How NOT to Create an Information Product

[Dan C. Rinnert]

One relatively quick and easy way to create an information product is to use PLR articles and put them together as an eBook. This is a bit of advice that is frequently given here.

Nothing wrong with it, except when people take it too literally, or skip the part where they are advised to rewrite the PLR materials.

Here is the basic outline for an eBook I am looking at right now. I am not going to identify the eBook because that is not the point here. Besides that, this particular eBook is, sadly, not alone in following this method.

• Introduction - okay, we're fine here.
• Chapter One - okay, fine here too
• Chapter Two - chapter two has essentially the same content as chapter one
• Chapter Three - okay, this one is different
• Chapter Four - this one is different too
• Chapter Five - basically, the same content as chapters one and two
• Chapter Six - this one is different
• Chapter Seven - slightly different, but still covering some of the stuff presented in chapters one, two and five
• Chapter Eight - you've already learned this chapter's content in chapters one, two, five and seven
• Closing - okay, fine here too

So, basically, an eight chapter eBook is really only half that. Beyond that, it looks really, really bad. What do you think the odds are that anyone will purchase a second product from this product's creator?

It looks like the product's creator took eight articles and threw them together in a seemingly random order, wrote an introduction and close, added some affiliate links and called it a day.

There was no effort to combine the materials into a cohesive whole. You also have to wonder whether the creator even read the PLR materials he put into the product. This becomes especially apparent when you go from chapter one and chapter two and you experience this incredible feeling of deja vu. Then you reach chapter five, and that feeling of deja vu comes right back.

I wish that this was just one bad example, but I've seen so many lately.

First, read the PLR articles you intend to use. Don't just throw a bunch together that seem to fit together because of their titles.

Next, edit the materials as needed. Avoid repetition. There is a difference between emphasis and lazy repetition. Edit the materials so they form a cohesive whole.

Make sure that the finished product actually solves the problem it was created to help your customer solve. If it does not, try again! If you want to build an Internet marketing business, you have to create quality products. Otherwise, people will not buy from you a second time.

Also, when using PLR materials to put together an eBook, absolutely do not use the excuse that you were rushed to get the information out there into people's hands. If the content already exists as PLR, that info is already out there. The point of PLR is to save you time, not allow you to sloppily throw something together! So, take at least some of the time you saved by using PLR materials instead of creating a product from scratch, and use it to edit the product and make sure that it actually makes sense and provides value to the buyer.

Else, you will have high refund rates and low customer retention.

[Jason Johns]

I thoroughly agree with you.

I've seen far too many info products where the information is the same info rehashed throughout or worse there is no conscious effort to make it flow.

I create a lot of information products and there is always a logical flow and each chapter is always new information. This keeps refund rates down to an absolutely minimum and customer satisfaction high.

I'm really glad you pointed this out and have given us all some great advice!

All the best

Jason

[Bev Clement]

The biggest problem I have found is when people use PLR articles to put into a book, is when the articles are written in different voices, and they don't link the articles together.

[Mark McClure]

Dan,

Excellent news!

The more crap floating about in cyberspace, the easier it is for well written material to shine :-) (In theory - this assumes half decent marketing to get the word out.)

So, if I've read you correctly, a few more hours of proof reading and editing and a much improved product would emerge?
Every time an editing job appears on Elance there's a posse of bidders driving the price down. And some of those folks are real talented too. (not me, not my line of work haha.)

[wbakhos]

Why is it that I mentally go through all my products wondering.. it cant be? no? no? hehe.

I've never used PLR to create a product but I can't help that my mind gets me thinking.. could it be?

And yes I've read this stuff too. The worst is when they go through 10 strategies and the only change in the strategy is the final twist? Yet they feel compelled to go over all the steps again!

[marciayudkin]

Dan and others,

Do you really think that with so much thinking and editing needed, it makes sense to start with PLR material in the first place?

I am wondering whether it's just quicker and faster to do some old-fashioned research, learn a topic and put together something in your own words. Or stick to something you truly know something about. (Everyone is an expert on something if they think hard enough.)

Can PLR really help someone create something that can generate repeat business?

When I'm on article sites or look at free/lowcost ebooks, I swear that I can tell in less than a minute the difference between something generated from PLR or an article spinner and something written by an expert. Why would anyone want to buy the former if they could find the latter?

Marcia Yudkin

[wbakhos]

Even though I havnt used them I kinda understand why you would.

It provides some sort of report structure to follow. Say you find a decent PLR you can structure yours accordingly as I believe this is the most difficult part. To me the content is easy.. its the structure which takes the most time and effort. If there is something with a good layout it would save time to just work with that flow and try to improve rather than recreate.

As for using the actual content, I feel a little creepy about doing that. I know I can write quite well with English being my first language so I don't have an excuse. But this may change from person to person. Just my thoughts.

Originally Posted by marciayudkin

Dan and others,

Do you really think that with so much thinking and editing needed, it makes sense to start with PLR material in the first place?

I am wondering whether it's just quicker and faster to do some old-fashioned research, learn a topic and put together something in your own words. Or stick to something you truly know something about. (Everyone is an expert on something if they think hard enough.)

Can PLR really help someone create something that can generate repeat business?

When I'm on article sites or look at free/lowcost ebooks, I swear that I can tell in less than a minute the difference between something generated from PLR or an article spinner and something written by an expert. Why would anyone want to buy the former if they could find the latter?

Marcia Yudkin

[la dominatrix]

I write ebooks for a living and I am delighted when someone else does a rehash of PLR articles, especially those that do not even fit the niche. Every poor ebook out there makes my work more valuable and every other copywriter that takes the time and effort to research their product and prised themselves on a job well done.

Some of my ebooks I have been three months reading researching and writing and quality shows. So all of you that want to rehash crap PLR please continue, it makes my job so much easier.

La dominatrix

[Dan C. Rinnert]

Originally Posted by Mark McClure

So, if I've read you correctly, a few more hours of proof reading and editing and a much improved product would emerge?

One would certainly hope so.

Originally Posted by marciayudkin

Do you really think that with so much thinking and editing needed, it makes sense to start with PLR material in the first place?

It depends.

For one thing, you have to be aware of the potential legal problems of using PLR. If you publish copyrighted material, you can be held responsible for copyright infringement. As a publisher, it is your responsibility to make sure you don't publish copyrighted content without permission.

About three months ago, a Warrior found one of his articles being published by others across the web, each claiming it as their own. (Thread here.) As it turned out, his article had been sold/distributed as PLR. So, if you use PLR materials, you have to be careful! And, just because you see others using it doesn't mean that it is okay. In Ray Edwards' case, his article had been out there for perhaps as many as 7 years before he found out it had been stolen.

I've also seen PLR packages, especially those large packages where you get thousands of articles, where some of the articles still have the authors' resource boxes intact. So, odds are pretty good those authors didn't intend for their articles to be sold as PLR; what probably happened is someone, at some point, grabbed a bunch of articles from an article directory and sold them as PLR.

You never really know where some people get the articles they sell as PLR. There are still people out there that think anything on the Internet is public domain, so who knows how many people are out there grabbing articles from blogs and selling them as PLR? That's something you need to be careful of, and something that often gets overlooked.

And, a problem is that it is of little value to check it through something like Copyscape because, if is legitimate PLR, there will be people out there using it and claiming it as their own anyway. So, finding a copy, in most cases, tells you nothing.

So, if you choose to use PLR materials as-is or close to it, it would be best to avoid PLR packages that get sold and resold. Get the content straight from the author, and straight from authors you trust.

The best way, I think, to use PLR, if you choose to use it, is to treat it as though it were copyrighted material. Use it as part of your research, not a substitute for it. It's also difficult to tell, in most cases, the age of the PLR article or eBook so, in certain niches, it may no longer be current information.

As others have mentioned, PLR can also be useful in figuring out how to structure your article or eBook, especially if you're not an experienced writer. It can be a useful guideline for how to organize your knowledge into readable form.

PLR can also be useful for ideas. Can't come up with an idea for a blog post or article? Look through whatever PLR material you may have on your hard drive--not for articles to use, but for ideas you can write your own article on.

It can also be useful for helping make sure you don't overlook and omit any useful information. You might be an expert at a particular topic, but some things may be so second nature to you that you don't even think to mention it. Other times, you might simply forget something because you're in a different mindset when you're writing as opposed to doing.

Originally Posted by la dominatrix

I write ebooks for a living and I am delighted when someone else does a rehash of PLR articles, especially those that do not even fit the niche. Every poor ebook out there makes my work more valuable and every other copywriter that takes the time and effort to research their product and prised themselves on a job well done.

On the flip side, every poor eBook out there gives eBooks a bad name and makes people reluctant to buy eBooks.

[MichaelHiles]

I can't understand why people don't just come up with their own stuff.

It's really not that hard. Just takes a little time and a modicum of creativity - but really not even that much.

[yourreviewer]

I agree as well. Most of the PLR stuff is plain junk and crap. If you are just plain lazy, at least hunt for some public domain content. Again people wouldn't do that because that would again take some work.

[Steven Carl Kelly]

There is quality PLR out there, and it makes an excellent starting point. I've found several series of articles on a topic that when assembled and re-written allowed me to create a quality info product in half the time of starting from scratch.

Even better: in the process of re-writing the PLR, I often find myself identifying completely new and original concepts that can expand and enhance the baseline PLR seed material.

PLR (good PLR) can be had and it is very useful and valuable for the money.

[yourreviewer]

Originally Posted by Steven Carl Kelly

There is quality PLR out there, and it makes an excellent starting point. I've found several series of articles on a topic that when assembled and re-written allowed me to create a quality info product in half the time of starting from scratch.

Even better: in the process of re-writing the PLR, I often find myself identifying completely new and original concepts that can expand and enhance the baseline PLR seed material.

PLR (good PLR) can be had and it is very useful and valuable for the money.

Steve, Would you care to share some of the PLR services that you have had good success with? I think it would be very helpful for the fellow Warriors.

[CCCAffiliate]

An Information product is ALWAYS best when it comes from the writers perspective. I see too many washed up same old bullcrap books, reports, etc. that flop like a fish.

Yea.

[Steven Carl Kelly]

Originally Posted by yourreviewer

Steve, Would you care to share some of the PLR services that you have had good success with? I think it would be very helpful for the fellow Warriors.

There a number of Warriors who offer great value in PLR, and one that springs immediately to mind is Ronnie Nijmeh (Personal Development Private Label Content (PLR)).

[Dan C. Rinnert]

Yes, I am on tape delay by about 18 months on this. But, there's something I wanted to add to this and I think it's good to keep it all in one thread rather than start another on pretty much the exact same topic.

It seems to me that, when people take PLR articles to create an eBook, they are doing it all wrong. They take a backwards approach. That is, they look at the PLR material they have on hand (or can readily purchase) and they try to figure out a way to turn that material into a book.

When they do that, I believe they are prone to creating the type of book I described in my initial post—one that is a mess of different articles that don't really form a cohesive unit.

The better approach--and one that works whether you are creating a book out of PLR materials or writing one from scratch--is to first develop the outline of your book. Figure out the content that needs to go in it. For example, maybe something like this:

Chapter 1: Introduction to Flying Kites
Chapter 2: The Parts and Materials of a Kite
Chapter 3: Building a Kite
Chapter 4: Buying Pre-Made Kites
Chapter 5: Inspecting and Testing Your Kite
Chapter 6: Basic Techniques for Flying Your Kite
Chapter 7: Advanced Kite Flying

Then, once you have the outline in place, look for PLR that best fits your needs. You may need to cut, combine and edit assorted PLR materials as needed. Anything you can't find PLR for, research and write yourself or outsource the writing. (Of course, you can skip PLR altogether and write the whole thing yourself. For some, the outline and planning is the difficult stage and, after that, the writing itself is easy.)

Then, once you have everything compiled, go through the book and rewrite it to make in a cohesive unit. Make sure to have a consistent writing style throughout.

You want your buyer to end up with a book that looks and reads like an actual book and not like a bunch of articles cobbled together to make something that's kind of like a book but really isn't.

And, of course, follow the other advice I offered in the initial post, as well as input provided by others in the thread.

As eBooks become more popular and as more and more people grow accustomed to reading books electronically, it's necessary to "up our game" because we're not just competing against the website down the virtual street that tossed together some PLR and had an "instant book" but the big publishers as well. And, if buyers are disappointed by eBooks they purchase through independent sellers, they are going to shy away from them and gravitate toward big publishers--the traditional "gatekeepers"--like they have in the past.

Things are coming full circle, and the book "authors" that don't impress are going to be akin to the "vanity" authors of yore.