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PLR: What's It Good For?

by Mark Singletary
13 replies
PLR is sold as a time-saving way to have a bunch of content fast.

Even though there is still plenty of junk, there seems to be more quality today. Some products could even be used almost immediately with little (if any) change. For example, I've bought products and was happy with what I learned, and then a year after release the author offered rights to the content. There's no reason I couldn't buy the PLR rights and publish it as it is with just changing the name and title. I could spend 10 minutes and have a good piece of content to sell as my own.

There are other scenarios and publishers that I feel are 95% or more ready to be published as is.

The problem is that whether the product is sold to a few people or thousands of people, you have a certain number of potential competitors who have the same content as you just bought.

The standard spiel is to just change the name and title, put a new cover graphic on it, add a comment here or there, and start selling it. Some people suggest rewriting a certain percentage, like 20% to make it "your own."

But none of that makes it "your own." But, if you rewrite it all from scratch, you may as well save your money and not buy the product.

So, the questions are:

1. Do you think it's important to be 100% unique in all content we offer? For example, I've been in the situation where I bought two products or downloaded two freebies and they were unchanged versions of something I already had. That didn't make me happy with the vendors, even though they didn't really do anything wrong.

2. If in your business, you had proprietary processes or systems and you use that to show your uniqueness, would you offer any PLR content? For example, let's say you have a successful book on Overcoming Bad Habits. This is 100% uniquely yours. And you now want to open a membership site to add more value to your book customers. You have 500 pages of quality general self-improvement type content that would fit well with your book content. Would you use the PLR? How would you differentiate between the two? Would you put a label on the licensed content saying it was licensed or just change the name and title blah blah, as mentioned above?

Thoughts?

Mark
#good #plr
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  • Profile picture of the author Kay King
    I used to use quite a bit of good quality PLR content when I built multiple sites per week.


    I had two methods of using PLR.

    1. Starting a site with 10 or so unique articles and 15 pages of PLR content....and then rewriting two PLR articles a couple times a week until the entire site was 'unique'. At the time that worked well for me.

    2. Taking 10-15 good quality PLR on a niche and copy/pasting all (without titles) into Word....and doing a quick edit of each paragraph (first &last sentence at least)....then combining the paragraphs in a way that yield 5-8 longer articles. Adding new titles and putting them on the sites.

    We're told 'PLR doesn't work' but anyone who uses google to look up info can clearly see the same exact articles on multiple medical, health, lifestyle, food sites....and see those sites rank well.
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  • Profile picture of the author Princess Balestra
    The more original the content, the hardah it is to obtain it from anywan othah than yusself.

    So PLR lowahs the bar a considrbl way bcs you startin' out with a generic offah ripe to pluck from outta the ethah.

    Throbbin' Bill "Six Biceps" McManglah the bodybuildah ain't gonna be too impressed by the Total Body Workout Dynamics Thrust course you sold him for $175 coulda been had offa sum PLR ranch for $15.

    I met that guy in the store once, an' he could rip your head right offa your body with his eyelids, tellya.

    So PLR provides a handy template, but less'n you addin' personal valyoo, there ain't too much gowin' on.

    How do I know this?

    I tested it out with Throbbin' Bill while we were waitin' for sum crazy woman to quit shoutin' in the store bcs she figured evrywan in the government was descesnded from rats or scorpions.

    "Throbbin' Bill," I said, tryin' my best to look equally demyoore plus non-vulnerable, "what kinda bicep-pumpin' secrets would you expect to see in no Total Body Workout Dynamics course?"

    He flexed reflexly, takin' out sum scrawny guy in the queue behind us with what I can only describe as a Gluteal Flick.

    "I would wanna learn how to rip people's heads off from day one," he growled. "Too much bodybuilder sales rely on energy drinks, weights, fireproof trunks -- and dating site vouchers. But there's only one thing the pros are here to play for and that's TRUE AND HEARTSY RIP AND REND OF FLESH!"

    It is at this point I realised his zeal for bodybuildin' stuffs had me pinned against the checkout guy in ways transformed my curiosity into an evident MORTAL DANGAH SITYOOAYSCHWAAN.

    "Uhm, yeah," I gasped. "So if'n you figured you were bein' taken for a ride by profiteers sellin' you lameass products for jumped up prices, would it help to have a sweet gal you could call on to help?"

    It was a desprit plea, I know.

    Mebbe I figured he would take me on as a legal angel gonna protect his (reputed) $25,000,000 fortune. Or mebbe I thought my flutterin' eyelashes would prompt him to release his grip on the checkout guy's throat. Or mebbe he detected from my sumptuous apparel that I could help him dress neat for the gym an' possibly pull more chicks merely by existin'.

    But he kinda went on a random rampage at this point.

    Me an' the checkout guy fled, along with everywan in the store Throbbin' Bill didn't rip in half.

    The cops finally nailed him with a sedative tested on rhinos.

    Those are my thoughts on PLR rn.
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  • Profile picture of the author Frank Donovan
    Like Kay, I've used PLR content in sites built for resale. But that was many years ago, and I'm not sure that strategy would be as effective in today's more crowded and savvy market.

    Nowadays the emphasis tends to be on branding and forging a clear identity. That's hard to do with PLR content, even if you change it up a lot. Maybe there's still an angle for using PLR content as a lead magnet or a bonus product.

    All the same, I'd bet that most of the profits on PLR content is being made by the original producers rather than the buyers.
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    • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
      Originally Posted by Frank Donovan View Post

      Like Kay, I've used PLR content in sites built for resale. But that was many years ago, and I'm not sure that strategy would be as effective in today's more crowded and savvy market.

      Nowadays the emphasis tends to be on branding and forging a clear identity. That's hard to do with PLR content, even if you change it up a lot. Maybe there's still an angle for using PLR content as a lead magnet or a bonus product.

      All the same, I'd bet that most of the profits on PLR content is being made by the original producers rather than the buyers.

      In websites I set up for clients, I used PLR content that was partially Spun. There was editing software where I used different complete sentences for articles. they read well, and were unique.

      There is AI writing software now (Jarvis, Closerscopy) that you can use to completely rewrite articles at the push of a button. You can ever write unique books that way.

      You can even just write a few lines of an article, with a few prompts of subject matter, and they will write entirely unique articles o their own.

      They just read the top 10 or 20 blog posts on whatever subject you select, and they will write a well written article from the information they found.

      But...

      They would sound like you. If your articles are personality driven, or n a unique voice, it's better (in m opinion) to just write new content yourself. PLR articles (and courses and books) can be used as a framework.

      I have created several courses, years ago on advertising and marketing. But first, I bought a few high end courses on my own, just to see what was taught, and the formatting. This really made the writing go faster.

      I'll soon have a membership website. Mostly with my own stuff. But if I found an excellent course on a related subject, I'd probably add it as additional content.

      And I already have several courses I bough right to, written by well known marketers, that I will use for that purpose.

      So....strictly informational articles? PLR or written by AI.
      Stuff I pass off as my own? All unique, written by me. It would be indefensible (in my opinion) if I said I wrote something that was really 90% PLR, even if it was excellent.

      By the way, there is a program SurferSEO (I think) that you can use to make your articles (Unique or PLR) rank of the first page of a Google search. I'm thinking of buying it for my next run of articles.
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      • Profile picture of the author Mark Singletary
        This is kind of the crux of my question, and you are the type of person I was talking about here.

        You are an expert. You have books for sale. You have a real store where you practice your craft. You have years of experience. You aren't some guy who bought a WSO and set up a throwaway domain in order to make a few extra bucks on the side.

        How will you differentiate the two types of content? I mean will you put a label on the PLR such as "this is licensed content from a third party"? If you don't, and someone already has the other sales courses, do you think it will hurt your reputation?

        I don't want the PLR, even quality PLR, to ruin the rest of the expertise if that makes sense. Using the tools you mentioned would help some but there's nothing wrong with the original PLR either. So, it's finding the right balance.

        Mark

        Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

        I'll soon have a membership website. Mostly with my own stuff. But if I found an excellent course on a related subject, I'd probably add it as additional content.

        And I already have several courses I bough right to, written by well known marketers, that I will use for that purpose.

        So....strictly informational articles? PLR or written by AI.
        Stuff I pass off as my own? All unique, written by me. It would be indefensible (in my opinion) if I said I wrote something that was really 90% PLR, even if it was excellent.
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        • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
          Originally Posted by Mark Singletary View Post


          How will you differentiate the two types of content? I mean will you put a label on the PLR such as "this is licensed content from a third party"? If you don't, and someone already has the other sales courses, do you think it will hurt your reputation?
          I get it. If it's a quality PLR, I would just say "I brought this to you" or "I bought this to be able to share with you".

          As long as they know you didn't write it, it won't hurt your reputation.

          By the way, I bet there are plenty of short quality PLR materials out there that would work well as gifts to get an e-mail.

          As far as lengthy PLR content, you could sell it. But I'd just make it clear that you didn't write it. Believe me, it won't hurt the value.

          You can position it as "I was going to write about___, and I found this course. It's so good, I decided to just buy the rights to it, to get it in your hands as soon as possible".
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  • Profile picture of the author Profit Traveler
    Banned
    For people that English is not their primary language it is a great option to have as long as you keep the quality very high.

    I remember some marketers used to offer PLR as Bonus content to their products but it would be like 1 million additional eBooks added to the offer and in the end probably created inaction or confusion in total newbies.

    Eric over at EricsTips/com (still there!) used to offer Trading and Forex Video Resale Rights which I thought was a great idea.
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  • Profile picture of the author rickeyshirts
    plr is good for filler content, creating new products then updating parts of a proven sales funnel (plr)
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  • Profile picture of the author GordonJ
    Claude gave a great response, and I have little to add, but maybe a method from the old world might help.

    Back in the hey day of mail order circulars, we could offer reports with REPRINT rights, I think this is where the whole PLR concept came from as some of those early IM gurus were straight off the mail order turnip truck.

    My old friend Jim Straw, and many others I knew all had their own publishing companies, and if say, Jim wrote the report, his name was on it. If it was the work of someone else, and it didn't need credited (he had the rights), it just went out under the PUBLISHING name, as Claude said...

    BROUGHT TO YOU BY

    High Mountain Press, Greenfield Press, Gordo Publishing.

    And of course, those old timers knew what it was to be used for.

    Most of those PLR works in the old country of USA circa 1992, were used as lead gen or as BONUS again as Claude pointed out.

    OK, no need to repeat everything Claude said But today an effective use of PLR, if you have your own Proprietary Information products, is to SAVE TIME, and there is decent plr which serves as an introductory or lead gen device to get a name on a list.

    GordonJ (or Claude's Polly the Parrot- Wanna buy a Hoover?)


    Originally Posted by Mark Singletary View Post

    PLR is sold as a time-saving way to have a bunch of content fast.

    Even though there is still plenty of junk, there seems to be more quality today. Some products could even be used almost immediately with little (if any) change. For example, I've bought products and was happy with what I learned, and then a year after release the author offered rights to the content. There's no reason I couldn't buy the PLR rights and publish it as it is with just changing the name and title. I could spend 10 minutes and have a good piece of content to sell as my own.

    There are other scenarios and publishers that I feel are 95% or more ready to be published as is.

    The problem is that whether the product is sold to a few people or thousands of people, you have a certain number of potential competitors who have the same content as you just bought.

    The standard spiel is to just change the name and title, put a new cover graphic on it, add a comment here or there, and start selling it. Some people suggest rewriting a certain percentage, like 20% to make it "your own."

    But none of that makes it "your own." But, if you rewrite it all from scratch, you may as well save your money and not buy the product.

    So, the questions are:

    1. Do you think it's important to be 100% unique in all content we offer? For example, I've been in the situation where I bought two products or downloaded two freebies and they were unchanged versions of something I already had. That didn't make me happy with the vendors, even though they didn't really do anything wrong.

    2. If in your business, you had proprietary processes or systems and you use that to show your uniqueness, would you offer any PLR content? For example, let's say you have a successful book on Overcoming Bad Habits. This is 100% uniquely yours. And you now want to open a membership site to add more value to your book customers. You have 500 pages of quality general self-improvement type content that would fit well with your book content. Would you use the PLR? How would you differentiate between the two? Would you put a label on the licensed content saying it was licensed or just change the name and title blah blah, as mentioned above?

    Thoughts?

    Mark
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  • Profile picture of the author art72
    The first thing that came to mind was Frank Kern getting hammered by the US government - calling PLR a "ponsy scheme" - although, that too leaves one to question; the integrity of his prosecutors, lol.

    I bought a ton of PLR with the intention of rewriting it and using it to fill the voids and save time, but I NEVER really felt comfortable using it, article spinners, or stuff that was available to sell "as is" or without redesigning the materials and making it unique... although, I know good PLR holds a ton of value if used properly.

    I think Claude and Kay's example are the sincerest way to use PLR.

    In truth, when I learned of "white label rights" it lead me to General Electric - they produce the core appliances, air conditioners, and much of the industrial washers, dryers, etc... but, they sell the rights or permit 3rd party providers such as Rheem, Trane, and bunch of others to apply their brand or label to those products.

    PLR didn't make sense to me at first, until I learned just how many companies online and offline market their original works as resell rights - be it writing or edgewise, so I see the potential if used correctly.

    I'm still too damn stubborn to use it much though!

    [EDIT] - I just signed up to examine another Warriors lead capture, not even a week ago, and laughed - as I realized he was using something I bought into years ago (*though I never did use the done-for-you packages) - I cannot remember the name of the marketer, but it was "Articles for Newbies" - and a bunch of others by a guy cranking out sales with those funnels - I learned to edit them in Notepad++ which seems like a lifetime ago, lol.
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  • Profile picture of the author max5ty
    Don't use PLR myself but I always did think public domain items were good sometimes to give customers...you can find some great stuff...

    was also wondering why when I view this thread offline there is a post for some guys in Texas that sell houses or something with their links posted right after the main post. Is this something new? I don't see it when I'm logged in. I don't see it with other threads. Maybe it's just me but I found it interesting and wondered if it was some new type of advertising on WF.

    Anyways, I thought this link from Duke University is pretty interesting talking about public domain stuff:

    https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2022/
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  • Profile picture of the author discrat
    Couple of years ago I produced several products that were PLR material that were good and I bundled them up together and sold the master rights to them. Put it on Warrior + and sold a pretty good amount of them
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  • Profile picture of the author Profit Traveler
    Banned
    I really enjoyed "The Science of Getting Rich."

    It was just amazing the insights this guy had 100 years ago!

    And the fact it is now Public Domain I saw someone had created their own version of it and it was terrible in my opinion but at the same time I like the idea of Public Domain content. Different than PLR but along the same lines and good to consider.
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