When most people think about the Internet, they think
about music downloads, images, streaming video movies,
games, all the neat bells and whistles. The truth is, the
Internet was first developed as a way to share information in
text format between people, and it's never really lost that
focus. Search engines need good focused text in order to tell
what your site is about. Even when you see image or audio
search engines, they're not really searching for images and
audio – they are searching for the text labels behind those
things.
No matter how you look at it, the Internet is first and
foremost a text-based tool. If you can't write well, if you
write slowly, or if you just don't have the time or energy to
write articles and other information for your website, you
might have a problem.
Search engines catalog text. They do not look at your lovely
Flash animations, your interactive games, or your beautifully
laid out catalog. They are interested only in text.
So how can you get it?
Private Label Rights Articles – Your Best Option
Private label rights articles, also called PRAs, are articles
that are sold to you in their entirety, with the copyright in
your name alone. The original writer of these articles has
agreed to give up any right to them he or she might have.
Basically, you can do anything you want with these articles:
you can edit them to be more pertinent to your own website,
you can add or delete text, and you can publish them on
your own website or anywhere you want under your own
name.
They can be a remarkably powerful tool. With good PRA, you
can show your customers that you are an expert. You can
give them information and news they're hungry for, and you
can develop a real online relationship with them, that of a
mentor and a friend.
In short, good PRAs can make you into an Internet guru.
Other Options
Of course, PRAs aren't the only way to get articles for your
website. You also have the option of taking advantage of
article directories. These are large online repositories of
thousands of well-written articles, many by experts in their
fields, that webmasters can download free of charge and use
on their own websites.
So if these articles are good, they're free, and you can get
them, why aren't they the best option?
First, they don't belong to you. You cannot change anything
in the text, and you are required to duplicate the resource
box at the bottom of each article that contains the name of
the writer and, usually, a link to their website. This means
that anyone coming to your site isn't going to see you as the
expert; instead, they are going to put their trust into the
writer of the article you used, and eventually they're
probably going to visit the other website. In short, you're
advertising for the competition.
Second, you don't have exclusive rights to these articles.
They can be downloaded and used by thousands of
webmasters. When you offer these articles to your users,
you're not offering them something they can't get
elsewhere, and they will know it.
Free isn't free; there's almost always a catch.
How To Leverage Your PRAs
With PRAs, you're not limited to using them as articles.
Instead, you can feel free to compile them into ebooks and
reports, which you can distribute free to your customers.
Again, of course, there's a catch, but not for you. Ebooks
have a surprisingly high perceived value, and your
customers will respect the fact that you can not only write
an ebook for your area of expertise, but also afford to give it
away for free. Basically, you're trading the books for an
elevated level of respect from your customers, and that's
going to translate into trust.
And trust, today, is how business is really done on the web.
Your customers must trust that you know what you're
talking about, that you are selling them a product that you
really care about (and therefore will sell them only the best
and most cost-effective), and that you will take care of any
problems they have.
All these intangible qualities are tied up in your
demonstrating to them that you are, indeed, a guru.
And gurus are made online by great content. Maximize your
sales potential. Show your customers that you're a guru with
the help of PRAs.
