Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Private Label Rights Explained

Most private label rights articles and other content comes with a license that specifically spells out the appropriate uses. A typical license looks something like this:

[YES] You may edit, reformat, and rewrite any and all content
[YES] You may claim authorship
[YES] You may sell it
[YES] You may give it away
[YES] You may include it as part of a membership site, either paid or free
[YES] You may use it as blog, website, or newsletter content
[YES] You may offer it as a bonus with a paid product
[NO] You may NOT sell private label rights
[NO] You may NOT sell Master Resale Rights

This license (courtesy of All Quality PLR) allows the user to put her name on the product as author. Some PLR licenses do not, so unless it specifically says you can, you should use words like "presented by" or "edited by" rather than "written by."

This license also allows you to sell or give away the completed product. That means if you're buying an eBook, you can put up a sales page and sell it for a fee, or you can use it as an incentive for an opt-in list. Again, some eBook sellers don't allow you to give away their products, as it can lessen the value for those who choose to sell it. Also, you are not selling the right to edit the material, you're selling it for personal use only.

You may also include the product in your membership site, in your newsletter, as content on your blog, or you can offer it as a bonus with another product. This is particularly helpful for affiliate marketers, who can then offer an added incentive for people to buy through their link.

What you cannot do with this content is sell PLR rights, meaning those you sell the product to cannot edit it and offer it for sale to others. Nor can you sell MRR rights, which would allow your customers to offer the product for sale again in an unaltered state.

Now that you understand what you can and cannot do with PLR, learn how to use PLR in your online marketing business by downloading the free guide, Profiting with PLR.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Private Label Rights Articles: Reader Questions

Q: Can I submit PLR articles to EzineArticles.com?
A: No, Ezine (and many other high-quality directories) specifically forbids the use of private label rights articles. But that doesn't mean you can't use them for article marketing. There are a variety of other places you can - and should - be submitting your articles to, including free Web properties like Weebly.com and Yola.com. And the best part about using these sites to host your articles is that you have complete control over the content, the links, and the ads that appear on you page.

Q: Should I spin my PLR before using it?
A: I have never seen a spun article that was human readable. To me, spinning is a waste of time. I suggest spending five or ten minutes doing a manual rewrite, rather than spending the time to first write the spin syntax, then try to correct the articles you spin just so they make sense.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Understanding Private Label Rights Products and Their Uses

If you run a blog or a niche website, you've probably run up against the term "private label rights" a time or two. You may even have purchased some private label rights articles or blog posts to use, then left them languishing on your hard drive when you couldn't figure out exactly what to do with them – and what rights, if any, you had. You're not alone. Many online business owners and bloggers are confused about private label rights products.

Simply put, private label licensing allows you, the buyer, to claim authorship of the item. Along with that you get the right to change the content to serve your needs. Unlike free reprint articles, you can rewrite, reformat, and completely change PLR. And unlike ghostwritten content, PLR won't cost you an arm and a leg.

Each PLR package you buy comes with its own license, so be sure to read it to find out exactly what's considered acceptable use by the vendor. Typically, though, a PLR license allows you to put your name on the content as the author, rewrite it, change the format, give it away for free, sell it, include it in a membership site, use it in your autoresponder, post it to niche forums, use it on your blog, or just about anything else you can do with content. There are two things you generally cannot do with PLR, and those are sell it as PLR, or to sell it with MRR (master resell rights), although there are PLR licenses that allow both of these activities as well.

Using private label rights articles can make the process of content creation much quicker. It also provides you with fresh ideas when you're convinced there is nothing more to say about a subject. In addition, it can help you put together a valuable report or eBook to sell, even if you think you can't possibly write a whole book. Using PLR as a "jumping-off point" makes a daunting task much more do-able.

Some bloggers and Internet marketers consider private label rights products to be of little use, but those who understand how PLR works and how to use it effectively have found quality private label products to be of great value in their content marketing activities.

What about you? Have you ever used PLR on your blog or website? Why or why not?

Monday, November 29, 2010

Best Practices for Using Private Label Rights Articles

Grocery stores do it. Vitamin supplement sellers do it. Even appliance manufacturers do it. And now online business owners are taking advantage of this low-cost product creation method as well. I'm talking about using private label merchandise.

If you've ever bought store-brand canned goods, blue jeans, or a refrigerator, you probably are aware of how private label rights works. Basically, the store buys a product - let's use ice cream as an example - and pays the manufacturer to place the store's label on the item. They are buying the right to sell another manufacturer's item as their own. It's a proven way of lowering manufacturing costs and increasing profits, and as an Internet marketer, you're missing out if you're not taking advantage of private label rights content.

How PLR Works

Just like in our ice cream example, when you buy PLR you buy the right to call it your own. You don't have to worry about giving attribution to the author, or providing a link back to his or her site. You don't have to - and probably shouldn't - even acknowledge that the article began life as PLR. In other words, you can get lots of content for your website or blog at a low price, and with very little work.

Read the License

Before buying - or using - private label rights content, be sure to read the license. Most sellers place very few restrictions on how their products are used, though there are a few standard rules you need to consider. Typically, you can do anything you like with PLR, including rewriting it, adding your name as the author, changing the format, combining it with other articles to make a longer work, or breaking a long piece into smaller parts.

What you generally cannot do with PLR is resell it as PLR, although there are some sellers who allow this as well. Again, make sure you read the license, and when in doubt, ask the seller about any specific usages you're not sure of.

Change the Content

Once you've purchased your private label rights articles, it's important that you change them to suit your writing style and content needs. You may have purchased the highest-quality PLR available, but it still is not written with your unique audience in mind.

Start by rewriting the title. The title's job is to get site visitors to read the article. It must provide a compelling synopsis of the article itself, with a clear reason to keep reading. It's also a good idea to include the primary keyword in the title, so the search engines can find you.

If you have time, a line-by-line rewrite can turn PLR into a unique article with no worries you'll find your content on someone else's site. However, busy marketers often don't have time for a complete overhaul. In that case, rewriting the first and last paragraphs will make the article fit better with your style of writing.

Abide by the Terms of Service of other Sites

Obviously, if you're using PLR on your own site or in your newsletter, terms of service don't come into play. However, if you're going to use PLR on other sites such as article directories, Squidoo, HubPages, or even a self-publishing platform like Create Space, you need to be aware of any restrictions they place on PLR content.

Some article directories, most notably EzineArticles.com, expressly forbid the use of private label rights articles, and will terminate your account if they find you in violation of this rule. Their reasoning is that so many PLR buyers don't change the content at all, that they run the risk of having many versions of the exact same article on their site. This is a waste of their resources, and does not offer value to their readers, so you can understand why they forbid the use of PLR content.

Using private label rights articles can make content creation easier and less costly, in terms of both time and money spent. To make working with PLR even easier, be sure to start with quality content purchased from reputable vendors. With just a few packaging changes, you can turn PLR content into unique, useful articles your readers will enjoy.

Discover how to use PLR creatively in your online business at All Quality PLR, your source for quality private label rights articles.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Five Private Label Rights Myths You Should Banish from Your Beliefs

The Internet is full of myths and urban legends, and those surrounding the topic of private label rights are particularly pervasive. So many people are afraid to even try PLR because they've run up against these myths, and they're really missing out on the benefits of using private label rights content. Even seasoned marketers fall victim to these myths, so you may have heard - and believed - some of them yourself.

Myth number one: All PLR is Junk.

That's like saying all cars are junk or all computers are junk or all anything is junk. The truth is, some private label rights articles are good, and some are, well, not so good. As with any purchase, do your research. Buy from reputable sellers; ask the advice of friends and colleagues; get sample articles before you buy; and check out the refund policy before making a purchase.

Myth number two: All PLR content is overused. You don't have a chance of being unique.

Some PLR has been around a while, that's true. You can usually recognize it because it's either free or very low cost. It's a safe assumption that if you're buying a package of 100,000 articles they've been around the block a time or two.

However, you can find good-quality, limited-release PLR content. These are packages that are sold only to a small number of buyers before being retired. That reduces the likelihood of finding your content on hundreds of other websites and makes it even easier for you to turn your purchase into something unique.

Myth number three: You can do anything you want with PLR.

While buying private label rights does give you more options than using free reprint content, you don't generally get unlimited rights. For example, some sellers allow you to claim authorship and some do not. Some sellers allow you to use the products as an incentive for opt-in and some require you charge for them. Some sellers allow you to resell private label rights, but most do not.

Every vendor has a different licensing structure, so be sure to read the license that came with your package. When in doubt about a specific usage, ask.

Myth number four: PLR will get your site banned for duplicate content.

Duplicate content is a myth all its own. Google has repeatedly explained the theory and mechanisms behind their duplicate content policies, and yet people still insist that if your content appears on other sites you will get dropped from the SERPs. This is simply not true. What duplicate content policies strive to do is prevent the same site from being indexed multiple times for the same content. In other words, don't post the same article twice to your own site. Posting it somewhere else - like in an article directory - is perfectly acceptable.

How does this relate to using private label rights content? Even if you publish PLR content as is, and even if everyone who purchased that article does the same, it really doesn't matter. Think of it the same way you think of syndicated content on article directories. However, even though duplicate content doesn't come into play, it's always best to rewrite the PLR you purchase so it's unique to you and your site.

Myth number five: PLR and MRR are the same.

PLR stands for private label rights, which grants you the rights to change the content (within the boundaries set forth in the license) and to claim ownership of the finished product. MRR is master resale rights, and simply means you have the right to sell the product. You do not have the right to change it in any way. You're just a reseller, not a product owner.

Here's the truth about using private label rights articles. PLR can save you time by kick-starting product creation. Writing an eBook, for example, is much easier if you have the framework on which to build it. Keeping your blog up to date is less time consuming when all it takes is a quick rewrite of a PLR post.

Private label rights content also saves you money. Hiring a ghostwriter for a special report could cost you hundreds of dollars. Buying a PLR report will cost you about one dollar per page. Good ghostbloggers charge up to $50 for a single post, but you could buy 75 PLR posts for that same amount. It's true you'll spend some time rewriting (or at least you should) but overall, the cost savings can be huge.

Don't believe all the myths you hear about private label rights articles and other content. There is good quality PLR available, and once you start using it, you might just wonder why you waited so long. Discover how to use PLR in your online business at All Quality PLR, your source for quality private label rights articles.