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Will Content Kill the Web?
The Web is on a crash course for disaster. There’s a glut of content out there, with more added daily in phenomenal amounts. The information is repetitive and redundant. The churned-out content that fills up the Internet is making it hard for people to sort out the good and the accurate from the ugly.
People – this is a problem.
Enter PLR content. I have very strong feelings about PLR content. I know plenty of people who write it, who sell it and who buy it. I wrote it myself, once long ago. I have yet to be convinced that this type of content is a good thing.
PLR articles are articles that someone sells. These sellers basically hand over most rights to the work but keep the lucrative aspect – the resale potential. The original seller offers private label rights articles that can be changed, modified, sometimes resold, and he sells those articles multiple times over to many different people.
Sound like a moneymaker? You betcha.
PLR content drives down the market value of web content. Why buy pricier work when nearly-free (and sometimes free) is right there for the taking? Many writers end up getting tired of fighting for decent wages and they give up. It’s tough to battle the constant feeding frenzy of rewritten, reworked, rehashed and regurgitated. Why care? No one else does.
Those in favor of PLR claim that the strategy of reselling an article as many times as possible helps lower prices to offer affordable content. They claim to be helping people who can’t afford original work. They swear that PLR articles are cost-effective as a means of getting content for a business.
I’m uncomfortable about these claims. What good is an article that looks and reads almost identically to the next? What value does this bring to a business if the competition is using the same content? What helps a business stand out if everyone is offering exactly the same as the next guy?
Similarity as a marketing strategy? This makes no sense, people.
Take a look at what one high-profile PLR article seller sent out in a mass email to members of his spin-ready content forum:
A few months ago, our Premium Spin Ready PLR members received 5,400 article variations every month from us.
Well, that has changed.
They now get 7,200 variations!
That’s right. Over seven thousand articles for you to choose from and use every month.
Let’s do some math, shall we?
- A spinning program can produce about 30 (sometimes more) variations of one single article. If there are 7,000 articles and each has the potential to produce 30 variations, that’s 210,000 articles hitting the net in one month.
- In a year, those 7,000 articles become 2,520,000 articles – with one click of the mouse and very little difference in the content.
- If 100 people buy only one article and spin that article 30 times each, that’s 3,000 variations of one article hitting the internet each month. There are duplicate articles in those numbers, guaranteed.
- If the article isn’t spun, it still means that there are 100 competitors using the same content to lure, attract and tempt potential customers to your business.
Since when did being identical become good for business? I don’t even have a count as to how many PLR producers there are on the Internet. Probably a lot, because PLR brings in cold hard cash. I’m not even sure of how much cash, but I have an idea.
Considering that each PLR article can be modified and reused (and sometimes even resold) multiple times… that’s one hell of a lot of content filling up the Internet. That poor article gets around more than a hooker from St-Catherine’s street does. Take a look at this comment from Kristen King posted at Inkthinker:
If you can bang out a couple of those [articles] a week, package them, and sell them to multiple buyers for a low individual rate while raking in a tidy cumulative profit, why shouldn’t you? That’s what these PLR articles are. And yeah, a lot of them are crap, but who cares?
To hell with building a valuable resource we call the web. Let’s learn how to use the Internet for profit. Let’s see how much this baby can take before it crashes, and let’s take the money and run.
PLR has three effects on me: I feel disgusted. I feel dirty and want to take a shower. I am instantly reminded of drug dealers feeding someone’s jones without a care in the world about an overdose or a death. It’s all about the money.
Consider this email I received:
I have been trying to find information on sheet metal, of all things. I am pissed at all the lazy keyword crammers out there stuffing the Internet with useless information just for the sake of page ranking and SEO.
If the articles do make sense, they are little else than sales pitches for some business or another. If you do find a nugget of information, 20 different sites have the same info or worse yet, have it copied it word for word.
It made me think of that recycling motto “reduce, reuse, recycle.” If writers can’t at least put their own spin on a topic or provide genuine information instead of retyping what Wikipedia says, they should pack up their website and get another job!
All this useless garbage is clogging up the information super-highway like a festering ball of hair in the bathroom drain.
I can’t tell you when the web crash will come, but it will. A year? Three? Ten, maybe? At the exponential rate of content churning out, something has to break.
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I first heard of PLR probably within the past few months, and was immediately turned off by it. I don’t know, it just sounds so… sleazy to me. Maybe it’s because I’m still in school, but the comparison that comes to my mind is reusing a paper or a book report that you got a good grade on. Which to me, is just immoral. And it frustrates me to no end when I’m trying to find information about something, and the same damn article comes up over and over again, and it isn’t even useful!
Did that make any sense… or have any relevance to what you wrote? I’m not sure. It’s 3am here and I can’t sleep, so I’m sure I’ll come back in the morning and wonder what the hell I just wrote.
Oh… and first!
Allison’s last blog post..Taste and Create 5
James,
Two things comes to mind: once you really have to use the Internet on a regular basis, you become very selective about the sites you choose. Word of mouth starts to mean a lot. Even in a search for content, if the url doesn’t ring any bells I may not click. So discerning readers learn to hunt for quality, not regurgitations. So maybe intelligent life will kill PLR.
Ah, then again, maybe there’s not enough of that.
The other thing that comes to mind is that unique, remarkable writing becomes even more valuable with the rise of junk content. So you and Harry are good for quite a while. It’s like wondering whether Big Box Stores will kill the little guy. Not if your Experience is irreplaceable.
Regards,
Kelly
Kelly’s last blog post..Why TypePad Doesn’t Want Your Comments
Hey, that’s not nearly my last post! Whazzup?
Kelly’s last blog post..Ever Think of Getting Over to the Gym?
Okay, that’s just weird.
Kelly’s last blog post..Ever Think of Getting Over to the Gym?
James, that’s always been my ultimate gripe with PLR… the Internet may drown in its own regurgitated material – when you do a search for information and you get the same article, spun 20 ways.
On the other hand, I think there will be a real opportunity here, for the best bloggers to shine with their own unique voice. They will cut through the clutter.
Or, should I say… we
Paul | Internet Influence Magic’s last blog post..How To Use Seth Godin’s Bald Head As Link Bait
Hmm. I’m still new to all of this, so this is the first time I’ve heard of this.
My opinion? It stinks. So what to do about it?
Perhaps, like the way some are walking away from electronic PDA’s and returning to paper, some will do the same. Unplug from the quagmire of mediocrity and create something unique.
Otherwise, the web may become like network TV – a homogeneous sea of reality shows…
Brett Legree’s last blog post..rapid prototyping life 2.0
“The churned-out content that fills up the Internet is making it hard for people to sort out the good and the accurate from the ugly.”
James, that’s true. But it only bolsters my resolve to stay completely away from all that PLR and other quick money-making stuff and focus on trying to churn out the good and the accurate type of content on a consistent, long-haul basis.
If we do that, then maybe what Paul says in his comment–
“On the other hand, I think there will be a real opportunity here, for the best bloggers to shine with their own unique voice. They will cut through the clutter”
–will be true and those of us who go beyond the simple stuff to create quality content that lasts may end up the real winners.
I have my own name for this, inspired by the motoring industry: cut-and-shut content.
It seems that search engines are slowly becoming aware of the trend, penalising repeated content and ensuring that this sort of ‘tactic’ doesn’t take over the web. It is in their interest to provide genuinely useful search results, after all.
Unfortunately, it’s tough for machines to recognise cut-and-shut content. I think there needs to be a human-powered solution. The Mozilla Foundation could do a lot to help here; in the same way that they’ve enabled us to report “phising” sites which warn future visitors (as of Firefox 2.0), they could enable the reporting of pages that skim content or re-use it. Over time, this could have a powerful effect and help prevent standards dropping.
PLR is second only to “guest” posting for devaluing writing on the web, in my opinion.
Nick Cernis’s last blog post..Productivity is Dead! Long Live Living!
@ Jesse – Many people point the finger at bloggers as adding to the massive content issue, and I have to agree. Blogs are just as notorious for rehashing what’s already been said. Any given day, I can click on a leading blog, read the content, and then read it spun 12 different ways on lesser blogs. Booooring. I’ve been griping about being unique and original for quite some time now, no matter what material you work on.
Hopefully, as you say and as Paul says, I think quality content that is put out in moderation and carefully written should shine. Your does. Hopefully ours does too.
Another issue that PLR proponents mention is that blog content is often syndicated and repeated on the Internet – but I’ll note that there’s a huge difference between syndication and regurgitation.
@ Brett – What to do, what to do… I got a smackdown on another blog for speaking up about the issue. Some people think, “It’s not about YOU, so what do you care?” I think you agree with me that we Canadians tend to speak up about what we feel isn’t right as opposed to turning a blind eye if it doesn’t affect us directly. So, all I can do is voice my views.
@ Paul – Try researching something simple like “dog training” or “treating depression.” You don’t know what to believe. One article says “might”, the other says “may” and one says “could” while another says “does”. It’s the same damned article, modified slightly to escape the duplicate filter issue, and spat back out.
I read something yesterday that mentioned that within 2 years, the Internet will be saturated. I fully believe that. It’s a shame, because it could be a great resource. It’s just abused like a whore because it puts out now. Sad.
@ Kelly – Indeed. Newcomers to the ‘net are blasted and confused by what to choose. Seasoned users quickly come to learn that the Internet and its information can’t be trusted. Even credible sites raise my skepticism and it’s tough to know what to believe any more.
@ Allison – It made perfect sense. You share my frustration. I’ll agree that the whole situation does seem sleazy – there are better ways to earn a living, I think, and it’s important to look at the good of the whole, rather than the profit of one.
@ Nick – Could you imagine how many people would have to spend months eyeballing content to decide which one wins for the original piece that wasn’t cut-and-shut? Mind you, that’d give a lot of people jobs, though.
I really wish there was more monitoring of the Internet. It’s like some big playground where illegal, stupid, immoral and all sorts of stuff goes on. Reminds me of walking through the darkest ghetto and seeing life in its dirtiest form.
Kudos to you for being one of those who consistently puts out something new, original and unique. I’m very glad to have found your blog (and whoever isn’t subscribe to Put Things Off should do so. What are you waiting for?)
@ James – your content certainly does shine. No question.
We have to keep voicing our views, even if we get a smack from time to time. Otherwise, why are we here?
Besides, it is dangerous to sit back and ignore things that don’t affect us directly. Because, someday, they might. And then it will be too late.
(history is full of examples of this)
Brett Legree’s last blog post..rapid prototyping life 2.0
PS – I loved the reference to St-Catherine’s…
(I miss Montreal!)
Brett Legree’s last blog post..rapid prototyping life 2.0
@James — thanks for your support!
Monitoring the internet is not an easy task, but I think that community policing is the only way to go. It’s a concept that’s already been proven to work in large online communities such as eBay and YouTube and other sites with annoying CamelCase names.
Perhaps if we renamed it the InTerNet it would simply police itself.
As for Men with Pens — the writing is superb, the content fresh, the look fantastic and the conversation insightful. How’s that for mutual back-patting?
Nick Cernis’s last blog post..Productivity is Dead! Long Live Living!
@ Nick – here’s some more back-patting – your latest post is kick-ass! Keep it up.
Brett Legree’s last blog post..rapid prototyping life 2.0
Hi James – I will confess to having bought one of these packages before – just to fill some extra pages on my plumbing site. But they were rubbish.
I wound up putting a couple on there, but I had to edit them so much that it would just have been as quick to write them myself.
They were supposed to be well researched and I can only say that the people writing them don’t understand the meaning of the word research.
CatherineL’s last blog post..The Pros and Cons of Outsourcing
I have often thought that Google should come up with two separate search engines, one strictly for educational information and one for the rest. Maybe even labeling websites as educational or businesses and services would help.
It is frustrating to spend hours searching through PLR articles, and unfortunately, some in our industry whole-heartedly support PLR’s as a stream of income. (Just ask Louise about her comments on a writer’s blog who shamelessly promotes PLR’s.) It makes some of us who value quality a little cranky!
BTW, on James and Harry would encourage visitors to “speak your mind”. I love it! You two are truly gems in this writer’s treasure chest.
@ Nick – Flattery gets you everywhere. Love it.
@ Catherine – It’s actually very cool that you offer a buyer’s point of view on this. At Inkthinker and CatalystBlogger, they’re having a discussion that says PLR is okay because of that fact: it’s cheap and fills up pages fast.
My take on it is that cheap doesn’t convert well, the time spent to make it unique and stand out equals original/better content, and that businesses should have something to differentiate from the competition.
(You’re a good writer – you should’ve done your own!)
Men with Pens
Not your run-of-the-mill-rehashed-to-heck-puke-inducing content
Interesting article, James. I haven’t heard the term PLR, but can see it happening when I skim through my RSS reader headlines.
Sound like there may soon be a problem that I’m sure another start-up company will spring up to solve — isn’t this Internet thing great?
Nez’s last blog post..Dungeons and Dragons in Real Life
@Allison – I know what you mean on the school thing. If our professors caught us “creatively respinning” someone else’s content for an essay, they’d call it plagiarism. And then we automatically fail the class. It’s too bad that we can’t punish the PLR people….
@James – do people seriously say “it’s not about you, why do you care”? That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. Gay marriage isn’t about me either, but I should still be concerned about the repressive attitude in my state. It’s about doing or fighting for what’s RIGHT. When people DON’T speak their views, serious problems can happen.
Sometimes, I wonder about people….
RLD: Taekwondo Happiness’s last blog post..Invincibility
@Jamie – Google has a Google Scholar search engine, so that one can find REAL content
RLD: Taekwondo Happiness’s last blog post..Invincibility
@ RLD – Ha, good point on the spinning term papers. If you only knew how many people hire writers to write these papers for them… which makes me sick, frankly. Earn the freakin’ degree the honorable way.
And yes. People *frequently* ask me why I care if I’m not involved. *Really* frequently. I’m always astounded by this, and I think it may have to do with cultural mindset. Canadians are raised to question everything and work for the good of the whole. I’m surprised that what is commonly accepted here as the way to do things isn’t as wholeheartedly embraced in other places of the world.
Though, that’s just my personal perspective. That may not be the reason people ask me why I care at all.
I wonder, too, if my attitude of “speak up” doesn’t come from my education. Psychology, philosophy, critical thinking… Dunno. Something to ponder. After more coffee.
Google Scholar: Really? I did not know that! And I’m thrilled, I’ll go poking right now.
@RLD, Okay, I am ashamed at myself for not knowing this! I have read countless books on becoming better Internet researcher and have never heard of Google Scholar.
I have a feeling I am going to be using this search engine quite frequently. You can be sure I will be spreading the word about it too! Thank you so much!
Re: Google Scholar — well worth sitting the entry exam required in order to find it. I regularly don my robes and mortar board before proceeding to have a good scholarly chuckle at some of the most long-winded thesis titles imaginable.
For those who aren’t fully-fledged Googlians, the site is here: http://scholar.google.com
@Brett: Thanks! I’ve just enjoyed reading about your excellent rapid prototyping analogy too.
Nick Cernis’s last blog post..Productivity is Dead! Long Live Living!
@James – something to think about indeed
I wouldn’t know if it’s a Canadian thing, but I do know that those of us who live in the northern bits of the US tend to be a bit…outspoken. Some of us can be a bit rude about it, but at least we’re not apathetic.
Hmm, then again, we are pretty close to the Canadian border. Maybe we picked it up from you guys
RLD: Taekwondo Happiness’s last blog post..Invincibility
@ RLD – Like a contagious disease, seeping slowly through the United States…
@Jamie – no problem
Google releases new products constantly and I’m always pleased with their work.
RLD: Taekwondo Happiness’s last blog post..Invincibility
This may be a bit nerdy, but when I need reliable content, I use a Google book search as well – for example, I needed to translate an English idiom into the German version. I searched through the Google books and found an English –> German idiom dictionary. Pretty cool, huh?
http://www.google.com/books?hl=en
RLD: Taekwondo Happiness’s last blog post..Invincibility
@RLD It’s not nerdy at all, I use the Google book search often myself. I love having a library sitting on my desk!
James,
While I don’t necessarily feel that the Internet will be killed by a glut of content, I do think that this is one of your more thought-provoking posts. You ask some good questions that every writer should consider.
Laura’s last blog post..Have Your Say!
@ RLD – I think that the border just sort of “happened along” and ended up between people who are very similar in most ways. I personally have found that with Ontario / Quebec and Ontario / Quebec / Northeastern States.
(I have relations in all three, and we’re pretty much the same. Some of us speak French, or some variation of English, but we’re the same, and that’s cool.)
@ Nick – thanks for the link to Google Scholar (I love the subtitle on that page, BTW), and I’ll be quite busy reading some of your previous articles tonight…
Brett Legree’s last blog post..rapid prototyping life 2.0
James, although I’m a little irked that the way you’ve quotes me makes it sound like I’m implying that writers should write crap rather than that they shouldn’t let other people’s crappy writing stop them from being writers, I think this is a FANTASTIC post. You raise some really great points, already elucidated by earlier commenters. Thanks for continuing this dialogue. I think it’s a really meaningful one.
Kristen
www.inkthinkerblog.com
Kristen King’s last blog post..Win a Signed Meg Cabot Mystery!
Rockin’ article! I don’t agree at all the web will be crushed under the weight of its own garbage, but I like that you’re asking the question and getting people thinking in a deeper way about what they’re doing. That is vital.
Here’s the thing: as long as it works (whatever that means for you) people will do it. If there’s a way for us barely-evolved apes to get “ours,” we will take it. We’re talking about human nature, here. Everything else is details. When PLR articles cease to give these people what they want, they will die off and people will move on to something else (gaming social media sites is the thing now). These people are like carrion, feeding off the next corpse that presents itself.
I have a split personality when it comes to stuff like this. Certain seo techniques are effective, but never at the expense of value (maybe strange chimera is more like it instead of split personality). One of the more interesting experiments going on right now is Jason “SEO is bullshit” Calacanis’ Mahalo.
Mahalo is human-curated spam-free search/article base. He created Mahalo in direct response to the poisoning of the web pond by spammers.
Michael Martine, Blog Consultant’s last blog post..SOBcon – See You There!
@ Michael – Thanks for linking to that resource. I’m definitely going to check it out. I agree with what you wrote, too. We’re a society that just takes. Look at global warming, for instance. It’s a big leap from PLR and all the other issues, but it’s there – we take until there’s nothing left but ruin, and that makes me sad.
@ Kristen – Please keep in mind that I wrote this post days before your post went up and then added a bit of your comments – I didn’t edit after that, and our discussion has progressed in a good way.
I will note to all readers that I think Kristen doesn’t promote PLR. She’s having a good discussion over at her blog, and I suggest you check it out.
@James – I intended it with kind of a chuckle, but I can see how it didn’t come across that way. Sorry! Thanks for the extra clarification.
kk
Kristen King’s last blog post..The PLR Controversy Continues?
Thanks for posting this. I don’t know what happened to me. I’m not Canadian – I dated one once when I lived in Germany….however, I’m in Texas and have this horrible habit of speaking my mind as well. I must be a renegade, I’ve always had nothing but disdain for GWB, too.
@ Kristen – Well, I couldn’t very well take flattery after saying, “Go read here! How nasty!” Had to make it up to you.
@ Christie – Texans are exempt from the “man is an island” rule. I think Texans are the supreme rulers of “DAMN! Take a look at me, buddy! And while you’re lookin’, let me tell you EXACTLY what I think!” What gets me is that Texans are always grinning like they just embrace life.
And if you’re not like that, the media’s fooling all us Canadians
I’m all for PLR content. The more junk that gets thrown on the web, the more valuable original content becomes. I know the Internet isn’t going to implode because of the amount of content, but I think the glut of crap is going to eventually force people to question what’s worthwhile and what isn’t, which is a good thing.
It’ll eventually work itself out like the free market does. The quality will rise to the top, while the garbage will sink to the bottom.
That is actually a really good and positive way to look at it – the cream will rise to the top. Good point.
Brett Legree’s last blog post..rapid prototyping life 2.0
@ Wrangler – Hm. I never thought about it that way. That’s a definite struttin’ the pride attitude… I like. I like it very much.
Bring it on. When people get tired of reading the same content spun 40 ways to Gomorrah, they’ll come to writers like the people here who believe in original, unique, interesting, well-written and written ONCE.
@ RLD – Yep, my professor would definitely fail me if I did that! Oh and thanks for the info about Google Scholar… it’s already helping me find studies to use in my paper!
Allison’s last blog post..Taste and Create 5
Here’s my question… how are these people who buy and use PLR content making any money? Sooner or later, the search engines are going to find ways to filter that crap right out. I can think of an easy way off the top of my head, when they crawl content, they can simply crawl it for words. If the same combinations of words (over 30+ or so) are found in duplicate form in other places, then the site’s ranking is lowered off the charts.. bam! Just like that, content spinners and PLR become obsolete. Content spinners can mash the words up, but they don’t make it original, it’s still the same words over and over again. That is a weakness that search engines can exploit.
I think the main problem is that because the Internet is has such a low cost point of entry, people who paid $10 bucks for a domain and pay say $10 a month for hosting just can’t afford to pay for decent content, so they turn to the dregs of writers who will sell crap writing for a couple of bucks. I doubt these people ever actually make any real money, so I would say that eventually the cycle of cheap content will just burn itself out. Cheap writers cannot write to the standards that a well paying publication requires anyway. I work as an editor for some of these low cost cheapie articles, and I am telling you, the quality is absolute crap.
For a good writer, the issue isn’t even worth worrying about. Writers who write for a couple of bucks aren’t your competition, and gigs that offer a few dollars in payment aren’t your market.
If you are writing in these circumstances, perhaps it is time to take an honest look at your skills and qualifications. The internet is filled with WAHMs, non English speakers, and generally unqualified people who think that writing is an easy way to make a few bucks on the side. It is, but that will literally be just a few bucks, and they are not good writers. (Most of them, that is – i do not mean to insult well trained, educated and practiced WAHMs, just the ones who suddenly decide that they are writers because they can put one word after another.)
@ Blogginess – I’ve been reading and rereading this comment since you submitted it. I think you’re right on many accounts – that PLR hurts a business more than it does good, that content spinners suck, that there’s no excuse not to invest in content when all it costs to have a website is $20 a month at the very most… that if you’re a good writer, PLR just isn’t your market and that yes, most cheapie articles are absolute crap. Tons of truth there.
There are some good writers who don’t know any better. There are cheap articles that are good – but not of magazine quality by any means. And yes – writers doing PLR should look to other alternatives. No insult meant to the good writers, as always.
Extremely long but very useful and informative article. How i wish i can do all of that in a short period of time. But for sure doing those will produce results. I will try to spread your words through my blog and link it back to you. Thanks a lot for those tips.
Finally! Someone who’s not afraid to say it. PLRs are indeed overrated and especially overused. The strength of article marketing is in the content: UNIQUE content that is. Having 5000 of the same articles floating all over the net isn’t unique …!
And even when taking the trouble to rewrite the PLR articles (and if you do why not just write the darn thing from scratch?); the “modified” result far too often still bares too close a resemblance to the original article.
PLRs … only good for the seller, not the buyer. BTW; these aren’t the only “legal scams” internet marketers get suckered into…
Lode M. Loyens´s last blog ..Affiliate Marketing: Do It Right – Part 4
@ Lode – Well, no, I’m usually not afraid to call it as it is… thank goodness!