One of the biggest concerns for any writer is having their work stolen. It doesn't matter if you publish online or offline, there is always the chance that someone will claim your work as their own.

However, online theft seems to be a bigger problem than offline theft, mainly due to the less strictly enforced copyright laws regarding published content online. The biggest problems seem to relate to blogs, or articles posted on an article directory site that are republished elsewhere without a link to the original work.

Not only is this annoying; it is illegal and can lead to hefty fines and even jail sentences. The problem is proving your work has been stolen - yet despite often being more difficult to find online publishing theft compared to offline theft, there are still ways to protect your work.

• Copyscape. One of the best methods to protect your work is to use Copyscape. This is an excellent tool that will detect if your work has been plagiarized elsewhere. It works by using the URL of your published content and tracking down sites where that content is duplicated. You can then tell if this is a legitimate duplication or not. For even more protection, place a "Protected by Copyscape" banner on your website.

• Copyright your work. Another effective method of protecting your published content is copyrighting it. You can either do this by having a copyright message alongside your published content, or by applying for an actual copyright. The first option is just as effective since, contrary to popular belief, once something is published it is actually copyrighted. To deter would-be content thieves, use a "Copyright © YEAR AUTHOR/BUSINESS NAME" next to your work.

• Use Google Alerts. This is a great tool to keep an eye on your published content online. You can set up Google Alerts to arrive in your email inbox every day for extra protection. By inputting your content title into Google Alerts, any time the same title is published online you will be alerted. You can then look at the content and see if it has been stolen from you.

These are some of the best ways to protect your published content. If you find that you have had your content stolen, don't be afraid to challenge the thief. After all, this is your work - why should someone else have the credit?

If they refuse to remove the content - or at least credit you with the rights to it - then advise that you will be taking it further. You have various options open to you:

• Contact their web host and advise them of the situation. Web hosts don't want to be associated with illegal activities, so this is a good place to start. You can get the information you need about a website's host at WhoIs.

• Publicize the thief. I have had work stolen before, and the guilty party refused to remove the content. So I simply wrote a blog post about him and made sure the SEO I used saw the blog post at the top of Google's rankings when searching for that person and his product. He soon removed the offending piece.

• If you've applied for a copyright, get the law involved. This is always the last resort, yet the most effective. When faced with a large fine and possible jail time, content thieves soon back down.

While there is nothing worse than seeing your hard work being cruelly stolen from you, you're not helpless. Using the above methods will not only protect you but help prevent your work being stolen in the first place.