Do You Still Have Hope In The Content Section Here At DP?

The fact is, the industry is inundated with low quality content and people willing to buy it for next to nothing. But there will always be individuals and businesses out there willing to pay well for high quality content and as a content writer, it is your responsibility to find them. I personally use my blog and the occasional Craigslist post to find clients and this serves me well for the most part. I typically charge no less than $0.15 per word on larger projects and $0.20 per word for smaller ones and rarely do my potential clients balk at the notion of paying $100 for a 500 word article. This is because I make sure they fully understand what is at stake. They realize that while low quality content is typically cheap and keyword dense, with recent algorithmic changes Google has made to target low quality and "spammy" content, their site may actually suffer from using such content. I explain what effective SEO is, why it's important and how everything plays together to increase website visibility, traffic, and overall conversions.

Of course, I also have a full time job in marketing that pays me well and really don't need the freelance writing jobs, so it wouldn't hurt my feelings one bit if someone chose low quality content over mine.

 

Shouldn't people just write their own content for their own blogs?

For that matter, shouldn't "writers" maybe just start their own blogs and write professionally and keep all the money for themselves?

 

Sometimes it is too time consuming to write all the articles by themselves.
The research, the time needed to write.
And for blogging, they need many article for 1 niche. Not just one. So it may be easier to outsource.

 

I think the best blogs are self written. People who have successful blogs do a good job of developing a relationship with their readers. That's what keeps them coming back.

My opinion is if you want to be a writer for someone else, then you should write for only 1 other source, maybe 2. You should be in demand and sources should want to pay top dollar for you provided you only write for them or just a handful.

Also, like bloggers, writers should only write within their niche or expertise, something you NEVER seen done here on DP. Writers here will write about anything whether they have expertise or not. You can't demand top dollar without expertise in the topic.

 

There's something more scary for me is everytime I try to hire writers talking to them in PM stresses me out because they are mentioning words like "evidences" and saying "Yes sir. English is my first language. That'll be 12$. Thank you hun."
It's gotten so bad that I am sitting here thinking to myself that maybe I have no choice but to write my 300 articles even though I know I suck.

 

You mean some writers even manipulate their nativeness (or that English is their first language)??

 

Exactly. It's so common I expect more than half do.

 

Well, manipulation will get you through all the way but what after you've submitted your work? Improper syntax, faulty sentence construction, content that's mostly an incoherent mess stuffed randomly with spun words and out-of-context bits speak for themselves how good a 'writer' actually is at English.
I mean these are “evidences” that English is just not your first language. Right hun?
You're right. Much better off writing your own stuff even if you suck at it.

 

True. Sometimes it may happen that way. But I believe there are still some good writer out there.

 

I've been a full-time freelance writer for the past 9 years. I own and write the content for two blogs. One is a dental blog and the other is about horses. It took time to build these blogs to the point where they're a decent income source. I also have clients that I write for.

It is about creating multiple income sources. Especially if you are new writer trying to establish yourself and build a decent portfolio and client list. When revenue is down from one income source, another is there to fill the void.

I chose to create and nurture only two blogs because I could manage the work needed to grow these blogs and complete client work as well. The blogs are in niches that I know well, so the writing and misc work involved to grow these blogs properly was easier than working with a niche I wasn't familiar with. I could've launched many blogs, spanning multiple niches and hired writers to produce content for them. I chose not too, because this in of itself, can become a full-time job.

There are so many ways a talented writer can earn an income from their skill. However, a writer must decide for themselves where and how their time and talent is best used to maximize their income.

 

I have been writing for almost four years now. I own a legitimate business, pay tax (gasp!), and charge prices that are high enough for me to make a decent living in the UK. I own three of my own blogs (two of which have private ads, and affiliate ads). I write for sites like Constant Content where the prices are high, and the clients understand the importance of high quality content. And, I write for private clients.

There are some great clients on DP, but most of the ones I work for have contacted me privately, not listed a job in the Content Creation forum. There are also some good jobs on freelancing sites like Elance and oDesk, and not every client looks at price over quality. But where does most of my work come from? Reputation. I've lost count of the amount of clients I have that have recommended me to another business or website owner. If you spend all of your time whining on webmaster forums about how other freelancers are taking your work, you're not marketing yourself correctly, and you're ruining your reputation at the same time.

Instead of whining on here OP, research the industry. Join multiple websites and get your name out there positively. Sign up to sites like Constant Content and submit high quality articles for high prices. Even if they don't sell instantly, the fact that your name is associated with a quality website speaks volumes. Start your own website, and let your writing speak for itself. And finally, stop worrying about penny a word writers. They will always be there, and there will always be an industry for them, and what you say will never change that. Worry about yourself, and your own writing, and you will see a difference.

 

I wouldn't write a 500-word article for less than $20-25. Needless to say, I don't foresee any writing work coming from this site. I'll stick to my reputation on freelancing sites where I don't have a problem commanding those prices.

 

While you are right about the situation here, I would not recommend giving up on this site completely. Make your presence felt, be an active participant, throw an ad in the Content Creation etc. ..... do everything that one would normally do to advertise/market their writing services through this site. You will get some good clients down the line from this source, though few.
Can you name a few good (freelance or other) sites where you can find clients that will pay the rates you ask? I mean esp. those you've tried out and got some real work from?

 

Thanks, I'll keep this in mind.

Getting work from this site was not my primary intent when joining, so it's not a big deal if that happens or not. I mainly wanted to contribute to the community with my writing, marketing, and social media knowledge. If I can pick up a few jobs, that's a bonus...but the content section of this site looks pretty depressing.

I primarily use oDesk for my freelance work. Although it has a bad reputation for low-end jobs and is getting worse, you can still find clients willing to pay these prices and will stand out in comparison to the peanut workers. It's actually pretty easy if you're a good writer.

 

Thanks for the reply @Jennifer Hutson. I think this is a good idea. Create a strong portfolio on every site and maintain your presence. Good-paying clients will automatically approach you once they notice you.
You talked about Odesk. I believe the situation is more or less the same everywhere esp. on other freelance sites like Freelancer.com, Guru.com etc. and content-mills as iWriter. I guess the best way to pull a handsome income by writing is approaching clients privately rather than through job-boards or mills.

 

I think $20-$25 for 500/words is highway robbery regardless on how good a person is. Most pros go for 1500-2000words on an article and have hundreds on their site. There is no way a site is going to throw you $20,000 to write for 6 weeks.

 

Highway robbery? You clearly haven't a clue about the writing industry or what good writers make. I have a steady freelance business and work with clients who pay these prices and continue to give me new projects every week. Know why? I produce quality work and they know the value of great content and copy. And most importantly – my stuff makes people buy. In fact, I should probably be charging more.

High-quality magazine articles go for hundreds and thousands of dollars. Some top copywriters make $50,000 for just one piece of highly converting sales copy. Sales-generating content and articles are no different. Pay peanuts, get monkeys. The vast majority of writers willing to accept $5 or less for an article do not generate sales or produce engaging content that helps strengthen a brand and give credibility to a business, which is what good writing does.

Where are you pulling these numbers from? This again shows that you are terribly unfamiliar with the writing industry. Most articles are NOT 1500-2000 words and you're making an incredibly uninformed assumption that I only write for bulk projects in the hundreds. I certainly don't write 200 articles at a time at $25 a piece – don't be ridiculous. I'm also not talking about content mills, because sites like this do not care about quality – they care about quantity. I write business articles for companies looking to brand themselves and develop a reputation for themselves. You are lumping me into an entirely different category, here.

I mainly write sales copy, website content and SEO-oriented articles. When I do write an article, I make that price of $25 (which is also my hourly rate). I have a client right now that sends me eight SEO articles to write every week and they always pay $25-30 a piece. So yes, good clients are willing to pay for quality, just like any other service.

Please don't go insulting people who make good money as writers and assuming things just because you are unfamiliar with the industry. It's not fair to those of us who have worked hard to develop a reputation for ourselves and deserve the rates we charge. We are our own business and set our own prices. No one is being forced to pay rates they don't want to.

 

That's funny. According to you if a network like dp does not pay writers what a Cosmo magazine editor earns then they are monkeys writing. What a retarded train of thought. That's like saying there is no point into taking a lead role if you only earn $20,000 for 6 weeks of work because Mark Walhburg earns $20million.
Everyone should earn $20 million or the movie isn't worth anything!!

Size of content is one of the main measures of Panda to determine if your site is a big hit for keywords above 75,000 monthly searches. Most pros will recommend that a network will downsize the pages and combine articles if they have a ton of 500word article pages.
Don't worry about the above paragraph though. It's only SEO stuff. You shouldn't know anything about it considering you write about......oh wait, you write about SEO.

I insult you not because you earn a lot, but because you believe that everyone should pay what you charge and any other lower cost article written with horrible quality.

The whole problem for the past 10years writers like you have complained that the cost of article writing is degrading but then you decide to charge $25 per 20minutes and waste 40minutes to make it look like the article purchase was worth the money. Your fee is a scam and you are pissed because idiots have Walmarted the market. Tough break, you should not have over charged.

 

There is honestly so much ignorance in this post, I don't even know where to begin dissecting it. From your previous post history, it appears you only like to post negative comments on a given thread, with little to no contribution to this site. Good luck with that.

I'm guessing you spend more time calling people idiots (half your recent posts include the word "idiot" – great vocabulary you have there) and complaining than actually making money like the rest of us – which might be why you're so upset. I'd try working on your own business sense rather than picking apart others', which you might actually learn something from.

You are completely and utterly wrong about the article size/SEO claim. Panda is primarily quality-focused and has nothing to do with size at all, at least not in the way you are suggesting. I honestly have no idea where you get your information from, but I'd love to see some hard evidence from all these "pros" you keep referring to. And when did I ever say I only worked with huge sites that had huge databases of articles? I said I would charge $25 for ONE article. I don't even do bulk work at the level you are speaking of, so your argument is completely null. At this point, you are just making things up.

I know a lot about marketing and SEO in addition to my writing knowledge and I could sit here and have a discussion for hours explaining the flaws in your logic, but that would only fall on deaf ears.

I never said that I believe everyone should charge what I charge. There would be no marketplace if that were the case. Setting different rates makes for a healthy marketplace; DP's writing section just has a lower average rate. Nothing wrong with that, some sites do OK with that type of content for now(it will be a problem in the future, though), but it's not my field and I don't do that type of writing. There's nothing wrong with that. Unfortunately, you took one thing I said and ASS-umed a whole string of incorrect conclusions about me as a person.

I'm not complaining about price and I never complained about writing prices being degrading. Another ass-umption on your part. $3 an article might be great income for someone else, I simply said I wouldn't work for that. And it is almost always a much lower standard of writing, which is fine for content mills who do not rely on quality. Again, I don't do that type of work, perhaps you didn't understand the first time around.

I make a very healthy income at my own rate and have tons of repeat business. I must be doing something right

 

Anything else you'd like "not" to talk about.

The whole base of the conversation we are having is that I have a problem that you think everyone is a monkey who is not charging Cosmo magazine fees for writing like you are. I think you put yourself way up high on a pedestal and are pissed because you are struggling to earn because of this(although you say you are not).
The seo talk from me and you is trivial to the point. We could go on and on arguing about seo. I could say I have a network that brings $90K/UV per month, you'll ask to prove it, I'll ask you to prove where you write, etc, etc. It'll go nowhere.
Feel free to join in the main conversation. Right now, by looking through my previous posts you are showing that you cannot defend yourself against my claims above and just want to say "No one should listen to me" bit.