Nadav's Outsourcing and eBaying Journey

Hello everyone. Long time no see, eh?

As you know, I am serving in the Israeli Army right now. This creates a situation in which I can't write articles, and as a result, traffic and organic rankings are dropping. Not good at all.

But all of that is going to change, and it's going to change soon: today I finally got my very own international credit card. This means only one thing: article shopping!

So, this is my plan of attack: I posted a job on elance.com. I asked for 10 articles at $5 per article with pretty harsh conditions (which allow me to reject plagiarised articles, bad articles, etc.) Now all I have to do is wait for good proposals and accept them.

Also, I am going to put my eBook for sale on eBay. It will cost $17 instead of $27, because I am not going to accept refunds (and besides, people tend to look for bargains on eBay). Also, I'm going to advertise my site on there ("Want to be able to refund? Click here").

Statistics:
Purchased articles: 0
Published articles: 0
Income: $0
Expenses: $0
Outsourcing total: $0

eBay purchases: 0
Income: $0
eBay and PayPal fees: $0
eBay total: $0

Grand total: $0 (what a surprise)

Well, wish me luck.
nadavs

 

I don't think that selling ebooks on eBay is a good way to earn cash...

In regards of Article marketing, yeah, that's excellent, but $5 per article is a bit too much.

Check out DP content section, there are lots of bargain articles at rates such as $2-3 each.

Good luck anywayz

 

ya man. $5 per article is bit too much. Many people selling it for $1 - $3 each. However, you probably can get good quality with $5 per article. Sometimes it could cost you more if you are looking for really damn good professional articles.

 

I typically pay $6.5 per 500 word article (A+ quality), so $5 sounds great to me.

I have yet to find a writer for $1-3 that meets the quality of my ghost writer.

 

I have a guy who does 400 words for $1, takes me about 3-5 mins of editing on each one.

 

I've contacted several bidders on Elance and asked them to raise the number of articles to 15-16. Next time I will post a job with 15 articles to begin with. It may not attract as many bidders, but it will save me from this uncomfortable situation.

nadavs

 

$5 dollars isn't "too much". If you pay $1-$3 you might get bad articles that are just garbage. Better pay some more, and get quality, then pay less, and get shit.

Leroy H

 

I disagree, I buy about 20-30 articles a day, paying $1 each is much better than $5 each. If you give one person a long term contract like this then they will come down from average rate of $2.50 to $1 no problem. I then spend just a couple minutes (about 1 hour for the 20-30 a day) to clean up the minor grammar errors. This beats paying $100-$150 a day. The quality is really not that much worse, it is simply the fact that they are from another country so there are minor grammar errors, usually 2-3 words per paragraph that don't quite sound right.

It is all about trial though, it took me 6 or 7 different writers before I found one to stick with. If you are serious about article marketing then outsourcing is the way to go. How long would it take you to write 20 articles a day? 1 clickbank sale a day way more than pays for these.

 

U can get much good writers from getafreelancer and 500 word article on average will cost u around $3.

 

And we have a winner! My Elance job got itself a winner, someone who agreed to write 16 articles for my pretty $50. Hopefully she (or he, I'm not sure) will finish the job by next Thursday. Of course, no payment until I say yes on every single article.

What are the topics? Well, I decided to go hard on forex this time. Four forex products with four articles each should give me a sure sale and maybe even two or three more, which will give me a very nice ROI. If it goes well, I can definitely see $50 and even $60 going out on articles again. Maybe I'll even negotiate with this writer for a long term contract (if the job is good and she will settle for a good price).

eBay was useless for me since I need to verify my credit card on PayPal, but it takes 2-3 business days, and Friday is not a business day here. That will wait until next Thursday.

Statistics:
Purchased articles: 16
Published articles: 0
Income: $0
Expenses: $0
Outsourcing total: $0

eBay purchases: 0
Income: $0
eBay and PayPal fees: $0
eBay total: $0

Grand total: $0 (moving towards a positive number?)

nadavs

 

$50 for 16 articles is a bargain! But you better check her grammar, style etc...

 

Great start nadavs!. I'll stick on your Journey and learn something. Look for your next update.

 

A work at home mom from Rossville, GA, will write 16 articles for me. She won my job, and she has until Friday to complete all 16 articles and make them good, or she won't get any money (that sucks, as you know). I decided to go easy on forex, and the article distribution is as follows: three forex products with four articles each and four driving articles (to promote my own eBook and get myself some articles for the blog).

I also contacted ClickBank about something I found on the WarriorForum, and hopefully they will contact me soon as well.

My credit card is still not verified, so eBay is still useless. However, I got PayPal to charge me in dollars and not Israeli Shekels (because their exchange rate was ridiculous).

See you next Thursday... Or not (I don't know if I'm staying this Saturday, so let's assume I don't get home this Thursday)

Statistics:
Purchased articles: 16
Published articles: 0
Income: $0
Expenses: $50
Outsourcing total: -$50

eBay purchases: 0
Income: $0
eBay and PayPal fees: $0
eBay total: $0

Grand total: -$50 (Hopefully that's the smallest number I'll ever see here)

nadavs

 

Breaking news: I got my PayPal verification code, and now I am PayPal verified. My listing is already on eBay, and it will end in three days. Hopefully with bids.

nadavs

 

Rossville, GA for $50 for 16 articles ? Ok, I've crossed my fingers for you.

 

And... I'm back. The weekend at the base did not come true, and now I have a great Hanukkah vacation until next Sunday (the 28th). This means l have many hours to watch StatsJunky and wait for my sale song to run.

Well... my eBay sale failed. Miserably. No one bought my eBook. Well, nobody bought anything from me for the last two weeks. My sales have gone dry, and my only income source has become the military, which doesn't pay well. At all.

Tomorrow is the due date of my outsourcer. Then I'll see if she can handle due dates and if she's reliable. She will get the money only if I get good articles, so I'm not worried. My only hope now is that stay-at-home mom and the articles she wrote me. If those fail, I will need some serious help.

Statistics:
Purchased articles: 16
Published articles: 0
Income: $0
Expenses: $50
Outsourcing total: -$50

eBay purchases: 0
Income: $0
eBay and PayPal fees: $0.35
eBay total: -$0.35

Grand total: -$50.35 (Going up from here?)

nadavs

 

I wish you the best of luck. Do you plan on making sales
from mostly your article traffic or do you plan on using the articles mainly for SEO?

And on a side note: Military service is mandatory for 2 years right? What is your post?(job?)
Also is it true that only Sunday is the weekend?

 

At least you're organized
Selling on ebay, you need to watch what niche you're offering it in, and whether you can create hype with it. I once saw some guy put up a "hair loss cure guide" and it sold for some 30$ each like hotcakes.

So I'd recommend something in the MMO, forex/home business or with all the people buying xboxes and wii's off ebay, something like a "mandatory repair/service guide" would sell pretty well.

Anyways, all the best

 

Hey! I know I am a bit late to the party on this forum thread, but this is another challenge I see Nadav!

Did you want to have another challenge perhaps? I am always up for one!!!

With the ebay marketing, and the new articles that you are getting, I wish you some awesome luck bro!

Tom
The Forex Guy

 

My articles are due today, but apparently there aren't any. She hasn't contacted me yet, but I'm not worried. She should contact me in a few hours. If she goes beyond Friday, her final feedback will be hurt.

eBay - I relisted my eBook for another week, maybe someone will find it useful.

Answers to your questions:
emon878 - I use articles for both SEO and traffic. I need to build some links to new products I'm promoting, and I also need some initial traffic to test the market.
Military service is 2 years for girls and 3 years for boys. My job is secret, so I won't reveal it online.
The Israeli weekend consists of Friday and Saturday. Sunday is a regular workday. Friday is cosidered a workday in some places, but it's usually a short day.

Tom - I don't have time for another challenge, but be sure I'll update you first about anything that happens.

Statistics:
Purchased articles: 16
Published articles: 0 (16 tomorrow?)
Income: $0
Expenses: $50
Outsourcing total: -$50

eBay purchases: 0
Income: $0
eBay and PayPal fees: $0.35
eBay total: -$0.35

Grand total: -$50.35 (Any chance of a positive number?)

nadavs