Are Writers that work for $1 - $3 really writers?

The problem isn't the fact that so many are willing to write articles for so little, the problem is that so many, "writers," are either just too dumb (they do not listen) or they are inexperienced.

Once again, brainstorms...

Askmen.com pays $50 per article.

Sitepoint.com pays up to and over $50 ... and the owner has said that if he wants repeat visitors, he has to pay for good articles.

Good articles actually helps keep a webmaster's advertising costs down.

Magazine and business websites pay at least 25 cents, on up to and over $1 a word.

Article farms, like, Demand Media, pays $15 to $25 an article.

On and on and on and on...

There never has been a problem with low-ballers writing for a couple of bucks for an article, and there never will be.

Even article farms like Demand Media isn't a threat.

What part of all of this do you Gomers not get???

 

HAHA...I couldn't help but laught out loud- rolling on the carpet noticing your ignorant, peanut-sized global awareness quotient in the post.Grow up!

I must have made this point-what- a few times here. And sure if you dig around you'll see a lot more 'sensible' guys agreeing with me. Here are your silly assumptions-

1. Asian ( "non-native") writers are crap because they charge less
2. They charge less to beat the competition
3. ALL low-paying non-native writers are crap.They can't be good if they beat you on price.
4. These guys can't write good English.Its a given.

When you grow up enough to see the stupidity of the above presumptions, you'll realise some reasons why. Here are some valid points-

1. Hourly pay in Asia is low. $10/hour minimum wage would be good enough for 3 guys there. Do the math- Around 3 bucks for an hour is good and they can do 3-4 articles in $3. Whats wrong in selling each article for a dollar if they can afford to. Nothing to do with quality, that's a separate issue altogether, my friend.
2. Not ALL non-native writers are crap. TBH not ALL native writers are good. You can't generalise. I am an Indian guy and I write better than a LOT of 'natives'. My case is different as I have lived in UK for 8 years and worked in media so I might be better than people who learnt writing in strictly Asian schools.

So, the bottom line--- Not ALL cheap writers are crap. Test the quality first before you commit to a large order. Paying extra to a 'native', simply because you believe that'll result in better quality, is absurd.

 

I'm sure you will find a few willing to write for a few dollars. The quality, grammar, and spelling might not be up to par for that rate, but you get what you pay for. Depends on the content and what you are after. Be careful with copyright stuff too. A lot of outsourced material including writers and backlinks is totally copied and automated. You really need to do your homework or you will get screwed. People are cheap and want a deal so they think it is a good deal. Not all of it is bad, but a lot of it is a total waste of time and money. Better to do it yourself. But, if you are looking for quality original content you need to do some research.

 

Well, first of all, zaggernaut, I didn't mean to say all of them.

Practically all of them, yes.

I am not even talking about grammatical errors, anyway.

I am talking about sentence structuring, putting more meaning behind the words, in addition to being able to write GOOD, entertaining and constructive articles.

Also, being able to use our slang and whatnot that American readers can relate to, connect to more.

Some can indeed do this, but practically all cannot.

Paying for crap articles, no matter who wrote it is one of the reasons why so many webmasters see very little repeat traffic.

In practically all instances, they might as well flush their 1, 2 or 3 dollars down the shitter.

 

Not that I've got anything mind wobbling to add, but this seems like weak sauce:

If I were an Asian writer with decent English writing skillz, I would definitely charge more than $10 per hour to pay the billz because ...

Being a decent Internet writer
means I can read decently and,
faced with low paying jobs,
would dissent
knowing that I could charge
much more than $10 per hour for my "quality"
Would I descend to such wages?
Or
Wouldn't I ask myself ...

Why be a pauper when
I can be a prince?

Are you saying that the bulk of really good Asian writers don't know that they can charge $20 - $50 for a good article?

Are you saying that even though they are really awesome writers, they're extremely happy writing for $10 per hour when they could write for $50 per hour?

That doesn't make sense.

$50 an hour and live like a king. Or $10 an hour and make ends meet.

There's got to be another factor tying them to $1 - $3 per article. Don't ya think?

Perhaps they're just good-hearted people, willing to do a solid for American internet marketers and the like.

I'm a globalization proponent, but let's not be silly and try to twist reality.

 

I charge my writing 1$ per 100 words. I am from eastern europe, and I assume that 1$ per 100 words is good price for the buyer, and also good price for me, beacuse average salary in my country is around 400$ so 1$ is fine for me . I also have a family in America (my brother and sister in law who is native american) so I am sending them my articles and they are correcting my mistakes during the writing

 

There is no better writer of your own content than yourself. And if you're NOT interested in generating unique content, then don't bother.

My advice would be to write your own content and then hire a "re-writer" if you're not confident in your writing style.

 

Tim David has a point. I tell my writing clients that there's no better content creator for your business than you, especially when it comes to personalized messages for e-mail marketing.

Of course, I always follow that up with, after a short interview or two, I can pull that content from you, make it compelling, professional and real real purty.

 

My motto is that you get what you pay for. In the end, when someone pays $1, $3 or even $10 or $15 for an article, it is typically sub-par in quality than a professionally written article that charges $50, $100 or even $300 for an article.

 

That is quite true. I was paid $80 for a 500 word article this week. I will be paid $144 for a 750 word article next week, and in between I will be paid $35 for the bulk of the articles I write for my clients.

I am not trying to brag - just pointing out that decent rates for high quality articles are available online to those who seek them out.

John.

 

yup. One who writes is a writer.
There is a proverb that more you put sugar, more sweetnes you wil get. So as far as prices are concerned it depends on the writer's caliber or need sometime.

 

If you are good writer and you write high quality articles, you will find away to show yourself for sure

 

having bought some re-writes on fiverr.com I have found 'you get what you pay for', I like to outsource, and get some great work on fiverr, (Voice overs etc), so I tried to use some of the writers there, what a waste, (in my view), poor english, structure, etc, I was not looking for SEO re-writes, but that's where their head is: thinking no one will read the work anyway.

I would not call them writers, nor would I use low paying 'writers' again - we all know the work that goes into writing, time, care, -re-writes, etc, so only makes sense. For those living abroad - even if they speak english, the use of english is so different, their work just is not up to snuff for this market.

IMHO

 

Most people on freelancer and odesk have work in bulk. Perhaps they all want backlinks from article directories. Why they will pay $10 per article If they are getting backlinks from article which cost is $0.5.

 

Well, they could be writers from India. The question really is quality...article marketing is not really demanding Pulitzer winning pieces but pieces that makes good sense and not rubbish...

 

So I went through a few pages and it seems as those most people are saying the same thing. I originally came on this site as a referral a few years back when people were picking up article marketing articles left and right.

In my opinion, when Google is able to truly fix their algorithm so article directory sites need to have informative content with a splash of rich keywords; all the outsourced work is going to come back home.

One of the main reasons people pay for cheap content is because they are fairly new to the online business world. They purchase some "Make Money this Way" eBook or get advice from their MLM sponsor (in the training area), and are told to utilize article marketing.

The only problem is the trainers don't tell them; "Hey, your articles need to be helpful to the reader and have the appropriate keyword positioning." So what do the newcomers do? They head to content areas that are cheap and inexpensive. After all, there are a lot of people who don't even read the content after it's been provided for them.

I imagine you're a writer, but I wish someone who was new to article marketing or starting their promotional efforts would have started it. I think it is very important to provide newcomers with this type of knowledge. Without it the cheap outsourced content will be hard to beat.

My recommendation is to utilize other places out side of this one. Don't settle for placing all your eggs in the DP basket. Just charge what you charge and eventually someone willing to pay the price will contact you.

There are plenty of people out there willing to pay you what you're worth; just don't let them down and be sure to meet deadlines. They might not need another batch for 2 or 3 months, but if you do a great job they will think of you. TAKE PRIDE IN YOUR WORK WRITERS!

Okay, the soapbox is getting slippery...Good Luck

 

Great Post Sir!

 

No, you do not.

The first thing to do is get out of competition mode. Set your price and stick by it. Stay as far away as possible from places where you have to bid for a job. Stay as far away as possible from content mills and ordinary webmasters. They will never, or rarely at best, pay a decent rate.

Go where the money is, and go alone, leaving the crowd behind. Think hard about who has money to spend on good quality article writers. Think laterally. The person (or company) you approach doesn't have to be the actual one who has the money, but they do need to have clients who are willing to pay.

Go where the money is in article writing. That's how to make money in article writing.

Two years ago I was scrambling around too, seeking article writing jobs for $5, $7, maybe $10 a time. I hated it and decided to do something positive about it. Now I am paid $35 an article - minimum, and as high as $150 an article on occasion. I do not say that to brag - just to show you it CAN be done, and it doesn't take long to achieve either with determination and perseverance.

John.

 

i think it depends on the people who order the job, if they want high-quality articles they should be ready to pay high....
well overall, I think the business competition is no longer good....many writers who really have the skills have to lower their rate to get order
$3 is not fair...

 

I so agree with you. Some of these guys (and girls) will write for 50 cents per article and many writing requests have offered these types of pitiful payment rates. I guess it's a free market although rates should be set to protect those of us working in the UK or US who cannot begin to survive on those figures. Anyway, just wait for the quality assignments. They will come if you are good enough.