Buying Content: The Scoop on Private Label Rights

Private label rights or PLR refers to content that you purchase, to which you own the rights. This means, for one thing, that you can pass the content off as your own. It also means you can sell it, trade it, post it, modify it, and take credit for it. You can even create a fictitious persona and attribute your store-bought content to that person.

PLR content isn't even all that expensive, although it can get pricy if you try to run a whole online empire using it.

So if you can buy content, why not just buy it and be done with it? While PLR content has many good aspects to it, there are some reasons to be cautious about it.

Some websites or sales pages sell PLR content ... to many, many people. This means the little treasure chest of articles you just bought has been sold to lots of other folks who happen to be in the same business you are! Now the good news is that not everyone will use it, but the potential is there for something called "duplicate content."

The web is more tolerant of duplicate content than, say, bookstores. Imagine if you went to your local Borders and found six books on the shelves with different titles and format, but all the same words? Ostensibly by six different authors? The print world does not tolerate that, but the online world does. To a point. Duplicate content is never rewarded online, and it is best avoided.

Another way to get PLR content is to commission it. You go to a freelance writer or a website like Elance and buy a bunch of articles. These can be remarkably cheap; I've seen them as low as $1 an article. While you may be assured the content is good, original, and sold only to you, you don't know that for sure. The content may turn out to be poor; it can be plagiarised material; and the same author may sell and resell the same bargain-basement articles to lots of internet denizens.

Plagiarism is actually illegal and can get you in hot water. Low-quality content can cost you subscribers.

So what do you do? Should you avoid PLR content altogether? PLR content is an important component to any active online enterprise, but it has to be used the right way.

First, buy PLR from a high-quality source. Ask for assurances about originality of the material and find out how many people bought the content. (It doesn't matter if you're not alone, but you don't want content sold to 100,000 people, either.)

Second, rewrite PLR. I think the biggest value in PLR content is not using it straight but in mixing it in with your own business. Rewrite articles. Re-purpose content so that an ebook becomes a webinar and a series of articles can become a ebook. Put your own spin on the content. A lot of PLR stuff is dry, so infuse some personality into it.

Third, PLR stuff often works if you layer it with a specific market. Let's say you buy some PLR content on insomnia. Why not spin it to suit a more targeted audience, such as, say: insomnia and menopause or natural remedies for insomnia or the traveler's guide to insomnia relief? In other words, you buy PLR content but you never use it "straight."

Last but not least, it's always a good idea to rewrite PLR no matter what. Rewrite it?! Yes. Here is why:

• Rewriting the content will do a lot to put it in your "voice." The internet is all about relationships and people want to hear from you, not the writer you hired.
• Rewriting the content will let you emphasize the things that you want to say. Most internet marketers have a lot to say!
• Rewriting the content is absolutely required for you to spin it or re-purpose it.
• Rewriting it creates original content. If you're even vaguely concerned that all or even part of your content was lifted illegally by a writer or you're worried that too many other people bought the same PLR package ... this makes sure your stuff is unique.