What is PLR and what can you do with it? How can it help you in your IM business or with eBook creation?
PLR, also known as Private Label Rights, are rights that are assigned or given by the owner/creator of a product to the purchaser of the product. These rights are clearly defined by the creator but can include the right to change the product, keep it the same, claim authorship and resell as your own. This product is typically an ebook, but can also include video, audio and other forms of software or graphics.
Some Internet Marketers who are interested in PLR ebooks are drawn to them because they think they can purchase a PLR ebook, slap their name on it and be seen as an expert in that field. With this method they don't really have to do the work that is involved with creating a product. This may seem like a great way to monetize your business quickly, but down the road it could damage your credibility and ultimately your business.
I personally know one Internet Marketer in particular that did this because I bought one of his products on article marketing. It didn't take long to realize not only had I already purchased the exact same ebook, word for word, from the original author, and I had the PLR rights to it as well.
I was promoting and selling it with the original author's name on it. This book went into a lot of detail about how the original author got started in IM, how much money he was making in the beginning, how many articles he was writing every month and so on. So the second guy was basically masquerading as a double for the original author. He lost my trust immediately.
I didn't spend a lot of money on it but I was still aggravated. Ultimately it was a valuable learning lesson for me because it taught me what NOT to do. If you want to sell a quality information product, I think it's ethically wrong to take someone else's product and just put your name on it. It's just downright misleading. It may be legal but I don't think it's a good idea.
A lot of Internet Marketers buy PLR products for other reasons. Many of them use them for researching whatever niche they want to become an expert at. They like buying the ebooks with PLR rights because if they decide to write an eBook along a similar theme they can use the PLR book as a guide to writing their own. If the PLR content is high quality (and many times it is if you look hard enough) it will be very useful for this purpose. Some also do very well promoting other marketers' PLR products. They may be working as an affiliate or directly selling the product (without making changes) and keeping 100% commissions.
Here's where I think PLR products can be useful. If you buy a quality information product from someone and that product comes with PLR rights, I think you can use it as a guideline for creating your own product. Use parts of it, but add to it. Put it in your own words with your own unique spin on it. But please do not put your name on someone else's product without adding any of your own originality to it. You will lose credibility in the long run.
Another great use for PLR products is as a giveaway. When you are trying to attract subscribers to build a list, find a great PLR eBook with quality content and use that to give away in exchange for a name and email address. Then you can email that person regularly and promote your own information products to them.
I am currently working on an original eBook myself that is a guide for proper eBook creation. In it I discuss how using free PLR content and PLR ebooks can be very useful during your research process. I recommend gathering up as much PLR as you can for educational purposes. Through my methods you will use PLR products as a guide, but not as an exclusive tool for writing your own ebook.
