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What's the right price for articles?

by gpacx
19 replies
Hey guys, I have a quick question about buying articles online. I've been looking over on freelancer.com at some of the projects for articles and some of the bids that people put out on various projects, it seems like there is an extremely broad price range to get articles written for you by a freelance writer or through some of the other services. I want to be able to choose the writer who is going to do the work based on a proposal of some kind, so many of the services like iWriter don't really jive with me.

Basically I see people charging $0.01 per word or even LESS and some other people that are charging almost $0.10 per word for the same projects - I think the expensive ones are overcharging a lot, but are the cheap ones really bad? What's the right price to pay for articles like this? Does anyone have an experience where they paid a certain price for articles and liked what they received or felt ripped off? I'm just looking for a guideline here.
#articles #price
  • Profile picture of the author jipolis7
    Usually around $20/- for 1200+ article including images.
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  • Profile picture of the author agmccall
    What do you think you are worth?

    You might have to start out a bit lower than your expectations. Consider this an investment. That way you can get some good reviews.

    al
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  • Profile picture of the author AnniePot
    Several months ago, another well respected Warrior experimented by ordering a bunch of articles from a wide variety of cheap writers, simply to assess the quality of their work. She reported that they all were worth exactly what she paid for them.

    These bottom of the barrel articles are produced by 'writers' for whom English is a second language. I've read that for some of them it's not even a second language. They write the article in their native language then run it through a free on-line translation program. These translations frequently spew out hilarious results but the freelancer cannot comprehend this and he/she passes it on to the purchaser.

    The bigger picture always is, we get what we pay for.
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve B
    Originally Posted by gpacx View Post

    What's the right price to pay for articles like this?

    You're asking a question that can't be answered. How tall is a tree? As you have seen, the prices for articles are all over the place.

    A more appropriate question is "What are you willing to pay for a high quality article that you are satisfied with?" You determine a budget amount then go looking for a good writer that will meet your budget standard. It may take paying several writers until you find the one that best meets your criteria.

    As AnnieP said (and she understands the marketplace) you will typically not find low cost article writers that give you high quality work. Set your budget accordingly.

    Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author Gambino
    I can only answer from my own experience.

    I've had what I would consider decent quality articles from ineedarticles.com for $10.00 and $1,000 words. In my experience, ineedarticles.com is much better than iwriter.com, quality wise. These are generally age-old topics related to fitness and essentially rehashed.

    I touch the articles up myself (they all have some errors) and post it to my blog.

    For articles that I promote... The price is usually in the $30-40 range.
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  • Profile picture of the author Passive Solutions
    I've only had poor experiences paying 1 cents per word, better spend something like 2-3 cents/word instead, plenty of native writers willing to write at such rate (10 cents/word is in most cases pretty absurd yes).
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  • Profile picture of the author BradVert2013
    I charge $50 per 500 words.

    I've outsourced articles for some of my websites and went cheap, about $5 or 500 words. I ended up having to rewrite everything because they were so poorly written.

    In the end it's a balancing act between what you're willing to pay and the quality you want.
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  • Profile picture of the author tyronne78
    I agree with AnniePot...you get what you pay for!
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  • Profile picture of the author zdebx
    I would say it depends on what you need those articles for?

    If you are outsourcing content for your main website, then be ready to pay $25-30 or more per 500 word articles. However, if you just need unique content for link building purposes, which doesn't necessarily have to be mega-engaging or super-interesting, then you can always get some cheap articles written paying $5-10 dollars for the same 500 words.
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    • Profile picture of the author neshaword
      This is the most realistic answer. Regarding Freelancer or Upwork or any other similar platform for freelancer writers, you filtrate offers by setting an appropriate bid range. Your project description should be straightforward, especially in terms of price expectations.

      Here's an idea. Set your project with an hourly rate from X to Y amount. Let's say you need an hour to write an article of up to 500 words. If I remember correctly there's an option on Freelancer to set the range from $8/hr to $25/hr. So, give it a try.

      Cheers!
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  • Profile picture of the author gingerninjas
    You get out what you put in.

    Be aware that if you are after a highly technical article with current references and research, paying $5 per article is going to be a massive disappointment.

    When I every write articles/blogs I find out firstly if they are technical or more free range to determine the price per post.

    I would avoid people that charge per word, it's probably not going to be great content and will also probably make no sense at all.

    $50 is probably fair for a quality blog of 500 words in saying that a technical blog of the same length could be anywhere from $75 to $100 with a native speaker with industry knowledge and the ability to write something that will engage with your audience.
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    • Profile picture of the author BradVert2013
      Originally Posted by gingerninjas View Post

      You get out what you put in.

      Be aware that if you are after a highly technical article with current references and research, paying $5 per article is going to be a massive disappointment.

      When I every write articles/blogs I find out firstly if they are technical or more free range to determine the price per post.

      I would avoid people that charge per word, it's probably not going to be great content and will also probably make no sense at all.

      $50 is probably fair for a quality blog of 500 words in saying that a technical blog of the same length could be anywhere from $75 to $100 with a native speaker with industry knowledge and the ability to write something that will engage with your audience.
      This is actually a really good point. When I said $50 for a basic 500-word article, I meant with minimal research. For more technical stuff that requires more in-depth research, that 500-word article will suddenly cost a lot more. Time is a very big factor in pricing.
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  • Profile picture of the author CabaMate
    It really depends on how long the articles take to write, if the topics are provided and what is involved. I have done some articles for $20 and others for $40.. if they are ordered in bulk I will also give a discount. I think that there are a lot of people out there willing to do it for much less, but I am not sure the quality is any good.
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  • Profile picture of the author writeaway
    It depends on what you'll use the articles for....

    Will you be stocking PBNs or Tier3 sites with them? If so, you can get away with paying .0025 to .01 USD per word

    Will you be using them for your main site or guest posting purposes? If so, expect to pay northwards of 1 cent per word

    Will you be needing SALES text? If so, you will probably need to pay TOP DOLLAR if you expect to convert
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  • Profile picture of the author minishuu
    I agree the price would reflect the quality. Look for writers with good reviews and ask for sample of their works and links. Even if these writers would accept writing jobs at $20, I would pay for $40-$50 for a 500-700 post and if it's a free resource or guide $100 to reflect the kind of quality I am demanding from them.

    I have done writing jobs before and my effort (time spent on research to find more unique/uncommon info ) is different per budget.
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  • Profile picture of the author laurencewins
    I charge flat starting rates for articles. I work as a writer/proofreader/editor so my clientele know they get good quality work.

    However, I REFUSE to work for peanuts. As has already been mentioned, you get what you pay for so if you're happy paying $5 per article on Fiverr, then good luck to you.
    But if you want high quality work, be prepared to pay well.
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  • Profile picture of the author luciesmazanska
    it depends of quality, niche and lenght, if you have article longer than 2000 words in loans niche sell it for 100 dollars,
    if your article is below 1000 words sell it under 30 Dollars.

    you know...people can buy stuff on fiv****
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  • Profile picture of the author James Clifton
    I’d say that the rate of a writer can be influenced by several factors like years of experience, level of expertise and difficulty of the topics. While other writing tasks require extensive research, others are simpler to write. If you are looking for a writer, always set-up a budget and start with $0.01 per word since it is the standard starting rate for writers. If you need to hire a long-term freelancer, ask for a short paid article first.
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    • Profile picture of the author BradVert2013
      Originally Posted by James Clifton View Post

      If you are looking for a writer, always set-up a budget and start with $0.01 per word since it is the standard starting rate for writers.
      No writer worth his/her salt should be charging $0.01 per word. That's only $5 for a basic 500 word articles. My rate starts at $50 for 500 words.

      I'd really question the quality of a writer charging $5.
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