The problem there lies in the fact that a lot of the indians here don't write very well ( and i am an indian too, so you can know that there is no fingerpointing). It has nothing to do with morals. Rather, it is simply what you get when someone is desperate to get work. As for those who hire them, if you ask me, i'd think they are smart !
Low quality will beat you up in the end in your websites... Quality doesn't come cheap. With millions of site popping up daily... I think traffic sticks to your site only if you got some nice fancy High Quality articles
Agree with you. Most $1/500 words articles have really low quality not because the writer is not capable to produce great quality work but simply because the $1 pay is not able to motivate the writer.
I just recently had started doing some postings for a guy's blog but had to stop because I realized that I was writing for below pennies. I don't think people realize that it's human nature to get burned out or resentful of all the effort they are putting in isn't being reciprocated in a financial way. Hence why it has been slaughtered down to peanuts or better yet the peanut shell. I get told that I am a fantastic writer and I need to pursue it. I like to to write for others but I like it when people write for my projects because its easier to see the vision and voice/write it out in hopes another person can see what I am saying. The thing in that is that I won't go the cheap route if I can find someone who can see my vision. If they can't see my vision, then I tend to take on the project myself. Which eventually defeats the purpose, right? JAM
Last year I contacted Geraldo Rivera because he was being represented by his blog in a rather ugly manner. Outdated, uncared for, and in need of some bright ideas. I offered to volunteer for him and get his pages populated with up to date and interesting content..... I couldn't get my message accross because none of the website's email addresses were valid. I think I had too much caf in my cof that day ..
The problem with using places like DP to get jobs is that the barriers to entry are too low making competition too high. This is the same problem that sellers on Ebay face. Or if you ever played the mmorpg Everquest this is the same problem the in game economy faced when the devs introduced the Bazaar (did I just reveal my nerdy side?). I think that DP is a good place to do quick and easy jobs to get some reviews, but not a place to look for real work.
Im an american writer and I just started thinking about doing an article writing service. It took sometime to get the hang of it but I would probably charge 2 cents per word minimum but i made sure to build up my portfolio on ezinearticles.com. I am now closing in on 100 articles and when I hit that mark I will start offering my services here. The point is you should always sharpen your writing before doing it for pay. If you cant write for clients better then you can write for yourself then they wont be using you for long. If your dedicated there are many many people on forums like this that could use a decent copywriter with good command of the english language.
If you can provide quality work, you will get your rates. I have had the good fortune to find a few providers who were willing to pay me my rates when they saw my work. Go to any forum and you will find different tariffs for the same work. At the end of the day, you will get the amount you want provided it is reasonable and the quality of your work is good.
@parsibagan I wanted to start with provisding content but then I don't know the rates. Will you try to give me some ideas? Figure I mean.
It's impossible to give you an accurate figure. To figure out what YOU need to charge (b/c it's different for everyone), you need to figure out exactly what you need to earn (understanding all of your expenses, that you can't bill for every working hour, etc.), and then you can add onto that if your experience, education, etc. would support higher rates.
Typically I pay around $2 per hundred words for Adult content copywriting and blog posts, though quite a bit more for non adult. I have found over the years that you get what you pay for, if you are only willing to pay 1c a word, you get 1c a word quality.
If this is the case, then there is no such standard rates being plug in this thread? I believe the other way around. There should be some figures out there that can tell me how much is how much. Just my personal opinion though.
You can wish there were standard rates to your heart's content. The truth is that no such things exist, and they never will. There are far too many variables for that ever to be the case, and buyers in too many different markets who will all tell you your work is worth different amounts (someone used to hiring professionals might find $3k for a sales letter perfectly normal if you had professional qualifications, and someone used to buying $5 articles would quote more in line with that no matter what your qualifications were). Your own rates are determined by: 1. What you need to earn to get by (or to make part-time work worthwhile). 2. What your specialty is. 3. What your educational background is related to that specialty area. 4. How much experience you have (and how reputable those past employers or clients are) also within that specialty area. 5. Whether or not there's a solid demand in your specialty area. 6. Whether or not your specific target market is already saturated. 7. How strong your marketing abilities are. These are all incredibly basic, and anyone who doesn't fully account for them and instead throws around "standard" rates for any given project doesn't know a heck of a lot about freelancing. What you may see here are average rates from a certain level of writer targeting a specific market group that hangs around DP (for instance $.01 - .02 per word). However, that only accounts for those publicly advertising, and in no way, shape, or form represents anything "standard" or normal. It's a very small part of an otherwise very large picture. For example, there are also plenty of us here earning $.10, $.20, or even $.50+ per word also writing for DP-based clients, just in a more private environment through referrals and using forum postings to build a larger platform. So as I said, no such thing as "standard rates," and anyone telling you otherwise either doesn't know what they're talking about, or they convince themselves of these "standards" to justify to themselves why they aren't earning more personally.
Competition isn't as stiff as you might think, at least not here. Sites like GAF have gotten pretty awful, I must admit, but I have been making $12 - $20 an article here, at 300 - 500 words a piece, which is significantly higher then the sales price I was offering over the holidays (desperate times..). I have gotten more work then I can handle, especially since I will be going on maternity leave next month, and even working part time, I am making a seriously decent wage. I don't think there is really a standard rate that is set in stone, but here, people are willing to pay more if you show you can write well within your posts, PM's, and you have a positive reputation, iTrader, reviews, samples, of whatever they are looking for. However, $1/500 words in INSANE! I have seen those posts as well, and I have also seen the posts from buyers complaining when they get unoriginal, or horribly written content. Buyer beware.
Remember, that number is the minimum you should shoot for. The goal is not to get by, but to live well.
Which is why that's not the only factor I listed, and why I specifically mentioned experience, the credibility of actual past clients, specialty area, etc.
It gets less competitive as we go towards the top of the food chain, I would imagine. While any fool can apply for, and get a $1/500 words article writing job, that wouldn't be the case for high paying assignments.