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If PLR Is Wrong, I Don't Want to Be Right

There are some people out there who are 125% against PLR. I'm not one of them.

For the record, PLR stands for private label rights. It can apply to anything with a copyright and is frequently used with web content. How it works: a copyright has several pieces to it. With PLR, the copyright holder specifies which rights can be sold. Typically, with PLR content, the copyright holder sells the right to modify and reprint the content to several different people for a low price.

Some people are against PLR. They say it saturates the internet with regurgitated content making it hard for high school students to do their research papers. They also say it drives down rates for other writers. Some say PLR is morally wrong.


There's a saying - There's nothing new under the sun. Everything we say, every word we write is regurgitated from something else we've seen or read. Unless, you're writing about some theory you've proven, you're regurgitating something you've already seen.


Millions and millions of pages exist on the internet. Anyone who uses the 'net as a source of information - high school students included - needs to know how to use the internet for research. If you click through the first 10 search engine results and they all say the same thing, then go to the 11th result, or the 25th, or the 100th.


The existence of PLR shouldn't drive down anyone's writing rates. The key is to differentiate the value of your writing from that of PLR. What buyers like about PLR is that it's cheap and it's "good enough." You don't want those buyers. You want the buyers who want quality content and are willing to pay for it. They're out there.

The thing I like about PLR is that it's purely a business proposition. As I stated earlier, there's a market of buyers who want cheap content. PLR can be made cheap. On the other hand, I want to make money from my writing. So, the buyer compromises by accepting the fact that his/her articles aren't completely unique. I compromise too. Since PLR is sold multiple times, it takes time to make your money. I think of it as an investment with nice dividends rather than rely on it to pay the bills every month.

As writers, it's up to each of us to make decisions about the services and products we offer. PLR may not be right for everyone, but it's proven to be just fine for me.

Update...

It's been awhile I know, such an embarrasingly long time that I considered taking the blog down and pretending it never existed. At least that way, I could ignore that fact that I didn't post for months. Alas, I let Writer's Brew stay up, despite the lack of fresh posts because a number of people find old posts by searching for freelance terms.

So for the update...I'm still writing for About.com and loving it. It's challenging, rewarding, and perfect.

I'm launching a new blog called Budgeting Daily focused on personal finance aspects of everyday life. The blog's there already with a couple of posts, so I guess this is somewhat of an announcement. I have a much better plan for this blog than any other blog. I'll continue to update as it unfolds.

I'm considering moving this blog to Wordpress, but I haven't made a final decision. If and when I decide to move, I'll definitely post to let you know about the move and the new address.

Finance PLR articles are still for sale.

Freelance projects are always in the works.

Winning Loyal Blog Readers

There's been a meme going around that asks bloggers to list the top reasons they won't come back to a blog. As I read through a few of the responses, I saw some common themes that I believe can be used create a blog that readers come back to.

1. Be an active blogger. Update your blog regularly and respond to comments. I must admit, I don't do these things faithfully, but as of today I will do better. Readers take time to visit your blog, make sure you make their time worthwhile. No one wants to read an abandoned blog.

2. Be consistent. Readers like reliable blogs. Changing themes, titles, topics, urls, point of view, and voice only confuses your readers. Upgrading your theme or moving to a better platform is acceptable as long as it's not done frequently.

3. Have something to say. Why have a blog if you don't have anything to say? Random rumblings don't win loyal readers. Blogging on a topic you know and have a passion for will help you keep posts interesting and consistent.

4. ...And say it well. Voice is arguably the most important aspect of your posts. Sure, grammar and spelling are important. As long as you can entertain and inform your readers, they'll likely forgive an error here and there.

How To Ask For A Raise

If you want to make more money from your writing, you have to get paid more. So how do you ask your clients to give you a raise? You don't.

When you work for yourself, the only person you have to ask for a rate increase is you.

Ever noticed McDonald's asking you if they can increase the price of hamburgers? No, you just go there one day and the price has increased. While you probably don't have the brand power of McDonald's, the underlying concept remains - you don't have to ask your customers if it's ok to charge them more. You just charge more and let them choose whether to pay or go elsewhere.

"My clients are used to paying me $xx/word, how do I get them to pay me more?"

Let your current clients know you've decided to increase your rates. I used "due to increased demand for my services" as my reason. You can choose to make the rate increase effective immediately or you can phase in the new rate over a period of a few weeks or months.

Start quoting new clients at your higher rate. Update your rates on your online portfolio if you have them posted there.

"Won't I lose clients by increasing my rates?"

You might, or you might not. Losing a client who isn't willing to pay you what you're worth isn't really a loss at all. Actually, it'll give you more time to get clients who will pay your rates.

If you fear a setback in income, first build up a three- or four-month cushion to fall back on just in case. (You should have this anyway).

"By how much should I increase my rates?"

That's up to you. How much are other freelance writers charging? How much more money do you need to make a livable wage?

"What if no one will pay my new rates?"

Then, you have to evaluate the increase. If you find that people are saying your rates are too high, either you're targeting the wrong people or your writing skills don't justify the increase.

Do You Have An Online Portfolio?

How do you get freelance writing jobs? You show potential clients your superb writing samples.

Of course, you can email links or attachments to clients each time you're interested in a writing position. Or, you can simply send a single link to your online writing portfolio.

Having a portfolio online shows interested clients that you're a professional writer with a serious interest in a freelance writing business. It also makes it easier for clients to "stumble" upon you. (Make sure clients can easily contact you from your portfolio.)

You don't have to provide links to every piece you've ever written, unless you only have a few pieces under your belt. As your portfolio gets larger, you can only include your best pieces. Or, you can link to a variety of pieces to show the range of your experience.

As more and more people are using the internet to find freelance writing jobs, you should solidify your online presence with an writing portfolio.

You Owe It (At Least) To Your Fingers

A lot of new freelance writers are so eager to get some writing experience and exposure that they're willing to write for free.

Five Reasons You Shouldn't Write For Free

1. Professionals, regardless of industry, don't work for free.
2. If you don't value your work enough to charge for it, clients won't value it enough to pay for it.
3. "Exposure" - something many clients promise in lieu of payment - won't keep your lights on.
4. Payment is often motivation to do a better job.
5. More often than not, writing for free leaves you with no tangible benefit.

Writing for free isn't always bad, but it's the exception, not the rule. As a freelance writer, you should always expect to get paid for the work you do.

Organization Is A Process

Do you ever reach a point where it seems like your work schedule is out of control? That's how I've been lately. Somehow over the course of a few months things became unorganized. Rather, I let them get unorganized.

I've learned that while it's good to take a break from routine every once in awhile, it's important to get right back into the routine. Otherwise, work can get off-balance.

So this is what I'm doing to get back on track:

1. Hanging a white board for my office area (I should have done this a long time ago)
2. Making a list of all my outstanding assignments and due dates
3. Putting together a plan to get outstanding work complete
4. Making a schedule for ongoing projects like About, Writer's Brew, and Finance Finals.
5. Writing both schedules on the white board so that I'm constantly reminded of what I should be doing

I'll section off part of the board into a calendar and shade in the days that I'm booked up with work. This will make it a lot easier for me to schedule new work.

As I schedule new work, I'll make sure to write it on the board so I don't schedule other work during the same time.

Funny, this is more project management than freelance writing, but it's obviously a key skill needed to keep everything in line.

How do you make sure your work stays organized on a consistent basis? What do you do when you find your work life spiraling out of control?

7 Reasons I Don't Read Your Blog

Jenn from All Freelance Writing has listed 7 reasons she won't read your blog, here are mine.

1. You're boring. No matter the purpose or audience of your blog, you should always be entertaining. Putting some personality into your posts will keep me coming back.


2. Posts are far and few. I recently removed a few blogs from my faves list because they hardly ever update. There's no point in me remembering to visit your blog if you can't remember to update it.


3. The template doesn't show correctly in my browser. I visit some blogs where you have to scroll past the sidebars to get to the posts. I might visit once or twice more, but if a couple of weeks go by without the template being changed, I probably won't come back.


4. Your blog is overly saturated with Google ads. There's nothing wrong with making money from your blog. There is something wrong with focusing more on money-making than pleasing me as a reader.


5. You're faking it. If I get a "Sally in the diner" feeling when I read your blog, I'm not coming back. Don't just regurgitate something you read somewhere else, offer something different, a new perspective on an old topic.


6. I don't know who you are. You don't have to tell your lifestory in your blog, but it shouldn't read like an Economics lecture. Use the words "I", "me", and "my" every once in awhile. Tell me something about your experience or point of view.


7. Someone else's blog is better than yours. There are a lot of blogs out there. Why should I read yours if someone else's is better?

Instead of tagging 3 more people, because most the blogs I visit have been tagged already, I'll point you to a few blogs that I read regularly.

Violent Acres
Perez Hilton
AllFreelanceWriting

A Such Thing As Too Much Work?

As of late, I've been having tons of new projects and more inquiries coming on a daily basis. I wish there were more hours in the day because I absolutely love this.

A piece of advice, never turn down a job because you're swamped right now. Schedule it for sometime in the future. Let the client know when you'll be able to start and when you expect to finish. You'll find a lot of them don't mind the wait, especially if you promise to deliver a quality product.