The Content Creation Forum Is Absolutely Disgusting

I honestly can't believe what I'm seeing.

There are people trying to obtain "quality" writers for a mere $1.00/100 words and in some cases as low as $1/article... yes.. $1/500 words.

I honestly don't understand it one bit. You get what you pay for.

Cheap content is not a business model. You are never going to obtain the traffic needed to sustain a real and working business model off of cheap content or services. Your bounce rate will more than likely go through the roof and this will effect your rankings significantly. Cheap content doesn't read well, the clients are some of the pickiest people on the planet who are usually never happy with work and again: YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR

I guess I'm still kind of in awe at what I'm seeing here on the Content Creation section of the forum. I came here hoping I could find some decent clientele after being burned by someone on here for a disgustingly cheap rate (but I needed it for Christmas). I'm seeing now though, unless clientele comes to me, I'll be dealing with $1/100 Word clients... Wow... just wow...

So, will people ever learn? Or will they continue to buy cheap content just to get it up there?

 

I couldn't agree with you more, I was shocked the first time I visited that forum. I don't even read it anymore. I am left with the impression that writers are not respected there.

 

Sadly, it's not just DP. A great many of the freelancing sites have buyers offering the same rates. The worst one I've seen was someone wanting 100 articles. Since they would be giving the writer "so much business" they were offering the princely sum of $30 for all 100.

 

If you check the quality of the articles from some of these writers I am sure you will find this is exactly the case.

Who really cares? As a writer you don't have to meet the demands of these buyers. Target buyers that are appreciative of quality content and will pay accordingly. These buyers would never consider publishing low quality content on their websites it would negatively impact their credibility.

 

Pretty much... I was just kind of in shock to see some of the posts I saw there. I actually saw a post from a little while back that wanted people to write "well researched, well written and high quality" content for $1 per article since he was giving so much business.

On the second hand, I'm kind of glad that those people stick to those areas of the forum and continuously buy up cheap content because they'll never get ahead and that's less competition for the people up in front

 

As soon as you hear "will you offer a discount if i am a long term client" run for the hills.

You shouldn't be too surprised by the prices that articles sell for here on DP. I think you will find that a lot of these writers are non-native English speakers, which isn't necessarily a bad thing on its own, but it quite often is, and the price is reflective of that.

 

Right.

I've done 100% payment post-delivery before on work and been burned for it. It was cheap work too, so that was my real wake up call and realization to the fact that cheap people absolutely suck to work for or with.

Yep, I've obtained clients off of WF and those people kind of amaze me as well. They're willing to pay more but they take days or weeks at a time to respond to e-mails or to keep in touch. I've had foreign clients who would spam my Skype at 6 AM (which is always set to Invisible) when I go to bed.

Writing definitely can't be done by an individual without some thick skin to deal with people.

 

Once you build up a good client base and not so desperate for work you can pick and choose your clients so you don't have to deal with people who are only going to create headaches for you.

 

Before that happens, I need to get a website set up and set prices that scare those people off my page.

 

I've said it many, many times before - but it bears repeating.

Once you realize the writers who work for those rates are NOT in your market, are NOT your competition because you do NOT want the kind of buyers they attract, separating the wheat from the chafe becomes much easier.

 

Never, ever, ever write ONE syllable without being paid upfront.

 

It is what it is. Just don't apply to those offers. Don't waste your time trying to educate or reason with any of these people. The damage is done and there is no going back to the way things were when "writers" weren't a dime a dozen. It's not all doom and gloom. There are still quality buyers out there who "get it" and won't think twice about paying a premium rate.

 

hello.. you are at DP a global outsourcing market. It's like going into McDonalds and saying "Or will they continue to buy cheap"? yes as long as they are here..

Much web content is only for pasting backlinks "article marketing" "press releases" no one reads the stuff it just goes in a content farm with a backlink at the bottom. Not every page of the internet is the New York times. How much is a page at ezine worth? $5? $50? if you spend $50 you are stupid.

Millions and millions of people know how to write just like millions of people can fry a burger. If you think you are above that Why are you here complaining? go to the top restaurant and tell them you want top money. or complain that you can't make enough at McDonalds and no one appreciates quality.

 

The problem is, it seems that more and more clients are now looking for "cheap deals". That's surprising honestly, more so, as the value of quality content has gone up. It is today much worse than what it was like 5 years back. So how do you find these buyers who will truly appreciate quality content, and are willing to pay for this?

 

Price is not the metric by which one should measure the quality of a writer. A high priced writer can deliver crap, just as a low price writer can deliver quality. You seem to look down on people charging $1/100 words, but you have no problem charging $3/100 words. Should someone who charges $6/100 words look down on you and the quality you produce?

You may very well be a fine writer, but it is your attitude that would keep me from hiring you. Go ahead and set your price at whatever you feel is appropriate for your work, but don't go around being an ass about it.

 

Some great thoughts on this thread... you are all making valid points.

Perhaps it's worth remembering that at $1 a word, it's probably 'filler' content for bulking out a site the clients are after. It's the last step before 'automated content creation'. Google is already dealing much more effectively with automated stuff, and no doubt when they tighten the screws this year, they'll start to hit on some of the cheaper human-written material too - accidental casualties in the war against spam.

It's only going to get harder to pass Google as the months go by, so upping the content quality is going to become mandatory...

 

yay!!!! Yay!!!! Yay!!!

 

2 sites for good content creation - for about 3 cents to 7 cents a word - mediapiston.com and textbroker.com are good resources - all pass copy scape and you can pass on any content not up to specs - we use both.... mediapiston isn't as user friendly and you pay a premium through Odesk, but still a good resource... have nothing but GREAT things to say about textbroker... quality company based out of Las Vegas - all US or UK writers

 

averyz - you make a valid point... however, the concept of good content is for visitors YOU ALREADY HAVE... not just about SEO... you will see, Google and the engines are shooting themselves in the foot, more and more it will become about returning visitors NOT using the engines, but knowing they want to come back to your site

once that has gained enough traction, Google will REVERSE it's position and anchor text will become viable again... you heard it here first!

 

the globalization of the content industry has led to .01/word writing. Lots of crappy and cheap writing on that subforum but some good as well. I work with a bunch of different clients that range in pay and its up to the client how much they want their content to suffer in the end. Been burned here by people paying after the fact, then heavily criticizing my fine work, and then knocking me after. I don't work without being paid first unless its a repeat client. Have a few I can trust and they pay like a clock when the articles arrive. good post OP..