I’m a huge proponent of PLR articles, but I’m often asked if I feel I’m doing unethical work when using them. I came across the answer in an article written by Nicole Dean. Check it out for yourself.
Recently, in an interview, I was asked “Is it ethical to use private label rights and ghostwritten articles?”
Let me step back a moment and explain… Private label rights (or PLR) articles and ghostwritten articles are used by web owners as a method of outsourcing some of their content.
* PLR articles are packages of articles that are pre-written and sold to more than one person.
* Ghostwritten articles are articles that are written by someone else just for you that you can put your name on and are not sold to anyone else.
In both cases, you are allowed to edit the content as much or as little as you’d like and use the articles on your website, blog, or in your newsletter.
So, back to the question. Is it ethical? My answer was, “usually, yes”.
If you’re using the articles and saying “written by me” without changing anything at all, it may bite you in the butt later, when someone else does the same thing. Does that make it unethical? Not really. It’s just not smart. Can you use the article as it is or edited slightly, without saying it was written by you? Of course!
Most PLR packs are written by ghostwriters. Ghostwriters are professional researchers and writers. If you purchase well-written, informative PLR or ghostwritten articles and share them with your readers, don’t you all benefit? Your readers benefit by getting great information. You benefit by saving time. Is it any different than hiring a graphic designer or webmaster? Not in my opinion. Heck, most politicians don’t write their own speeches. They leave that to people who are professional speech writers.
Of course, you’d want to only use top-notch articles and not “sell-out” just to pump out blog posts or web pages quicker. We recommend you research thoroughly before choosing any ghostwriter or PLR service.
Here’s what to look for in a PLR service so you don’t waste your money:
1. Make sure the articles are written well.
2. Make sure that you know what topics you’ll receive (instead of some grab-bag of articles).
3. Be sure that the people running the program have some experience in article writing themselves, so they know what they’re doing.
There’s no point in doing everything on your own, especially if you dislike writing. All successful business people outsource the tasks they are not good at or dislike. Check it out. It might take some pressure off you and allow you to spend more time with your kids. And, that’s definitely ethical.
Nicole Dean is the co-owner of Easy PLR where you’ll find high-quality PLR articles on niches sold in very limited quantities.
Permalink 1 CommentAs a business owner, I rely heavily on my mailing lists to keep in
contact with my clients and customers. Sometimes I have free
things to give away that I think you might find helpful. Other
times I’m promoting something that I feel would be of value to your
business. And yes, I even let you know about the things that are
going on with me and my business.
If you have a mailing list, then you know the struggles that come
with it. Determining what to send, when, how often, etc. You
might also wonder how you can maximize your list so that you’re
still remaining helpful but making money at the same time.
It’s a tough balance.
However, I’ve put together a 21 day eCourse on this very subject
with tips written by Jimmy D. Brown. He knows his stuff and rather
than regurgitate the information, I thought I’d give it to you
straight from the proverbial horse’s mouth.
Did I mention that it’s f.r.e.e.?
It is.
Take a peek at what you’ll learn over the duration of this course and sign up
at http://www.heatherjacobson.com/21tips
It’s information you definitely don’t want to miss out on!
Until next time…
Heather
Ok, so it wasn’t really a letter, but it was words…
So for a moment, I’d like to pause and do a little shameless self promotion… but it’s my blog, so I can do that, right?
As you may or may not know, a few weeks ago I released a new book called Expand Your Business…One Subscriber at a Time as part of my $7 Business Builders Line.
I was pretty proud of it. It’s not majorly long, just 32 pages, but it’s packed full of information, it’s only $7 and it comes with a kick-butt affiliate program.
Last night, I got a testimonial from someone who had read the book and I thought I would share…
I had the privilege of working with Heather before this book was written when I was looking to start my own newsletter. I had a lot of fears and concerns at starting a newsletter, but Heather provided me with the support and information I needed to realize that the task is not as overwhelming as I had feared. I am so glad that Heather has written this book to give others the wealth of knowledge I was able to take from Heather and at such a great price!! When I read Heather’s book, I was surprised to learn some tips that I hadn’t even thought of even though I have been providing a newsletter for sometime now. With the information provided in this book I am excited about how I can take my newsletter and make it even better for my subscribers. This book is a must have for not only those thinking of starting a newsletter, but those that are already utilizing newsletters in their business. The best part is her awesome “affiliate” program. Where else can you buy a book and have the potential to earn every last cent you paid. It’s like getting “free” information!! — Yvonne Weld, Thriving Business…the Series
Thanks Yvonne!
If you haven’t picked it up yet, what’s stopping you? Seriously… it’s $7 and worth every penny (especially if you become an affiliate!)
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ROANOKE, VA – “Everybody’s doing it!” says Heather Jacobson, successful Internet marketer and virtual business owner. “It’s just a matter of time before you’ll be doing it too.” “That’s right, I’ve done it multiple times and I can’t wait to do it again!” says Laurie Dart, successful author and virtual business owner. What is IT? Writing e-Books, that’s what. Jacobson and Dart have put together an e-Book to help infopreneurs generate passive income. The Everyday Guide to Writing and Marketing Your e-Book Wisely combines their years of experience and education into an easy to use, easy to follow guide to help you write, publish and sell your own e-Book.
What’s all the excitement around passive income and what is an infopreneur? An infopreneur is an entrepreneur who makes money selling information on the Internet. Passive income is income that does not require your direct involvement. There is an initial investment of time in developing the product and there may be minor costs like the purchase of a domain name, but overall, the investment is minimal. Once you’ve recouped your costs, the income generated from future sales of your e-Book qualify as passive income.
Many successful infopreneurs generate a great deal of passive income selling information online. The most obvious advantage of being an infopreneur is the low overhead and high earning potential. Once you’ve written an e-Book, tele-seminar, e-course or other information product, it can be sold over and over again. It is even better than selling a traditional book because you do not have to print anything and you don’t have to jump through publisher hoops. The costs to produce a piece of information are the same whether you are selling to one person or to millions.
The Internet has changed the way people look for and acquire information. For many the Internet is an overwhelming network of unimaginable volumes of information difficult to navigate and lacking in credibility. Infopreneurs wade through the myriad of information available on the Internet weeding out erroneous or outdated information and consolidating and presenting current accurate information in easily accessible and understandable forms.
About The Everyday Guide to Writing and Marketing Your e-Book Wisely
Heather and Laurie have combined efforts to produce “The Everyday Guide to Writing and Marketing Your e-Book Wisely” a guide to writing, publishing and marketing your own e-Book. The process is not as intimidating as you may think. This e-Book answers all your questions from idea to income!
For more information visit the Web site at http://www.penandpublishebooks.com.
About Heather Jacobson
Heather Jacobson is the author of Making Dollars Out of Cents: 101 Tips for the Frugal Marketer, and is also the publisher of the popular ezine, Marketing Made Simple, a bi-weekly publication filled with simple marketing tactics designed to enhance one’s marketing efforts. An expert in implementing marketing campaigns for companies on a budget, Heather thrives on coaching others to achieve financial success. For more information, visit www.HeatherJacobson.com.
About Laurie Dart
Laurie Dart, owner of Writing Wisely is the author of The Everyday Guide to Writing Wisely. She provides writing and editing services to entrepreneurs and small business owners. To learn more about how you can improve your writing, visit: www.writingwisely.com.
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Affiliate or Referral Program?
If you own a website that sells a service, hand-made products, or an informational product that you’ve created, then an affiliate program can help you to get more traffic and make more money in the process.
What is an Affiliate Program?
Affiliate or referral programs reward people for bringing them customers.
There are three types of affiliate programs:
Pay Per Click, Pay Per Lead or Pay Per Sale. If you’re considering paying for traffic, then you’ll want to check out our article about benefiting from pay per click traffic.
In this article, we’d like to talk about Pay Per Sale. That means that you’ll only pay your affiliates for sending you customers, not just for sending you leads or traffic. So, you pay them money only if they make you money.
I like to compare the Pay Per Sale model to Realtors. They make a commission from each house they sell. If they don’t sell any houses for six months, they don’t make any money during that time. If they sell 100 houses, they make a lot of money.
What are the other benefits of starting an affiliate program?
The benefits are great with an affiliate program. You get exposure from having others spread the word about your product or services, and your work is less than if you tried to do it all alone. You and your loyal affiliates both benefit.
How do you start an affiliate program?
There are several programs available for starting an affiliate program. Before you start, really consider how much growth you plan to have in the coming year.
If you only plan to launch one info product (or electronic product) and want to get it out quickly, then we recommend Clickbank.
Pros: Simple and inexpensive to start. They handle all payments.
Cons: Difficult to track and train your affiliates. You pay per transaction so, if your product becomes very successful, your monthly expenses may become higher than if you had a shopping cart.
If you plan to grow and have multiple products (or you have products that aren’t electronic, like food or skin care), you may want to look into a shopping cart system that has an affiliate program built in like WAHMCart or QuickPayPro.
Pros: All-inclusive. No per-transaction fees. Includes a follow-up responder.
Cons: Monthly fee.
That gives you an idea of where to begin to set up your affiliate program. How do you keep your affiliates loyal and happy? That’s another article…
Until next time…
Heather
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