You Get What You Pay For

On the other hand, if I can get someone who can write reasonably good English and do the proper research, it takes me 5 minutes to rewrite it to bring it up to snuff, so it may be worth it on an article it would have taken me an hour to research and write. That may sound crazy, but I do it all the time. It cuts my writing time down by 90%. Even if I pay $5 for someone to write a $25 article, and I have to take the 5 minutes to tweak it so my editors will know it's me, well worth it IMHO. I try to find native English speakers living overseas to write for me. They can afford to do it cheaply and do it well.

I've seen some really bad writing from native English speakers who actually think they can write.

 

This is very true. I am a native English speaker, and during tough times I began writing online to make a small income. It hurt to write beautifully crafted 500+ word articles for a few bucks.

 

... and you Americans say you love capitalism? Woah. Writers does $1 / 100 words because that's just how it is. That's pretty much the standard rate at DP. Free market => low prices => low quality and low professionalism. Or: Free market => Low prices => High Quality and professionalism => Underpaid natives and professionals.

 

As far as article writing goes, for me it has been 'you get what you pay for'.

But it's also a lot about finding people who have writing experience on the web. Writing for the internet is different that writing for newspapers or magazines. You want someone that writes conversationally and for me that's really hard to find. Many writers are too formal, boring and write about things that you can basically find everywhere. The content is dull, there's no personality and there's not much useful information, so I find myself rewriting what I just paid $10-$15 for.

I've actually had better luck using PLR (private label rights) content. The PLR sites I use provide quality content and all I have to do is add my own personal insight and expertise to achieve a useful, interesting piece of content that my readers love. Anyone else use PLR?

 

I agree with the OP, if you pay peanuts you will get monkeys.

I'm a native English speaker. If someone offered me $3 for an article, how much effort do you think i'd put into that article? Offer me $20, you'll get an article written as if it was going on my own website! It takes a good hour or 2 to research and write a good quality 700 word article, surely that is worth $20?

 

Don't get too attached to your writing, as if it were your child. After all, our own writings are not our creations. They come from other places: our childhood, adult experiences, TV shows, movies and songs, History class, Psych 101, what my girlfriend did when she broke up, the newspaper, a friend's opinion shared over coffee, etc... None of these ideas are your own, not even the wording. So get off your high horses about how precious your writings are.

Just make good articles and sell them for whatever you can get. If you don't like the price then raise it. If no one bites, then lower it. That's business! Love it or leave it!

How does this relate to the topic?
Well, it is an inversely proportional relationship. You GIVE what they pay for.

 

Good content is key but dont pay too much. Afterall someone is going to steal and spin it eventually.

 

Seriously?? Don't pay much for good content because someone else will steal it and spin it. That makes no sense at all - that doesn't stop your content from being any less valuable and if it draws in visitors it is still worth the price.

 

very interesting debate...........freelance writers are all over.........it all depends on the client and writer, some pay well and some well don't pay at all..........English is a global language today and most of the people all over the place speak and write the language well. again hiring native or non native English speakers depends on the content.....the idea of the owner.

 

Just as there are people paying you $5/hour, there are people out there who will pay $500/hour, if you have the right skills and experience.

So just increase your value and skills and you'll be paid what you are really worth.

Thanks,
Razvan

 

yeah...i completely agree to that point...its the content that catches clients interest...doesn't matter who so ever has written it...

 

You make a good point. Those who aren't willing to spend money on a good writer don't value writing. Unfortunately for those people, Google and other search engines are no longer satisfied with assigning rankings to gibberish and spun content. It's going to become extremely important to have unique, quality content in the coming months. I run several niche sites and I always pay more than most here at DP would pay because the content those writers produce represents my business and it represents me. If I wanted to be known as someone who doesn't care about quality, I'd buy articles at one buck a pop. Since I want to be known as a professional in my niche, I pay more for quality content.