I need advice

[clashctyrokr]

I am a content writer. As of right now I am inexperienced in everything but normal SEO articles. I have only been freelance writing for a little less than a month, and already I have made over $1,000. However, I have been working my butt off.

I have yet to offer my services here on WF, mainly because I don't have a need to. I seem to always have work to do. I know that none of you know the quality of my work, but about 90% of my customers order at least twice, so obviously I provide at least a decent service...

I have had threads running at DP and WF (the other one, its name is blocked for some reason...) for the past month, and all of my income has come through those two threads. I started out not knowing what I was doing, and also not knowing what my work was worth. I offered work at less than $0.01 per word, and I offered a few free review copies. After the reviews came in, I got absolutely flooded with work. It was a good thing as I was off of work for that week, but I knew two things. One, that I could not keep doing that much work on a regular basis, and two, if I received that many orders, I knew my work must be worth more than I was charging.

I saw the top-notch writers working for $0.02 per word, and the decent writers going for $0.01 per word. So I decided to go right smack dab in the middle of things, so I offered my service at $0.015 (one and one half cents) per word.

As of right now, my rates are still 1.5 cents per word. I am still receiving a ton of work, so I think I am worth more. However, I have many return clients that I don't want to screw over by bumping up my prices. I really cannot afford to work for my current rate, but again, I don't want to mess up my long term clients.

As I see it I have two options: Raise my prices to $0.02-$0.03 per word and continue to focus on articles, or, learn how to properly write sales copies, ebooks, and press releases, and charge more for those.

What do you think I should do? I would love to learn how to write press releases, sales copies and ebooks, but I don't know specifically how to write them... If anyone has resources that I could look at regarding this I would appreciate it.

I will be contacting my long term clients about raising my rates, and I will see if they are willing to pay more for my work.

Also, I think I am way better than I am. Since I have been hanging around DP, where half the writers can't even put together a legible sentance, I have probably become full of myself without knowing it...

That is why I would like someone to evaluate me. I would like someone who is very experienced with SEO writing and has hired writers in the past to evaluate my work. I need detailed feedback, and I would appreciate it if you were as blunt as possible. Do not sugar coat anything I would love it if you could tell me how much you would pay for my work, as well as a healthy, constructive critique of my writing style, keyword placement, etc.

If you think you can evaluate me, please PM me with a topic/keyword, and I will write a short article for you, absolutely free of charge. I am only giving away one article, and I need someone who is very experienced. I MAY do two articles for two different people, but it depends on my work schedule.

Sorry for the life story... Can you tell I am a writer...?

[Loren Woirhaye]

As long as good writers are willing to work like dogs
for cheap there will be many customers who feel
good writing should be got cheaply.

When good writers actually demand to be paid more
it will bring more prosperity and respect to the profession.

In the short term, for you, raise your prices, sure.
Some of your clients will jump ship, and good riddance.

You cannot build a business, as a one-man-show,
selling on low price. Such a formula only works,
arguably, for scalable business - and your time
and expertise in creating original content is NOT
SCALABLE so the only way to make more money
at it is to position youself as a quality writer and
market yourself as one.

[maestero2010]

there are many of the freelancer due to which the per article is decreased. As the clients always want to have the work done in cheaper rates thus they go for these cheap writers. But the fact is that you should not lower your rates bcoz you must always keep in your mind that lowering will never let you up in the field and to grow never let your capabilities down.........

[HallOfWords]

Originally Posted by maestero2010

there are many of the freelancer due to which the per article is decreased. As the clients always want to have the work done in cheaper rates thus they go for these cheap writers. But the fact is that you should not lower your rates bcoz you must always keep in your mind that lowering will never let you up in the field and to grow never let your capabilities down.........

I agree with maestero2010 and add you should be getting paid what you are worth. I've turned down clients that didn't want to pay. Remember when your selling yourself practice good salesmanship. If you build value into your product people will pay your asking price. Perceived value is something you need to get your clients to see and you should be able to do that easily since your services are in demand.