What Are Some Decent Freelance Writing Sites? (2013)

I have an article with a growing list of freelancing websites. Some pay a lot while others don't (it's a mixed bag.) P.S. The very first link in that article is an affiliate link, just FYI. But take a look around and I hope you find what you're looking for.

Pay Per Article Websites

Not sure why you bother to write for pennies?

No, seriously, it does not make sense.

It is much better to write articles and get paid $1 and more per word.

Here is an example:

A recent WSO had 4127 words, costs $27
50% commission
5% W+ fees, 3% Paypal fees

makes $12.42 profit per sale.

500 copies sold = $6210 in the box

That makes roughly $1,50 per word

It is basically the same as writing an article: you do a little research
and then write up your finding. Yes, you need to create a sales page
and some other stuff but once you know how to do that it's for sure
better than writing for pennies.

I know freelance.com is not reliable at all. Most of the jobs will be offered to the lowest bidder. And that is just...sad.

Skip the middle man, promote yourself and go directly to your ideal clientele. Those freelance sites don't do very much in terms of building your brand. For them, you're just a product for their clients. As much as you'd like to believe that you're building your own list of clients on freelance sites, the reality is that your "clients" are actually the site's customers. There's a big difference.

Whenever you see threads where people ask "Where can I find good writers?", everyone responds with the name of a site, not a particular writer. It's because a lot of clients (including myself at times) don't care who's doing the writing, they only care that it suits their needs. Only when you start writing at a higher level will name recognition really matter. For example, Problogger no longer just lets any old joe write on their site. They became more selective. The problem is that people that do IM (which is probably the clientele you're aiming for since you're on WF) don't care 2 s**ts about who's writing for them like I said before.

Long story short, start building your own brand and making your own relationships, or stay on sites like Elance or the ones you mentioned and keep getting them more money and more customers.

From my own experience oDesk has some decent gigs but you have to really shift through the nonsense. Expect to look through around 20 jobs paying 0.50 per 500 words to find someone with a decent budget who wants quality.

People Per Hour has been the best in my experience. Less jobs but people generally want quality and are willing to pay for it.

What does that suggest about the overall, long-term value of trying to build a freelancing business in that way?

I wasn't, when I was selling writing services. I was looking only for clients who pay for quality work (and I wasn't expecting to be able to find and retain them in those places).

Post #6 above is worth reading and re-reading.

The best way to find clients is to develop a reputation in here. I get a lot of my work from members of this forum who have seen me write and interact so they get to know me as a person as well as a writer. I have other sources as well, of course, including my own 2 sites and classified ads and referrals but I rarely get work form any of the bidding sites. I admit I do browse elance and occasionally score a decent job there but that might be once every 3-4 months.

I like Gumtree. I run several ads and get quite a few queries and jobs from there too.

I came across this freelance site named freelancecourt.com

It is not popular at all. But I got decent contents written for me on products review.
The freelancer seem to understand keyword positioning very well.

Go direct, contact the buyers and demonstrate why you are the only option if they want their business to grow.

You know who the potential buyers are, as they are the owners of the websites that regularly put fresh content on their websites.

The more middlemen you take out of the equation, the greater your profits. It's something to think about.

Though it may be true that many of these sites offer substandard pay for articles, they do at least offering something. The better money in article writing, as with most anything, comes from cultivating relationships and positioning yourself.

"This means promoting yourself".

You've denounced fiverr, and have sworn to kick a kitten if anyone mentions it, but the truth is many writers are using it as a jumping off point and a place to develop these relationships. I'm not promoting fiverr over any other site per se, however it lends itself as a good example of an overlooked opportunity.

I recently needed a 1200 word article to meet a deadline, and outsourced it to a fiverr writer that I have a professional relationship with. The final price was $27.00 dollars. The reason this writer was able to get a fair price for this article is that they understand how promote themselves as a business. I will also point out, I am by no means this authors highest paying client.

You will be hard pressed to find a site where you can simply show up, log in, and on your word expect top pay. My suggestion; If you find yourself with idle time, continue to write for the penny a word sites to build up your portfolio and sharpen your skills, simultaneously promoting yourself professionally. It will at the very least be more productive then doing nothing, after all; "Writers Write, that's what they do".

You can find plenty of kindle e-Books on A-zon, and WSO's hear at Warrior that explain how to promote yourself as a writer, not to mention countless posts.

Best regards,

Hi Corey - I'm not sure where you're at in your progression as a freelance writer, so sorry if you're well beyond this point!

The only site I managed to pull in over $30 an hour was the Problogger job board. oDesk and Elance have potential, but unfortunately it's extremely rare to find a client offering over $20 per hour - I just got offered a long term contract from a member there for $25 an hour, but this is the first time I've gotten an offer that high in (literally) months.

Again, I've found them in the past, but I think the vast majority of writing job boards and sites are only good if you're building your online portfolio, and gathering quality testimonials as a new freelance writer.

If you want to break $30 an hour you'll need to drop the writing boards and content mills. Build an awesome portfolio, buy a copy of the latest Writer's Market (2014 now I believe), and learn to love pitching to editors!

So to summarize: Problogger is great for intermediate freelance writing gigs, but for the next step up, you'll need an effective portfolio and pitching skills (and the vast # of market listings in Writer's Market 2014).

Hope that helps!

Don't think anyone has mentioned constant-content yet to I'll throw that one in the mix.

5StarWriters.com is gonna be released very soon Ive heard.