Writers working for nickels and dimes. Why?! - Stop!

hitmeasap Level X⁵

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November 11, 2016, 12:21 am

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Writers working for nickels and dimes. Why?! - Stop!

I overheard a very interesting discussion about freelancers who sell themselves to short.

Most of us are aware of the competition and most of us are aware of the fact that this competition will make us earn less as we need to lower our prices to still rake in sales. This goes for literally any kind of service online.

However, I'll focus on articles and content in this topic.

The discussion I heard was interesting and one of the guys debating proposed a minimum cost per word. He believe a fair and reasonable price would be $0,25 per word, and at the very least $0,15 per word if you're a beginner. - So they question I have is, do any of you writers charge this?

I've seen tons of article writers charging $5 or $7 for a 500 word article for instance.. Kind of hard to compete with that price if you charge $125 for the same amount of words. (Based on the $0,25 per word.)

Superb quality would obviously increase the price but seriously. In my book you won't be able to charge $125 for something another seller will do for $5 or $7, even if you deliver 200% higher quality. - And even if you are able to make sales with that price, you won't be able to make sales on a regular basis.. So you'll lose money in the long run.

Article writers. What do you charge and what do you think about this?

Best Regards,
hitmeasap

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TommyCarey

Right now I'm paying $15 per 1,000 word article that my writer optimizes for me so that I can just copy and paste it onto my website and make it live. A lot of articles like the ones I pay for go for $30 or more, but I've been working with this guy for a long time and guarantee at least 10 orders a month, so he cuts me a discount. I was trying to get him to write for free but he didn't bite when I offered him a percentage of the profits from my sales lol He would actually make more if he wrote for free, but in the beginning I didn't have much traffic and the deal wasn't very enticing. Now I'm sure he'd love to partner up and write for free lol.

If someone hires me to do content writing for their articles, ads, or website content I'll give different pricing structures every time. For articles I normally charge $10 per 250 words. So if someone wants a 1,000 word article from me that is optimized, it would cost them $40, or $30 if I'm feeling nice For ad writing I'll usually just charge a flat fee of around $50 because this type of writing isn't as complex, but it does require SEO and marketing knowledge. I'll hammer out dozens of ads that target multiple keyword sets so the client can run multiple ad campaigns and use whatever ad he/she wants. For website content I'll usually charge $30 to $50 a page for 1 to 10 pages. For more than that I'll give discounts, but not very much because it takes a lot of work and each page takes a while to write up

Too many people are selling themselves short, like you said. I always encourage people to get into blogging when they want to make money online, and one of the reasons is because they can refine their writing skills. The other reason is because they're pretty much typing up hundreds of writing examples they can use to show their potential clients

1 8 years ago

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Lynne

Andre I am currently paying $21 per 1500 word article from a superb content writer. For me this is a great price and I think it is well worth my time and my money to pay someone to write for me at that amount.

I know that my favorite content writer provides top notch articles and I have never been disappointed. The thing is that for $125 for a 500 word article is just not affordable for most people. I would rather write my own content.

I have seen some services here offering "unique and quality" 1000 word articles for $2... something is wrong there. Nobody in their right mind would charge $2 to put that amount of time and effort into writing a quality article. They must be using article spinners or providing awful quality.

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CryptoGuru

Man i wish i could talk on this but i really cant. I have no choice but to take whatever i can get because my kids and my wife depend on me. I have to say that i was never a writer until Seoclerks gave me an opportunity to do so. I never knew how much writers got paid and honestly i cant even complain because im not even that good of a writer. I have to express that i am happy writing here and i probably wont stop. if i could choose what i would charge i would probably charge $10 per 100 words and only if i had some kind of degree or experience writing. Sometimes we have to remember that some people in the world are doing worst than us. We have to make the best of our situation and try our hardest to succeed.

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Topseoservice

Like any marketplace, the main issue is always demand vs supply. I have seen writers keep decreasing their price to get new clients. Its happening because supply is more than the demand. If you are looking from a business perspective, I would never indulge myself where scenario is like that. Rather I would bring some new twist to the current business model so that it work for me. Only then you can see the profit. Otherwise if you chose to compete with those writers even by offering super high quality writing; believe me you won't succeed.

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EliteWriter

Until a few months ago I used to charge $6 for a 500 word article. Then I increased it to $7. I know that it appears cheap to some, but there are even some writers who charge less than that. I would like to charge more, and might increase it a bit in the future, but I do not agree with the rates you are specifying. There are many writers out there and after several years in this line of business I can tell you that there are only very few buyers who are willing to pay high prices for writing.

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Cristian

When I first started I was doing $2.5 per 500 words, truth been told that was pretty much the price I deserved at that time.
Now depending on the niche and I'll ask $10-$15 for 500 words and that includes research and some basic content SEO optimization. If the client needs even more quality and research I usually ask for more and renegotiate.

I don't mind sellers selling themselves short, sure there are few around that offer good quality at cheap prices ruining it for most of us but everybody else selling cheap will just deliver crappy and spun content for nickels and basically that's how much that content worths.

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vinaya

I was paid $3 for my first newspaper article. It was a good pay for 300 words article. In three years time I was getting paid $10 for 1000 words arrticle. When I began writing online, I did not earn upfront for my articles for a long time. Then one day I was paid $2 for 400 words article. As I gained experience, my pay rate increased. However, soon it reached saturation level. I had to stick with $5 for 500 words. I have been paid more than that but the standard pay rate is just $5. Sometimes when I don't have writing jobs and I desperately need money I write 500 words article even for $2.

0 7 years ago

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Corzhens

In the published articles that I co-wrote for a major magazine here, I was paid the equivalent of $12 for a 500-word article with photos. It's good enough for me because I enjoy writing the topic about my dogs. Besides, it is an honor for my dogs to have exposure in that magazine. But for online writing, I know that a 500-word article of easy writing, perhaps $15 would be agreeable to me. You have to understand that I am not a professional writer. Call me amateur and I also write more for the enjoyment and lesser for the money.

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overcast

I have got paid low rate from most of the writing websites. I think it works out if you are serious. You can do this for some specific time. And save some money. And then outsource this to others. That seems to be the way that is working out for many among us. And it may not be easy though. Some people can spend the money. I can tell you that some of the writers who are earning nickels and dimes are getting burned out too. So it all depends on how and what goal you are going with low rate. At some point you have to get some rates higher.

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vinaya

When Helium was functioning, I wrote for Helium marketplace. The 400-word article fetched me $2 and I had to sell my rights for this amount. THis was a good payment for someone who was trying his hands on online. Now that I have experience, I will never write for less than $5.

0 6 years ago

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overcast

Helium was good while it lasted. I think you and I belong to some of the oldest times in the article writing part of internet. Now most of those sites are gone. And we are getting not much high pay for this. But yes anything that pays enough is good enough. As of now I am taking any project that pays.

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coolavender

For writers, there are other factors to consider besides the rate per word. In business, buyers get substantial discounts when buying in volume. The same thing can happen in the writing profession and I don't see it as something that cheapens a writer's value or his/her work. Fact is, there are many writers around and you can't veer away too much from average pricing unless you're a established authority in your niche. As a writer, I don't mind receiving average rates as long as it means constant work/earnings. However, while I provide quality work consistently regardless of pricing, I'll probably never take on a one-time writing assignment that requires serious research for so little fee.

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augusta

I totally agree with you but with so much people ready to grab these offers without batting an eyelid.I wish there could be a uniform price for writers so that a client would hire for that fees it would go along way to help writers make more money.

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TimothyAlex

So, I live in the US where $0,25 per word is a reasonable price, more or less depending on the client, topic, and how you are procuring your projects. However, you have to keep in mind, that we are in competition with the world. There are countries where a well-educated and experienced writer does not earn or needs to earn that kind of money. My advice is to target U.S. clients, of which there are plenty who would never buy content from someone outside the country (or the very least some who is not a native speaker) for a verity of legitimate reasons. These people know they are not going to get quality at $5 for 500 words.

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mildredtabitha

I think it is hard for international members to get clients who pay well. Getting someone to pay $10 for a 500 word article is better than being paid $3 for a 500 word article.

0 6 years ago

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