Curious About Private Label Rights (PLR) Content for Your Blog or Website?

Are you a blogger, marketer, or course creator who lacks time to write new material? Do you just gaze at the blank screen when you need to start a new writing project? If so, you might be the perfect candidate for private label rights (PLR) content.

Private label rights (PLR) is a timesaving alternative to writing original content from scratch. And it is a money-saving option when compared to hiring a freelance writer.

Let's take an in-depth look at private label rights (PLR) content, so you can decide if it could help make your blog or website more robust.

What is Private Label Rights (PLR) Content?

PLR is digital content that comes with specific rights to use and/or to resell.

When you purchase PLR content, you obtain the rights to use the content for your business. In addition to posting it to your own website or course, you can usually modify the content, repackage it, and resell it to serve your audience and customers.

Most PLR is sold as “non-exclusive,” which means that an unlimited number of bloggers and business people may be buying the same product. This is the tradeoff for having prices much lower than a freelancer could charge for custom work.

Is PLR Only for Written (Text) Content?

Glad you asked!

No, PLR can be text, as well as video, audio, photography, software, digital artwork, or graphics. And lately, “printables” have become a popular type of PLR, that people modify to create journals, planners, stationery, etc.

Hint: look on Etsy and you will see lots of products that began as PLR.

Why Use PLR Content?

Because life is too short to spend writing original content.

Seriously, good PLR content comes pre-written and well-researched. All you need to do is select the right piece of content and put it to good use on your blog or website.

You don’t have to worry about the time it takes to write a blog post from scratch. You also don’t have to fret about researching the topic. Everything is already taken care of.

PLR content is also perfect if you need to create a large volume of content quickly, perhaps to meet deadlines or to populate a new niche website.

If you write blog posts on a regular basis, you know how time-consuming it can be to research, write and publish each piece of content. PLR content can help you get out of a blogging rut and create more content in less time.

How Does PLR Content Work?

PLR is usually sold on dedicated websites, where you can browse the offerings by category. When you find something you like, you would register with the site, then purchase with a credit card or Paypal.

Then you will receive your digital product immediately, either as a link in an email, or a redirect to the PLR website where you can download the file(s) to your computer.

The PLR usually comes in a compressed “zip” file, and will have a “READ ME FIRST” page that explains your rights as well as what you cannot do with the material.

Other files will be included in various formats, such as Word documents, text (.txt) files, image files, audio, etc. You will not always use everything–for example, images may be provided for Photoshop editing as well as Canva.

Just choose what you want to work on, open it, and start editing!

What to Do Before Purchasing PLR Content

Before you start looking for and purchasing PLR content, make sure you have a plan for how you will use it. (See the section below, “How to Use PLR Content,” for ideas.)

And for WHEN you will use it.

Know what you want. The content needs to be relevant to your industry and your niche.

Decide what you’re looking for. Do you need an ebook? A video course? Software? A series of articles for your company website? 

And do you want it “turnkey,” so you can immediately rebrand it with your name or logo, and begin selling it or giving it to prospects? Or do you want PLR to be a base for you, something you can modify, edit, personalize, and then publish or sell?

Take the time to understand the rights available to you. Reputable PLR sellers will display them clearly on their website or sales page.

Buying PLR is fun. Ask me how I know.

The sales pages are so exciting and full of promise. And PLR is inexpensive, even the good stuff. Especially when the product is first launched with no-brainer discounts.

However, there's nothing more frustrating than looking at your Paypal account and seeing all the money you spent for PLR that is sitting on your hard drive, yet to be opened.

Ask me how I know.

How to Find and Select the Right PLR Content

This is the scariest part because there is a lot of bad PLR out there. You need to take your time and be sure you are buying from reputable PLR sellers.

Once you know what you’re looking for, you can use search engines to find websites that sell PLR content. You can also use forums and social media to find PLR content.

A better way, especially if you are active in internet marketing or online coaching, is to look at a few blogs that you admire. If they have a Tools or Resources page, they will often list PLR providers that they use and/or know well.

Here is a list of people who I have either purchased from, or I know them personally. I can vouch for the quality of their PLR and their customer service. NOTE: I have affiliate relationships with many of these providers. If you purchase through a link you got from me, I may receive a commission, but the price you pay will not be affected. 

Some PLR providers offer free samples on their websites. Go ahead and request these, they want you to! Read through the samples to determine whether they’re right for you. Pay attention to the quality of the content and how thorough it is.

You don’t want to spend money on content that’s poorly written such that you'll spend just as much time rewriting and correcting it as you would if you began from scratch!

How to Use PLR Content

Once you’ve found the perfect piece of PLR content, it’s time to put it to use. 

Conventional wisdom says to do this at a minimum, to make it different from the competition or other people who may have bought the same PLR:

• Change the title.
• Add an introduction or modify the existing introduction.
• Change the final paragraph.
• Add your name or logo and brand colors.

Here are just a few ways you can use your PLR content. (Remember to review and understand any and all rights and prohibitions first.)     

TEXT/WRITTEN PLR:

• Post it to your website or personal blog
• Post it as an article on LinkedIn or Medium.com
• Turn it into a short report to offer as a “lead magnet” or opt-in gift, an ethical bribe for people to sign up for your email list.
• Combine several blog posts or articles into an ebook to sell from your website. (Note: Amazon KDP/Kindle does not allow material based on PLR.)
• Use the content to respond to discussions on forums or FB groups.
• Create “How To” checklists to sell on Etsy.com
• If you have an email list, share part of the information over several days
• Record an audio of the material and post to your website or offer to your list as a gift
• Tweak the subject of the material, changing out “gifts for co-workers” to “gifts for grandmothers,” or “7 things to pack for Hawaii” to “9 things to bring to Scout camp”
• Pull snippets out to use for social media posts
• Create motivational posters or affirmation cards

PLR IMAGES/PRINTABLES:

• Change the color scheme or background design for a whole new look
• Combine calendars with lined pages and create unique planners
• Create Pinterest pins to lead viewers to your website
• Create wall art to sell on Etsy (digital)
• Modify the focus of a journal, say from “Busy Mom's Journal” to “Summer Travel Highlights”
• Create bookmarks, gift tags, and cupcake toppers (yes, that's a thing) to sell on Etsy

Pros of Using PLR Content

To repeat some of the above information, using PLR content has many benefits for bloggers and website owners.

Here are just a few of them:

• No need to write everything from scratch
• PLR content can help you meet your blogging goals
• You will save time and get it done faster
• Quality PLR will be well-written and grammatically correct
• With PLR as a base, you can see where to inject your own humor or personality 
• The cost is much less than hiring individual writers
• Fellow blogger AND custom writer Marci Yoseph has more to say on this

Cons of Using PLR Content

Although using PLR content has many great benefits, it also has a few drawbacks. If you’re not careful, you can run into problems.

These could include:

• Becoming complacent and forgetting to change, modify, personalize the PLR to make it unique to your business
• Someone recognizing the PLR, especially if you did not change it up
• Buying poor quality PLR that you have not vetted
• You still need to review your product before you post or publish, for spelling, grammar, etc. 
• You also should fact-check anything for accuracy and technical issues, if relevant. Especially for tech product reviews or instructions. 
• Potential plagiarism; for best results, run the PLR through Copyscape before you start using it

Bottom Line: Give It a Try!

If you have never tried using PLR before, I encourage you to give it a try. Get a free sample or buy a couple of blog posts. Paste them into your WordPress editor and make changes and hit Publish. Then take the rest of the day off!