This guest post is by Pawel Reszka of Affhelper.com.
For the time-strapped blogger who’s constantly struggling to write fresh, unique content, PLR can seem like a godsend. Pre-written copy that you can claim as your own? Sign me up—right?!
Of course, as most of us know, it isn’t that simple. Although PLR can be a useful tool in developing content for your blog, it isn’t a “copy and paste” solution (at least, it isn’t if you don’t want the Big G to come down hard on you and your search rankings!). To understand why, let’s take a closer look at what PLR content is and how you can use it effectively to develop content for your blog.
First of all, if you aren’t familiar with the acronym, PLR stands for Private Label Rights. Essentially, when you purchase PLR content, you aren’t just getting the text—you’re also getting the rights to claim the content as your own and use it in whatever way you like. For example, PLR content can be used in your blog posts, converted into audio or video formats, or even incorporated into your blog’s email autoresponder series.
Now, savvy bloggers have probably already picked up on the biggest problem with PLR content—that if you can buy the content for use on your website, so can every other site owner on the Internet. And what’s the point of buying PLR content if there’s a good chance it’s already been published on another site?
In fact, PLR can be a great resource and a huge timesaver, but only if you use it correctly. And the two keys to doing so are selecting good PLR content in the first place and modifying it to suit your needs. Let’s look at each of these concepts in more depth.
Finding good content
First, if you want to use PLR effectively, you simply can’t use the same old PLR article packs that have been passed around the Internet since the dawn of the digital age. You know what I’m talking about—those packs of “10,000+ PLR articles” that are sold for a dollar on PLR clearinghouse sites or included as bonuses with the sale of Internet marketing products.
The truth is, there’s a reason these packs are sold for a few dollars or less, and it’s because they really aren’t worth much more than that. These articles have circulated for so long and been published on so many sites that it’s nearly impossible to transform them enough to be effective blog content.
Instead, look for PLR content that meets the following criteria:
- recently developed
- written by a reputable author
- published in limited circulation.
Out-of-date PLR content is the worst—imagine buying a pack of PLR articles for your “make money online” blog only to find out that the articles were written in 2001 and still contain references to the Overture search engine! Rewriting out-of-date PLR content isn’t impossible, but it’s a heck of a lot easier to check that the content you’re purchasing was written in the last few years in the first place.
You’ll also find that the quality of the PLR content available for sale today varies widely based on the author. Much of the PLR content in the “10,000+ article packs” mentioned earlier is written by outsourced workers whose native language isn’t English. Transforming this sometimes barely intelligible content into coherent text that flows nicely is often more work than simply writing original content yourself!
But how do you know which authors write good quality PLR content? First, look for recognizable names in the PLR industry. Nicole Dean, Tiffany Dow, and Jimmy D. Brown are three PLR authors whose reputations for quality content precede them, although there are plenty of other great writers in this industry. You can also purchase PLR content through forums like the Warrior Forum’s “Warrior Special Offer” section where customer reviews will tell you whether or not the PLR content for sale is good quality. As an example, take a look at Edmund Loh’s PLR package.
Finally, it’s also to your advantage to seek out PLR content that’s available in limited circulation. By this, I mean looking for content where only a set number of licenses are available—for example, maybe only 25 or 50 copies will be sold before the product is pulled from the market. The fewer people that have access to the same PLR you’re using, the easier it will be to make the content seem unique on your blog.
If you follow these guidelines, you shouldn’t have any trouble finding good PLR content—but then, how do you use the content you’ve purchased effectively on your blog?
Making good PLR content great
Obviously, the last thing you want to do is to copy and paste the content you’ve bought to your blog as is. Even if you don’t believe in the duplicate content penalty, remember that your goal as a blogger is to provide unique, interesting content to your readers. How will your perceived authority suffer in the eyes of your readers if they happen to stumble across the same article being published—word-for-word—on another blog, under another blogger’s name?
At the very least, you’ll want to rewrite your PLR content to add your own voice and to make the content appear unique in the eyes of the search engines. There are plenty of experts out there who will give you their opinions on how much you need to rewrite your PLR content, but at the very least, I recommend aiming for at least 30-50% uniqueness.
Alternatively, instead of rewriting each individual PLR article you purchase, you can also use them as a jumping off point to create your own content. Typically, good PLR authors write content based around profitable niche keywords and information that people in the niche are actively seeking. You can use their insights and PLR content as research sources, and then write your own blog posts based on the information they provide.
But don’t just think of PLR as a source for your blog posts. PLR articles strung together can form the basis of a free giveaway report or email autoresponder course that you use to entice readers to sign up to your email list. Although you’ll still want to rewrite these articles, using PLR content to create these bonuses is a lot cheaper than outsourcing the products to be written from scratch.
Using PLR content to create videos and podcasts—whether they’re posted on your blog or used in your promotional strategies—is another great idea. Because the articles won’t be indexed as text using these formats, you can be less concerned about duplicate content and invest less time in rewriting your PLR.
Really, when it comes to using PLR content on your blog, the sky is the limit—anywhere you need fresh content, you can use PLR sources to save time and money.
Do you use PLR content on your blog? Have you used it in a format other than the ones described in this article? Share your experiences and recommendations in the comments.
Pawel Reszka runs Affhelper.com, a blog dedicated to providing tips and techniques on how to make money online. If you are looking for affiliate marketing tips makes sure to check out his website.
