I've yet to find a way for someone to separate professional organizing and writing. These days, you really have to promote yourself or not organize. People have to write a blog, write tips on their website, write handouts, write newspaper articles, write facebook updates and twitter feeds.

Yes,you can hire a PR firm to represent you but few small PO companies can afford such.

So, as a PO, you need to have an understanding of what material you can find on the internet and what info you can share. (Disclaimer here...I am not an attorney nor do a play one on TV. When you have legal questions, do consult an attorney.)

I'd love to hear from other POs- and those in the know about copyrights and plagiarism- about dos and don'ts.

Here is my understanding. Please let me know if you agree or diagree.

You can NOT copy an entire article found on someone's blog or website- even if you think it is the best advice in the world. You can't copy it even if you use their name and website to say they wrote it because it does not belong to you to use.

You have to ask them if you can copy it on to your blog or website.

But, you can link to it. You can say "Susan xxxx has such great ideas for saving time. Check them out at her blog" and put the link.

Or, you can copy up to two lines of content and say put those lines and then say "read more of Susan xxxx's great blog at ....and then put the link.

Do you have some other info related to this that you can share? Not everyone who becomes a PO has experience in knowing what they can and can not use so this can be helpful. Thanks.

When in doubt, ask. People love to be linked back to. After all, it drives traffic to their site. Offer to do a link trade where you post something for them and vice versa. Its a great way to get your message out there to an audience you may not otherwise reach.