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How Bloggers are Legally Copying Content and Getting the Credit

Image Charvi74 Comments

Yes, you read that right.

I was so shocked when I first found out about this!

And I swear this isn’t click-bait or anything like that. I rubbed my eyes twice and did my research and apparently this is a thing and I am simply enraged.

Hold on for a minute, I’m giving you all the tea.

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So yesterday I was going through my Pinterest feed, gorging my eyes on aesthetic books when I found myself opening an article titled ‘How I Use PLR Articles (pre-written blog posts and previews)‘.

I mean surely this isn’t what it sounds like. The blogger probably pre-wrote some posts for themselves and is now using them, right? But nope.

I’m going to thoroughly explain what exactly is going on in the blogging community these days, so sit tight.

PLR stands for ‘Private Label Rights’ and PLR content is actually pre-written content that someone else has written which you can use by copy-pasting it into your blog, and maybe edit it before hitting the publish button. And this is all legal.

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Apparently bloggers have been using this PLR content for a while now. Some people use it for ‘filler’ content but for all we know many blogs might almost entirely consist of PLR content. The site I found this post on claims to tweak the PLR content a bit but I won’t be surprised if other bloggers are too lazy to even edit the content before posting.

Either way, this is plain WRONG.

Many companies and organisations are selling packages of pre-written PLR content on all sort of topics and there are even guides on how to go about using it.

I am simply enraged by all this!

Do you even need a list of what all is wrong with this?

To start off, people who use PLR content claim that they don’t have time to write but they need content for their sites. Um, NOBODY has time. I have friends who work their asses off on full time jobs or drain their energy at schools and universities and all those projects and homework, and still manage to post such delightful content.

Hell, I’m scrambling to write this post between my exams(don’t worry I’m not gonna fail or anything) while simultaneously prepping for college interviews and tests. I don’t have a lot of free time on my hands but guess what, if you are passionate and dedicated towards creating content for the site you love and want to see it blossom beautifully, you will somehow create the time. Using PLR content is no freaking solution. Having ‘no time’ is not a valid excuse.

Not only is this insanely disrespectful and rude to all the other content creators out there who are literally writing with their tears, sweat and blood(don’t worry, it’s the blood of our enemies) but it is also completely wrong to pass off someone else’s content for your own. From my understanding the companies who sell this content hire people to write the posts, and while those people are aware of how their writings are being used this is morally very wrong.

And this is not always the case. There have been numerous instances wherein these companies have sold PLR content written by someone who had not signed up for it. This means that if you’re not careful you can still be accused for plagiarism while using PLR content. Guess where your blog’s going to be then? Trampled under the feet of angry content creators.

Buying PLR content for your blog is NOT a way for your blog to grow.

This content doesn’t have that unique voice readers look for that makes them smile and laugh. When you read an article or a post carefully you can easily tell whether it fits the creator’s writing style or not. Everyone has a unique style and if you think it won’t show up you are so freaking wrong.

If you are using PLR content you are going to get caught sooner or later. Please don’t do this and respect other content creators. If you don’t have the time to post original content every day that’s okay. Nobody’s coming after you with daggers and knives, thirsty for blood. Post less frequently, maybe once or twice a week or just post randomly whenever you want. If the situation gets severe just take a little break for a while, everyone does it!

The community is very understanding except when it comes to plagiarism and cheating.

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So take my advice and stop using PLR content and advice others who use it to stop too. You still have time before the angry bookish community starts throwing their heaviest hardcovers at you 🙂

The recipe for a good blog = lots of love + hardwork!

 

I’m not linking the article where I read about all this since despite all of it I don’t want the blogger to get all the backlash. If you want to read the article you can send me a message or simply get to know more about the issue by googling PLR content.

 

 

DISCUSSION TIME!

So what are your thoughts on this topic? Did you know about this PLR content earlier or not? Do you know someone who uses PLR? Do you think that this is a fair business in the blogging community? Let me know about it down in the comments!

74 thoughts on “How Bloggers are Legally Copying Content and Getting the Credit”

  1. This is just like stock images you can buy. People pay money to use this content on their blogs. If they just copy-paste PLR copy on their blogs, it’s pretty stupid because it’s going to affect Google search rankings. Other sites could have the same content and duplicate copy affects rankings.

    Now there’s a workaround to this too—they can use the PLR copy as a starting point and build a blog post around it. Which means they’re going to spend time on it anyway. Time that can be used to create original content anyway. 🤦🏼‍♀️

    While this is completely legal, as an original content creator, I do feel slightly annoyed that someone can pay money and get good content. But it’s perfectly legal and there really is nothing we can do about it. 😦

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    • Will it affect googGo search rankings? The post I read even showed ways to insert SEO words so that the posts become popular 🤔

      Right? If you have to spend time on it might as well spend time writing something original 🙄
      I’m just really bugged by the fact that it is illegal. Society keeps paving the path for the rich 😑

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      • Ikr! Also, search rankings will be affected if they copy-paste the entire thing without changing it up a bit. But I need to read more about this to fully make a comment. 😅

        I think there’s a smaller probability of this happening in the book blogging community. Because I’m sure there won’t be prewritten reviews. At least I hope so. 🙈

        Liked by 3 people

  2. Holy shit.. I had no idea people actually do this? Peoples blogs are so personal, at least mine is to me. I post what I want, written by me, which voices my opinions and concerns. How is it still your blog if you copy and paste things other people wrote, with that other persons voice. Unbelievable 😕 especially when that person hasn’t signed up for it! Makes me anxious that it can happen to all of us.

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  3. I had no idea this was a thing! What the hell?! Isn’t the point of a blog to be in your own voice? for it to be your own opinion? Here I am struggling to figure out what people might like and worrying about meeting my regular schedule when shit get’s busy later this year and ppl take the easy way out? Damn!

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    • I know it’s pretty shocking! There is no respect for individuality and creativity these days. People just want to slack off and take the easy road. You keep working hard on your blog though, I’m certain it will bear great fruits 😊

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  5. WHOA, I had no idea this was going on! Sadly, it doesn’t surprise me when I really think about it and the pressure and stress that can come from being any kind of content creator these days, but it still really sucks. At the end of the day, I think the only people truly benefiting are the companies selling this content, because the bloggers who use it must feel really crappy about putting out content they know isn’t their own.

    Thanks so much for writing this post and bringing this to our attention!

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    • Me neither!
      Hmm that’s true. The companies earn money as squabbles start in the blogging communities over the content. It’s sad that people are willing to buy and sell anything these days 😦

      You’re welcome ❤️

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  6. I.. what ?! why do you have a blog in the first place if you cannot create the content it needs ?! this is even MORE if you get paid with it.

    I kinda dont wanna believe its within out community of book bloggers …. when, I guess there’s probably a few in there ..

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    • I know right! It’s absolutely pointless!

      It’s not that prevelanin the book blogging community yet(thankfully) but soneonesoneonestold me they’ve seen this in regard with book reviews…

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      • What. Reviews out of all the things?? The one place that it actually need to be opiniated?

        Okay, in blog tours ive been given « packages » of questions we may have to form our post or just include the review but .. that not quite the same, is it?

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      • Yeah, there was a huge issue on Instagram about it some time ago.

        No no, you’re good. Those are just guidelines, you’re writing your own content based on that 🙂

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  8. I guess this is kind of like hiring a ghost writer for your blog, unethical mainly in the sense that you are putting your name on the work that you didn’t write and people are going to feel lied to if they find out. People follow blogs not really because they want general information that they can Google anyway but because they want to follow that specific blogger. People will not like it if they find out they’ve been lied to about who’s writing the content.

    I think the biggest thing here is that also that the content may not be that original and even if you edit it, it may not sound like your source. Maybe using it does “work” because people are paying for it, but it seems as if eventually your blog would sound generic or even oddly as if it has five different writing styles, and that could make you lose followers.

    Of course blogging takes time, but I don’t get people who try to find ways around writing their own content (like people who plagiarized because they “don’t have time to write posts.”) Maybe these people are actually making money off their blogs, so having constant content is just about making money to them. But most people blog as a hobby and if you can’t actually DO the hobby, what is the point? Like, if my hobby were painting, I wouldn’t pay someone to paint something and then hang it in my house and tell people I painted. The entire fun part is painting it YOURSELF.

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    • Yes, exactly. I only learnt about ghost writers recently and that concept doesn’t sit very well with me either. Right, I could google and get all sorts of generic content!

      Yes, don’t most of us blog as a hobby? Even the most famous and successful ones started blogging as a hobby and if you don’t have the passion for it I doubt that you can get big in the community in any way.

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  9. Wow, I certainly had no idea about this. This just feels.. plain wrong! I mean, there are people like us, who work so hard for managing everything and then there are people with money who can just buy the content. But yeah, we can’t really do anything, except for not appreciating those bloggers, as this is perfectly legal 😦

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  11. I mean….this doesn’t exactly shock me. Personally, I feel like it’s totally wrong to use content written by someone else, and pass it off as your own. If you can’t write your own content for a length of time, then that’s ok, we understand. If you still want to post, ask for guest posts or ppl to collaborate with. That way you’d get the content but you’re also crediting the person creating the content. Otherwise it’s basically you trying to be someone/something you’re not able to be.

    To me a blog is either personal or impersonal. If it’s more impersonal then it’s more giving you information than getting to know the blogger. If it’s personal…then you’re wanting to know the blogger and their content. I connect to blogs more if I get an insight into the person, the more personal they are even in just their writing, the more likely I am to stick around.

    As someone who creates original content, both for my blog and on wattpad, this really irks me. And like you said Charvi, we have lives to live but you can tell if someone’s written it themselves or not when you get to know them. We each have our own unique voice, and writing style which will eventually be seen on a post/tweet/etc.

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    • Omg yes, Clo you put it all so beautifully! What good is it if you’re just posting stuff written by someone else rather than expressing yourself.

      I don’t know what the world is coming to, money seems to buy everything but hopefully we can stop this from spreading in the book blogging community. It’s already popular in lifestyle and beauty blogs but so far in reference to book blogs I’ve only heard of book reviews being copy pasted.

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      • Aww thanks Charvi! Money can’t buy you an active following….it also can’t buy you engagement from people who are interested in you unless you put the time, effort and yourself into the posts.

        Money can help you get there, sure. Making a website look smart, professional…but I’d rather follow someone who’s on a free site with hilarious content, which I can relate to. With a person I can relate to…than someone who’s got their own site but doesn’t know how to make themselves relatable or you know, write their own content. This posts inspired me to talk about this in my Book Blogging 101 series now, so thanks girl1

        Hmmm I mean the only thing I copy and paste is the reviews summary from goodreads *shrugs*

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  12. I had no idea that this was possible but thinking about this now, I guess I’m not surprised. It’s just annoying that some people take the time out to come up with their own content, but can still be overlooked in favour of those who get ready-made content and pass it off as theirs.

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  13. I had no idea PLR was a thing, but I WILL say that in terms of my personal content-consumption habits I avoid blitz and blog tour posts with excerpts and content that seems like a copy-pasted. Like I straight up ignore them.

    The issue that I personally have is if bloggers are passing off this content as their own. It seems like this would need to be disclosed, but yikes.

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    • Yup, me neither! Ah yes I am aware of those. In my early blogging days I did do a couple of them, one by my choice and the other I had to because I didn’t like the book so the blog tour organiser gave me an excerpt to post instead. Either way it didn’t feel like I was actually doing or writing something so I stopped that, it’s kind of boring too.

      Yeah if bloggers are using this content they should disclose it somewhere. The blogging community is getting do messy these days!

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  14. I’m a bit confused… do you mean corporate blogs? Cos those blogs usually commission feature articles for their blog, often to market an affiliated product. I’m a freelance writer and have written plenty of articles for those types of blogs. Personal blogs, I feel, don’t usually get freelance writers to write their posts because their write-ups are more, well, personal. I mean, I guess a book blogger could theoretically pay someone to, say, write a book review for them but that’d probably cost a lot. Also, that seems like a weird risk because then the blogger would literally be posting someone else’s opinion.

    Could the article you read be for small businesses with a blog?

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    • No, sorry if it’s a little confusing. I’m talking about individual and personal blogs like mine who are buying content to post from complained who hire people to write this content. It’s not corporate blogs that I’m talking about, that’s something different.

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      • Oh… in that case, they’re really just making things difficult for themselves. I mean, ghostwritten posts are easy to spot and once people suspect you of hiring ghostwriters, the suspicion never goes away *side eyes a certain NYT bestseller* but then again some do value quantity over quality -__-

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  18. I’m equally as enraged as you are! I work full time, am writing a novel, trying to do my application for grad school, and still find time to write blog posts, make my own graphics, and do my marketing myself. If people don’t want to put in the work, they shouldn’t have a blog plain and simple!

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  19. This is completely unethical! How do you take someone’s hard work and just paste on your blog? Even if it’s credited it still doesn’t make it okay.

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  20. Am I the only one who is surprised about this? Or maybe I am just understanding wrongly.

    Is it not the same as ghost writing? When people sell books with their name slapped on it by paying someone else to write it and “we” are okay with it, why is it any different when it comes to a blog. I see so many “jobs” on freelance content boards asking for blog articles and lots of people applying for it. Yes it is not the corporate website article, normal blog posts.

    I am not saying it is alright, am just saying it doesnt surprise me anymore. If you think about it, all they are trying to is make a quick buck *NOT A HOBBY*. *shrugs*

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  25. it’s a bad, unencouraging, and illegal practice. I don’t wish anyone who practices it bad, but I’m contented the universe has put in place the law of karma: everyone will reap what they sow. that’s why people who take time and put in hard work are usually at the top of the blogging/writing pyramid after a while because people will notice the high degree their originality and genuineness

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  26. I believe that credit should be given to the original writer. Example- I have permission to utilize Zen to Zany prints, though I have my own photos- (which you will notice now have my copyright on them), but I always mention at the end – compliments of Zen to Zany. Often I add her Etsy link.

    R-E-S-P-E-C-T each other… reblog and give credit… We are neighbors… this is supposed to be a friendly neighborhood. If you cannot respect other’s work,, than perhaps those doing it do not belong here…

    this is frustrating and very sad… tsk tsk I say…

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