5 Tips on Using Private Label Content

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!