Good Content = opportunties to:

1. rank in search engines
2. draw links from other sites
3. convert

More Good Content = More opportunties to do the above

Good Content = Hard work

More Good Content = More hard work

Based on those assumptions, many site owners decide to take shortcuts to increase the content on their site, without putting hard work into the process. Some of those shortcuts might work, especially if it simply involves outsourcing the work. In such a case, the hard work is still being performed, but it’s just been allocated to someone else. Outsourcing is a great idea, if the site owner can afford it, but that is not always the case for startup entrepreneurs working on a tight budget. When outsourcing isn’t an option, the shortcuts often involved cutting out the hard work completely from the process, and that’s usually when problems arise.

In most cases, removing “Hard work” completely from the equation turns this:

Good Content = Hard work

into this:

Lousy Content = Shortcuts

which results in this:

Lousy Content = opportunities to:

1. lose rankings in search engines
2. never obtain links from other sites
3. never convert

That’s not at all desirable, so now our site owner has to find a middle ground that will reduce the amount of hard work required to produce content, without hurting the quality of the content itself. Ask 100 successful site owners how they accomplish that, and you’ll probably get at least 50 different answers. Most will utilize several methods. Today’s post will focus on one of my favorite ways of coming up with new content without working harder than necessary.

PLR Content – Modify and Improve

PLR content is any content that is created and sold to multiple people, allowing each buyer to claim the content as her own, with the right to modify the content as she wishes. (PLR stands for Private Label Rights)

Don’t Do This With PLR Content

Some people will purchase PLR content and place it verbatim on their site. That’s definitely not the way to use PLR content, as that will produce the Lousy Content equation above. Why? Because many people are purchasing this content, and many of those people are placing that same content, verbatim, on their sites. Search engines don’t want to rank your tired, used-up, already done content, so don’t even bother trying. In addition, PLR content is often poorly written, which reflects badly upon you, and is unlikely to attract links from other sites, or convert well for you.

How To Turn PLR Content Into Good Content

1. Purchase the best quality content you can find. All PLR content is affordable; some is even free; all are easy to find just by doing a simple search like this one [plr content]. I’ve yet to find any that aren’t cheap enough for even the most modest of budgets, so cost really shouldn’t be much of a factor here. The goal then, is to focus on quality. You may be able to see samples for free, or you may have to spend a couple of dollars to buy a sample, but you should be able to test quality fairly quickly and without much cost. Once you find a good quality source, bookmark it. You’ll want to come back to it often.

   One of my favorite sources is EasyPLR*. The content is well-written, so I can focus on modifying it to suit my style, rather than modifying it to “fix the problems”.

2. If the content you purchase is a “pack” that consists of multiple pieces of content, read them all and then divide them up into three groups. Place the best content in a folder named “Use”; place the “ok” content in a folder named “Inspiration”, and delete the completely useless, lousy content.
3. The good content in the “Use” folder will be the content that you’ll modify and improve. My favorite way to turn PLR content into really good content for my sites is to illustrate it. Here’s an example. Let’s say you’ve found a decent “how to” article that focuses on how to accomplish some task in your niche. Your goal is to carry out that how-to’s instructions, documenting the steps you take along the way, either by taking screenshots, photos, or video of the process. Once you’ve followed the how-to steps, and have media to document each step, you can turn that good PLR content into an outstanding media-filled article for your site. Of course, the text itself should be re-written in your own style, and while this entire process does require work, it isn’t nearly as hard as starting from scratch. Rewriting text is relatively easy in comparison.
4. The “ok” content in the “Inspiration” folder will be used strictly as a source of inspiration whenever you have writer’s block. These articles might be poorly written or even boring, but they may have awesome titles, or just great concepts to jumpstart your thoughts. Sometimes, the content just needs to be fleshed out and expanded upon.
5. Use content from either folder to create Top 10 lists or “Best Of” lists. Cherry-pick the best sentences from different articles, and compile those into one list-type article, rewriting the sentences so they flow well together.

Of course, you may find lots of other uses for PLR content, but the gist of this is that you’ll be taking some shortcuts without sacrificing quality. You’ll save time and money, but you’ll still end up with this equation:

Good Content = opportunties to:

1. rank in search engines
2. draw links from other sites
3. convert

Bottom line: Be smart. Use quality PLR content* and use it wisely. Let it create shortcuts for your content creation process, but don’t take the lazy path. Modify it and improve upon it. You’ll reduce the hard work, but you’ll still end up with good content.

*