My email inbox accumulates an endless stream of messages about PLR. I normally delete them automatically since I pride myself on writing my own stuff from scratch.
However, I’m now thinking about the concept from various angles. So I thought I’d share my still-developing thoughts on the topic here—I’d love your feedback.
First, let’s define PLR. It stands for Private Label Rights. The rights to use PLR content are purchased, giving the buyer the right to use the content in specified ways, which usually include almost any way at all, including free giveaways, blog posts, feature articles, audios, video copy, etc.
The buyer can claim authorship and even submit the articles to article banks. The catch is that multiple people are purchasing rights, meaning that each buyer must customize the content so it appears fresh to the article banks.
(Then there’s also the issue of duplicate content on Google, complicated by Google’s secrecy. We outsiders don’t know precisely how its algorithms work, and furthermore, they are always in flux.)
I have discovered a magnificent (but simple) video that fills in the blanks about how to use PLR. It’s by Tiffany Dow. Some of her emails on Internet marketing are interesting, and no, I am not an affiliate at this time. http://www.shop.plrminimart.com/
As a website and blog owner, at first I felt indignant about PLR, as though my business is competing for readers with competitors who are doing a lot less work than I am.
But the more I think about it, the more I see it as an opportunity. This is why I am writing this article. To tell other freelancers and consultants—you!—about another way to make money, whether you are an expert in a certain industry or function or whether you are a writer looking for new ways to sell your writing services.
Look around Dow’s site and you can see how PLR can be an ongoing profit stream. See how she has structured her packages. I’m especially intrigued by the sets of 52 articles on a single subject designed to be used in a year’s worth of weekly newsletters or blog posts. The articles are accompanied by a longer piece that can be used as the free giveaway report to lure sign-ups for the newsletter.
Unfortunately, the prices seem awfully low to me. If I were to undertake such a project, I think I’d select a more complex, professional topic and sell the packages for a higher fee. In my case, that would probably be content for consumer newsletters for publication under the bylines of insurance agents.
(I’m no attorney and I am not claiming to give you legal advice, but I think my terms for selling insurance-related copy would assure that all responsibility for any financial, tax or other advice is the responsibility of the purchasing “author,” not me.)
Basic PLR packages suggest add-on profit opportunities. For instance, you could offer to customize the set for use by a single client to avoid duplicate-content complications. You could administer the weekly newsletter for the customer. You could leave the administration to them but write the marketing copy that accompanies the article. You could write the bio box for submitting articles to article banks, blogs, etc. You could even offer to interview the client and write totally unique articles based on his / her own business strategy and practices.
***
I wrote the previous part of this article a few days ago and slept on it, generating a few more thoughts in the process.
Yes, it does seem like an efficient starting point for article writing for those who don’t want to or can’t start from scratch.
However, as I thought about it, I had a few revelations. Mainly, if you have to revise it sufficiently to make it pass through automated filters, then you can use anything you find on the Internet as source copy, whether you pay for it or not.
You can take titles from PLR packages and use them to develop your own (revised) titles and then your own fresh content (perhaps working from articles already in online article banks).
You can pull a single free article off the Internet and revise it with impunity. Or you can pull three articles on the same topic, mix up the bullets and then tweak the wording.
Maybe the service is only worth a small fee before potential users prefer the free alternatives.
Because once you believe that plagiarism is a quantitative assessment (that is, once the copy passes copyscape or whatever), the entire Internet becomes the neighbor’s fragrant bed of roses, ripe for picking and gifting to your honey.
http://copyscape.com
There may even be freelancer opportunities in rewriting PLR the client has purchased from others.
Or maybe I’m over thinking the whole issue and there’s a huge paying market for prewritten copy.
***
Then I researched and read some more. Check out these two websites that appear to offer an upscale version of PLR: http://www.ready2goarticles.com (Linda Claire Puig) and http://www.ready2gomarketingsolutions.com (Kim Clausen).
(It appears there’s no relation between the two sites despite the similar domain names.)
Clausen even offers packages of prewritten tweets (Twitter messages) consisting of 60 messages to be sent twice a day for 30 days.
***
In summary, PLR is an interesting idea that I have never before considered.
Originally posted 2-8-10
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