I was going to put this up as an attachment, but it's not going. So, I'm copy and pasting, a lot of the formatting was lost, but I think the intent remains intact. The question I have to other writers and people who hire writers, assuming this was web content (It was actually a school project from earlier this year), what would you pay/what is this actually worth? Products and Services Rewrites Overview: Rewrites are new articles made from old articles with absolutely no new content. These are usually assigned in massive quantities and used exclusively for padding websites. This is beneficial to MFA webmasters and usually done by writers who do not speak fluent English or by article spinning software. Pricing: Rewrites will be priced at double the standard market rate. Competitive Edge: Articles classified as “rewrites†will be put together extremely well and have a keen emphasis on persuasiveness. We will avoid the conflict between quality and quantity because no one in that market will be willing to pay for our services. Product Descriptions Overview: This kind of writing usually only includes the basics of what a product does and a few specific high points. The target market for the client will be casual customers, not critical readers who want the technical details, these will usually be available elsewhere. Product descriptions tend to be less than 300 words. Most clients expect keyword optimization. Pricing: Product Descriptions, because they have an actual verifiable use to normal people, will be priced at the standard market rate. Competitive Edge: Quality Product Descriptions are not typically advertised to freelancers. However, established clients may need this kind of work done occasionally, therefore this is considered more customer service than an actual source of income or new customers. Ghost Writing Overview: Ghost writing is writing something that a client will take credit for. This can apply to a specific assignment a client has received or any of the other forms of writing listed here. Pricing: Writing that involves relinquishing copyright will always be the most expensive thing on the menu. If we complete a project for a client that pays 25 cents a word, every ghost writing project will be rated at 25 cents a word. We will never charge less for writing we can not use to gain future customers. Blog Writing Overview: Blogging is a popular source of income for writers and experts in specific fields. Casual bloggers need no technical knowledge to monetize their blog. However, earning income for a blog is a little more difficult. Blog income is generally considered “residualâ€, for most blog owners it accrues very slowly. When paying for content, blog owners will look for writers who have blogs in the same niche or experts in that particular field. Pricing: Blogs can be a great source for new customers, so with rights retained, guest blog entries will be priced below market. Guest blogs without rights, like any project where rights are not maintained, will be priced above market. Competitive Edge: As long as blogs continue to run, they constantly need new content. Consistent updates are the most important factor in the size of a blog's audience. A single quality blog entry will earn a client for as long as he has the blog and if the blog is profitable, the blog owner will be able to buy content for as long as the writer can write about the subject. This provides a very important safety net to prevent us from desperately accepting toxic assignments. Also, blogs within a certain niche will constantly keep track of competing blogs and it is very common to see one writer writing content for several bloggers in the same market. Web Content Overview: The most valuable form of content writing is web content: the text that goes on a company's web page. These pages are persuasive in nature, but typically informative as well. The writer and the business assume that the customer already knows what they need or the problem they need to solve(for example, warts). The page provides background information on how the problem came to be (99 different types of Human Papillomavirus, spread by vicarious contact with rough, moist surfaces) and how, generally, the problem is dealt with (salicylic acid, laser surgery, anecdotal remedies). These kinds of pages include highlighting techniques like bullets and headings. Readability and access to information are key to this kind of writing. The point of these kinds of pages is the build trust and credibility for the business. Actual sales information will be elsewhere on the site. Pricing/ Competitive Edge: The quality of web content will vary by subject. For example, I am well versed in subjects related to information technology, writing and politics. For projects relating to those things, I will charge above market. For projects that interest me that I will have to do extensive research on like Shakespeare, History and Finance I will bid below market to try to make my services more marketable. This becomes more complicated when recruiting new writers. Any subject where the writer has credibility will be above market and others will be below market. Technical Instructions Overview: These are step by step instructions that omit nothing. They include every single thing the reader does from “open the box†to “press the button labeled 'on/off' and enjoy.†Each line of instructions should be a very short sentence, there is no room for any kind of “flavor text.†The key to this kind of writing is to avoid any kind of ambiguity. Pricing: Technical Instructions will be priced at or above market based on the complexity of the task. We will not accept jobs that require instructions on tasks we cannot ourselves do. Glossary MFA- An MFA website is a “made for Adsense†website which provides no real service to its readers and generates revenue from ad-sharing programs like Google Adsense. Webmasters are paid based on impression(the number of people who see the ad), per click or a share from every time a customer follows an ad link and actually purchases the advertised product. Spinning- Artice Spinning software is a program that takes a piece of writing or several pieces of writing and rearranges them into a new article. From a technological standpoint, taking the input and rearranging it into grammatically correct sentences is very impressive. However, pragmatically speaking, it always very obvious when this has been done and it never produces an informative or persuasive article. Market Pricing- To be advertised at most reputable listings, a client must offer 10 cents per word. Advertised prices can go much higher than that, ideally the bidders will match the price in quality. The value of a well written article is significantly different depending on the business and marketing strategy of the client. Higher paying clients generally know exactly how much an article is worth to their business. The content writing community generally looks down on writers who accept less than 10 cents per word. Keyword Optimization- Keyword Optimization is the “art†of repeating a certain phrase, for example, keyword optimization several times throughout the completion of an article. Writers who properly use keyword optimization will attain the correct keyword density (2.5% if you aren't satirizing keyword optimization) where they repeat the phrase (keyword optimization) for 2.5% percent of their total words. In an article of 500 words, the phrase “keyword optimization†would be repeated twelve or thirteen times. This is typically very obvious and annoying to the reader. The reason for this is so your article will appear high on search engine results. This is also known as Search Engine Optimization(SEO).
According to readbud.com that kind of article (base on word count) its worth $.15. But for me its $3 is that ok?
lol I'm sorry, writerren, I don't mean to laugh, but between reading your post, asking that question, and then reading the replies, this has turned into one funny thread.
You have to see the irony! I'm with Perry - your actual content (re: pricing), and then the 2 following comments are almost laughable. Look, IMHO, the vast majority of people who answer this question will simply give you a personal opinion based on their assumptions and beliefs. I would hazard a guess that many of the so-called "clients" who you find in the Content Creation sub-forum will only offer to pay what they can afford, or what they believe is a fair offer...and in most cases (not all) it's a pretty shoddy price. Why should you be held to ransom by people who believe they hold all the cards? You are the one offering the service that they need, so you take control of what you think your writing is worth. If you want to work as a freelance writer (which I'm guessing you do) you have to work out what you are happy to work for on a daily/weekly/monthly basis. Divide this number by the number of articles you believe you can write in that time period, and then you have worked out the price per article that you should charge. Whether others are willing to pay that price will very much depend on the standard of your article writing. E.G. Someone wishes to earn $200 per day, based on their country of origin and standard of living. They believe they can write 8 articles a day, therefore, they charge is $25 per article. Someone wishes to earn $50 per day, based on their country of origin and standard of living. They believe they can write 10 articles a day, therefore, they charge $5 per article. Whatever you decide to charge for your content creation services you have to be able to live up to that price tag. The only way you will know whether it's a fair price or not will be through the feedback you receive from your clients. If you want my opinion (and that's all it is - my opinion - doesn't mean it's right or wrong, but merely my personal opinion) - your writing is not in the upper echelon of content creation services, but I'm guessing you already knew that! I couldn't actually read the whole way through the articles...because I got bored. Stamp your personality onto the articles. Factual articles are great, but there needs to be a real person behind the writing, and not a robot. Also, if you want people to take you seriously, then spend some time sorting out the formatting prior to posting. I see far too much of this in numerous forums - people wanting to be writers, bloggers, copywriters, etc. But not having any pride in themselves, or their work. Trying to take short cuts, general laziness, etc. This is the message that you are portraying to potential employers! If you want to improve your writing, the first place to start is your reading. No, I am not talking about comic books, or porn magazine stories. You should read "proper writing". Even to this day one of the best sources of reading would be Shakespeare, Dickens, etc. You are not particularly looking to learn the style of "oldy-worldy" writing, but more the natural flow and beautiful craftsmanship that goes into these books! I could go on forever, but I won't. The moral of the story - don't let others price your work, but work for what you think is a fair price. Don't be lazy, don't leave a job half-done, and remember if you want to be viewed as a writer, your writing skills are always on show...and finally, always try and improve your writing skills through reading other great authors (whether online or offline). Cheers James
James, you really made the point. I think it's a question of "human development". Some people are under-developed. A bunch of them make an under-developed country. If you want to rise the bar, rise it. It's not easy. You should do your homework. You must get a good education (not an expensive one, you can trade expensive education with personal efforts). Be an auto-didact, know what the client wants, provide them with a great product and collect the pay.