I know this is a bit weird question to ask as Article Marketing is an integral part of the strategies used to increase your web visibility but seeing the kind of threads being made here on DP i am wondering what is happening to the article marketing. I mean there are too many sellers and buyers shouting loudly through their threads that they can write or want get written a 500 word, quality and original piece of well researched work with just $1.5 or $2. I don't see a point in this. Is the money too scarce these days or are there just too many good writers in the market who are not able to find clients so they are competing for business by taking the rates 6 feet under the ground. I think Mods too would like to have a better look at these kinds of thread as i guess there are some rules for making threads on DP. I don't know whether the MODS know it or not but there is going buzz that DP is not as good a place as it used to be. Webmasters are moving to other forums now. I love DP but can't see it getting ruined..
your right, I cant believe that people are asking/charging $1.50 for articles now! I wish the people that are offering this service for this cheap would stop, and people asking for it would stop too. I dont understand how they even profit from this. If they write 10 articles an hour, the most they could make is like $15! they should charge that for one article. I dont like it
It was great to see this post here. I have been freelance writing for a few years now and it does get rather disconcerting to constantly find these rates. There are many writers (quite a few non-english background) that offer these rates through many of the freelance websites. I think it comes down to the fact that you as, as a writer, need to decide what you are worth. Myself? Well I can't see myself getting out of bed for $1/500 words. You also need to look at the exchange rates too. These are usually USD dollars. Now most of those writers happy to work for $1/500 words are in countries where $1 USD might be quite good money. Not fair, I know, considering that there are many quality writers who are unable to compete in this market. I think the best is to shop around, offer your writing services at a rate that you are happy to work with. Points to keep in mind of course is the time taken to write an article, with research etc that is usually required. Anyway, that is my private soapbox rant for the day
Well, I remember being able to find writers on DP 4 years ago who charged $2-$5 per article, so it's not a new trend. More people doing it, yes. Personally, I don't care since they aren't my competition, but if your entire focus in on servicing small webmasters with articles for article marketing (not a good strategy), then I could see how that would bother you. Unfortunately, it's hard to differentiate yourself with that stuff. Oh, you can shout "quality, quality" as loud as you can, but it means little in that game. The best thing you can do is be successful on your own with it and then rope in clients by showing off your response/conversion/success skills. With article marketing for webmasters (just for affiliate programs, AdSense, etc), quality isn't as important as many like to think it is. And with quantity you can smack down quality with ease—cheaper too. Solid headlines, a solid closer and what you do with the clicks is the ball game. I've taken $1 articles and make money with them. And if you have a more visible or regular business (doctor, regular corporation, etc), you wouldn't be doing much article marketing anyway. Just a hunch based on my experience, but I think most webmasters who look to hire writers for article marketing aren't looking for any major investment because they either have little capital OR they know that quality is just wasted. They don't want a sniper rifle, they want a machine gun so they can spray n pray. In closing (yeah, this response isn't long or anything), if you service this sector, expect to write for very little. And if you make it a business focus, except to do a lot of writing to make the cake.
Actually some buyers think they can control the lives of people. I have seen frivolous and bizzare conditions being attached to simple work. I dont know how many writers are never paid because buyer always finds the excuse. I never charged below $1 for 100 words and I have my own protection system. I take payements daily. I do not accept weekly pays or monthly payments. I tell my client upfront that I expect payment daily. That way I limit my losses if any to occur. Hard truth is, it is very difficult to change the way buyers think. We have to have our own protection and I use those always and never lost a penny.
Very true, buyers are treating writers like slaves. I do not see a point in working unless I get a good deal; I have clients who pay me what I deserve. Sometimes I just wonder what kind of content the other buyers get when they hire writers at $2 per 500 words. There has been this sudden outbreak on the content creation forum where writers work even for a penny. I do not know when this is going to end, possibly recession has seriously affected the businesses and now DP too is bearing the brunt. Hope this doesn’t worsen with time.. p.s. recently came across a thread where the buyer is offering insane rates.. $0.17 per 100 words God bless you
what's happening is that more automation is being used. There are tools available now that allow you to create a 500 word article on any topic in a minute or less, just by clicking buttons. It will be unique and consistent. $1 for clicking a button a few times is actually quite a good rate of pay. In terms of usage - an article would have to VERY much better than one created with software in order to justify the extra expense, IMHO. I base that opinion on how I see most people using their articles, to drive traffic, NOT to amuse, entertain and amaze the reading public. Not a popular opinion, I know, but the reality, none the less. After all, put yourself in the other position. You need to populate 50 blogs fast. Would you rather pay $50 or $250, given that the SERPS results and therefore utility for the two methods would probably be close to identical? And as for bleating for the 'MODS' to somehow 'protect' the article writer - sorry guys, that's not how it works. this forum is busier and more popular than ever, as far as I can see. Perhaps you could create a special article writer's forum, if you feel that strongly about it. Just my few cents, of course. Feel free to flame me about the injustice of it all.
I was outraged the other week, i put out a thread looking to get 8 articles written and i was going to pay $4 an article. Basically because i wanted articles of fairly good quality and thats why i was willing to pay $4 an article. After the person who i gave the job to sent me the articles and i paid for them.... someone else showed me a thread where the guy had outsourced them to someone else for $1.50 an article. I was absolutely raging!! If i could get a hold of these people i would throttle them. in my eyes DP is going downhill.... I paid a guy $200 for 2 PR7 links for the year, and after 3 weeks they got taken down and he said the deal was only for a month!!! Its a joke, I know its kind of off topic here, but DP is full of scammers now and you have to be really carefull who you deal with. For my trouble i have 2 negative itraders from dealing with the scammers and im probably going to get another one shortly because i just gave that scammer a negative itrader. All to often people are scared to leave negative itrader because they know they will just get one back... it should be like evay where you cant get a negative feedback if you are the buyer, it should only be the seller who can receive it. I know that has its own troubles aswell if somone agrees a deal then doesnt pay, but thats alot easier to deal with than someone stealing $200 off you.
Most writers charging 1-2$ pr.article is not even worth that. I would never buy anything from them as the quality is simply appalling. They are charging this low, because they are simply not worth more.
Well there are pro's and cons in every industry. It is called competition. To be honest I have been lucky in the fact that when I worked with writers, their quality has been perfect. I took the time to scour the forums and found the ones I enjoy dealing with. There has been the odd occasion where I paid $7.20 for 1 article and I guess it depends on how much I want it. When I write myself...not for a living, but know I am okay at writing, I wouldn't pay someone a hell of a lot of money to write an article that I can do it myself. All it takes is a bit of time and most good writers are proficient enough to do an article in 15 minutes to half an hour. I think the articles I enjoy outsourcing is so relatively easy since most information is already on the wikipedia that it is pointless to pay someone $10 per article. That is my opinion. Plus times are hard and people don't have much money. When I pay someone...it comes from my paycheck. Money doesn't grow on trees so it is worth considering how badly do I need that article lol.
There have been about 100 threads on this same subject. The fact remains that if you're a good writer, you can get work at any rate. I've charged up to $0.05 per word and I still have to turn clients away because I'm fully booked. Stop whining and find something productive to do.
Wow... clashctyrokr At this point you are whining to the thread starter in stead of offering an interesting reply. People with your talent should go somewhere else. Who cares if some offers their services at $1 per article or at $15 per article. It is up to personal choice. However, writers that charge more than $5 for an article on these forums, hardly get interest unless it is long standing clients or people with specialized interest if not friends and family.
It is very true that a lot of automation has entered the process of writing but no matter how we better the softwares and machines, they can never think logically like us humans. As far as the cheap rates goes, i think it is a major cause of the slump i see in the article marketing. We know that link building is very important but then u simply cannot place links anywhere and everywhere. You need something to support it and that is what articles provide. People offering cheap to cheaper to cheapest rates for writing are the ones that are not only harming good writers prospects but also create a suspicion in the minds of the buyers. Buyers think, Is this the quality of writers i will get on DP after buying from them once. As they are not even considering to look at their work once done. I know a lot of people who bag projects on DP at higher rates and then outsource it further on DP at lower rates. I mean what is this, is it not plain scamming? As far as the Clashctyrokr's comments go, i think we are not cribbing here just about anything. We are trying to make DP a better platform to do business. After all, our online trading is all based on only one thing: TRUST. and if that is broken by a few nerds then why should the whole community bear the brunt? I strongly feel that we as writers need to boycott the jobs which are offered on really pissing rates. Still there are writers who apply for these jobs, an eg: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=1397018 See everybody has boycotted the thread, but there is one bright burning example, who is sending the PM with offer and i am sure that the OP must have received many PM's. Still, if we don't rally together than i see the rates on this forum going even below. I mean Content Creation as a forum could be called DEAD in a few days..
And I have charged 10 cents. I am sure the 'gurus' here charge 1 dollar pr. word. But some writers are in fact not worth 1 cent. The only market they have is people with even worse English than they have.
The key here is to get your prospect to see your value. I started at $5 an article but now charge around 4cents per word, all keyword optimized. It really depends on whether or not you are doing this in addition to something else, or you want to be known for solid writing. Just remember there is a market for every price level.
I mean what are the buyers trying to prove? 1cent/word is normal. For a beginner market pays 0.8cent/word but here again comes a thread: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=1398130 The OP wants an established writer to write for 0.05cent/word = $0.5/100words and that too 100 articles, ARE these not RATES of SLAVERY? This is what i am against and i am trying to mobilize the thought that something needs to be done right now. I understand there is a market for every price and every writer depending upon their skills and expertise, still expecting people to write on below bare minimum prices is crap. I mean it still takes time to give words some shape......................... Take a Look at This TOO: http://www.adityaspeaks.com/2007/10/15/why-is-digitalpoint-turning-into-a-home-for-con-artists-day-by-day/
mlance, I'd have to go with ozwriter on this to be honest. It really comes down to own's personal tolerance level. Coming from Malaysia, I know a lot of these so called article marketing jobs are subbed out to students and English teachers that have too much time on their hands over here. That said, they seem to have a lack of confidence in their own level of English or skill for delivering quality work. As a result, they will do whatever it takes to secure the work first, and then probably pass it off to others (maybe even professionals) to do. It is because of this brokering of articles that causes the drive down in prices to the levels we see today. It's probably not a good practice to be linking URLs but I do have an example or two of local freelance sites that blatantly post up repeats by different posters on mass buys for articles. They are, in fact, so lazy that they don't even bother adjusting their list of requirements and the order in which they appear in. In the end the good news is that there is a balance in all things my friend. Once the market is sufficiently saturated with bad pricing and the buzzards have left for greener pastures, we can then look forward to better times ahead.
Peaceful_soul, Personally, I think if the buyer is out to stiff someone, it wouldn't really matter what the original contested fee was in the first place. Those without the intent to honor their end of the bargain would often find themselves more creative than the writer himself/herself. Totally respect your approach to protecting yourself though. Most freshmen to the industry would do well to take advice from your goodself instead of complaining about it when things go south!