If you’ve ever thought of running a private label rights (PLR) content business, but wanted to know the ins and outs of doing so, you’re in luck.
Alice recently presented on the topic at our Best Sellers Summit and we’ve got some excerpts for you here. And hey, if you’re a writer who wants to earn a living using your skills…but don’t know what PLR is, sit tight because Alice explains that too.
Just listen below or read the notes that follow…
In this excerpt, Alice covered the following:
- What is a PLR business?
- And even if you know what it is, WHY it’s such a great business to be in
- Who can run a PLR business?
- Do you see the concept of PLR becoming worn out?
- What you should know before starting a PLR business
Here’s a transcript of the above video…
What is Private Label Rights (PLR) Content?
So, what is private label rights content? If you know this already, bear with me. I might have something new for you to think about in that, in my explanation. But basically, you could think of it as somebody offering a similar service — but different and better, I think — as a ghostwriter.
So, what my company does is we write content. It might be articles, blog posts, reports, e-books. It could be even videos — it can be multimedia content, as well — graphics, and we create those so that our customers can use them.
Now, normally when you’re a ghostwriter, your client tells you what they want. You are at their beck and call to do it exactly how they want it, and sometimes, clients can be annoying. [Laughter] They get the full rights to that content.
You can be paid quite well, but if you do private label rights, you can be paid even more and get rid of that obligation to be at all your client’s whims. Because my company makes premade packages of content, I decide the subjects, what types of things to put in there, based on the knowledge I’ve gained about what I know people will buy, and I sell it over and over again.
So, the customers come to me, they see if they want the content I’ve created, and they buy it. The benefit to me is that I don’t have to deal with clients. I can sell this content over and over again and make more money than I could as a ghostwriter.
The benefit to the customer is that they can buy the content right away, because it’s ready, and they get it at a much cheaper price than if they were to hire a ghostwriter. So, per sale, I make less than as a ghostwriter, but because I can sell it hundreds or even thousands of times over again, I make much more money in the long run.
Who Can Run a PLR Business?
So, let’s talk about who can run a PLR business, and this is interesting because we’re targeting writers here. Our writers are our audience here, but seriously, anyone can run a PLR business if they take the time to learn things and figure it out, because it’s an easy business to get into.
And I’m not kidding. People think I’m exaggerating, but I wouldn’t be doing this for so long. It’s the main part of my business and has been for a long time, and I do not see any change happening in that because people need content and they keep buying content.
I’ve never run a virtual business like this where people just keep buying over and over again. I bet there are people in this room right now who have purchased almost — maybe not all of my PLR, but close. Or actually, they may be All-Access members, so maybe they have purchased everything.
Just, that’s the nature of a PLR buyer. They keep buying because they want more, and because it’s inexpensive, they can often afford to just go ahead and purchase it. Maybe they will use it, maybe they won’t, but overall, still they’ve got that content to drawn on when they need it.
So, I think writers can start a PLR business and anyone who wants to learn a little bit about marketing, you know, people who like to create videos, anybody who is willing to learn what their customers want and deliver it to them.
Do You See an End to PLR?
Here’s another question that people often ask me. People kept predicting the end of PLR being such a hot business opportunity, like everything else — the death of something, the death of email marketing, the death of something.
It’s not such a big topic. People aren’t always talking about PLR, but they kept thinking — and I even think Ron was a little skeptical at some point, too, asking. [Laughter]
Ron: I was. I certainly was.
Alice: Yep. [Laughter]
Ron: I’m like, “People still buy PLR?” You’re like, “Yeah, I’m making hundreds of thousands of dollars.” I’m like, “Whoa. Really?” [Laughter]
Alice: Yes, but I guess, you know, in the early days, people were using it to try to maybe totally get search engine traffic from it.
So, it was a lot of articles. It was things people were posting to just get search engine traffic. In that way, it is a bit limiting because if you’re going to build a site solely out of PLR that other people are also posting, then you may find some challenges.
Because we do so many different types of things, we do content that helps you put your products together, get your emails out there, they’re not relying on Google. Our customers aren’t relying on Google. They’re just relying on us to give them good content that they could share with their customers, their subscribers, and their new visitors.
And people just need content, period. It’s not going away. You think about — it’s similar to stock photos, right? You license the content. You use it. Stock photos aren’t going away.
Associated Press, which I believe doesn’t charge money — or I don’t know if they do — for people to be able to publish their news stories and things like that, they’ve been around forever and they’re not going anywhere. People need content.
People also get worried that the market might be saturated, and I’ve never felt that. One of the reasons I don’t feel that way is because of customers wanting to buy more and more.
I actually personally can’t provide everything my customers want, so I am always promoting other PLR sellers. I have no problems promoting someone else. I’m not worried about losing customers because I know that people need content.
What Should You Know before Trying to Break into the PLR Business?
So, what should you know before trying to break into the PLR business? And by the way, is anybody here already running a PLR business, as well?
I think there might be a couple people here. I’m going to check back in a bit, but we might have some expertise here, as well.
Ron: We have some customers buying PLR, for sure.
Alice: Customers, yeah! [Laughter]
Ron: Yeah.
Alice: Good! Keep buying. [Laughter] I think I just saw — I glanced at a question asking about a small bit of content, and I think actually one of the things to know to break into it is, all you need is one product to start.
A lot of people think they have to have this big PLR store where all these customers can come and they could pick what they want. Most of my sales don’t come that way. Most of it comes from a launch of a PLR product, and then affiliates are promoting it and everything.
The big burst of traffic comes to the new products, and then, I mean, it’s good to have that store where people could keep coming back. Regular customers buy more and you can offer, you know, if they need bulk discounts and things like that.
All you need is that one product to drive traffic to because after all, you want them to go to a focused page of one product. Promote something. You don’t have to offer everything. You don’t have to be an Amazon. You just need to offer something that they can use at that time.
Other things that I’ve learned too is that, as I said, PLR started a lot with articles. Mostly, it was people posting articles to possibly static Web sites at the time. WordPress sites were starting to become popular. But it’s come a long way. We’ve gone to reports, graphics, videos and stuff.
What I really find — and think about this if you are planning to sell or you are selling — is the more practical you can make the content, the better it sells. For example, we created journals. They’re lovely-looking journals.
If you spoke to Melody, who is our customer support here, she also helps me with a lot of the PLR creation. She makes these gorgeous planners for me. Journals, checklists, workbooks, anything that’s a little kind of outside of the box that can get customers working on something, those are the great places to start and grab customers.
Because if you’ve got an article pack and it’s on a certain topic — there are tons of article packs out there, but if you can think about how to make yourself stand out with unique types of content that you don’t always find, customers will come buying it.
What you should know though, also, which I already said, is that customers are going to keep buying from you. So, when you do that one product, make the plan to make the next one and keep that going. Really try to figure out what they like and focus on something, and focus on that instead of trying to provide everything. Right?
Here’s what I want to come back to: the right leveraging and the writing of other people. And it might hurt because if you really like writing — you’re still going to be doing lots of writing, I promise you.
But if you’re going to be focusing on creating all this content, it’s going to be really hard for you to build your customer base, to get people promoting you, and strategizing good products that people will want to buy. You get bogged down in that writing.
So even though I was a writer and I went from ghostwriting and copywriting for clients, I went to the PLR business. When I started with my partner at that time, I said, “I am not writing the content. I will get us customers. I will work our mailing list and all of that stuff,” and that was the best thing I ever did.
We hired writers, my business partner wrote some stuff, and that way I was able to focus on growing. But I’m still using my writing skills and knowledge of writing because I figure out what those products should be, what that content should be. I’m just having someone else create it.
If you feel like that — it’s hard to afford that to start out with — the great thing here is, again, you can start with that one product. Write it yourself if you want, so you could take your time and get that done.
Then you’re going to focus on marketing it and making a good launch out of it. You’re going to make some money and you’re going to be able to pay somebody to do your next one, and then you can focus on the places you need to be a part of.
I think that, I mean, there are exceptions to people who are doing well in the PLR business and do all the writing, but I think they’re few and far between. I know that probably some people — you know Tiffany Lambert? I think she’s crazy. She works way too hard. [Laughter] She works way too hard, but she is an exception.
So, if you want to try it, do it, but I could never do it. It would be too stressful, and I like my freedom and I like to be able to do things when I want to do them. By doing all the PLR writing, I’ll feel like I’m working for a client and the client is me. And I don’t think I’m a very good client. I don’t want to be my client. [Laughter]
The last thing that you should know before you try to break in is, make a plan to get to know other PLR providers. As I said, I’m always willing to promote people. So are most other PLR providers. I don’t know a single one who says they don’t promote other people’s products. It’s because there’s so much opportunity, people are always buying the content.
So, it should be a part of your strategy to get to talk to them. I mean, you could, to start out with, maybe offer a free pack or something to their audience. Just start opening the doors of conversation.
There are also Facebook groups dedicated to PLR sellers. Find those and get involved with them. You know, it’s just the same as getting to know anybody else online. Just identify who those people are and start to get to know them so that when you’re ready to sell products, they will be ready to promote you.
What to Do Next: Get Training and Support Directly from Alice for Your PLR Business
As you may or may not know, we have a training and support program where Alice walks you through the ins and outs of getting started with a PLR business and she even reviews and promotes your first product for you, giving you that kick start you need to get your business growing.
It’s called Content Cash Flow and you can get the full details here.
As you can imagine, the extra promotion and support Alice offers does take up a lot of time and resources, so that part of the program won’t be available at that price for much longer.
Plus, if you join now, you’ll have access to the bonus training: How to Boost Your Earnings Per PLR Sale, which will show you how to ensure typically low cost PLR products bring an even better income for each sale you make.
If you want insider guidance and support from Alice, make sure to grab a spot now.