I remember at least 15 years ago when something called PLR content was invented. Back then, PLR consisted primarily of articles. It quickly blossomed into a mainstay for online marketers and bloggers because it solved numerous problems. Best of all, it seriously reduced the amount of time it took write articles.
Back in the day, before the existence of blogs, the common practice was referred to as article distribution. Businesses would write and list their articles on their own sites in a dedicated section. Then, those articles would be posted on hundreds or thousands of article banks (also called article distribution sites) so that other site owners could publish and share the content.
Today, PLR content is everywhere and used for much more than just articles.
What is Private Label Rights (PLR) Content?
In case you’re not familiar, these days PLR content can come in the form of:
PLR works like this. The original content creator develops the blog posts, planners, videos or whatever and puts them up for sale. Anybody who wants to purchase the PLR planners, PLR blog posts, PLR printables, etc. can do so.
The content usually comes with a license (which you may have to pay extra for) that allows you to sell or give away what you’ve purchased. You can:
Is it Legal to Sell PLR?
Yes, very much so. As mentioned above, you may have to pay extra for a commercial license, and there might be a restriction or two about the format, but it is legal. You can even sell PLR as-is.
So, What’s the Problem With PLR?
Remember me talking about the early days of PLR articles, etc.? What began to happen with those article directories is that they were flooded with people uploading the same, exact content.
So, for example, when someone came to the article directory to search for information about the best marketing tactics, they found a search results page filled with the same PLR article about that subject uploaded by lots of different marketers.
Needless to say, it was frustrating for the searcher and for the directory owner. Eventually, article directories began to restrict members from uploading PLR articles. They started implementing software that checked an article to see if it was already published in other directories, too.
Why? Because PLR articles had saturated the market and they no longer had value.
We’ve come full circle with other types of PLR today.
I can’t tell you how many customers complain that they’ve bought a digital product from one website then bought some other product from another site only to find that they were exactly the same.
Because the majority of people who buy PLR flip it without any changes (maybe they give it a new name or update the cover’s color), customers are getting irritated. Etsy is filling up with the same digital content that’s been duplicated from one seller to the next.
One woman (a seller) recently was extremely frustrated saying, “I’ve been buying all the PLR I can find and putting it up on Etsy as quick as I can, but none of it is selling.” [Paraphrase] She was not changing one single thing. Not good.
How to Sell PLR the Right Way
If you shouldn’t sell PLR as-is, what’s the point? I mean, if you have to create something all over again, does PLR have any benefits?
Sure it does!
In my opinion, online businesspeople have the wrong perception of private label rights content. They have an extremely narrow view that leaves a lot of money on the table.
Flipping PLR and using what you’ve bought as-is is just one way to profit. There are many others! I know, because I used to do the same thing you did a while back.
But then something dawned on me. When I bought a private label rights (PLR), done-for-you product (like a planner or blog post set or an ebook, etc.) I used it for that one, single purpose.
Why did I do that?
Habit, I guess.
So, I started to look through some PLR that I had with a fresh eye. Sort of like when you buy Lego sets, you know? You can use those bricks for all kinds of things even though the set was intended to be a castle (or whatever).
I wanted to discover just how many products I could possibly make using the content and ideas that one PLR product provided.
That’s when I realized that PLR is a playground for printables and print-on-demand (POD) sellers, publishers and content creators.
By the time I was done exploring, I’d found 25 different printable and/or POD products I could make from a single PLR planner. I was truly amazed!
In my opinion, this is the
right way to sell PLR and make the most from it.
Instead of selling a PLR ebook as an ebook, break it apart.
The list is a long one and you’ll likely end up making far more than you would by flipping a PLR ebook that thousands of others are also selling.
Does that make sense?
If you need a bit more help, scoop up my handy, little How To Guide: Use PLR for Printables & POD that will walk you through the whole process in under 1 hour for just $17.
