I have been a freelance writer for the past 3 years and worked on over 300 projects including SEO content, press releases, blog posts, technical writing, reviews and more. I started out on Rentacoder, you can visit my profile here: http://www. rentacoder.com/RentACoder/SoftwareCoders/showBioInfo.asp?lngAuthorId=1439948 But I'm not here to advertise myself; I just wanted whoever reads this thread to know my writing background. As you guys might have noticed, on most freelance websites it became a sort of standard to have rates as low as $3 per 600 words for your standard optimized articles. Admittedly, some writers on these sites are worth that little, but what happens to the ones that can actually write about stuff? I think a buyer, regardless if he's buying from DP, RAC or GAF, needs to know that hiring a poor writer for peanuts will get him: 1. Crappy quality articles that will fend off human readers. 2. Poorly optimized articles or keyword-stuffed ones that will hurt the website's SEO potential. 3. Unconvincing reviews or sale pages. When all of the above have so much importance to a website nowadays, I'm asking, why don't buyers learn to value us writers better? P.S. I'm getting relatively good rates from my clients, ~$15/500 words, but it still annoys the hell out of me when I see ads that go "10 SEO articles for $20"
Agreed, you always get what you pay for. Two well written SEO articles are worth far more than 20 crappy ones. Some people that quantity promotes their site better, but with the short attention spans these days, any poorly written site will quickly be dismissed.
There's also a disadvantage from an SEO point of view. If the cheap writer doesn't know the basics of SEO, he will stuff an article with keywords, thinking he's doing he's buyer good, but in fact he'll be harming his site.
Exactly, I'm fairly new to freelance writing but its not that difficult to take some time to read up on SEO strategies. Some folks are just lazy or looking to make a quick buck. Then again, if the buyers are indifferent who really cares. Just makes our work more valuable. haha
Yes, but I also had a couple of clients that made strange faces at my $15-20 per article rates, saying that "some guy on Rentacoder will do the same articles for $2.5 a piece". They can throw this in your face On top of that, being Romanian and not a native speaker, although I consider my English quite crisp, I get the "you can't have such high rates, you're not a native!" thingy too. The second problem I can't shake, but if the buyers knew how to value writers and the content, then at least we'd get rid of the first issue
If buyers are not willing to pay your rates, just write the articles for yourself. You'll make more money that way, in the long run at least
I hear you. I had a similar situation happen to me at GAF and the guy accepted the lower bid -- I was in at $100 and the lowest was $30. He writes me back 3 days later and offers me the job. haha I wouldn't know you weren't from the US or another english speaking country. I bumped your reputation saying just that fact. You could use a US based friend to help you apply for positions. I have an Indian friend that speaks does not her own native language(s) and only speaks English, and she is often turned down for writing assignments. So I apply and give her the work. It borders on ethical concerns, but so does the nationality of a writer. Do you agree?
Agreed Emirates, but until the money from those articles I write for myself kicks off, I have bills, school, Christmases, girlfriend's birthdays and the likes to pay I understand why a buyer would be concerned about the nationality of his writer, but I think what should matter more is the quality of his/her portfolio. An American with little writing experience might write badly, compared to say, a Serbian that perfected his skills in time. I recently hired some local writers to get me some articles done and everyone had "English - Expert" in their CV-s but they turned out like crap in the test article. This just proves that appearances aren't everything when hiring a writer
People are different, and so are their requirements and expectations. Some clients take quality content for granted and won't pay for a mediocre copy, while others agree upon something junky and copy-pasted. I mean, if you are a professional writer, there is no need to worry about dumping. Fortunately, there are still enough clients who can tell quality SEO-friendly articles from keyword stuffed nonsense and are ready to pay for them.
You're right copywriting911. But I'm afraid this "plague" will spread even further. It already did in the past 2 years on freelance sites.
Some will never understand the value of smart, well-targeted content. And some will only come to understand it after a few failures. Only after they stop chasing rainbows promising riches that never come to fruition, or wake up and realize their website is sitting around like a lump on a log collecting server dust do they realize the value of good content. It's a shame because I've had clients who spent YEARS with a lame site to avoid paying a few thousand when they could have collected TENS or even HUNDREDS of thousands had they just did it the right way at the beginning. But then they are always more appreciative when they've struggled and been on the wrong side of success. They tend to notice conversion improvements when they've been in the basement. And they are over the top when they reach the top search engine ranks in those cases. That is pretty rewarding.
The point is that some copywriters are just afraid of competition. These are authors, not customers, who are responsible for low pricing. If the client appreciates your style and the quality you provide, he/she is unlikely to look for "cheaper" writers. Professionalism, experience and creativity are still on demand, many buyers need this, and I hope you'll find them all
It matters more, obviously, from the perspective of a writer. The issue is that copyright laws vary widely, and outsourcing can be a huge legal risk to buyers. If they get stolen content and publish it, they can be sued. If it's not a copyright violation in the writer's country, or if there's no way to turn around and sue a writer elsewhere for the stolen work, the buyer carries all of the financial burden, and frankly can lose their business over it. That's not to say outsourcing is bad - only that people need to know who they're working with and what legal rights they have going into it. If you're an overseas writer trying to appeal to US buyers for example, you'd probably be smart to do that research yourself, and have the information available to prospective buyers to show them that it's safe enough to buy from you as far as intellectual property issues go.
Copywriting, I'm getting good rates at the moment, probably not at the same level as some of the more experienced writers here, but still good for a non-native. What worries me is that a buyer often comes into a negociation with a pre established mindset that "30 articles should cost $90 because that's the price you get on rentacoder, GAF, etc". I know that this pisses American writers as well, since cheap writers are stealing a chunk of the market from right under your noses and mine. Jhmattern, completely agree. However, if the copywriter still stumbles on copyright infringement rules, it's time to look for another job. Stolen content is stolen content in Romania, Germany and the United States. And most importantly, it's the same for Google and the search engines. This is one of the many ways bad content can negatively affect your own business as a buyer, by getting you out or down in Google. Again, I can find work with ease at the rates I want and I think I should be valued at considering my current experience, results and skills. I just think content buyers need to tend after their own site's health more.
It used to piss me off. Then I got over it. What you need to remember is that those content buyers simply aren't your market, and those cheap writers aren't really your competition. Never lower your rates in a service oriented field like writing just because others are. Instead, alter your target market so you're still earning what you need to get by (or still earning whatever you want to earn based on the goals you set).
I agree with you that many buyers don't understand exactly what goes into article writing. They figure that a few words slapped together on a page shouldn't be all that difficult to throw together. They have no clue about proper optimisation, or even the fact that no one will care to click on their ads if their content isn't halfway interesting. Of course, writers are really the only ones to blame for this phenomenon. With so many writers offering their services for pennies on the dollar, how many folks do you think are really going to pass up the chance to get cheap content? And I don't care which way you slice it, cheap content is cheap content. If more writers would come into this profession with higher expectations, rather than just looking to make a quick buck, there'd be fewer buyers thinking they could get away with paying peanuts. Raise your rates, folks! There's more than enough work out there to keep even the most expensive writer busy! Personally, I won't take less than $50 for a 500 word article. And I know others who charge as much as $250 for the same word count, and stay busy all the time! What we do as writers, be it content or copy, is an essential part of our clients' businesses. Charge accordingly! Think of it this way: What would happen if Dell suddenly started giving away $20 computers? We all need computers for our businesses, so we'd all jump on the band wagon to buy one. Eventually, the demand for a $20 Dell computer would be much greater than the number they could produce. So, what would we start getting for that $20? Crap. Pure, unadulterated crap. Dell computers would be at the bottom of the barrel; the computer you got only when you absolutely couldn't afford anything else And Gateway computers would start looking really good! But Dell understands that, and charges prices accordingly for a service they know we all need to run our businesses. They don't try to undercut the competition just to make a few extra pennies. And neither should writers. Okay, I am officially proclaiming this to be the official "Raise Your Rates" day! That's right! No more $2 writers! No more $5 writers! Come on everybody, say it with me... "We're mad as hell, and we're not gonna take it anymore! We're gold to you and your business, by gosh, and you're gonna pay us what we're worth!" Okay, well... it was worth a shot anyway! Lol!
"We're mad as hell, and we're not gonna take it anymore! We're gold to you and your business, by gosh, and you're gonna pay us what we're worth!" Burn the non-believers!
Hooray! A convert! Good on ya, mate; I was beginning to wonder if I'd get anyone to join me in my little crusade