Is $0.02c per word too high, or am I doing something wrong?

Not a copywriter, a content writer.

She's uninformed about proper pricing as well. You should pay her more if her articles are that good.

Can i get some of your ink

 

Actually, she does know what proper pricing is. She is giving me a HUGE discount because I always order lots of articles, and she's been there with me for months. They are always around 500 words, etc.

 

I would never charge per word or by the hour. Its quality that matters.

 

Certainly...I assume you've seen our rates

How many websites do you need?

 

For starters - I will not bother dealing with a writer who insists on making "false rates" by providing an rather unsused currency. As buyer, I am used to see a dollar rate, not a pound rate.

Second, there is no flesh to your writing. As in: Even from your description I do get no sense how you work or what you do. Third the example you provided as an image with a cross through it is irrelevant to most buyers here. No offering of tests for review how you work, no itrade profile.

Last but basically also a summation of the above: no history, no portfolio, uses tricks, is concerned about somebody having the example text - looks ilke an absolut pain in the ass to work with. Why even bother?

And that is even before I have recalculated in my had that you want to charge ten bucks for 500 words.

 

You sound like a rather ridiculous buyer - the type professional writers would generally be smart enough to steer clear of.

Unless I'm misunderstanding something, you're expecting writers to:

1. Only list rates in your currency of choice (if a buyer wants a native English-speaking writer, they would have to be an idiot to brush off a writer for charging in pounds rather than dollars - top quality English writers don't only come from the States, and writers don't have to cater to that market, considering there's a strong enough demand for them elsewhere).

2. Have iTrader on some webmaster forum (hate to break it to ya bub, but most of the top writers here are relatively new, and most of them deal only or mostly privately which means they're not allowed to give or receive iTraders on the deals - at the same time a lot of garbage writers get great iTrader reviews for anything from poor writing to stolen content, because plenty of buyers don't know any better; hence hiring the writer in the first place).

3. Offer "tests" for review to see how they work (again, this says you're an amateur buyer or are used to only working with amateur writers - professionals very rarely offer "tests" of any kind).

Even new writers don't have to succumb to ridiculous demands like these. Developing their portfolio does NOT have to require "test" pieces or being treated like crap, especially for just a few dollars per article. If anything, if an even remotely decent writer is offering a quality article for as little as $10, you should count your blessings - that's more than reasonable for a new writer with any actual skill, even with little feedback and samples. If you're going to go into a relationship with any kind of mistrust, do both yourself and the writer a favor by walking away.

 

Thats a great way to go Techfinchec. Elance is positively disheartening when you look at the rates people quote there. Its a virtual blood bath kind of thing there. I'm pretty new to online writing, just about a month old in this field. I started out at very low rates myself but poured my heart out in every article that I did. The result, I could showcase them to the clients here, and ask for a better rate, and I was surprised to see that I did manage to clinch the deal. Its no way near yours, but I can still charge about $6.5 a piece for a 500 word articles and in the future I hope to do better. I want to add that, all of you on this forum are very inspiring. Thanks.

 

Well, I will say that i will start with the lower price even 0.5 cents per word to get some customer. After that the price can be increase if you do provde outstanding article.
Of course, you need to consider the market price. I will choose the cheaper writer if both of them can provide me a satisfied article

 

His rates aren't that high. Sure, compared to the BST or the majority of bidding sites these days it may seem that way. In actuality though, many professional writers charge much more! Everyone has to find their comfort level, and something they can live with. Take all of JHMatterns posts to bed, sleep with them, dream about them, and imprint them in the back of your mind.

 

I'm sorry, but if you're a great writer then .02/word is shameful. Well, that is if you live in a country that costs more than most of the others. Less than .01/word? Nobody who is seriously a good writer will continue to do that, and hopefully not even start at that.

 

No 0.02/word is not TOO high..

As if starting out freelancing is not “tough” enough, factor in all the people looking to hire a writer for virtually nothing. Writing jobs are often given to those who are willing to do the work for the cheapest rates.

While a majority of the clients do that, there are many who understand the meaning of quality. You should be looking at targeting them and that can only be done by hanging in there and not giving your work away.

You may be a skilled writer but going about the whole thing in the wrong way. Take a long, hard look at your skills. Do you consider yourself a skilled writer? Do you have experience in a particular industry? Make sure you sell yourself to your client by emphasizing all your talents. Let me tell you, all these things can considerably increase the rates you charge per article and you’ll soon find yourself being approached by well-paying clients.

Jenn stresses on the importance of networking with other writers. I haven’t done much in that department and I conveniently blame it on “lack of time.”

See where you’re going wrong and work on that….

 

You mean to say writers like "Jenn","Vgal",DeniseJ",and "Chriss" need "itraders" to get recognized?
You think "itraders"are like "Army Medals" that someone wins and becomes a war-hero.I wish the buyers here at DP are not being guided with this principle in majority.

 

I personally prefer a per article rate than a per word rate. It really depends on the quality of your articles to, of course people will go for $3 or $5 dollar articles if the quality is the same as yours but I pay $40-$70 per article for some premium quality articles by respected authors. It's all about perceived value.

 

I see where you're coming from. Our company's evolution involved the same issues you are currently facing. Like you, we also charge as low as 2 cents per word for bulk orders--sometimes going as low as 1 penny per word. Back when we started, we didn't have focus. My company competed with single operator writing shops when we should have emphasized our key strength--the ability to produce high quality bulk custom content in a short amount of time. You should identify your core features and service capabilities at the beginning and try not to deviate from them or else you'll confuse your marketing message.

Emphasize your strengths. If you're experienced in particular topics or SEO writing techniques, emphasize them. Don't hold back when promoting your services. Always keep your portfolio and client reviews/recommendations up to date. If you offer extras like copyscape checking, keyword density analysis, competition analysis, or brand consultation then make sure you include them in your sales package. As a business you are always answering the question "Why should I hire you?".

I wish you the best of luck and hang in there. The surest way to lose at something is to quit trying.

 

No, I am the kind of buyer you are looking for, because I understand value for money and that this is a business where both sides need to win. Which btw does not mean that you are heaven's gift to mankind, but that you do offer a service which I as the buyer can choose to accept or not. Just the same as you can refuse to work with somebody like me.


Answering your list in regard to the original question:

"1. Only list rates in your currency of choice"

the currency on dp is US dollar. when catering to a purely british english market, this makes sense, but given that a large userbase of dp are not looking for british content, this is like going to america and insisting that you can pay in pounds. (please note: i am neither an american nor do I live there.)

to your point: when he wants to attract buyers for british this makes sense. just offering this without making the british focus, is trying to cheat in my eyes.

"and writers don't have to cater to that market, considering there's a strong enough demand for them elsewhere"

as the poster wrote he is wondering why he does not get as much traction as for example the other guy.

"2. Have iTrader on some webmaster forum[/B] (hate to break it to ya bub, but most of the top writers here are relatively new, and most of them deal only or mostly privately which means they're not allowed to give or receive iTraders on the deals - at the same time a lot of garbage writers get great iTrader reviews for anything from poor writing to stolen content, because plenty of buyers don't know any better; hence hiring the writer in the first place)."

itraders are an indication for this market. the original question was not for the world in general, but this market. any way, a decent buyer does check not only the history but threads about comments for example of poor writing and such.


"Offer "tests" for review to see how they work[/B] (again, this says you're an amateur buyer or are used to only working with amateur writers - professionals very rarely offer "tests" of any kind). "

What I meant - and I agree I worded that poorly - is that people want to see something, how you write. If you are not providing even that then tests may be a way to go (which I did not see either).

MY preferred way of buying is checking the way they write and behave on these forums, as well as what content they show me as a portfolio, this expands especially to design work. Next I check for how service oriented the seller is, if they provide ways of contact / paying I can work with and make an overall professional impression.

"Even new writers don't have to succumb to ridiculous demands like these. "

Thankfully, buyers do not have to use amateurish sellers either.

Kate

 

This is a US-based forum, but one with a heavily international audience. As a matter of fact, most of my content buyers are based in the UK or Australia, preferring native UK-based and similar writers, or those who can write in that style. It's very much in demand here, especially in the high end of the market.

How can you call it "cheating"? Wouldn't it be more cheating to list USD if you're based in the UK - therefore implying that you'll be writing naturally in US style English? It's not cheating if you're making it clear where you're located, especially when that would involve differences in output. It's up to the client to make it clear if they want something specific, and they should certainly be looking at things like previously-published samples to discover how that writer writes.

My point is that no, they're really not an indication for this market. As a moderator, I hear complaints all the time about it - people won't leave negative for fear of retribution for example. I've also already noted how people rack up iTrader here despite extremely poor content (such as from buyers who don't speak English, and can't judge the quality before posting a review - many of those reviews are left because people are happy they got something cheap; not something good. As I've also already pointed out, most of the best writers on this forum do a lot of work privately, where leaving and receiving iTrader is impossible. A professional writer working through the private market on DP may only have a handful of iTraders, but they may have actually worked with more clients here, and produced far better content, than someone with 100 iTrader, who received them for quick illegal rewrites or copy/paste jobs.

Thanks for clarifying your position on that. The professional route is generally to show published samples, or private samples for past clients when permitted. There's never a good excuse for a writer to submit free samples as a test - if it will be paid for regardless of continuing work (a mini-gig so to speak), that would be a different story.

 

Start low and build up....

What rate do your articles convert at .. i.e if I placed your article on ezine articles and got 100 views how many people would clickthrough tto my site?.

 

Tommo, I mentioned this in another thread as well, but if you're looking for articles solely for conversions, you don't want a content writer; you need a copywriter. They're the ones who understand marketing and consumer motivations enough to tailor the writing around what's going to influence the reader and bring them to action. The two are commonly confused.

 

A good content article with a good resouce box is usually good enough for 20-30% clickthrough The rest is then down to my landing page and resource box. Hiring a copywriter can be a false economy as they expect a lot more money PLUS they are not used to putting a message across in 450 words.

 

I know the difference - I do both. I believe in one of your posts you had mentioned wanting the articles to lead to sales though and not just the click conversions, which is why I brought up the issue. You would be surprised at how many people here don't know the difference, and are shocked when a general content writer can't appeal to their market with something action-oriented. Glad to hear you know the difference.