How Much Would You Pay?

I am just getting in to the writing world, and wish to start my own content writing business. Let me start by saying this paragraph is not a sample of my writing, when I post on forums the professionalism is a little more casual. My question is this, how much are you willing to pay for quality articles that are researched very well? I am trying to figure out what I should charge. I do not want to write for 1$/500 words like I have seen some other people advertise on here.

 

It's a tricky issue to discuss. Different fields allow for different rates.
For instance, I write specifically for gay adult content, and for this I charge $3 for 150 - 200 words (primarily blog posting).
For site reviews and articles I would charge $15 for 500 words, because of the additional research involved.

I would say that you should calculate this on how long it might take you to complete the work, and then be realistic in setting your pay if this were all you were doing.

If the price is correct and the work is good quality you will get customers.
Ignore the $1 cowboys out there, people rarely use them more than once. The standard is generally poor, many are not even native English speakers, and plenty of the content they send back is spun. It's just not worth people paying them for that kind of service, you could just do it yourself with free software.

 

how long is a piece of string?

 

Let me start by saying that this is one of my biggest pet peeves...

You are someone who is considering offering a writing service, and therefore IMHO should be doing all you can to establish your credibility. Remember, this is the internet, and big brother is always watching. Clients come in all shapes, sizes, forms, etc. and it is not unheard of for someone to contact you out of the blue, simply because they enjoyed something/anything written by you. This forum could produce many valued prospects and customers for you, so why would you wish to approach your potential clients with "professionalism that is a little more casual"? This is not a personal attack, just something for you to consider!

Don't let anyone else dictate to you - you charge what you believe is appropriate for your time and skills. A prime example of this is that you wish to earn $100 a day. You then divide this amount by the number of articles you believe you can write in a day and voila! Therefore, you believe you can write 5 articles, so you charge $20 per article, you believe you can write 3 articles, so you charge $34 per article, you believe you can write 1 article a day, you charge $100 per article, and so on...

Obviously, you have to prove to your prospects that you are worth the price that you quote, but remember that these $1/500word clients are probably not the type of people you ever want to work with anyway. This person only values a 500-word article at $1 because they will probably never make anymore than $2 from the article that is placed on their crappy made-for-adsense site. It's all relative!

I once paid just shy of $100 for a 600-word article (which is actually pretty inexpensive for a professional), however, 2 years on that article is still earning me money. My ROI is somewhere in the 1000s of per cent. Returning to my point above, how much money do you think someone makes from a $1 article?

I would also remember that DP is not the only place to advertise your services.

Cheers
James

 

Hmm...You have already decided that what you won't accept for your writing. $1 articles are not well researched. there are usually rewritten or spun.
u can write one article and spin it into 100. with $1/article you can earn $100. would you mind that?

 

I used to pay $3 to $5 for 500 words article. I check quality, usage and few other factors before I choose someone as a writer. Also, will check every articles to see how they maintain the same.

 

Hmmm, welcome to the content writing world. Normally it depends upon the length of article, or on your discussion to your clients. If you want to average rate then as my experience says, it is 5$ to 12$. There are a huge lists of freelancers these days, so clients tell to lower price. And it is common in every profession nowadays.

 

it depends to the topic. lawyers pay well for writers that write about personal injuries.

 

well i think it depends on the quality and turn around time of the writer.

 

Not really. Or rather, not unless you want to. You can autogenerate what looks like a new article for a few cents nowadays. To a search engine, such content looks as good as a $5 article. And frankly, the majority of the human audience probably couldn't tell the difference either.

For example, here are the leading paragraphs from 2 articles. Can you tell which one was written by a machine?

1. So you're the owner of an Alsatian. This is among the most attractive, friendly dogs you can own. Still, they're different to other dog breeds, and they will require specific German shepherd canine obedience training so as to permit them to slot in well with your family.

OR...

2. For those who own difficult dogs, the techniques of standard dog obedience training will work well in correcting naughty behavior in their pet. Regardless of the dog's age, the strategies used in the typical obedience training programme are certain to work when you employ them as the main system for training your pet.

 

Content writing is a fool's errand business. There are simply not enough money in it. My advice is to move up the ladder as fast as you can and specialize.

There are several options here: press releases, technical writing, grant writing, sales copy, heck even astroturfing if you leave your morals at the door. Any of these options is better than content writing.

Best regards,
George

 

$1 for 100 words... is a decent rate...
if you want the clients to pay you more... your client base will not increase.... so start with these rates buddy

 

What a great post!

I agree completely and it really is down to what you feel you are worth as a writer. My rates are cheap on this forum compared to other places where I sell articles, yet compared to the $1/500 words monkeys - I am expensive at £0.01 GBP per word. However I believe in myself and so will you when you start seeing repeat custom from clients... if your writing is good enough that is. You don't need to compete with the ridiculous prices on here you just need to show the "good clients" that you are worth what you charge. Many will be willing to pay higher for quality and research, the other employers aren't worth your time.

Start a thread up here and offer a few free review copies. Ask people to place a review on the thread and then start charging. Good luck!

Oh and remember, like James said - there are other websites where you can sell content - some are cheaper whilst others have buyers who are willing to pay a lot more for good work. It is all a matter of trial and error

 

The best way to distance yourself from the $1 / 500 word writers is to set your price, then seek out those who will pay your price.

If your price is $10 per article, that's what you will get. If it is $50 per article, that's also what you will get.

Don't ever be fooled into thinking that the market won't support high priced article rates. The dirt cheap part of the article market won't, but that is only the tip of a very large iceberg. Why not set your price at $25 per article and work up from there? No, the bidding sites are not the place to start, neither are the content mills. Forget about the poor starving webmaster as well, and simply go where the money is.

I'm not going to spell it out for you, but the places where the money is to pay YOU very decent article rates is hidden in plain view for all to see. Stop struggling and accepting, and start thinking. High pay for article writing is available to all. You just have to look for it.

John.

 

Really good articles cost you money. I just had some written for my translation website, if you want check them out here: A friend of mine did them but I paid him handsomely. I reckon it is well worth it. Even in half a year, some people might be looking at articles, if they are well-written, and hopefully link to them.

 

I agree that specializing is definitely a plus. If you can find a field that interests you and that you have some authority in, and then locate a potential audience too, you can build a sustainable business.
I began only six months ago after having to leave my full-time (12 hour night shifts five days a week) employment due to bad health. I have now replaced that income through providing gay adult wordage for affiliate bloggers and webmasters. I gain - on average - two clients per week and all of them come through recommendation by existing clients.

I also agree that your forum posts are representing you. Take your time, and don't give excuses. We all make mistakes here and there, it's natural. You won't be verbally assaulted for a misplaced comma (okay, you might, but those who attack based on this are idiots). You should be representing your style and quality through every word you add to the Internet wherever you are.
Who are you intending to offer services to other than the people potentially reading your posts?

Finally, if you can find a way to write about what you enjoy or can connect to, and then you can build a full-time business from that, you will be in heaven. I write about gay porn for six hours a day and that is certainly better than working 12 hour night shifts.

Start up, and provide a great service to your clients. They will do the rest and tell others about you - that's the way to grow your business.

 

I write my self. Because I spend that money on other things for SEO

 

Well, that's good, but many people make their income from a network of sites. Obviously, ten sites pulling in traffic and forwarding it to sponsors is going to generate you more revenue than one site. And who has the time to update ten sites every day other than a professional like me who does it for a living?

Paying a person to write for you, or even creating entire posts of content and text with affiliate links in (as I do for several clients) allows a person to focus on growing their business instead of spending their day updating their sites. It certainly works for my clients.

 

If you want to know the going rate, I would suggest checking out textbroker.com

 

If you are going to provide your writing service here in DP, you can charge $1 per unique article with 100 words.