I am looking for more serious networking contacts and better forums that pay decent prices. Anyone know of any resources. I am going to go check out Ms. Mattern's info but just was curious if there were other ways I can get copywriting, writing jobs without working for china wages. Thank you, JAM
You're asking the wrong question. It's not "what forums pay decent prices?" (The answer to that question is there are none... first because forums don't hire you--people do. Second, because you're competing with many other writers on a forum. Supply and demand.) The better, more empowering question is "What can I do to earn higher fees as a writer?" Maybe it's to become a better writer. Maybe it's to attract different kinds of clients. Maybe it's to focus on sales copy, which is inherently worth more. Maybe it's specializing in a certain industry or target market or type of copy. Maybe it's something else. If you want to justify higher rates, you need to position yourself as the expert and give yourself a unique selling proposition--not just be another writer on a forum. Put a website together, blog on a regular basis. Write reports that will appeal to your target clients (e.g. "How To Use Article Marketing To Drive Traffic, Pre-Sell Your Product or Service, And Explode Your Business"). Maybe even write a book on your area of expertise. It's a lot of work. But it's entirely worth it. I wish you all the best, Aaron
Aaron, I really appreciate you taking your time to write that out. The mentality of me is complex. I seem to write with emotions. You know that song, "clap your hands if your happy..etc etc" My frustration hit the peak today. My writing skills can be pretty dandy or handy with my mood factor. kudos to you responding, great smile by the way! JAM
I don't ever find actual jobs ON the forum where I'm posting. I just post here and I either get referred or someone contacts me. I make it clear right away that I am not a low-priced copywriter. What I charge is very fair for what people get in return. In other words, I don't even want to attract those who hire on the basis of price alone and they don't contact me. I guess you could do elance if you wanted to go that route.
Many people hire based on price alone. Alot of the people that I have run into dont care so much about the content as the keyword placement and length. Its frustrating as a writer to get started, but a little bit of research and putting your skills out there will go a long way.
I would not wish Elance on anybody. This route is just extract all the way with percentage after percentage. You will never attract a well paid job on Elance. You pay monthly to be a member then you have job restrictions unless you pay more, even then they take it from you in other ways including Paypal's commission. Stay real and stay away from Elance! JohnT
You may want to check our fairblogs.net. It's a place where you can join a blog and become a co-owner. You earn a percentage of the blog's revenue, to be negotiated with the current members of that blog. You can also bring your own blog and find other writers to help you out and grow the overall revenue. Right now, there is an iPhone review site looking for help, a singaporean wedding site, home and garden topics, tech topics...
If you want to attract private clients, it's important to market yourself properly. Check out this blog (not mine, btw) for some great information on marketing yourself as a freelancer: http://selfmadechick.com/
Hi, For those that use bid for work sites, Ive just joined peopleperhour.com Membership is free for a higher commision (and it is quite high!), but the jobs on offer seem to be of higher quality than the usual bidding sites. Its based mostly in the UK (I think). Maybe worth looking at for those who like the bid for work sites. Im not usually a fan of these types of sites, but this one does seem to be a bit more up market. All the best Christine
Thanks for the tip Christine, I will check it out. I'm always interested to see sites that are useful for those of us in the UK!
I have no idea why my post on this thread is removed! I don't think I've posted anything wrong but I appreciate if the mod who removed it let me know the reason.
I agree with most of what others have said---Love your avatar, by the way webgal! Elance is a waste of time IMHO. The fees are ridiculous for what is offered on that site and working in their 'work rooms' is a big waste of time too. Market yourself--have samples. Don't settle for pennies.
I haven't tried this yet, but I'm going to tomorrow when I've got my Cracked.com article finished: Go to ConstantContent.com or DailyArticle.com, and submit your best (new) work there - they won't take pre-published work - and set a good price on it. I'd recommend maybe 2 cents a word or more, depending on what rights you want to sell. Then, once your work is published, not only do you have a portfolio, you've got a potential source of income from people who want to buy your writings.
I was looking for similar information a week ago. Here's the thread: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=1244131 I tried Warrior and v7n but I think DP is the best (Warrior needs you to pay $20 to start a thread! I actually had to cough up moolah before I could earn (hopefully!)). Again, it's the client that hires you, not the forum; you can hit pay dirt where you least expect. Eventually it boils down to your skills though, the cream will always rise to the top!