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URGENT! Interview in 1hr! Should I pay to write on ezines?

by Joe Ox
16 replies
I have been contacted by a huge 5Million per month visitors ezine in my niche for an interview that should take place in 1 hr. They said they want me to write for them, and didn't talk about money, but now I went on their website and found out that the service they offered to me is a paid one and I am supposed to pay around $40 per month to get published over there.
Should I do the interview anyways? or it's a waste of time and money?
#1hr #ezines #interview #pay #urgent #write
  • Profile picture of the author rosetrees
    Classic. I was once contacted by someone who claimed they represented a government department and were very interested in the views of small training companies. They got me quite interested til they got to the bit where they wanted to charge me money to publish my views. I put the phone down very quickly.

    I guess they're running short of paid contributors so they are resorting to underhand tactics.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by rosetrees View Post

      I guess they're running short of paid contributors so they are resorting to underhand tactics.
      Not only that, but the "Skype interview in an hour's time", to present the sales talk, is a classic "fast pressure selling" approach to this. They want to get you committed to paying a monthly fee before you've had time to investigate them properly, perhaps. I say "no". And especially not in a hurry!!
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  • Profile picture of the author Alex Blades
    Is this an e-interview? if it's an authority site giving you dofollow backlinks, then maybe it is worth it. Then again maybe not, since even ezineartcle lost all its juice...
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  • Profile picture of the author FredJones
    Did they claim to be 5 million per month, or did you find that by your investigation?

    If they are 5 million visitors per month then they stand a chance to be famous in their own rights. In that case, would you want to share the name of the ezine publicly? (Use your discretion, I hope I am not inviting trouble...)

    Did you check their Alexa ranking?

    If they are indeed 5 million per month then it may be worth the $40, depending upon a few more factors such as relevance, the number of writers, how the content is displayed, where the readers are from, whether their readers are genuine etc...

    Did you Google "<ezine name> scam" yet?
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  • Profile picture of the author bizgrower
    Google the company and see about complaints. Sounds like a scam though. You should be able to guest blog/post on influential sites/newsletters in your market. Good luck.
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  • Profile picture of the author miklanderson2
    It depends on what you get out of it. If your articles are going to be featured prominently on the site, it may be worth it for the exposure. If you can include a backlink or two in the articles or at the end of the article, that's even better. If you're allowed to post links and they're do follow links that's an even better deal.
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  • Profile picture of the author Joe Ox
    Alexa rank 11,830

    If I google ezinescam nothing comes up
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  • Profile picture of the author Joe Ox
    To be completely honest though, they asked me yesterday when I wanted to do the interview and since I am at home today, I said today. They asked me what time, and I said: anytime is fine for me. And now they told me in 1hr.
    I should have done the research yesterday, so it's probably more of a my mistake, since I had one day to investigate.
    Still, when I found out that I am supposed to pay, my instinct told me straight away that it was scammy.
    But thanks everyone for the help.
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  • Profile picture of the author talfighel
    Originally Posted by Joe Ox View Post

    They said they want me to write for them, and didn't talk about money
    If they want you to write for them, they should pay you and not vice versa.

    It seems to me that this is how they are doing business online.

    If they can get your articles published for free, that would only mean that you will get a ton of free traffic for a very long time. It doesn't seem like that is there goal.

    I would not pay them one single penny.
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    • Profile picture of the author Shazadi
      Originally Posted by talfighel View Post

      If they want you to write for them, they should pay you and not vice versa.
      Exactly. Do NOT do this. Writing for "exposure" is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. Content sites, online mags, even most simple blogs - they are all in DESPERATE need of good articles. Some pay peanuts (poor quality and/or eventually die out) and others pay a living wage. Find the ones that give you what you deserve, because without people like you, they literally wouldn't even exist.

      Even the biggest "exposure" sites like HuffPo have freelancers write for free so you at least aren't losing money... and they have paid, employee writers as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author Corey Geer
    Originally Posted by Joe Ox View Post

    I have been contacted by a huge 5Million per month visitors ezine in my niche for an interview that should take place in 1 hr. They said they want me to write for them, and didn't talk about money, but now I went on their website and found out that the service they offered to me is a paid one and I am supposed to pay around $40 per month to get published over there.
    Should I do the interview anyways? or it's a waste of time and money?
    Yeah that sounds real legit. I think you're better off putting $40 into the Keno machine at a local bar.

    Just don't play the same numbers I did last night, I spent $60 and won 6.
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  • Profile picture of the author Joe Ox

    I decided for the NO but,
    Since I had no time to cancel and I am a gentleman I decided to go on the skype interview just to see how good their sales people are and to analyze how they would have tried to persuade me to pay for the membership.

    OMG!
    Ridiculous.
    She started saying, I took a look at your blog and it looks very interesting (pretty generic consideration), how many years old is your blog?
    Note. My blog has about 12 posts, since it's one month old.
    So she didn't even take the time to click on my website.
    Also, she said: why did you contact us? what is your motivation?
    Note: They contacted me, I didn't do anything.

    She kept saying the same things over and over and try to sell me benefits that are totally unrelated with my needs. Not a good way to sell

    Anyways, today I learned that if you want to fail in selling something, doing no research of your costumer's needs certainly helps.
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  • Profile picture of the author Corey Geer
    When get adds like that, I mess with them. I'll have one of the most strange or bizarre requests known to man and usually they go away.

    Except for when foreign agencies contact me, then they just keep repeating the same thing over and over no matter weird the conversation gets.

    Me: *something disgusting*
    Them: Sir you order of services?

    Me: *something even worse*
    Them: We has your services sir

    No fun
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  • Profile picture of the author onegoodman
    I been contacted before for interviews and at some point some asked for money.

    Wouldn't go for it. It is always fishy, regardless how authoritative the website never pay for it.
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    • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
      I'll make you a deal. I'll let you write for me and you only need to pay me $35 per month.
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      Dan also writes content for hire, but you can't afford him anyway.
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      • Profile picture of the author Kay King
        I think they interpret "interview" as "sales presentation to get you to buy into this".
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