Private Label Rights – Are they for you?
Original Canned image by tijmen at stock.xchng. Modified by the author.
Private Label Rights content (aka PLR) is very misunderstood and misused. If you’re building a web site of any kind then you will find yourself having to make a decision about whether PLR is right for your business.
Understanding PLR
Because PLR (and other content rights) have been abused so much in the past few years, a lot of people have bad feelings about it. But, like any tool, it is the use of it that determines what value it has.
Before you can decide what to do about it you need to understand it.
The Basics
Let’s start with the basics. When you have some content, whether it be written text, images, sound, there are rights attached to it. For the rest of this article I’ll assume the content is written, but the rules apply for any type of content
If you created it yourself, by default you own and control all the rights (known as copyright). If someone else produced it, by default you have no rights. Not even the right to read it.
You need to be given rights to the content by the owner. If something is published in a public area (like a blog) then you have what is known as personal use rights. Similarly, if you purchase content you will generally have these same rights. This means that you can read the content but you cannot copy it or use it in any way for your own purposes.
For example, you are able to read this post on Comment Luv, but you cannot copy it and post it on your own site or use it for a book.
In some cases content becomes part of the public domain which means that it belongs to everyone. Usually this happens well after the death of the original creator (the laws vary from country to country). But it is possible to intentionally release your content into the public domain and there are a few bloggers who actually do this. It allows anyone to copy, modify and otherwise use the content. The content belongs to everyone and everyone has the right to use it however they see fit.
In between these 2 extremes fall the various resell and giveaway rights. We’re going to focus on PLR, MRR and RR. Other types of rights include Creative Commons and Open Source rights which are similar in many ways.
One very important thing to remember about these rights is that they are not exclusive. Other people will be able to get the same rights to use the content as you do.
Resale Rights (RR)
Beyond personal use, resale rights allows you to resell content. But you may not change the content in any way or convert it to another format. Also, you may not pass the rights on to your customers. They only receive personal use rights.
Many resale rights products allow you to give the product away or sell it. Others will require that it be sold and may include a minimum price. These types of content can be useful for list building or to have products to sell in your e-commerce site.
Giveaway rights is closely related, but restricts you to only giving it away.
Master Resale Rights (MRR)
The next step up the hierarchy is master resell rights. These still force you to keep the content intact, just like resale rights. However, they do allow you to pass more than personal use rights to your clients.
Many people assume that they can pass MRR to their clients but that is not always the case. In some cases you can only pass RR. Check the rights documentation to see what you are able to pass on. The term transferable MRR is sometimes used when you are able to pass the MRR to you clients.
Private Label Rights (PLR)
That brings us to private label rights. Many people mistakenly assume that this gives you carte blanche to do whatever you want with the content. However, this isn’t always the case. There are a spectrum of rights that fall under the PLR umbrella and most products will have some restrictions.
Most of the best PLR products will restrict the rights you can pass on to your clients. Some will only allow you to pass personal use. Others will allow RR or MRR. But rarely will a paid product give you the right to pass PLR rights. This makes the product less valuable for other people who’ve purchased the PLR.
There are often restrictions on how the product can be sold, bundled or used as a bonus, whether it can be given away, whether it can be used in article directories, etc.
Exclusive Rights
For sake of completeness, let’s touch on exclusive rights. When you hire a ghostwriter (either freelance or as an employee) the rights to the content rest with you exclusively. Basically, you are buying the copyright.
Another type of exclusive right belongs to a publisher who gains the right to publish the material.
Now, Should You Use PLR?
The question of the hour is now whether you should use PLR as content for your business. The answer is definitely “it depends.”
PLR is not the right fit for every situation. If your business requires a great amount of content then PLR can be a helpful way to build that content. Article packs can be purchased from reputable dealers that give you a set of articles on a given topic. Prices usually range around $1 per article in the pack.
These article packs will usually be limited editions (100 or 200 sales only). And you are not only allowed, but encouraged, to rewrite the content. This allows you to add your voice to it as well as make it unique.
You can also use PLR for autoresponder sequences, making an eBook to sell or give away. There are many different ways to use PLR.
The important things to keep in mind are that you must abide by the restrictions of your license and remember that the quality of the writing will reflect on you.
Don’t just slap some free stuff that you’ve collected on your site. There is a lot of really terrible PLR out there. It can be used if you’re willing to spend a lot of time on it, but often it is best used as inspiration for your own writing.
If you’d like to learn more about using PLR effectively then you can check out LoneWolf’s PLR Income Adventure, a 6 lesson video course that goes more in depth on how to find and use private label rights content to your advantage.
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PLR at time could be a blessing in disguise but i don’t think PLR articles are good because there are lots of bad plr in case of articles and same stuff has been sold to many so when you use that content, you are putting duplicate content on your site or blog. PLR videos especially tutorials could be a great, they could be used as bonus.
Thanks for sharing this information.
akhilendra recently posted..Skyrocket Your Affiliate Commissions with TrustJacker
The challenge with PLR is using it wisely. Since you should not be using it “as is” then the duplication should never be a problem. However, that is what far too many people do. They just put it up as an article on their blog (or worse, submit it to an article directory).
There is a lot of bad PLR. I know because my hard drive has hundreds of thousands of articles that are just that. But there are lots of bad marketers out there too, but we don’t stop our attempts at internet marketing because of that. We just work harder to make something worthwhile.
If you apply the same principle to PLR you’ll see that it takes some effort on your part to find good PLR and use it well. But the value you get from that effort will be worth it in the long run.
Bill Nickerson recently posted..The 3 Little Pigs for the Modern Age
Kudos to your comment, I was such a noob about PLR, reading these comments gave a good insight about it.! Thanks all!
Rohan Shankar recently posted..Best and Latest Novels to Read from 2012 India
Glad that you found it helpful Rohan! The more that people learn about it, the less we’ll find people using content incorrectly. Unfortunately there will always be those who abuse it. But that would only be intentional, not accidental.
Bill Nickerson recently posted..Battling Comment Spam — Moderating Comments
I do agree with you PLR video works very well and they can be the main munition but if are on article but it make us ruined.
@ Bill,
I think many people do this but at where they go?
One point will be the last of them.
Bhushan recently posted..Small Business Inventory Software
Hi Bhushan
It is important to remember that PLR content will typically allow you to change the content so that it is unique. RR or MRR doesn’t allow that. It is more like the content you can post from an article directory — use it but don’t change it.
Just remember that there will be others who have the same rights.
The other problem people have with PLR is that there is a lot of really poor articles and ebooks floating around with PLR. It requires much more work to make it presentable. And if it is free content then there are no restrictions on who else might have a copy of it.
Quality PLR is usually purchased from a reputable dealer (they often have free samples) and sold in limited quantities.
Here are some of the sources that I recommend:
http://listmarketingadventure.com/plr-a-la-lonewolf/plr-sources/
Bill Nickerson recently posted..Battling Comment Spam — Moderating Comments
Good question and post on PLR. Its difficult to say if one should use it or not but I suppose if its completely rewritten then it should be OK but as long as the quality of the post is not compromised and its not used all the time.
Shalu Sharma recently posted..State of Bihar – Places of interest and tourist attractions
PLR doesn’t need to be completely rewritten all the time. If it is well written, just changing it a little to add your own voice to it can be enough. Sometimes you might want to add to the article or take pieces out to fit your message.
PLR isn’t that different from having your work ghostwritten for you. The main difference is that you don’t get exclusive rights to the content.
Bill Nickerson recently posted..The 3 Little Pigs for the Modern Age
Don’t just slap some free stuff that you’ve collected on your site. There is a lot of really terrible PLR out there. It can be used if you’re willing to spend a lot of time on it, but often it is best used as inspiration for your own writing.
Now, I know how to behave correctly 
This is the best passagae from the article.
Thank you for your advice. It helped me a lot and improved my mood
Thanks Mary
I’m glad that you got something good out of the article. Hopefully you’ll be able to determine the best way to use PLR for your purposes.
Bill Nickerson recently posted..The 3 Little Pigs for the Modern Age
Thanks Bill for the insight for PLR.
I do have some PLR articles and was thinking how should I use them. I am particularly fond to use them as ebook for bonus. I just need to how to do it properly.
Cheers.
mwong81 recently posted..Be Aware Of Your Affiliate Payout Schedule
Hi Michael
I hate to make a blatant plug, but you could check out LoneWolf’s PLR Income Adventure (link is at the end of the article).
But the important thing to remember when using PLR to create an ebook is that you want the end result to be something you’d be proud to put in your customer’s hands. Make sure the information is valuable and that the book flows well (i.e. is easy to read).
Bill Nickerson recently posted..The 3 Little Pigs for the Modern Age
I’m wondering if it would work if you didn’t completely re-write the PLR, just made it more your own with your own words and how you perceive the topic.
Hi lenin
Using your own words is the main way to rewrite. You don’t need to rewrite every word, but if you wouldn’t use the word “Dude” then change it to what you would use.
Adding more content to fill it out or removing stuff the doesn’t fit what you’re trying to accomplish with the content is another way to change it.
Don’t worry about getting every single word changed. That isn’t the goal.
Bill Nickerson recently posted..The Anatomy of the Perfect Post
I use PLR on one of my blogs. I find that I can rewrite and post in an hour. I first use “spinwriter to get a unique version. 2nd Check on Copyscape. Spinwriter usually gives me a 80% plus change, but copyscape is much lower, more like 65%.
I take the spun article, and rewrite paragraph by paragraph, then go back to copyscape. I usually now get anywhere from zero to 10%.
Stan Cahn recently posted..Turkey on the Grill – A new way to prepare the bird for the holidays
Stan, I suspect that you’re working harder than you need to, but it doesn’t hurt to get it as unique as possible. I tend to use PLR more for things like freemium reports, email sequences, etc. But I do sometimes use it for blog posts too. I just like to give it my own voice.
Bill Nickerson recently posted..The Anatomy of the Perfect Post
Hi Billl,
I was really amazed with your article. A lot of things had come onto my mind. Thank you for all the reminders that one should remember in using PLR. You have able to help me determine the best way to use it. Thank you!
Helle Mikkelsen recently posted..A State of Victimhood
I’m glad that I was able to help!
Bill Nickerson recently posted..The Anatomy of the Perfect Post
Great post about PLR but it can not be used all the time because there are some bad PLR too.
Kevin recently posted..Techniques to Drive Traffic from Google Plus
There are some people who use PLR all the time. I love to write, so I don’t use it very often. But I also don’t post as much as I should either 8=)
Having a mix of self written articles, PLR, syndicated articles and guest posts can help a blogger build content for their site. You just have to decide how much of each to include in the mix to get the site you want.
Bill Nickerson recently posted..Battling Comment Spam – What Is It?
When you will go for it before that you should know each and every thing about that well.
It’s very interesting to see how rights and ownership and permission and copyrights have work themselves out a bit in the online world. It’s so important to establish these fundamentals to protect site owners. It’s exciting to see this lawless blogging world turn into something a little more established and understood. Things are only improving for the validity of online work like this.
I think a lot of people feel that they can get away with violations of copyrights, etc. because it is so hard to police it. I know that I’ve had people use my articles from article directories without respecting the rights. But it would be a full time job to police it — I tried a couple of times.
So I just focus on creating content that meets the needs of my readers. Google and the other search engines are getting better at filtering out the sites that scrape content. Still not perfect though 8=(
Bill Nickerson recently posted..Battling Comment Spam – What Is It?
I have found that many people who use my articles without including my bio are posting these articles to cheap sites such as blogger.
Google is excellent at pulling down the articles from blogger if you report them, but that is all that really happens – a slap on the hand and the article removed.
There really needs to be a better system in place so that lazy, unmotivated people get more than just slap on the hand for stealing work from people who actually put in effort.
Kari recently posted..How To Enjoy Your Day Off From Work
Unfortunately the process to report scraping is hard — otherwise it would become a tool of the blackhats. But the difficulty of the process plays into their hands at this point.
Eventually Google et al will learn how to determine the original better and the scrapers will lose ground. I think they know how to do it now, but they have so many other factors that the original sometimes gets lost.
Bill Nickerson recently posted..Battling Comment Spam — Moderating Comments
PLR always confuses me. Thanks for the great and insightful article. I bookmarked this post.
Suresh recently posted..5 Offline Marketing Techniques to Boost Your Online Traffic
It can be very confusing. Sometimes the terms with a plr product seem to be conflicting — for example, some say you can’t use it as a bonus for another product, but you can give it away.
Just make sure that you understand the terms for each product. Assume that any rights that aren’t specifically granted you don’t have.
Bill Nickerson recently posted..Battling Comment Spam – Dealing With It
The problem i have with PLR is that my results always get penalty for publishing duplicate content.
Great article btw
You need to modify the PLR that you use on your website. Remember, you’re not the only person who has the rights to use it.
Google doesn’t penalize sites for duplicate content, but they do “hide” duplicates in order to show the searcher more choices. I remember how frustrating it was in the past to find something in the SE’s when every page in the top 10 or 20 was a duplicate.
So, modify the content. Split it up into multiple articles or combine 2 articles into 1. Replace the introduction and conclusion. Anything to make it different.
Bill Nickerson recently posted..Battling Comment Spam – Dealing With It
Thank you for an excellent summary on a subject that I for one had not really appreciated. Makes you understand the issue associated with plagiarizing content, and why there are such useful tools to flag when that’s happening.
steverob recently posted..Headlight Restorer: it’s all here!
It is very important that you only use content that you have the rights to use. And to only use it within the limits of the rights.
That is part of what makes PLR so confusing… there are so many different combinations and permutations of rights involved.
Bill Nickerson recently posted..Battling Comment Spam — Moderating Comments
In past PLR Articles were great for a short time success in Blogging .But now Big G is awaken
Narender Chopra recently posted..Answer Keys of RPSC Head Master Exam
In my opinion, if everybody would obey PLR it would be like utopia for internet users. Copywriters and re-writers are like the good and the bad sides in this contest. I think it’s very hard to obey the licence rules, and to construct them.
PLR is still good to use as long as you don’t abuse it. When you’re using it on a web page you need to make changes to make it unique. If you’re using it for email or ebooks then it isn’t as critical (unless the terms require it).
The stuff Google is going after is more along the lines of posting the same content across hundreds or thousands of article directories just to get backlinks. It doesn’t matter if you’re using PLR or stuff you wrote yourself.
Bill Nickerson recently posted..Battling Comment Spam — Moderating Comments
I don’t like PLR. PLR content look like spin article. I usually combine many source, and rewrite with myself words.
julidarmaputra recently posted..Natural Remedies To Overcome Odor In Vagina
Julidarmaputra, PLR content varies in quality from crappy articles written by those who don’t speak English well all the way up to high quality, well written and researched articles. You’ve probably read PLR content without realizing it that it was PLR.
If you mean what I think you mean about combining many sources and rewriting, then you are doing exactly what PLR is meant for. However, if you don’t have the rights to use the original sources then you are violating copyrights.
Bill Nickerson recently posted..Battling Comment Spam — Moderating Comments
in the past PLR Articles were great for a short time success in Blogging .But now Big G is awaken!
Thanks and keep up the good work!
charles Leahy recently posted..Transportation in Dubai
@Charles
I agree with you 100% The big G is awaken to all things PLR, and the only way to use it wisely would be to rewrite it 100% and then check it with the net to see if its unique and if it is, submit it to one of the top article directories but don’t keep rewriting it….. just simply rewrite another one ,) unique content is the only way to go….
Awesome post! Love this blog!
PLR is very powerful content if used correctly. It save a lot of my time researching, writing reviews and creating product page… Some package offers really high quality content. Only use the ideas and rewrite the content to make it unique and you are good to go.
Tu Nguyen recently posted..5 Tips to Drive Traffic with Better Article Marketing Strategy
I think that there is still too much emphasis in people’s minds to make things 100% unique. That isn’t necessary unless you’re using it for article directories, etc. If you are using it on your own site then your goal is to give it your voice and make it stand out.
If you’re using it to help build a product (e.g. email course, eBook) then uniqueness is even less important since the search engines don’t come into play. Here, the goal is to ensure the content is accurate and give it your voice.
PLR can be used for so much more than just articles!
Bill Nickerson recently posted..The 3 Little Pigs for the Modern Age