27 replies
Hi gang,

I'm a new poster here, so I thought I'd throw out a hypothetical for comments.

A friend told me that most PLR, even the stuff you buy, reads like it was written by a junior high school kid. It usually needs extensive rewriting before it's usable. I have several pieces on my hard drive that qualify.

So ... why not save the money and do your own research? Find a bunch of pertinent articles on the article sites, read them over to familiarize yourself with the topic, then write your own material.

What does the group think?

I'll admit I lean toward one side of this issue, as I've spent several years as a professional journalist (I still am). But would this work for someone who doesn't like to write?

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

Citizen Jerry
#plr #worth
  • Profile picture of the author DotComBum
    Not all PLR ebooks are create equal, there sure are some good ones and some bad ones, but for a person who is not a writer, PLR works is a good way to create some products which you can call your own.

    I usually go through the PLR ebook before I decide whether to use it, if it not good I usually don't use it, or just simply offer it as a free download.
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  • Profile picture of the author EricKoshinskyk
    Using PLR means using common sense. Many people are using the same content, so to make it worthwhile for your clients, you pretty much need to modify it to suit their needs. This means you have a choice, use PLR as it stands and have (no offence intended) garbage content since it is so heavily reused/recylced, or use it as a base, and add in your original thoughts and make it more valuable to your own specific clients/prospects needs.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dan Riffle
    The way I see it, when I buy plr, I'm really buying the research time that went into creating it. Time is money. If I think the time it would take to do the research is greater than the cost of buying plr, I'll buy the plr every time.

    There's a learning curve built into this, though. You will quickly learn who puts out junk and who puts out quality stuff. There are certain plr writers I will never buy from again and some who I will buy from in an instant (if the niche suits me, of course).
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  • Profile picture of the author Carl Pruitt
    As others have said, not all PLR is created equal. I have seen PLR which runs the gamut from unintelligible garbage to some of the most well written content around. The intended use for the PLR also makes a difference.

    Many aspiring marketers have absolutely no writing talent and limited funds. Both aspiring and experienced marketers may need to test niches to determine whether they are worth expending extra research and writing effort. PLR can work well in those situations.

    PLR is not the best choice if your goal is to establish yourself as an expert in a particular field. You need absolutely unique work for that.
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    Thanks!
    Carl Pruitt
    http://LongRunPublishing.com

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  • Profile picture of the author DotComBum
    You don't have to use the PLR as your main product, you can simply offer it as a free download to build your list, packaged it with your other products, or offer it as a bonus, you can put PLR works to good use in these ways.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ldimilo
    I am going to be a bit more harsh in regards to PLR. I personally would never use PLR attached to my name and I have never seen any PLR content that was worthy of selling outright. PLR is good for adsense sites or bulking up content on an existing site but even then you have to rewrite it. Like riff mentioned, it is good for some very general research on niches that you are exploring. Other than that, it is really not good for much. Just my opinion though.
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    • Profile picture of the author Emily Meeks
      Originally Posted by Ldimilo View Post

      I am going to be a bit more harsh in regards to PLR. I personally would never use PLR attached to my name and I have never seen any PLR content that was worthy of selling outright. PLR is good for adsense sites or bulking up content on an existing site but even then you have to rewrite it. Like riff mentioned, it is good for some very general research on niches that you are exploring. Other than that, it is really not good for much. Just my opinion though.
      That's exactly the point and exactly what I use it for.

      PLR is a great market though, mind you. People are always looking to save time, and if that one biz-in-a-box has PLR attached, they know their name is on it. If you take the time to make UNIQUE PLR content, where nobody else could find if they tried, it will sell for quite awhile (until, of course, everyone's already able to get it for free)
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  • Profile picture of the author mostphere
    I still don't believe that people make money from PLR as is. What i believe is, PLR product need to rework in order to make it unique. That way I prefer to buy original content or custom ebook. The whole price for both methods almost equal, so I prefer fresh content rather than PLR.
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    • Profile picture of the author Emily Meeks
      Originally Posted by mostphere View Post

      I still don't believe that people make money from PLR as is. What i believe is, PLR product need to rework in order to make it unique. That way I prefer to buy original content or custom ebook. The whole price for both methods almost equal, so I prefer fresh content rather than PLR.
      The general idea is to rewrite the PLR content. Basically, PLR is a time-saver. As I stated in a similar post regarding PLR, think of it as the notes you take in class. I'll use the same example - say you're taking a physics class. Are you going to simply dump all those notes (with misspelled words, rushed handwriting, highlights and scratchouts) into a hardcover? Didn't think so. PLR products are your NOTES - you'll edit, you'll add a paragraph here and there, trim the fat, etc etc etc

      Most people completely miss the point and sell as is. I won't lie to you - I've done the same thing and been appraised for it, but this is NOT where the real money is.

      People think PLR needs to be high quality, but that's a myth. Here's why: people who want all the work done for them look for "high quality" PLR. Not Gonna Happen. If it comes with Private Label Rights, you can guarantee it's not a finished product all on its own. A PLR product could literally be written by a 10-year-old, and you'll STILL find a use for it. Done right, nobody would ever guess.
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      • Profile picture of the author Pat-Graham
        Originally Posted by moneysoapbox View Post

        People think PLR needs to be high quality, but that's a myth. Here's why: people who want all the work done for them look for "high quality" PLR. Not Gonna Happen. If it comes with Private Label Rights, you can guarantee it's not a finished product all on its own. A PLR product could literally be written by a 10-year-old, and you'll STILL find a use for it. Done right, nobody would ever guess.
        I am a PLR author and I have to disagree with that blanket statement above. All the PLR I write is extensively researched and original. It definitely is the high quality you discount so easily.

        Granted, there's more crap PLR than high quality PLR on the Internet, but if you deal with responsible marketers, you will be pleasantly surprised.

        Blanket negative statements are misleading. Your guarantee highlighted in a clip of your post above is one of those misleading blanket statements.
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        • Profile picture of the author Emily Meeks
          Originally Posted by Pat-Graham View Post

          I am a PLR author and I have to disagree with that blanket statement above. All the PLR I write is extensively researched and original. It definitely is the high quality you discount so easily.

          Granted, there's more crap PLR than high quality PLR on the Internet, but if you deal with responsible marketers, you will be pleasantly surprised.

          Blanket negative statements are misleading. Your guarantee highlighted in a clip of your post above is one of those misleading blanket statements.
          No disrespect to you, Pat, if you've written good PLR then I'll give you a cookie. That's not really my point though.

          The point is, you can make a good product even if you list the crappiest PLR product as a resource. If you find a good sentence or two, you can copy and paste. If you learned something new (but in a badly worded sentence), you can jot it down as a note and rework it later. Or maybe you don't like any of the written content, but you can edit the PSD graphics. Whatever.

          Even if it's a "finished" product, turning around and reselling as is isn't necessarily the best course of action. Someone else's finished product may be your UNfinished product, especially in the case of PLR, where most people only alter here and there, giving that common "picked over" look.
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          In all that you do, know your True INTENT...

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  • Profile picture of the author Makabongwe Maseko
    Originally Posted by citizenjerry View Post

    Hi gang,

    I'm a new poster here, so I thought I'd throw out a hypothetical for comments.

    A friend told me that most PLR, even the stuff you buy, reads like it was written by a junior high school kid. It usually needs extensive rewriting before it's usable. I have several pieces on my hard drive that qualify.

    So ... why not save the money and do your own research? Find a bunch of pertinent articles on the article sites, read them over to familiarize yourself with the topic, then write your own material.

    What does the group think?

    I'll admit I lean toward one side of this issue, as I've spent several years as a professional journalist (I still am). But would this work for someone who doesn't like to write?

    Thanks in advance for any feedback.

    Citizen Jerry
    Hi Jerry,

    I make my full income using plr products. I'm currently selling at $27 and $17.

    But what I did is to modify the sales copy I little. The original sales copies are very bad. Modifying is quiet easy. Just look at your competitors sales copy and try to adjust yours in a similar way.

    Plr is good when you starting off because all of the research is done for you.

    All the best!
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    • Profile picture of the author la dominatrix
      Originally Posted by Makabongwe Maseko View Post

      Hi Jerry,

      I make my full income using plr products. I'm currently selling at $27 and $17.


      Plr is good when you starting off because all of the research is done for you.

      All the best!
      There is absolutely no guarantee that any keyword research is done with PLR products. I guess you have to assume it has been done. Although I have never used them, they must have a use at a level for some people. Not everyone writes easily or likes writing for some it is a chore. However it can't be anything different from amything else out there there must be good and bad.

      La dominatrix
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      • Profile picture of the author Dan Riffle
        Originally Posted by la dominatrix View Post

        There is absolutely no guarantee that any keyword research is done with PLR products. I guess you have to assume it has been done. Although I have never used them, they must have a use at a level for some people. Not everyone writes easily or likes writing for some it is a chore. However it can't be anything different from amything else out there there must be good and bad.

        La dominatrix
        There was no reference to keyword research in what you quoted. Just plain old topical research. That's what I'm looking for when I buy plr. I've already completed the keyword research, which is how I know for what topic I need plr.
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  • Profile picture of the author Debbie Allen
    If you find a source of good quality PLR content then I think it is well worth using. Quality PLR articles and ebooks are researched and written in a way that is reader friendly and all the user has to do is add a few touches here and there to make it his own.

    PLR articles can be used for autoresponder series, ecourses, and creatively bundled to develop reports and ebooks. Of course there are lots of other uses for PLR content, but the original question was, is PLR worth it. In my opinion it depends on the quality of the PLR. I believe the idea behind using PLR is to take a lot of the work out of a project - low quality PLR does not do that.
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  • Profile picture of the author copywarrior
    PLR can be really useful provided you use the right PLR products. Today, you will find several people selling PLR content but not all are of the same quality. So as a buyer, you must be very diligent in choosing the PLR content that you're going to use for your business.

    Thus the key to success with PLR is choosing the best PLR content provider.

    Hope this helps,

    Jay B.
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  • Profile picture of the author solotr
    I think so because if it's quality writing, I'll pay whatever the asking price to have my research done, and I like doing my own research

    But what I'm really tired of seeing is brand new marketers
    doing a "pump and dump" around the same tired markets: Adsense, dog training,
    golf, diet pills, babies, weddings, dating, guitars, etc.

    Yes, I know why they do it, they think everyone doing business online is
    interested in only these topics because some Goober of the month told
    them so.

    Currently, I've joined one site that offers plr strictly on health topics,
    another for real estate and another for finance. This adds up fast, but
    the only other alternative is to pay per article or report elsewhere.

    Do they work? Absolutely. Will you see junk among the quality? Definitely.
    All I can say is - watch your budget.
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    "It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating" ~ Oscar Wilde

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  • Profile picture of the author ADAMw3
    I believe PLR is great. You don't have to use it as if you wrote it, but you can use it for excellent ideas. In my WSO I give away 100k plr articles and 9 plr products... do you think i go to the article directories and try to submit those... Nope.

    I use them so I never have to deal with writers block!
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  • Profile picture of the author Troy_Phillips
    I have saw a lot of post saying to give away the low quality plr to build your list .

    I have two rules about that sort of thing

    Rule #1 Never give something away to build your list that you can not sell

    Rule #2 Never give something away to build your list that you can not sell

    Now I know these rules look similar but .... yeah it is that important . Once you are branded as the guy who gave them the "how to mak money onlie instuntly " ebook.... well you never really bounce back from that one
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    • Profile picture of the author ericmartinez
      Lots of PLR is useless articles written as a low-budget E-Lance project.

      I would NOT for any reason use PLR outright to sell to anyone. Especially if its a niche that you do not know if the material is valuable or not.

      PLR sucks unless you rewrite it. In which case, I would only use it for SEO purposes.

      Here is how I use PLR:
      • Acquire PLR articles
      • Rewrite them in Power Article Rewriter
      • Create a new Squidoo account for that niche
      • Post a copy of the article
      • Wrap links around targeted keywords that point to the site you want to rank for the keyphrases
      • Maybe put an affiliate link or two if you want to profit
      • Or have an opt-in where people can get more information
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  • Profile picture of the author Derek S
    I will use PLR for two reasons only:

    1. To have a product to test a market to see if I can make profit and invest in a ghost writer to create an amazing product

    or

    2. Add PLR books as bonuses if they are directly related to my product
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    • Profile picture of the author Joshua.E1
      If you are new to Internet marketing, use the PLR articles and rewrite them.

      If you are a seasoned one, you may still need it, but it best to get some one to research it.

      As a lot of people have the PLR as freebies. You decide.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kim Standerline
    I've used good quality PLR products very successfully. The secret is (as has already been stated) to use the content as a starting block and build on it. It saves you countless hours.

    If you're too idle to do anything with it, then of course it won't be profitable for you

    Kim
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  • Profile picture of the author wealthydon
    PLR products and materials are worth it if you rewrite them. Period!
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  • Profile picture of the author Dan Riffle
    Pat:

    I can see where Monetsoapbox is coming from. My interpretation is that the very nature of plr -- the fact that other people own the exact same content -- means you have to tweak it and put your on unique spin on it to make it original -- thus it is not a finished product. This is what some people refer to when they refer to using an asset at "highest use."

    Certainly you can use plr in its original form, but working it over, revamping it and turning it into an original product is typically best. Thus, plr is not a finished product.

    Unless you have a solid method for selling commoditized products, having a unique product is a better option.
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