Breaking Away From Content Mills...

Stephanie,

Are there certain areas or industries that you are an expert in? I'd say to move away from website copywriting and move towards serious content writing.

I am an owner of a small PR agency. I can tell you that we are always looking for strong content writers.

The problem we run into are writers who are generalists but are unable to create compelling content in certain niches such as security technology or health care.

Frankly, for strong content writers, it shouldn't matter. For instance, I can research an industry and get up to speed on it, then write very good content myself for clients. But as an owner, I'm really looking to outsource all content writing.

I would move upstream in your services. Contact PR agencies like myself and offer to ghostwrite bylined articles.

For instance, I pay one writer about $200 to write a strong 700 word article on a particular industry topic.

Please PM me with your contact info and let's see if we can work something out for a test article.

Regarding eLance, don't give it up. It can be quite lucrative, but if you're competing against a large field of providers, you need to position yourself.

For instance, position yourself at the high end of the market for articles that are more nuanced and complex, then charge accordingly.

With eLance, the number of jobs, amount earned and your rating all factor into how you rank when people search. So early on you may wish to take some jobs at very low rates just to build that up.

PM me and let's talk.

Ed

You most likely can get a host of testimonials from warrior-forum folks in exchange for writing a free or low-cost article.

Check the classified ads section.

Good Luck.

Sounds like you have developed some excellent content writing skills and that will serve you well because content is critical.

WF has a content writing section for freelancers which is worth a look.

If it was me I would create 2 websites around a theme and use your content exclusively for you.

Monetise it with affiliate links or product reviews linked to your niche.

Wishing you all the very best

Try Odesk. It is hard to get your first orders, but if you are persistent you can get a writing job easily on Odesk, just make sure you ace it to get a good review which will kickstart your freelancing profile !

Acquire testimonials.

It won't be easy to get work without them.

You can specify that and still get some value from them, I think, as long as doing so wouldn't be breaching the TOS of the sites at which you got them?

The big mistake to avoid is to "start cheap" imagining that you can increase the prices once you have some customers. This market doesn't work that way, and there are reasons for that. They're real and reliable and valid reasons and they'll apply to you just like they apply to everyone else.

(If you have to write a couple of "cheapies" just to get your initial testimonials, then so be it, I suppose, but don't make a habit of it! ).

Key concept (i): at the bottom end of the market, there are almost as many service-providers as customers, so that's the hardest way to earn anything.

Key concept (ii): what attracts customers to buy the services of people who write articles for $5-$10 is the price: as soon as that increases, all the customers disappear (to become customers of one of the thousands of other people from all over the world offering the service at that price), and the service-provider effectively has to start all over again.

Key concept (iii): the main reason you see providers of $5-$10 articles continually advertising and marketing is that their clients businesses' tend not to survive (mostly because they don't know how to use the product, rather than because the product itself is no good - though that can also sometimes be true), so they have to replace them all the time. The main reason you don't see providers of $100-$150 articles advertising at all is that their clients know how to use the product, profit from it and return regularly for more articles, with the effect that those writers tend to have all the work they want without needing to advertise at all. (A small proportion of those articles do actually change hands through Constant-Content, as well.) At lower prices, article-writers need continually to be marketing their own services. People who want their income to depend entirely on their own marketing skills should become marketers, not service providers.

If you want some more information on the big, common mistakes involved in starting an article-writing business, these resources may prove valuable ...

Warrior Forum resources:
Writing Articles - I'm Done
How much can you make writing articles?
How do I make money writing articles???
Would you still do freelance writing?
Can anyone suggest good pay, high quality writing jobs?
Content Writing - Still Viable?
Are There Many Clients Who Pay $50/Article?
The appropriate rate for written content is ?
You must be a superstar professional writer BUT I can only pay you $2 per article - say WHAT?
Any point in trying to find clients on Warrior Forum..?
Is it hard to make 30K a year from writing?

Other resources:
Jennifer Mattern's blog
Carol Tice's blog
Free report on how to attract new freelance writing clients during a recession
The Renegade Writer Blog
The "Irreverent Freelancer" blog
The Well-Fed Writer: Lucrative Commercial Freelance Writing - Land Lucrative Freelance Writing Jobs
Words on the Page.

I haven't, myself, clicked on all of these for a few months, so apologies in advance for any defunct links, above (which there easily could be, by now ).

.

Content Mills business model is positioned to benefit the owner
and not the writers. Entry level is often low so you have no argument
against them rather than just leaving and then there is a line of
people waiting to join.

Most writers finally burn out after a while and then try to change
their business model just as you are doing now. It's a pity what
these content mills have done for the freelance writing business
in general. They have devalued the craft but who is to blame but
the writers who chose to write at such low prices.

-Ray Edwards

My biggest piece of advice is to find a niche to work in. Then, write a few samples in that a niche. You can publish them on your site or somewhere like hubpages. Then, when you pitch clients, highlight your niche in your pitch email and make sure they can view your samples. Testimonials are NOT a barrier. I've been writing for clients for the past decade and have consistently been too lazy to post my testimonials on my site. I have more than enough work, too. Be confident in your abilities as a writer and eventually people will hire you. Also, stick with it. I got my first client after writing something like 90 bids on one of the freelance bid sites and I only got paid $16 for that project.