Private label content is the current fad in internet marketing. In a nutshell, private label rights articles, known as PLR articles, are written and sold to marketers with the understanding that they can be used in any way the buyer wishes, including the ability of the buyer to claim authorship of the articles. They offer the promise of a shortcut for those who cannot write well or who don't have time to write original work. With all the excitement, how could anyone think they're a bad idea? I can give you five reasons why they can damage your business as well as some advice to help you sail past the seductive sirens of the PLR craze. Do you think I'm nuts? Read on to find out.

The first pitfall is that PLR articles often contain inaccurate or misleading information. When a marketer posts an article with his name on it, he is attempting to build credibility and establish his expertise on that subject. If he is found to be publishing inaccurate or misleading content, his credibility can easily be washed away like a sand castle when the ocean tide changes. Worse still, many marketers publish these articles without knowing much about the topic. They may not realize that the content is wrong, and this poor quality information is replicated across the internet.

The second pitfall is a fairly obvious one. Many of the low-cost PLR article offerings are poorly written, with spelling and grammar errors that are blatantly obvious. Some are written by people who do not speak English as their primary language. Others are just sloppily written with no regard for quality. It's clear that the people selling these articles haven't even bothered to run a basic spellchecker. This means that the articles require major rewriting or editing. In that case, you might as well start with a subject you know and edit that. You'll spend the same amount of time writing your own work as you would if you choose to fix the errors and rewrite sentences in the PLR articles. You'll have a superior product when you're finished.

The third pitfall is that when you buy PLR packages, you aren't the only person buying that content. With hundreds of marketers buying the articles, what are the chances that you'll be the only one who publishes them. Your content won't be unique, and both search engines and your readers will notice it. Search engines penalize web sites that use a lot of duplicate content, and readers don't like seeing the same article with 7 or 8 people claiming to have written it. People don't see you as an expert then. They see you as a copycat who is trying to trick them into thinking you're smart.

The fourth pitfall is that many article directories refuse submissions of PLR content because they'd end up with several copies of the same article. Article directories exist to help marketers establish a presence on the web, earn Google Adsense revenue for their owners, provide content for ezine publishers, and to help people build search engine rankings. PLR content is bad for business on all four counts. Even if you edit your article, you are still posting the same information with the same point of view, and that doesn't go over well with the administrators of the article directories.

The fifth and final pitfall is perhaps the most insidious. If you manage to get around the previous pitfalls, this one can still get you. If you post PLR content on a subject you know nothing about, your customers will expect you to understand the topic well. After all, you've claimed to be knowledgeable by putting your name on the article. If one of them calls or emails you with a question about that topic, he will expect you to know the answer. When he finds out that you don't, he will develop a low opinion of you and your business. This is like cyanide for a marketer because unhappy or angry customers tend to tell their friends about the business that has disappointed them. On average, a disgruntled customer will tell 10 people about a company he doesn't like. Those people may share their negative impressions with other people that they know. Do you really want potential customers to respond to your business in that way?

Ok, with these five pitfalls, are PLR products worth the bother? My answer is that it depends on the source and what you want to do with them. Writing original work or hiring a ghost writer give you the best advantages. If you can't do these things, make a point to dodge the pitfalls by buying content from a reputable marketer, use a good spellchecker, and stick to posting about topics you know fairly well. Make sure to edit the article and add your personality to it. By doing these things, you can skate past the pitfalls of using PLR articles.