The following is an interview I did with Nicole Dean. I consider her to be the foremost expert on the topic of Private Label Rights – PLR – so I wanted to ask her the questions I am most often asked about this subject.
Hey Connie! Thanks so much for asking me to come by today for an interview. As you know, we’re going to be talking about PLR which stands for Private Label Rights content. What exactly is it? PLR content consists of articles, reports, e-courses, and eBooks, that business owners can purchase and use in their businesses – as if they wrote it themselves.
Now, usually that gets people thinking “Isn’t that cheating?” Great question. The answer is “no”. The way I use and recommend using PLR articles is to view the content as drafts – basically you’re paying someone else to outline your content, fill in the basics, and then you get to come in and add some pizazz. I like to say add some “YOU” to it to make it “YOUnique” to you and your business.
And, yes, of course, in all transparency, I’ve run one of the premier PLR companies since 2006 – so yes, I’m biased. BUT – my content has helped my customers to make a lot of money over the years, so I’m proud of what I do.
Connie, you asked several great questions. Let’s dig in.
1- Who actually writes the PLR articles, reports, and courses that are sold online? I can only answer for myself. Originally when I started my EasyPLR.com site, I wrote all of the content (along with my business partner at the time). Of course, my business grew and as I began to network more, I found many highly talented writers who loved to write, but hated to do marketing. They just wanted to write for someone else and get paid for it. When I saw the quality of their writing, I realized it was equal to (and in some cases superior to) my writing, so there was no reason to keep doing it all myself.
My writers are professionals. One of my writers went to Stanford University and is a published author. Another is a nurse and Sunday school teacher. Several have journalism backgrounds. So, no, I don’t go find the cheapest writers available. I try to find the best. However, that’s not good enough for me. My Content Manager actually passes the writing through a second editor when I get it back. It’s their job, not to just check for typos, but to add value wherever possible. For instance, in an article of “5 Ways to Save More Money” – my editors may change that to “7 Ways to Save More Money” – so that my customers get even more bang for their buck.
Of course, I can’t speak for other PLR sites, as they vary in how and where they get their writers. Some are fabulous. Others? I would not want their content to represent my business.
2 – My niche is very specialized, and I can’t seem to ever find PLR that fits my topics. Is there any way for me to request PLR topics and have someone write it?
Definitely. When this happens, you have a few different alternatives.
a. You can first place a request with your preferred PLR site to see if they can create content for you. If the niche has potential, they may be willing to do that. I’m always asking for topics from my customers.
b. You may be able to rework general content to make it niche-specific for you. For instance, if your market is Christian Parenting, you can always grab content on general parenting and tweak it to suit your purposes. Or, if your market is diabetes, you can find some great content on exercising that you can use as a starting point to niche it down and make it more specific for your readers. PLR is just a starting point.
c. Another option is to hire a writer to take a pack of PLR and customize it for you. That’s one way to take great content and make it more valuable for your readers.
3 – I want to write a book and self-publish it on Amazon for the Kindle. Is it alright to use PLR as part of my book?
Absolutely. My PLR is all over Amazon. In fact, several of my customers have sent me their final books, and said “Without you, I would never be an author. Thank you.” 🙂 While I obviously can’t take the credit for someone else’s ingenuity, I am pleased to have been a small help to them.
4 – I tried to rewrite some PLR articles and submit them to Ezine Articles, but they sent me an email telling me my account could be suspended if I ever did this again. How do I use PLR for this purpose without getting into trouble?
This is another great question, Connie. You’re correct. EzineArticles.com only allows 100% unique content. What I would recommend in this instance is using the OUTLINE of the content to draft your own articles.
So, if you have a PLR article entitled “5 Ways to Lose Weight without Starving”, you can retitle it as “5 Ways to Lose Weight Without Sacrificing Your Enjoyment of Food”. Then, just take each of the 5 ideas and write a new (even better) article using those same ideas. How will you make yours stand out? Again, three simple letters Y.O.U.
a. Add stories from your own life – like the time you realized on a cruise that you enjoyed drinking white wine & spritzer just as much as your favorite sugary drinks.
b. Add examples that you have (such as you’ll see in this blog post). Perhaps an example of how eating one piece of really dark chocolate can satisfy your cravings better than eating an entire bag of M&M’s – with much less calories ingested.
c. Add entertainment. People come to the internet for information, but that information can be delivered in an interesting fashion. (Hopefully I’ve accomplished that in this blog post.)
Well, I hope that has been helpful. If you think that PLR might be something you’d like to check out in order to make your life easier and your business more profitable, I invite you to visit EasyPLR and look around.
Warmly, Nicole Dean
PS. If you have any questions about using PLR, please ask. I’ll come by and answer as many as I can. 🙂
Martha Giffen says
What a fabulous interview. I have used some PLR in the past but am not currently using any. In fact, I probably have some stored on my hard-drive. This has been a great reminder of where to get good content and how to use it! Thanks!
Stacy Cable says
Very informative and a great start to help those of us new to blogging, PLR and an awesome way of getting published more quickly. Thank you for posting the interview!
The Happypreneur says
Loved this interview Connie. Got some great new ideas from it. Nicole is on of my favorite people online. She and her mom Patti are quite a duo! Love them to pieces!
I also use Nicole’s PLR and highly recommend it to your readers. It’s top notch. I haven’t found and better. Period.
Celene Harrelson
Helen Raptoplous says
This is a great topic and you covered some great stuff here with Nicole! I love that you talked about the topic of “isn’t it cheating” to use PLR. I had felt that way and never got into using PLR for that reason. I have been using it for several months now and I do just as Nicole mentions here, I use it as an outline and then I fill it up with as much content and ideas as possible.
PLR makes it very easy to always have something to say or value to add to your prospects and customers. I love it and I learned a few more key ideas by reading this interview. Thank you again for continuing to make sure we have the best inforamtion at our finger tips!!
xox
@HelenRappy
Janette Fuller says
I found this interview full of helpful information that I can use for my blog. I also like the suggestions for using the outline of the PLR article and then adding your own personal experiences.
I am very interested in writing a book for the Amazon Kindle so I will be visiting EasyPLR and looking for some resources.
Thank you!
Yvonne A Jones says
For a long time I was very skeptical about PLR as I did not see how I could use what someone else wrote and call it my own until I understood, some of it from Nicole herself, and something Connie said over a year ago that you could view PLR as a research tool – someone has done the research for you but you have to put it together.
I’ve purchased PLR from many sources, but I love Nicole’s PLR and the sites she connected with as they provide a limited number of licenses for each product. This way there’s not a glut of the same information all over the Internet. Thanks, Nicole for reminding us of the need to add personal experience and examples to enhance the articles so that it can take on our voice.
Thanks for sharing the interview, Connie.
Nicole Dean says
Wow! Thanks for all the great comments. 🙂
You made my day!
Warmly,
Nicole
Roslyn Rajasingam says
Hi Nicole!
Thanks for sharing information on this very interesting topic. Once, I rewrote some parts of a PLR and ezinearticles.com emailed me to say there is a problem with the article. Your recommendation to use the OUTLINE of the content to draft my own articles makes sense.
Thanks also to Connie for sharing this.
Regards.
Ros