot provide adequate medical advice, anonymously. Medical subjects are extremely complex, requiring constant recertification - and no uncertified amateur can ever know enough to reliably advise anybody.
Google does not want legal exposure, from endorsing uncertified medical advice.
For AdSense and Google to endorse a blog, published by someone of unknown reliability, to provide medical advice, they would be opening themselves to tremendous liability. The medical profession is open to enough legal danger - even with advice and care dispensed in person, by certified professionals, and subject to endless peer and supervisory review.
Google does not need the legal risk. AdSense explicitly identifies Healthcare-related content as a prohibited blog and website subject.
To comply with local laws and regulations related to the promotion of healthcare and medicines, Google prohibits ads on pages that contain certain healthcare-related content
Blogs that publish healthcare and medical related articles will never display AdSense ads. If you want to publish a Blogger blog, with AdSense ads, you will need to choose a different subject for your blog.
Some #Blogger blog owners publish blogs containing health and medical advice - and try to host AdSense ads on their blogs. They do not realise that AdSense has no intention of providing ads, for blogs which provide unknown and unreliable medical advice.
https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/adsense/partner-sites-eg-youtube/FQwlKSJ3c8c
Some people are victims of a offensive blog, want the offensive content removed - and find the Blogger Help: Report inappropriate content and the Google Help: Removing Content From Google forms inadequate.
How do I supply details of a blog which includes harassment or bullying content? I need to show the offense.
Some Blogger / Google forms, which are intended to feed Google Legal, simply allow us to state the URL of an offensive blog. There is not place to state exactly why a blog may be offensive, for all form selections.
There will be some cases where we may have to take action, ourselves - and start with court action.
In some cases - possibly depending upon seriousness of offense - Google Legal appears to only want us to report the URL of a problem blog.
In the past, we would advise providing details of offense, when reporting.
Previously, we would advise providing details, to identify specific offense - or where the offense is present, in the blog. This appears to be no longer relevant, in some form entries.
Be very very specific why you believe that they should be legally required to remove, or edit the content of, the blog in question.
With some offenses being reported currently, only the blog URL is requested.
Detail of offense, with some problem blogs, now appears to be a matter for Google to identify, on their own. Possibly, this encourages us to only reports problems which are blatantly obvious.
If the offense, in a problem blog, is subtle, it may not be relevant to them. In some cases, what is offensive to us may not be legally actionable for Google.
In some cases, an offended person may have to take legal action, on their own.
If you report a problem blog, using the appropriate form, and you wait patiently - and no action is taken - you may have to take action on your own.
This is where you hire a lawyer - and get a court order from a sitting judge, that supports your needs. Then, you must submit your court order, properly.
All offensive #Blogger blogs do not appear to require the same level of detail, when reported to Blogger / Google. In some cases, we can only report a blog URL - and Google Legal will take it from there.
Not all blog owners understand the necessity of having unique content, as the basis for a healthy blog.
We see questions periodically, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, about inappropriate use of content from other blogs and websites.Why was my Blogger account deleted? I never argue when given copyright notices!
orWhy don't I have any readers? I have great content - the other blogs, where I get the content, get lots of traffic.
Google describes the overall issue, about copying content from blog to blog, quite plainly, in Blogger Help: Spam, phishing, or malware on Blogger.Spam blogs cause various problems, beyond simply wasting a few seconds of your time when you happen to come across one. They can clog up search engines, making it difficult to find real content on the subjects that interest you. They may scrape content from other sites on the web, using other people's writing to make it look as though they have useful information of their own. And if an automated system is creating spam posts at an extremely high rate, it can impact the speed and quality of the service for other, legitimate users.
Spam classification is one of several penalties, which involve copied content. I've seen various content penalties, that are reported, from time to time, in the forums.
Some penalties involve copyrighted material - but non copyrighted material, improperly used, can cause problems. And unrighteous charges will inconvenience you, and cause other problems.- Content Warning
- DMCA Violations
- Spam Classification
- Search Engine Reputation
Content Warning
If you copy controversial content, that does not belong in your blog, some of your readers will object. Originally used to block "adult" content from being viewed by younger readers, the "content warning" / "objectionable content" classification is broader in scope than it appears to be. This accusation is sometimes used by readers, who may object in quantity, to any irrelevant subject in any blog.
A Content Warning interstitial will damage your search engine result listings. You'll have to request a review of the blog, to get the warning removed. The people who review content warnings may not do so with high priority.
DMCA Violations
If you improperly copy copyrighted material, and the lawful owners complain, you can be cited for DMCA Violations. You will end up with posts - and later the blog - deleted or locked.
You'll have to search the ChillingEffects database, for details, and appeal the citation. If you don't appeal a citation, and if you continue to make the same mistakes, you can be classified as a "non repentant" abuser - and your Blogger / Google account will be deleted or locked.
Spam Classification
If you unwisely copy material, or supply material to be copied, your blog can be classified as a spam host, with the offense described as "scraping / syndication". This will require a spam review. Until the review is concluded, and the verdict is satisfactory, your blog will remain offline.
If you publish multiple blogs concurrently, with the same content, you can be classified as a spammer. If you publish multiple blogs sequentially, with the same content, you can be classified as a "non repentant" spammer - and your Blogger / Google account will be deleted or locked.
If your blog consists mainly of copied material - even if properly attributed, you will need your own material also. A blog with only copied content is still subject to classification. I strongly recommend no more than 10% copied content, to 90% original content - if you want any decent reputation.
Search Engine Reputation
If you copy or share content - whether cited for content, DMCA, or spam - your blog's search engine reputation will suffer. Multiple blogs and websites, with the same content, will result in higher reputation blogs and websites getting better placement in a SERP. Your blog will end up at the bottom of any relevant SERP listing - and your traffic level will drop.
Using Dynamic Content
If you copy a script from a third party website, that references dynamic content owned by that website, you are responsible for ensuring that the script works - or deal with the consequences. If you host videos served from the website in question, on your blog, this is similar to hot linking. If the video in question is removed by the website owner, and stops playing from your website, you must contact the owner of the website.
The Bottom Line
The bottom line here is that blog content needs to be informative, interesting, relevant, properly targeted, and unique. If you push the limits, you will regret your decision, eventually.
Your blog will need a good search reputation, to get readers. Start with good content, based upon what you know, and are willing to share.
Whether you give up your blog willingly, have your blog stolen from you, or accidentally enable your blog to be stolen - once your blog is in someone else's control, Blogger cannot, legally, help you.
We see the naivete, periodically, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.I made my friend an administrator of my blog, and he changed me to an author. Can Blogger restore my ownership?
And the short answer, too frequently given, is denial.No, Blogger cannot help you.
Blogs stolen, supposedly from their rightful owner, can generally not be returned by Blogger.
There are various ways to lose control of a blog.
In any case, once control passes to another person, it's unlikely that Blogger can, unilaterally, restore ownership.
Blog thieves are very persuasive - and masquerade as theft victims.
One problem here is that too many would be blog thieves start their tales with just these claims. Long ago, Blogger Support would, obediently, "restore" ownership, when requested - and we would later see the angry forum report.
How did this other person get control of my blog?
Blogger Support would research the second "theft" report - and realise, too late, that they had previously enabled the theft.
Blog owners enable some thefts, with security mistakes and requests.
Also, if you neglect to remember your account name or password, please don't just setup a new account, then suggest that Blogger transfer control of the blog, to the new account. This suggestion, also, has been used to make Blogger an unwitting accomplice in too many thefts.
Blog owners must assume some responsibility for problems.
The bottom line here is that you have to accept full responsibility, for retaining control of your Blogger account and blogs.
Even if your friends account is hacked, then used to attack yours, don't expect assistance from Blogger / Google. And please understand that blog security review won't happen, immediately.
Some blog owners don't understand the severity of DMCA violation citations.
We see occasional naivete, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken
I got email
After reviewing your account, we noticed that you have violated the terms of service frequently: http://www.blogger.com/go/terms. And where we have sent you several warnings about these abuses and offered you information about our policy towards repeat infringers, we were forced to disable Blogger service provided to you. Thank you for your understanding.
- Blogger Team
Why can I not login to Blogger, now?
This blog owners, and too many others, do not understand about the severity of repeated DMCA / TOS violation, upon their Blogger / Google accounts.
Too many blog owners simply accept the occasional deletion of their posts, and continue publishing.I deleted the problem posts, whenever warned. Why did I get the notice about "you have violated the terms of service frequently"?
They do not understand that simply deleting a post, when cited for DMCA violation, is the same as entering a "Guilty" - or maybe "Nolo Contendere" plea, in a court of law.
Problem posts, when repeated, make the blog owner look like an intentional, non repentant spammer, mapping out the boundaries of what is accepted.
If your blog is cited for DMCA violations, it's to your benefit to appeal the citation - and hope that you're found innocent.
Of course, if you're guilty of DMCA violations, you'll have no valid recourse, other than starting over - maybe with another Blogger account / blog, maybe with a blog or website hosted elsewhere. That's your choice.
If you remain in Blogger service, you will be expected to clean up your act.
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Every day, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, we see the complaintI've been reporting this abuse to Google for a week, and I have yet to see a reply - or a result. What is up with that?
This is possibly somebody who does not know what abuse category to use - or who maybe can't find the right category.
Over a year ago, we learned the difference between Defamation and Impersonation.- Defamation (ridicule, slander, trash talk) is a civil offense, and requires that you hire a lawyer.
- Impersonation (identity theft) is a TOS offense, and can result in termination of an offending blog.
Impersonation is one of eight categories, each well defined. When you report a serious offense, that can have legal consequences - such as Impersonation, which can result in Google terminating an offending blog - your report has to be carefully scrutinised by Google Legal.
Similarly, if you report a blog for publishing private information, the nature of the reported "private" information will be verified. DMCA complaints are handled outside Google - and must be reported with absolute precision, and attention to detail.
If you report one category, because "it was the closest choice that I could find", and Google Legal finds no cause for action, your report gets ignored. If you report the same problem repeatedly, you may go onto a list that you don't want to be on.
The bottom line here - if you have a problem, make sure that your problem fits the chosen category, accurately. Don't just guess, here - you won't get anything out of the experience, except frustration.
Long ago, Blogger blogs had a very simple membership permissions policy.
Each blog had an owner, and members. The owner was the administrator of the blog, and ownership could not be transferred.
This simple policy was a problem, because some blog owners would eventually lose interest in a blog, and want to cede ownership to someone else. In other cases, people were known to die suddenly, leaving blogs with no live owners. In both cases, Blogger Support would become involved, and would manually transfer ownership.
Later, Blogger developed the Permissions wizard, and added a class of member called "Administrator". The original publisher of a blog becomes the first administrator, who may, at his / her discretion, designate additional administrators.
The ability to designate an "Administrator" solved the problem of nontransferable ownership, but introduced a second problem.
Any administrator could, at her / his discretion again, remove him / herself (or any other administrator) from the administrators list.
Initially, this improvement created two problems.
- Some bloggers managed to remove all administrators from the list, creating blogs with no administrators.
- Some bloggers, newly made administrator, would inappropriately remove other bloggers (including the original administrator aka "owner") from administrative status.
Blogger fixed the first problem, by adding a safeguard - making the Permissions wizard check for the presence of other administrators in the membership list, before removing administrator permission from any one member. However, there remain two problems, now.
- The safeguard works only if you can guarantee that all administrators can perform as administrators.
- This policy works only if you can guarantee that all administrators will perform honourably.
If blog membership is to be fully transferrable, all administrators to a blog have to have equal status. If you have an "owner" class of administrator, and a suddenly dead owner, you have a blog with no active owner. Or, you have blogs with non transferrable ownership status.
Right now, anybody who is a blog administrator is a blog owner. If you make someone an administrator, and that person removes you (and any other administrators) from administrator status, that person becomes the blog owner.
If you have an administrator who dies, you do not prune the administrator list, and you are able to remove yourself from administrator status, you may end up with a blog with no live owner.
The administrator(s) / owner - whoever she / he may be - has the right to decide over disposition of comments and posts - and of who to make a member, and to make an administrator. Blogger cannot, legally, "restore" anybody's previous rights.
If the "owner" deleted the blog, it's going to remain deleted. Contributors, and former "owners", have no say in the matter. If deleted content must be recovered, it may be possible to do this on a page by page (post by post) basis - possibly from blog cache or a blog posts newsfeed.
Possession is the law, for Blogger blogs. If you gave up control (voluntarily or even involuntarily), it's not your blog.
The MPAA / RIAA stranglehold, in the USA, on the electronic consumer, may have reached a peak with their ability to coerce the US Congress to pass the DMCA. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, thought by some to be the most noxious bit of legislation since the British Tea Act of 1773, may have a valid use, though.
It's possible that the DMCA Violation Form, which Blogger / Google provides, may be useful in reporting content that's been pirated, personally, from you. If you believe that your pictures, and / or articles, are being unjustly copied within Blogger / Google hosting space, you may get some relief from reporting this as a DMCA Violation.
Note, however, that a DMCA Violation report is a serious complaint, and can have repercussions both upon the source and target of the complaint.Please note that you will be liable for damages (including costs and attorneys' fees) if you materially misrepresent that a product or activity is infringing your copyrights. Indeed, in a recent case (please see http://www.onlinepolicy.org/action/legpolicy/opg_v_diebold/ for more information), a company that sent an infringement notification seeking removal of online materials that were protected by the fair use doctrine was ordered to pay such costs and attorneys fees. The company agreed to pay over $100,000. Accordingly, if you are not sure whether material available online infringes your copyright, we suggest that you first contact an attorney.
Don't use the DMCA Violation Complaint as a casual harassment technique - only use it where you are extremely certain that your legal rights are being violated. If the Fair Use Doctrine might transcend your personal rights, or if you are unsure here what your rights provide to you, protect yourself and contact a lawyer.
If you receive a DMCA Notice, and you believe yourself to be innocent of any wrongdoing, file a Counter Claim.The administrator of an affected site or the provider of affected content may make a counter notification pursuant to sections 512(g)(2) and (3) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. When we receive a counter notification, we may reinstate the material in question.
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As blogs are being increasingly used by ordinary people, to make their mark in the world, they are also being used by people to annoy or assault others, mock others, and other attacks of varying severity.
In Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?, we regularly get questions likeHow do I get a stalker's defamatory blog removed?
orHow long does it take to resolve an impersonated blog complaint?
orSomeone has created a fake blog using my name - how do I get Blogger to remove this, or do I just sue?
With these questions posed, the first thing that we need to do is identify the difference between Defamation and Impersonation.
Understand the difference between defamation and impersonation.
- Defamation (libel, ridicule, slander, trash talk) is a civil offense. The offended party will need to get a lawyer, initiate a lawsuit, and / or get a court order requiring specific action by Blogger / Google.
US domain sites such as Google.com, Blogger, Page Creator, etc. are sites regulated only by U.S. law. Given this fact, and pursuant to Section 230(c) of the Communications Decency Act, we do not remove allegedly defamatory material from U.S. domains. The only exception to this rule is if the material has been found to be defamatory by a court, as evidenced by a court order.
- Impersonation (identity theft, masquerading), on the other hand, is a TOS Violation.
Impersonating others: Please don't mislead or confuse readers by pretending to be someone else or pretending to represent an organization when you don't. We're not saying you can't publish parody or satire - just avoid content that is likely to mislead readers about your true identity.
You report TOS violations using the Blogger "Report Abuse" wizard. Problems which do not constitute predefined TOS violations are personal issues, which you have to resolve on your own, and using your own funds.
You use Blogger Help: Report a Terms of Service Violation, where you have selections for both Defamation, and Impersonation, among others. Selecting Defamation, you'll get the above advice.Given this fact, and pursuant to Section 230(c) of the Communications Decency Act, we do not remove allegedly defamatory material from U.S. domains.
What will happen, as the CC TLD aliases are deployed for more countries, remains to be seen.
In either case, you should probably start by hiring a lawyer. Blogger and Google, being based in the USA, will decide the case, impartially.
Understand rights, responsibilities - and limitations.
Be aware of personal rights and responsibilities, and the limitations, before you start.
- Yours.
- The party with whom you are disagreeing.
- Blogger / Google / Any other web site host.
Be aware of Blogger / Google legal guidelines.
You can make a complaint, but be aware of Blogger / Google's concerns. Just as they don't want you unjustly persecuted, they don't want a third party to be so, either.
You may check Blogger Help: Report inappropriate content - and Blogger Help: Harassment and bullying content on Blogger, for some suggestions, however.
With the current state of Custom Domain Publishing, and the bX codes that have become so common as of late, we're seeing some unhappy bloggers.People are getting ripped off it seems like.
BLOGGER WHAT IS GOING ON!
andI bought my domain from GoDaddy and it doesn't work! I want my money back!!
But, as has been mentioned before, once you buy the domain registration, it's yours, and you don't get your money back.
If you buy the domain using the "Buy A Domain" wizard, the domain is registered to you, and you get email from Google Apps, it's your domain. If the Blogger script doesn't succeed in connecting the domain URL to your Blogger blog (BlogSpot URL), the domain is still yours. Ditto if you buy the domain from GoDaddy and the DNS isn't setup for you.
You take your Google Apps email, sign into eNom or GoDaddy, and correct the DNS. Once the DNS is setup, you can publish any web site that pleases you to your domain. Maybe you can't publish a Blogger blog to your domain, until Blogger fixes their problems, but you didn't pay anything for that.
You paid $10 USD (probably) for domain registration and DNS hosting. There's no fraudulent acceptance of funds for a non working service. You got what you paid for.
Here, I paid $10 USD to GoDaddy. You may pay GoDaddy, or maybe eNom, or possibly a third party ISP, independently. Nobody pays anything to Google.
And when I purchased my latest domain, I "signed" a Go Daddy Domain Name Registration and Services Agreement.
But, do let Blogger know about the bX code that affected you, or any other problem. Just don't expect overnight resolution.
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When you buy a new automobile in the USA, there's a consumer protection clause in most finance plans.
This protection is called "right of recession". When invoked properly, it gives you, the consumer, the choice of terminating the purchase up to 3 days following your signing on the bottom line.
Many retail stores give you the choice of returning some (not all) items purchased in their store, when accompanied by the right contents and documentation, for full or partial refund of purchase price.
When you purchase a Custom Domain, whether using a Google Partner purchase or a separate contract, that may not be the case.
Generally, once you hit the "Purchase This Domain" button, you're stuck with the purchase.
When you purchase a domain, you generally pay just over $10 USD for a one year term. If you decide later that you needed a different name, just buy a second name.
When the one year runs out on the first name, just let it go. Buy 2 less coffees at Starsmucks this year, and move on.
