How much is too much for quality articles?

12 years ago

You know... I write all the time, and still cannot determine that answer as I have yet to sell my services or writings to date.

Some say for a quality 400-600 word article it could easily be around $15-$25 each. Others are lining up to write articles for $4 each???

IMHO you get what you pay for, and I would lean toward the $15 -$25 dollar range personally.

You have to think about several factors, the quality of the writing...

Is it unique?

Will it make you money, and pull/compel people to your site or offer?

Will one or two sales pay for the articles, whereby you'll make money for years to come?

Too many variables, if it were me I'd pay the higher, and get a quality writer.

All the Best,

Art

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CyberAlien

12 years ago

If you are going for high-quality then go for the higher price range. However, you can go with the lower if you're just aiming for unique articles to fill up your website with but where the quality isn't a huge deal. Also, if you're using a website like Elance, get the freelancers to send you a mockup of some of the articles they have written in the past.

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stephenwaldo

12 years ago

Well I'm going to sound biased because I run a writing service and some people on this forum would classify my rates as being on the higher end of things, but that being said, I think it really depends on your expectations for the content. Sales letter quality content costs a lot more then the product descriptions on an ecommerce sites, for example, but obviously I'm sure you know that.

To actually give you a quantifiable answer, for an article of the length you're describing typical rates will run from $5 for crap to $40 - $50 range for something truly engaging that readers actually enjoy and publishers want to syndicate. I guess that's still not much help, but hopefully it gives you an idea of the lower and upper ends of the bell curve.

Kindly,
- Stephen

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art72

12 years ago

Originally Posted by stephenwaldo

To actually give you a quantifiable answer, for an article of the length you're describing typical rates will run from $5 for crap to $40 - $50 range for something truly engaging that readers actually enjoy and publishers want to syndicate. I guess that's still not much help, but hopefully it gives you an idea of the lower and upper ends of the bell curve.

Kindly,
- Stephen

Now that's more like it!

I probably wouldn't have a problem writing at those prices. I don't know about anyone else, it just seems the greater an incentive for writer's to engage themselves, the more engaging the content they create will be.

I write for the love of writing, and in looking at competitor's charging $4-$5 an article, is exactly why I haven't written for anyone else yet.

Just to hear those numbers are achievable for article writing is a sigh of relief... I'd almost abandoned all hope.

- Art

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AmandaT

12 years ago

Originally Posted by art72

Now that's more like it!

I probably wouldn't have a problem writing at those prices. I don't know about anyone else, it just seems the greater an incentive for writer's to engage themselves, the more engaging the content they create will be.

I write for the love of writing, and in looking at competitor's charging $4-$5 an article, is exactly why I haven't written for anyone else yet.

Just to hear those numbers are achievable for article writing is a sigh of relief... I'd almost abandoned all hope.

- Art

If you build yourself up as highly knowledgeable in a niche, can show you have tons of experience in it, and can write great content you can find really nice gigs.

A while back I had a really nice gig writing articles for a popular WAHM blog. They offered me $50 per article just because of my knowledge and ability to draw readers in and I later found out they often paid more for articles. (I just didn't know enough about article prices to negotiate!)

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John Coutts

12 years ago

Originally Posted by art72

Now that's more like it!

I probably wouldn't have a problem writing at those prices. I don't know about anyone else, it just seems the greater an incentive for writer's to engage themselves, the more engaging the content they create will be.

I write for the love of writing, and in looking at competitor's charging $4-$5 an article, is exactly why I haven't written for anyone else yet.

Just to hear those numbers are achievable for article writing is a sigh of relief... I'd almost abandoned all hope.

- Art

Those numbers are certainly achievable. My usual prices start at $7 per 100 words, and I've been paid as high as $30 per 100 words. Now, while that's good, there are plenty of people who get paid a lot more for their writing than I do.

NEVER, view someone charging $4-$5 and article as a competitor if you have even an ounce of writing ability.

Aim for the stars, and if you only hit the moon, that's better than running with the herd mentality and charging $4-$5 for an article.

John.

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CyberAlien

12 years ago

$40 - $50 doesn't actually seem too high considering the time spent by writers working on articles. The only issue I have with that is the fact that articles get stolen and spun so much that even when I pay for unique articles, original and spun copies end up all over other websites which take away from the value of it. But, one thing I always suggest is making sure that you include your company name in the articles. Then even when they are stolen the people are at least doing some free advertising for you

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AmandaT

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Chase Watts

$40 - $50 doesn't actually seem too high considering the time spent by writers working on articles. The only issue I have with that is the fact that articles get stolen and spun so much that even when I pay for unique articles, original and spun copies end up all over other websites which take away from the value of it. But, one thing I always suggest is making sure that you include your company name in the articles. Then even when they are stolen the people are at least doing some free advertising for you

Including the company name does work for some. I use premium copyscape from time to time to check the articles that are meant to be unique to my website and then send out notices if they have been stolen. I know a lot of people say it is a waste of time, but the reason I don't post all of my articles on EZA for syndication is because I like having content unique to my sites. Alternatively, I have my VA do it for me from time to time.

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CyberAlien

12 years ago

Originally Posted by AmandaT

Including the company name does work for some. I use premium copyscape from time to time to check the articles that are meant to be unique to my website and then send out notices if they have been stolen. I know a lot of people say it is a waste of time, but the reason I don't post all of my articles on EZA for syndication is because I like having content unique to my sites. Alternatively, I have my VA do it for me from time to time.

I have a better solution for you. Write about 10 articles and spread them all over the Internet. Make every article about how you and your website DMCA people for stealing articles. That will scare them away to begin with

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AmandaT

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Chase Watts

I have a better solution for you. Write about 10 articles and spread them all over the Internet. Make every article about how you and your website DMCA people for stealing articles. That will scare them away to begin with

If only more of the people who steal articles spent time reading about the people they are stealing from. I had a disclaimer on one of my articles on a website where I was noticing most of my articles being stolen, something along the lines of "This article is property of mywebsite.com. If you find this posted anywhere else, please email me at amanda[at]mywebsite.com and let me know. If you use this article without direct permission from mywebsite.com I WILL send notice to your hosting company." A few weeks later I checked it on copyscape and the people who stole it even still had the disclaimer on there.

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CyberAlien

12 years ago

Originally Posted by AmandaT

If only more of the people who steal articles spent time reading about the people they are stealing from. I had a disclaimer on one of my articles on a website where I was noticing most of my articles being stolen, something along the lines of "This article is property of mywebsite.com. If you find this posted anywhere else, please email me at amanda[at]mywebsite.com and let me know. If you use this article without direct permission from mywebsite.com I WILL send notice to your hosting company." A few weeks later I checked it on copyscape and the people who stole it even still had the disclaimer on there.

There are technically ways to prevent that like EzineArticles does by limiting how much you can view at a certain rate by just tracking IPs. However, that can of course effect some people who are legitimately clicking around on your website but at a faster than normal pace.

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AmandaT

12 years ago

It depends on the quality. The average for a native English speaker seems to be about $10-15 for a 500 word article, but many others charge more. I charge $20 per 500 word article with a bulk discount and I still get people saying it is cheap, so I would assume many people are paying a lot more than that per article for their sites.

Some of my clients in medical, relationship, or personal development niches have told me they pay up to $60 for 400 word articles from time to time.

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JerrickYeoh

12 years ago

If you just started then just start it with low price $10 as 500 words.
When you got lot of customer base and more popular then you can increase the price up to $30
which those price is the average price found in the market.

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JCorp

12 years ago

It really all depends on what you're willing to pay for. I've seen top quality articles (500-700 words) go up for as much as $50-$75 a piece and sold. If the articles are unique, SEO optimized, keyword rich and can increase traffic or sales by any means I'd pay that much for them, but then again I like to write so in retrospect I wouldn't have to pay for them =)

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Justin Says

12 years ago

It's not about the price.

It's about the writer.

You can pay 2 different writers.

One you could pay $40 for 500 words.

The other you could pay $4 for 500 words.

But it all leads down the writer, not the price. So make sure to think about that. I've seen some writers out there that charge very minimal and do a great job. I've seen others charge a lot and give lower quality work as well.

Funny thing is. The best writers I have ever seen, do it for free

So don't let a price fool you.

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CyberAlien 12 years ago

Originally Posted by Justin Lewis

It's not about the price.

It's about the writer.

In addition to that, if you actually establish a relationship with a writer and use them frequently, their pricing will almost always go down for you
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Dale21

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Justin Lewis

It's not about the price.

But it all leads down the writer, not the price. So make sure to think about that. I've seen some writers out there that charge very minimal and do a great job. I've seen others charge a lot and give lower quality work as well.

I tend to agree with you. I have been using this new service lately that employs alot of different writers. I found a good writer there and stick with him.

I can write a good article... just lazy and not enough hours in the day, especially when you have multiple sites. So what works for me is I pay for articles (on the lower end of the price scale) and just edit them. So much easier that way and I can come up with a pretty good article without spending much time or money on it.

Don't get me wrong, I have no doubt the $30 to $50 articles are probably worth every penny, but needing alot of articles... I just can't afford hundreds of dollars a week.

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fauche65

Banned 12 years ago

Originally Posted by Justin Lewis

It's not about the price.

It's about the writer.

You can pay 2 different writers.

One you could pay $40 for 500 words.

The other you could pay $4 for 500 words.

But it all leads down the writer, not the price. So make sure to think about that. I've seen some writers out there that charge very minimal and do a great job. I've seen others charge a lot and give lower quality work as well.

Funny thing is. The best writers I have ever seen, do it for free

So don't let a price fool you.

It also depends on the niche and how well the writer knows the niche. They have to somehow make the article compelling enough to read. That kids of a writer is gold.

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nancyjan

12 years ago

if you need a quality English article must be hire a native language person.

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rooze

12 years ago

As others have said it largely depends on the end use for the written content. If it's padding for a website in a non critical area then $10 - $15 sounds ok. If it's the type of web copy which is used to portray the image of the company, then you should expect to pay $250+ for a good page of text. For my $250, I would expect the writer to want to interview the company principal and to understand what s/he considers the objectives of the assignment to be. Also, to have some time set aside for background research so that a truly informative, accurate and inspiring piece can be written. Many people underestimate and undervalue the impact of the written word.

Personally, if you're paying $10 for an article on eLance you should expect to get back something that's worth around $10 (which is the price of two pints of Strongbow Cider at my local). Is your website home page or key content page only worth $10 to you??

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Nicola Lane

12 years ago

If you know what you want each article to be about - but you just don't like writing - then how about speaking?

You could get a copy of Dragon Naturally Speaking and dictate each article - your fingers need hardly touch the keyboard.

Hope that helps.

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jgant

12 years ago

Definitely $12 to $25 per article.

If you really want to ramp up and get excellent articles that reference peer-reviewed articles/journals written by a credentialed expert, be willing to pay $20 to $50 per article.

Regurgitated material on popular topics won't do your site any favors.

However, if you go the extra mile with well-researched articles referencing recent peer reviewed journal articles and the latest research, your site will be a standout. Toss in some editorial comments and you have the recipe for a great blog.

I'd rather have 10 unique and informative articles than 50 regurgitated articles.

If you get some pheneomenal content on your blog, those posts could be pillar posts and you can promote them widely. This will attract links and visitors. In the long run it's better for you because visitors will appreciate the great content.

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linebelowdigital

12 years ago

I'm always able to find really good writers on my local craigslist site for $5-$10 per 500 word article. I like to hire college students. Surprisingly, a lot of them have experience with SEO and follow SEO best practices. Hope that helps & good luck with your site.

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Casper C

12 years ago

It's not just about the quality of the article, but the reputation of the writer. If you have a famous Internet marketer write an article for you, it'll cost an arm and a leg, not just because of their expertise but because of the name being put to the article. It means very high credibility.

A lot of people on this forum are looking for cheap outsourcing, therefore the low end of the article market is largely popular around here. However, there are writers out there that get paid more than $1 per word. Whether that's too much or not depends on not only how good they are, but how much of an expert they are in their given field, and who they are in terms of reputation.

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TheSpokesman 12 years ago

I guess the old adage "you get what you pay for" would apply in this case. Even so, I think that getting into the $20-$25 area for 500-700 words is about as high as you should go for decent articles. I write a monthly column for a national magazine and it's hard for me to justify more than that for my own online articles despite having the street cred offline.
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Robbie B

12 years ago

A lot of price range in here. From iwriter @ $2 per article and going up to between $50 and $75. That's high. I think if you're hiring someone with a specialized knowledge on a subject then it will be at the higher end of the scale. For a general article that requires a bit of research and unique content from a writer I would expect upwards of $10. A $2 article isn't going to go into a topic very deeply. Research takes time and if a writer is doing 2 dollar articles and needing around $10 per hour, that's 5 articles they'd need to do per hour. About 10 minutes per article isn't going to be of great quality. In my opinion anyway.

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OhioWriter

12 years ago

I feel like all these people who say "quality should demand a high price" are writers themselves. Not people hiring.

Granted I haven't been on the site for a long time, but the few people who have wanted to work with me for my price have been more than pleased.

However, 80% or so of the people who contact me are wanting me to work at $1/100 words. Is this a normal thing, or is someone sending me all the cheapskates?

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TheSpokesman

12 years ago

Ohio, just my personal opinion but it seems like you have the credentials to back up your writing so, in that case, $1/100 words is something that I personally wouldn't trifle with. Believe it or not, my experience has been that if you bite the bullet and bring your price closer to what the market will bear (and it will bear more than $5/500 words) you will attract a better quality of client. Let those "cheapskates" go to Fiverr and stick to your guns if you believe in the quality of your writing.

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OhioWriter

12 years ago

Originally Posted by TheSpokesman

Ohio, just my personal opinion but it seems like you have the credentials to back up your writing so, in that case, $1/100 words is something that I personally wouldn't trifle with. Believe it or not, my experience has been that if you bite the bullet and bring your price closer to what the market will bear (and it will bear more than $5/500 words) you will attract a better quality of client. Let those "cheapskates" go to Fiverr and stick to your guns if you believe in the quality of your writing.

I hope you are right. Right now my prices are half what you suggest because I was looking to build up and get more quality reviews before raising my prices. I keep telling myself to stay patient, and if no work comes in just go work on my own websites, but it is still frustrating.

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stephenwaldo

12 years ago

Originally Posted by art72

Now that's more like it!

I probably wouldn't have a problem writing at those prices. I don't know about anyone else, it just seems the greater an incentive for writer's to engage themselves, the more engaging the content they create will be.

I write for the love of writing, and in looking at competitor's charging $4-$5 an article, is exactly why I haven't written for anyone else yet.

Just to hear those numbers are achievable for article writing is a sigh of relief... I'd almost abandoned all hope.

- Art

I also really enjoy writing, and what keeps me going is being able to 'get in the zone' when I write instead of constantly worrying about churning out content as fast as possible to keep my hourly wage up.

You can look at my sig (no promotion intended)...I'm charging .05/word (which comes out to $25 - $35 per article) and so far things actually aren't looking too bad. I'm very hopeful. I actually started a writing service before at around .02 - .03 per word, and while I did get more work I found myself ... disgruntled, I guess would be the best word.

Even needing the money to pay bills, I just really had trouble motivating myself to write for people who I knew didn't really care about what I was writing when my passion lies solely in creating quality content.

Originally Posted by OhioWriter

I hope you are right. Right now my prices are half what you suggest because I was looking to build up and get more quality reviews before raising my prices. I keep telling myself to stay patient, and if no work comes in just go work on my own websites, but it is still frustrating.

I certainly do NOT want to tell you how to run your business, but from my own experience, intuition and other people's advice on this forum I would tell you to be wary of starting out low and hoping to move higher down the road.

If you DO want to start lower, my advice is to advertise a high rate but offer a 'launch discount' so that people can try you out for cheap. That keeps everything above board; you give customers a cheaper rate but it's clear you intend on being paid more down the road.

But yes, patience and persistence are key, as is having a bit of seed money to invest in promoting yourself. I've been shooting for about 2 bumps a week which is only $40 a week, but still that comes out of your pocket until you actually have customers.

I also advise (obviously) posting frequently in WF itself. Sig traffic is great.

Hope this helps you guys! I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Kindly,
- Stephen

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lowbudgetcopywriting

12 years ago

Usually, the price you pay for an article is directly proportional to the amount of research that goes into it. Not all the time, but often.

How much research do your articles need? Depends on you and your target readership.

Are you reaching out to people likely to read:

1. New Yorker
2. National Enquirer
3. Popular Mechanics
4. Cosmo

Those are four distinct target demos. I'm not sure how different contributor pay scales are, although I could imagine.

I assume you're selling something on your personal dev site. How much will the products/services cost? That's a factor too.

Alas, I fear the unsatisfying answer to the question "What is a good price for a 500-600 word article?" is ... it depends.

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nicheblogger75

12 years ago

In my experience, those $4 articles won't be too good. I am easily willing to pay $25-$30 for a good 400-500 word article. If you really want to get an idea of what good articles sell for, go and check out Constant Content. They only accept the best articles, and the going rate is $30-$50 for a 500-600 word article. But, you'll get quality, and you can opt to buy the rights as well, so that it will become your unique content.

Another great function of that site is that article authors can opt to have a "best offer" button, and many times this means they are willing to accept less than the initial asking price. I have gotten several great 400 word articles there for around $20 each, which I think is a great deal.

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nicholasb

12 years ago

I don't mind paying up to $25 for an article if the quality is really high and the people are cool to work with.

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Daniel Wilson

12 years ago

You can get bad articles for $0.01 and bad articles for $0.05 a word.

Try to find native speaker and ask for references. You'll get burnt by a bunch of content creators until you'll find the best for your needs.

I find them through forums.

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How much is too much for quality articles?

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