Can Using Quotes Make Your Blog Better?

When you research an article to write for your blog, you inevitably read ideas from other people and use them in your own way in the article.  But often using quotes is avoided for fear of the dreaded duplicate content or simply for stealing someone else’s words.  However, there is a case that using quotes can be beneficial and can make your blog better – but there is a bit of methodology to it.

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Why using quotes can be beneficial

Let’s start with why using quotes can be beneficial for your blog.  We are trained as junior bloggers that we need to create our own voice, give a topic our own slant because there is truly nothing new out there, just our new interpretation of what has been done before.  And that is very true but isn’t mutually exclusive with using quotes.

For example, in this article did some research from a similar topic by ProBlogger.  They made a case that by using quotations, you could either back up your arguments with a quote from an authority or use that authority as the opposing viewpoint to your own, either way adding legitimacy to your words.

In fact, if you look at newspapers and magazines, they use quotes all the time and this adds to the sense of quality.  It doesn’t mean they have personally spoken to everyone who they quote in the article yet it gives the sense of this.  You may also be noticed by the person who are quoting and they may share the piece with their own followers – magical extra exposure for you!

How to use quotes

Then there is the ‘how’ of using quotes – how can you use someone else’s words without stealing them or infringing their rights as the creator of that work.  Rules are a little different in different countries but there is generally a sense of ‘fair use’ regarding the use of excerpts – so don’t include an entire post, a whole poem, all of a song’s lyrics or something like that.

Instead, take a look at what you want to say and how the quote fits in.  Then when you add that quote, using a distinctive style to show it isn’t your own words.  Quotation marks are the most popular option or using a blockquote style.  You can even use a styling element to make it look a little different from the rest of the text.

This is an example of a quote using the block in the Block Editor of WordPress that is a simple way to showcase a quote

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Crediting the quote

The other important thing is ensure you give a name and a source if you can for the quote – a hyperlink is a great way to do this as it also shows as a positive link from your website.  You can see above the mention of ‘ProBlogger’ is a different colour and this means it is hyperlink to the article that helped me write this one.  You could even add a link to their Twitter or other social media profile to add extra points and make it very clear whose words you are quoting.

You can also alter the quote a little to avoid the dreaded duplicate content but you should always use a clear system to indicate that you have missed bits out of the original.  Using either ellipsis (…) or square brackets […] are recognised ways to show that there is more than what you have included.

Many companies have a policy regarding what they are happy for you to quote.  For example, Hubspot say:

“One of the notable parts of our content usage guidelines is that you can quote our content on your website but only up to 75 words”

If in doubt about using quotes from someone’s articles, then you can always email or message them beforehand to make sure it is okay.  And it lets them know you are quoting them so they might just share the article afterwards.

Social media etiquette

There are lots of ways to use quotes on social media and a few tips on how to use them correctly.

Quotes on Twitter

As mentioned, throwing in someone’s Twitter handle or link to their profile is a great way to credit them but there are other ways to give them a little wave and hope they might notice your attention.  You could include the @username on Twitter in the tweet about your blog post.  You can even use some of the original quote and use the abbreviation RT for retweet or MT for modified tweet to show it is a quote.

Quotes on Facebook

You can do something similar on Facebook where typing in the name of a company or person will bring up their FB profile and you can simply tap this to include it in your update – it will go blue and be like a hyperlink.  Other sites have similar systems – simply think about how you tag your friends in an update and use a similar system to let someone know they have been quoted.

Creating quote graphics

You can even turn the quote into a social media graphic or a graphic for your blog that includes the name of the author as well as your own website.  Michael Hyatt has lots of stunning examples of this including classic quotes on a wide range of topics.  Something similar to this could be very easy to make with Canva or other graphics software.

Quotes often do well on Pinterest in terms of saves – but not so much with link clicks. So you can definitely use quotes as part of your Pinterest strategy to help build a following and get those saves. But don’t expect many of these quote graphics to actually send people to your website. Think brand recognition rather than traffic.

Exceptions to the rule

There are a couple of situations where you don’t need to worry about seeking permission or stepping on anyone’s toes, although you should still credit the original author.  The main one is when the work is in the public domain.  This is a bit vague but generally anything that is over 100 years old will be considered open to anyone to use – Greek classics, Shakespeare, that kind of thing.

Another exception is if the work is licensed under Creative Commons.  Some pictures on Wikipedia are CC which means you may be able to use them without crediting the creator or author, although it is often nice to do so.  Check the individual image for details of whether you need to credit the creator or not. Others may state you can use but you need to credit the author and provides the text to use – make sure you do this where stated.

You also don’t need to use quotes when you are stating a fact.  For example, England is a country in the UK or the USA is made up of several states.

If you want to know more about the legal side of the subject, check out this post for a more technical viewpoint – https://janefriedman.com/permissions/

Conclusion

Using quotes in your blog can enhance it, add credibility to what you are writing about and also makes for a nice change of pace.  It can even be transformed into eye catching social media snippets, especially if your blog topic isn’t naturally the most visual.