The question is, how do you choose a good PLR content provider? If you type “private label rights” into Google, you will get over 30 million results! Some providers charge mere pennies. Others require upwards of $50 a month! Some sell PLR on individual products. Others are monthly memberships. How does a well-meaning infoproduct entrepreneur separate the good from the bad?

Following are questions you should ask before committing your precious dollars to a PLR provider:

1. Is the PLR content relevant to my niche?

A common problem for many Internet marketers is to leave PLR content unused. This is more likely if the PLR you have is not relevant to your niche or target market. Sure, some content can be so generic that it can fit a lot of niches. But there are niches that are very targeted and specific, that not all PLR would work for them. So before you buy any PLR, look at the topic and make sure you can repurpose it to suit your target market.

2. Can I get a free sample of the PLR content?

A PLR provider who is confident about the quality of their products will allow you to sample their content for free. Otherwise, this could be a red flag that the quality may not be up to par.

3.   Is the PLR content original, well-researched and well-written?

Most PLR providers offer free samples or a free trial so you can look at the quality of their PLR content. Make sure the material is well written, with few or now grammatical and typographical errors. Ask the provider if the materials are original, that is, they have never been sold anywhere else before. You don’t want to pay for something that has been circulating the Internet for many months and has been rehashed and recycled to death.

4. Can I buy only what I want/need, or do I get a package regularly, whether I can use it or not?

Some PLR providers force you to purchase bundles of PLR content. This is fine, as long as you’re confident that you can actually use most, if not everything, in the bundle. Otherwise, it’s wiser to go with PLR providers that allow you to buy only what you want and need. Paying for PLR that you will not or cannot use is like flushing money down the toilet.

5. Is there a limit to the number of people who can buy the PLR content?

Although I emphasize the importance of transforming PLR and making it your own, you still want to look for PLR that is offered to a limited number of people only. Find out if the PLR provider has a cap on the number of “copies” of the PLR material they sell. If it’s a PLR membership, is there a limit to the number of members they accept? If not, you may end up with an infoproduct that will soon be mass distributed on the Internet. This leads to price wars wherein people selling the same stuff try to outdo each other by bringing their selling price lower and lower. However, if you are committed to giving your PLR content the “extreme makeover”, then this may not be an issue to you.

6. Does the PLR provider also give training and other resources to help me make the most out of the PLR?

A good PLR provider is committed to your success as an infoproduct entrepreneur. Therefore, a good provider will also give you training and guidance on how to make the most of the PLR you are purchasing. This is a sign of good customer service and a genuine concern for their clients.

7. Does the PLR provider have a good track record?

Here you’ll have to do some sleuthing to get an idea of the reputation and previous performance of the PLR provider you’re considering. Ask other Internet marketers you know where they get their PLR. Or pose the question in an Internet marketing forum. You’re bound to get recommendations for PLR providers in various niches.

8. Am I getting extras along with the PLR content?

Some PLR providers don’t just give you an Ebook or special report. They throw in a sales letter, Ecover graphic and even a matching website header! These can be useful, but remember that you can’t – or shouldn’t – use these as is. You can easily revise a sales letter to make it unique to your product and niche, similar to how you convert the PLR material itself. However, once you change the product’s title, you can no longer use the Ecover and website graphic. Keep this in mind when you’re considering if the price of the PLR is worthwhile.

9. What exactly am I getting?

As I have mentioned in other blog posts, not all PLR is the same. Make sure to read the license carefully and make note of what you can and cannot do with the PLR content. You might be looking for PLR to use as a giveaway to your opt-in list… only to find out that the license does not allow you to do that. Avoid disappointment. Know exactly what you’re getting before you buy.

10. Can I afford the PLR?

The cost of PLR content also varies widely. All other things being equal (upon considering questions 1 to 9), of course you’ll go with the PLR that’s within your budget. Single-purchase PLR may seem to be less expensive than PLR memberships, but it really depends on how you use the PLR. If you can take your monthly PLRs and use them to sell infoproducts, or to get sales from your lists or Ezines, then by all means, go for it.

You are looking for high quality PLR from a reliable provider, that will be highly useful to your target market and the particular business models you use. As you may have realized by now, there are no easy answers when it comes to choosing a PLR provider. It can take some trial and error to find exactly the provider that gives you that “perfect fit”.

Everytime you go through a process of converting PLR material to make it your own unique product, think of how you can give it an “extreme makeover”. Do this after you have rewritten the actual content of the PLR. Some minor changes can make it more attractive and enticing. More extreme measures will make it a whole new product.

Here are some ideas for how to give PLR content a makeover, from the most superficial to the most extreme:

A New Face

Some PLR content comes with its own Ecover. Most of the time, you won’t want to use this. You’ll want a whole new, unique Ecover. After all, you’ve given the product a new title so you won’t be able to use the original cover, either.

A New Outfit

If you’re working with text, make it easy to read and navigate through. Use different font settings to set titles and headings apart from the rest of the text. Make sure there’s plenty of white space, and that the fonts are big enough to read comfortably on a computer screen. Take parts you want to emphasize and put them in a box or sidebar. Add graphics and pictures. You may want to hire a professional to arrange the content in a nice layout.

Cosmetic Surgery

Now we’re getting more extreme and going beyond superficial changes. Take your PLR content and chop it up into smaller pieces, to use for blog posts, E-mails and E-courses.  Or do the opposite: take several PLR articles and bundle them together into a special report or Ebook. Pick out the most action-oriented parts of the material and put together a “how to” list, checklist or step-by-step guide.

Total Transformation

Your PLR is about to become a completely new product altogether. Change its format. If it’s text, read it and create an audio recording. Use the recording as a teleseminar. Or, create a slideshow or screen capture and publish it as a how-to video. You could also use the video as a webinar.

Why not go beyond digital products altogether? Turn that Ebook into a physical book, the audio recording into an actual CD, and the video into a DVD. Now here’s a super cool idea: put several audio products into a preloaded MP3 player. Now you’ve got physical products that I’ll bet your competitors don’t have, and you can charge more for them!

You see, it’s easy to transform your PLR content. You can make simple, superficial changes. Middle-of-the-road changes involving either cutting up or combining together. Or you could take the most extreme step of cutting across media and formats. Do what it takes to set you apart from the competition. Only your imagination is the limit.

Oh, how disappointing. I wasn’t familiar with one of them, but the other was an Internet marketer with some reputation and whom I had respected. Well, now I’m not so sure anymore.

Seeing those identical blog posts has gotten me thinking about all the different ways that people MIS-use PLR content. Now I am an authority on this subject because I have committed almost every single one of these PLR sins.

1. Not Using The PLR They Own.

You need to pay money to get Private Label Rights (PLR) content. Unfortunately, a lot of us pay for PLR content, save them on our hard drives… and then let them collect cyberdust. This happens when we buy PLR without a clear plan for how we’re going to use them. Or when we simply don’t know what to do with PLR – a common dilemma for beginners. What a waste of precious dollars! Some PLR memberships cost almost $50 a month. And if you consider the amount of money you could have made with the PLR, you’ll realize how much $$$$ you’ve been flushing down the toilet. If you have it, use it!

2. Using The PLR As Is.

The bloggers I mentioned above have committed one of the worst sins in using PLR content: they left the PLR intact in its original form. That’s a no-no. Instead, you’re supposed to treat the PLR content as raw material, out of which you will shape and fashion your finished product. Blogs are particularly sticky because they’re supposed to be personal. If you use PLR content, unchanged, then you’re not being honest to your blog readers, are you?

3. Letting PLR Address General Audiences.

This is related to sin #2. Most PLR are addressed to general audiences, so that they can easily be customized to specific target markets or niches. The problem is, some marketers, either because they are lazy or just don’t know any better, don’t adapt the PLR to better suit their target audience. This is another big mistake.

4. Keeping The PLR In Its Original Format.

This is similar to sins #2 and 3. Just because your PLR content is in print form doesn’t mean you have to keep it that way. You can use that PLR to create your own audio recording or podcast. Create a slideshow presentation from it then turn that into a movie for YouTube. Cut an E-book into articles or blog posts. Combine articles into an E-book. Combine related E-books into a home study course. The possibilities are endless.

5. Violating The Terms of The PLR.

Not all PLR are created equal. Each PLR provider has their own version of which rights they are granting to you. Usually, PLR includes the right to edit the material, claim authorship, and sell the content to keep all of the profits. Often, PLR does NOT include the right to sell the material with PLR as well. Some PLR providers allow you to give away the material as a bonus; others don’t! It can be confusing, especially if you get PLR from various providers. To be safe, ALWAYS read the terms of use and keep them for future reference. Review the terms before using the material.

So there you have it, the 5 ways that PLR owners are not profiting from the hidden gold nuggets in their hard drive.

Have I missed any?