I am losing many orders by my reply... What's wrong with my reply message?

Wrong go, not everyone in DP uses formal or good English. Most likely it's because.. "Once you made the payment, just PM me I will start your project", most of them will take you as a scammer.

 

Exactly, you're making tons of mistakes. People don't want articles that appear to be written by eight year-olds. There are tons of resources online to help improve your writing.

 

I don't know about that part. Look at some of the 'samples' posted in the content sections of the services board sometime. People with high iTrader scores post samples that use horrible grammar with misplaced apostrophes and run on sentences running rampant everywhere, and yet in the same thread you see buyers posting about how great the content they bought was.

Personally, whenever I see those threads I'm like, "Uh, really? On what planet?"

 

Those people are often the ones who aren't native English speakers themselves, so they honestly don't know if the English sucks. If it's better than what they could do themselves (or if they can understand what the writer was trying to say), they'll leave great reviews and positive iTrader - just one of many examples of why you need to look beyond iTrader when choosing who to hire.

 

Somewhere I feel we should stop dividing people according to their country of origin and count the works they produce.

 

I think that has already happened. If the article is filled with errors an average native English speaker would not make then it loses its value to that audience.

 

To tell you frankly, I have seen works of native English speakers. They were also full of grammatical and punctuation mistakes. That supports my opinion. I can't give you the identities for obvious reasons.

 

infofreek, there are writers all over the world who can write very well in English. But sadly, most ESL folks passing themselves off as cheap content writers simply can't. At the same time, an English-speaking buyer wouldn't buy a poorly-written article from a US writer either if the English were terrible. When people put out quality work, most clients won't care where they're located (and those that do care are probably thinking about the legal side - where it's smarter to work with people in your own country, or from countries where you can pursue things legally if they infringe on copyright or cause other problems).

Remember, it's not always about things like punctuation mistakes. Most buyers of Web content don't care if it's missing a comma here and there for instance. What they care about is the general language - will native English-speaking readers be able to understand it and read it comfortably? If not, it doesn't matter who wrote it - serious buyers won't waste their money.

 

Exactly Jenn, I was trying to pursue this matter. A writer's aim should be writing contents that are easy to read and understand, apart from perfect English. Even if you are not from an English speaking country, all you need to do an extensive research. Visit websites as much as possible. Read them and try to assimilate the way of writing there. Then come up with your own thought.

 

Personally, I don't care where someone is located if they can write well. There are many native English speakers that can't write well either.

But you generally don't see the native English speakers who can write well selling themselves for a penny a word. That is, unless they think they have to compete with the people who can live on $2 a day.

 

Is the most writers get the payment only after finish the project.

 

maybe these ppl become uninterested if the get the reply too late.

 

Now I am getting support here. Anyway, close this issue and let the OP get the answer. May be I shall open a new thread for this discussion.

 

the payout option depends on my relation with the client..i have got some real nice buyers who willingly pay me upfront while there are many who choose to pay after receiving the articles....i have worked both the ways and it seems nothing wrong to me...why most of the people want an upfront payment is because they are scared of being scammed ...but i would say if you can produce quality work then your client will not let you go for saving some of his money..

 

This is where it goes off "Once you made the payment, just PM me I will start your project."

Try "Please send your payment only after i complete your project" that way you are able to establish a client's trust and competence in you.

well just my thoughts buddy, hope it adds to your compilation.

Regards
Greensmyle

 

I don't think it's necessarily the payment policy itself that's the problem - it's more in how they presented it.

 

dude your english isn't that great...

 

Honestly,
This thread is really help me.
Thx a bunch.

 

I can't get a feel for the number of PMs exchanged before you ask for payment, but it seems like only there've only been a couple of messages sent between you and your clients. I suggest exchanging more information. For example, at this point do you know the topics and number of articles you'll be writing? Have you given a specific quote and deadline (not just a generic turnaround time)?

I don't think there's anything wrong with asking for payment upfront, but do it the right way. Keep the focus on making your clients happy, not necessarily on getting paid. Even if your clients have already seen your pricing details, i.e. from a thread here on DP, confirm everything in the PM. Then, be more specific about the payment, e.g. "I require payment upfront for my work. I will begin your project once the payment as been received via Paypal at ."

You might add some reassurance that the deposit will remain in your Paypal account until the articles have completed. You could offer a refund if the client decides to cancel before the project has been completed. There are a lot of scammers on both sides of the equation, the key is to make the client feel comfortable with paying you upfront.

 

I agree with the above. I am always flexible when it comes to payment, but I usually let them know that I ask for 50% upfront. Depending on the project I will often do one short article before payment which gives them time to trust me, and lets them know for sure if they want to continue working for me. I have never been let down on payment using this method, but if they were genuinely unhappy I would accept that they don't have to pay, and move on. You can try a few different approaches to see what's best for you - but the key is in the phrasing and how you come across.