Using PLR - Yes Or No?

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This post was prompted by a post about getting over writers block.

Now what does PLR - Private Label Rights have to do with writers block ?

Before I answer this question I want to let people who don’t know what the heck PLR is, how it works.

PLR or Private Label Rights are prewritten blog posts or ebooks or anything else you can think of that we all write for our websites that you can buy and use as you like and claim as your own work.

Now there are plenty of people who would consider buying PLR as a total No No. For a start it is going to be duplicate content if you just publish it because it’s so cheap ( a few dollars ) there will be many other people using the exact same content.

But let me tell you how I use it.

Staring at a blank page and not knowing what the heck to write is a horrible feeling. We can spend hours, starting, deleting and starting again but with no clear direction. Writers block.

This has happened to me twice. I reached out for my purchased PLR posts. Chose one and copied and pasted it into site content.

Now I am not faced with a blank page but a piece of writing with a subject matter that I need to edit. Find a great keyword, add an introduction, change the sentences to how you would say the same thing. Add bullit points and headings and then write a conclusion.

Now you have a post with at least 1000 words ( most of my PLR articles are around 600 words ) and it will bear nor resemblance to the original article.

Press publish and if you have not changed it enough Site content will warn you that it is duplicate content. I know this because once or twice I have tried to get some slightly dubious duplicate sentences through and it definitely told me off. And this was not on any PLR article.

So this is how I deal with writers block and it has worked really well for me.

I know PLR is a slightly controversial subject and I expect to read some different views on the subject. Please feel free to tell me your own views and ask any questions you may have.

With Grace and Gratitude

Karen

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Recent Comments

45

The way you use PLR articles seems to me about the best use for them. Rewriting something is a totally different thing from writing something from scratch.

But having said that, I've never bought any PLR articles. I've always had them given to me as some sort of freebie incentive.

~ Isabella

Hi Karen, I agree with you. If you rework the article and make it a decent piece I feel it is the same as reading someone else's article and reworking it and adding your "input" to it.

I personally have not done that yet....because I did not think of it, mainly because I have decided not to use these products or other "Shiny Things".

I have a large number of PLR products somewhere, from years ago when I first started out and thought that they were a super answer to my problems. They never made me a cent!

I might certainly use them as you suggested if I again run into a writing brick wall. A good Idea. :-)

Bryanb

Glad My Post reminded you of things put away that may be of use.
Thanks for reading.

Interesting how you use PLR to help you Karen. I don't have much patience with most PLR articles because in my experience I find it so poorly written that I can't read it for more than 30 seconds. But then maybe I've just never found any of the better stuff? :)

~Mark :)

There is a lot of variance in the quality you can find out there.

I do not use any PLR books or software on my website. But I'm a member of a page where I can download books. Some of them are quite good reading others are waste. But when people have given up a time to write a book, there is also a chance that they have had something to say

Quite right, sometimes gems can be found.

Hi Karen, a really interesting way to utilize PLR, I am sure that many folks have a hard drive full of it. Writer's block can be an issue from time to time. I like how you are utilizing site content this way. One of the things that I find about PLR is that a lot of it is rather kind of shallow so doesn't go into any depth or substance, I guess as a starting point it will give a framework to build out from in our own particular voice.

Thanks for sharing I am going to take it for a whirl next time I am struggling.

It really helped me when writers block hit and ideas were not to be found.

I got a PLR Book to sell on my website. It wasn't written very well. It had a lot of grammar errors. I basically had to rewrite the book. Also, it didn't come with any images, so I was tasked with putting images in a 40 page Ebook. As for duplicate copy, when it is an Ebook, it is not ranked. Regardless, I am in the process of rewriting the entire thing. I probably had to rewrite 80% of the Ebook I bought.

Good thing is I didn't spend a lot on it.

Lisa

That’s another great way to use PLR and at the end of the day, it is now an e book you wrote. And as you say the cost is usually minimal.

You can leverage all sorts of things for content ideas, PLR is no different than leveraging a concept online that you search for in Google.

What I have found is those that try to rewrite content, often times create "awkward" sounding content, and it ultimately ends up being viewed as DUPE by search engines. Google is very smart if you are replacing a few words or using synonyms to change the content.

Use for ideas and certainly for education, then layout what you are going to write about. Then remove yourself from your sources, and write.

That is my recommendation. PLR content can be useful for content that is not published (email marketing, etc), but it has to be quality and has to be written in a way that matches closely to the way you write.

Thank you for commenting Kyle, I feel very honoured.
I totally agree with your points but I trust site content here at WA to confirm you do not have duplicate content.
I agree that if not done well then you could end up with disjointed content. It’s not just about changing words.
Both I have done using PLR have been indexed by google and are doin* okay in search engines.
I guess changing PLR is a skill in itself.

I think this is a great suggestion! It shouldn't matter where you get ideas or posts from as long as you're editing them enough to make them original content.

I plan on looking into this as a way to increase my article count since I'm working at my job so much more than before--thanks!

You are more than welcome, glad I could be of help

It is always easier to edit than write from scratch. I sometimes start with my own content and rewrite it. Sometime I'll take a snip-it from someone else as a starter and rewrite that. By the time I get done rewriting it bears no resemblance to the original. So, I understand using PLR to "prime the pump" so to speak.

Great phrase Steven... love that. Prime the Pump

So far Karen I have not had writer’s block, but you never know. PLRs sound like a good way to start if you do have writer’s block. By the time you finish editing the piece you probably have put in about the same amount of time as if you had started the piece.

Yes but without the stress of a blank page and with no idea what to write about.
It’s not something I recommend for every post. But sometimes we are out of ideas.

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