ARE THE MOTIVATIONS BEHIND POSTING DUPLICATE CONTENT PURE AND HONEST?

If you don’t know what duplicate content is, it’s seeing articles posted on the web word-for-word in different places. It’s people re-purposing the same information for whatever reason, which rarely is to promote the original message of the article. There’s usually an ulterior motive. And what is the end result? The Internet gets mucked up with loads of duplicate crap.

The most common reason people copy and paste articles on their own sites is to generate traffic. Why? To get people’s eyeballs in front of the stuff they want to sell. Sometimes it is a physical product, other times it’s a report of some type, or a scam business opportunity. All in all, I will boldly state the the overwhelming majority of people who do this are con artists, and they are not making the Internet a better place.

So where do they get their duplicate content? There are several different ways that people can obtain and copy content for their own benefit. Here are a few common tactics and sources:

• blatant copying and pasting of news articles
• blatant copying of pertinent information from authoritative websites
• copying information from Wikipedia
• purchasing “PLR” or “private label rights” articles to re-purpose on your website
• using software to re-write articles and fool the search engines from catching the duplicate content

Your next question is probably, “who are the people doing this the most?” The common duplicate content abusers usually fall into one of these categories:

• Internet marketers and “gurus” (con artists)
• bloggers who make money from Adsense articles
• email marketers with big lists who promote tons of products
• affiliate product pushers (selling other people’s stuff for a commission)
• short-cut artists trying to rise to a respectable level without doing any work

Okay… so maybe that offends some honest people who use duplicate content for whatever reason. But what I have to say to you is, write your own crap and you will have more success than slinging duplicate garbage across the Internet. None of these shortcuts will get you to the top, nor will they sustain your sales. The most successful bloggers and marketers are the ones who use their own honest unique content!

One of my biggest annoyances comes when I am searching for something legitimate, and I run across the same article on different sites jammed with Adsense ads. For example, I was searching for information on tension headaches, and I found multiple sites using the same article copied from webmd.com but for the selfish reason of selling things and making money. People like me don’t appreciate that. It’s a time wasting annoyance!

I’d like to know if you have noticed as much duplicate content floating around the web as I have. I’d also like to know if anyone can post a good response exposing the positive side of the story on using duplicate content. Take the poll below, or sound off in the comments section!

Carlton Flowers
Guardian of the Web
www.carltonzone.com
www.microbusinessplans.com
www.twitter.com/carltonf

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THE SECRET TO INFORMATION RICHES THAT I DON’T WANT TO TELL YOU ABOUT…

By now, everyone knows the popularity of eBooks and information products that sell on the internet. We are at an all-time high for downloadable eBooks, reports, and “how-to” guides. At the same time, we are at an all-time low for information product pricing. All you have to do is peruse the eBay site, and you will discover the many listings for bulk info-product packages that can include hundreds if not thousands of articles and eBooks that you can resell online. The 99-cent eBooks are in such abundance, you can find a deal on just about any subject you are looking for.

At the same time that the 99-cent eBooks clog eBay and other internet sites, people are paying $97, $197, $497, and even upwards of $1997 for other information products that target niche markets. The sales of these high-priced info products do not seem to be slowing down, even amidst this sluggish economy. This represents a dichotomy that has always piqued my interest. I’ve noticed that the higher-priced information products seem to outsell the 99-cent “deals” because they have a higher perceived value. Seems like a no-brainer, but this is a fundamental truth. If you price your information cheaply, it will be thought of as cheap. Even if it is cutting edge and relevant info, you can price yourself right out of the market.

But before I get any further into the product pricing phenomenon, let me get back to the subject of this article. I mentioned that there is a secret shortcut to the seemingly tremendous niche of information products and guides. Not only is there a shortcut to tapping into this fountain of income, there is yet another tremendous opportunity that it presents that is based on something I discovered years ago regarding business of disseminating information. We’ll discuss both in detail.

First, I’ll clue you in on the secret short cut to information riches. I’m going to write about this once, and never again. The secret shortcut lurking right under your nose is the availability and use of Private Label Rights products, or “PLR” as we will call it from here on out. Up until recently, I had absolutely no interest in PLR products whatsoever. But now that I am writing articles and creating my own information products, my attitude has changed.

What turned me off about PLR products in the past was the fact that the overwhelming majority of PLR articles are very poorly written. The grammar is atrocious, misspelled words are common, and the style of writing is more colloquial than professional. Plus, much of the information is out-of-date. So… what changed my mind, you ask?

After spending a few months writing articles and developing my information products, I ran across an offer for several hundred PLR articles for pennies on the dollar, and I could not resist. I made the purchase, and discovered that the articles were still as poorly written as ever before. However, after spending night after night trying to create new material, I discovered the value of these PLR articles. They may have had horrible grammar and structure, but they covered the points that they were supposed to get across quite well. Instead of starting from scratch, I found that I could use a PLR article as a stencil of sorts. Sure, I had to re-write the majority of the text and correct all of the spelling, punctuation, and grammar, but it was an easier start than writing from scratch.

I learned that I could crank out an information product in a fraction of the time while using cheap PLR articles as a stencil. I also realized that it was easy to add newer information to the articles, thus bringing them current. After re-working several articles and even combining them into an eBook, I started to create a system of re-writing them. I also put my graphic design skills to work and created custom graphics and logos for each information product. The end result? A well-written, up-to-date eBook with custom graphics AND interactive links in only a fraction of the time.

I don’t completely understand why people sell such great information priced under a dollar or two. I suppose they think they will sell a higher volume by pricing the PLR information so cheaply. This is your goldmine, and your shortcut to creating relevant and cutting-edge information products that can be sold at a much higher price than what you paid to produce them for.

The second secret is even better than the first. But we’ll get into that in Part 2 of “A Secret Shortcut to the Information Goldmine”. Stay tuned. It’s coming soon.

Carlton Flowers, Micro Business Expert

Coming soon…

The secret weapon for business owners & professionals. How to fast-track your way to gaining top-level clients that will be loyal to your business and bring you maximum profits. Watch for it… it’s coming soon!

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