Keep in mind that getting higher rates doesn't only revolve around the writing style being acceptable. They pay more for expertise. If you don't specialize, you'll have a much more difficult time landing higher-paying gigs. You should keep one other thing in mind: a lot of those gigs exist, but very few are ever advertised. You'll have to focus on your network and building your own visibility rather than looking for writing jobs advertised.
And well you should. There are a lot of great freelance writing blogs out there with advice on just how to go about finding these clients. There is even some information in other threads within this forum.
Is it just me or has anyone else noticed the truly awful (and insulting) rates that people are offering on the BST content creation section lately?
It has always been that way. There are more sellers than buyers down there, which is why we've seen a gradual reduction in the rates being quoted. It has been pointed out time and again, and I will say it once more- the rates you see out there are NOT the "standard" rates. You don't have to accept them and keep working for pennies.
I don't accept them. I have a few long term jobs that make me decent money, for a gap year student anyway. I was just on there today and seen some really horrendous rates being offered, ha.
I wasn't specifically referring to you. Was making a statement to the public at large. Good to know you don't accept them though.
I was asked to write 500 words for $1! I politely declined, and told them my usual rates. Providing you're good at what you do, you don't have to write for less than you feel you're worth. There are good, well playing clients out there...you just need to persist and find them. It may not be in the Buy/Sell/Trade forum here though.
I guess that 3-4$ per 100 words is a reasonable price, though free-lancers often dump prices, which is really bad for competition...
From reading all these posts, I think I am okay as a start up free lancer charging $1 per 100 words. I thought I was undercharging my competitors.
Undercharging your competitors shouldn't be a marketing focus. Never market a service primarily on price. Ever. It's not smart business. Also keep in mind that people charging more than you probably don't care what you charge -- you're not really they're competition, because they're targeting higher paying markets (not all content writers, copywriters, etc. are in competition with each other).
Hmm that's depend i guess, for cheap quality i usually charged about $1-$2 (200 words) while for better quality such on WF i charged about $7 (350words)/article.
quality speaking SEO articles can be a bit expensive than ordinary article... but if you'll be asking me i can deliver quality SEO article for around $1-$2 per 100word articles... of course this price is for bulk (i should say 50 up articles requirements)
I have a team of experienced professional writers … they are interested in writing for bulk orders that are on the same niche topics…. this way my professional writers were able to produce high quality articles easily…so due to this I had a brainstorming session with them… and came up with an idea of taking in orders of 10, 25, 50, 100 articles packs for $4.95 and even less than this price to my clients with an agreement …the agreement is they should place orders every month…this worked perfectly for me… now I have 8 long term clients who places order every month… This strategy have helped me a lot….and well, if anybody doubts about the quality of the articles that my writers deliver …they can click on my signature to see the sample articles… One of my clients quoted my service that I am offering the articles at Unbelievable Price when compared with the High Quality of the articles delivered. I hope there many ways to beat the competition; only thing is we need to think a lot and should come up with an idea…
To be fairly blunt - I'm not sure you would feel the same way if you were part of your writing team. Your system definitely works out very well for some people, for example: 1. You, as a lot of people will buy your product 2. The buyer who gets good and cheap articles, 3. Anyone who needs... hardly USD 100 per month as income from their writing. However, the writers you employ still have to pound out high-quality content at insanely low rates. And after 4-5 articles, writing on the same topic does not make writers "able to produce high quality articles easily", but simply bores them and results in content that is nearly useless. Just a bit of insight into the writer's perspective. I hope you continue to innovate your business model and do what works for you.