Private Label Content is becoming increasingly popular as people
join the rush to fill their websites with high-quality
information. Admittedly, you can have articles written by
freelance writers at sites like Elance or Rentacoder, but it gets
expensive. For those who are not yet generating a high income
through AdSense or affiliate sales, Private Label Content (PLC)
provides a welcome alternative.
=== What is Private Label Content? ===
PLC generally refers to articles, e-books and manuals that are
free for subscribers to use as they wish. There are a few
restrictions, however: you cannot claim copyright to PLC, or
submit it to article sites, unless you change the content
significantly. (Interpret 'significantly' as 'unrecognizable as
the original article'.) The cost of membership varies, but
typically ranges from around $24 to $67 a month. For this you
might receive anywhere from 150 to 300 articles per month. Some
sites also offer graphics (e-book covers and site header
graphics) and even ready-made sales letters.
To use PLC to the best advantage, you need to be aware of a few
things.
=== 1. How Can You Use PLC Articles? ===
The most common use for PLC articles is to provide useful,
interesting content for websites. There are other uses, however.
Think about your immediate needs. If you require an incentive for
people to sign up for your newsletter, you can offer an e-book or
training manual made up from PLC articles. It's easy to tweak
these to be more relevant to your website and your clients. (As
well as putting yourself in Google's shoes, put yourself in your
clients' shoes. What do they most need to know?)
You could also create an e-course (anything from 6 to 52 articles
- a short e-course, or one that offers an article for each week
of the year). This gives you an excellent reason to stay in touch
with your clients.
=== 2. How Can You Alter PLC Articles? ===
Submitting articles to public article directories along with your
resource box is a great way to generate traffic to your
web-sites. However, many directories don't allow you to submit
duplicate content - ie, you have to submit your own unique
article. Therefore, when submitting an article that you obtained
from a private label content resource, it's advisable to first
alter the article before submission. Here are a few tips in that
regard...
(a) Change the title of the article. If you are using
keyword-optimized articles, make sure you keep the keyword in the
title - but be creative about the words that surround it. So if
your article is based on the keyword "Mongolian Guinea Pig", your
title might be "Where to Find the Mongolian Guinea Pig" or
"Taking Care of Your Mongolian Guinea Pig" and so on.
(b) Change the opening paragraph. All you need to do (usually) is
make sure that your keyword appears once. Take a look at the rest
of the paragraph. How can you say the same thing in a different
way? Look for synonyms - using your thesaurus - or alter the
tone. Perhaps you can adopt a more casual approach (this might
work better for your readership anyway). You might prefer write a
different introduction altogether.
(c) Work through the article. Add a sentence here; subtract one
there. Present the facts in a different order. Expand by adding
some new points. Break a long article into two shorter articles.
(If you do this, make sure each article seems complete in
itself.)
(d) Rewrite the ending. When you do this, think about what you
want the reader to do. Is this a good place to put your own
affiliate link, or write a lead-in to your own product or
services?
=== 3. Blend Several Articles Into One ===
You can get a whole new look if you take two or more PLC articles
on the same theme and blend them into one longer, fact-packed
article. Sometimes you might find you HAVE to do this, if an
article seems a bit 'lightweight'. Not all PLC articles are
created equal! Sometimes it's obvious that the writer was low on
inspiration.
=== 4. Think Outside the Square. ===
Most PLC articles are presented in batches relevant to one niche.
For example, you might find that over the course of a month you
get 20 articles on golf, 20 on cell phones, 20 on credit cards
and 20 on travel. Let's say that you are busy building a golf
site. It might seem at first glance that only 20 of the 80
articles are relevant to your needs.
Not so! Golf vacations, for example, are very popular. Could any
of your travel articles be massaged to fit the theme of golf
vacations? It's very likely that they could. And what about
communication while you travel - or while you play golf? Does the
golfer need a new cell phone that will easily adapt to overseas
communications? How will the golfer pay for a new set of clubs or
a golf vacation? Might he need to explore credit card options?
You see how it's done. Be creative in your use of Private Label
Content, and you will definitely get your money's worth.
=== 5. One Final Tip - Hold Out For Quality! ===
Now that Private Label Content is becoming popular, more and more
PLC sites are opening up. You can afford to be choosy. Check out
the quality of the articles on offer, and especially the niches
being targeted. Niche areas like golf and credit are popular, and
that's exactly what you want. You want to go where there is an
*existing* demand. You do NOT want obscure niches where there is
little activity. You WANT to go where there is competition.
Naturally, the profitable niches will always have competition.
Where there is competition, there are buyers! So you want to
look for demand, look for competition, and carve your niche!
Finally, consider being a member of more than one PLC site. Is it
worth it to you to spend $150 a month on quality,
no-strings-attached content? That would get you membership of 3-4
sites and upwards of 400 articles each month. Even if you can use
only 50 of those articles, you're getting them for $3 each - a
bargain!
About the Author:
Dechen Lau., is an Author, Speaker and
E-Commerce Consultant Of Internet Marketing
Ultimate Traffic Tools For Internet Marketing
http://www.vipmembershiponline.com
5 Tips on Using Private Label Content
