Split testing Article writers

I'd think there might be a few reasons for the big difference in prices:

1) Every writer perceives the value of their services their differently. One writer might think (or know) their writing is top notch while another writer may believe their writing is good, but not great. Experience is certainly a contributing factor. Someone who is just starting out will almost certainly charge lower than a seasoned writer, unless of course the seasoned writer was very swift and proficient, and felt that he/she could charge lower based on the speed of his work.

2) Depending on client response, writers may adjust their prices to maximize ROI. If they are getting few clients because the price is too steep, they may lower them or vice versa. Obviously this is a highly variable matter, as there are many writers who are doing very well with few clients, but charging a costly amount.

Trial and error is the best way in finding good writers (reliability, quality of work, etc.)

Regarding the pricing, $700 for article creation and submission -->maybe they are using a software to mass submit your articles.

$2000 for article creation and submission --> maybe they are doing both creation and submission manually.

Karomesis - if you find a good writer and employ them FULL TIME, you will probably get about 5 decent articles per day and pay about $4 per article. That's using Filipino rates for good writers.

If you hired a 2nd person to take care of other low value "stuff" like submission, you'd be rocking and rolling. These articles can be used for many things:

1) Put on your blog
2) Submit to the directories
3) Use to create a mini-net of sites pointing to yours, to establish authority ...

Lots of things.

Just saying that hiring someone on a temporary basis is not the way to go if you are seriously thinking of spending 2k. For that you can have a good overseas writer employed for about 8 months .. at which time you'll probably just have them full time.

I completely agree with the idea of testing people. There is still no comparison between paying $2-4 per article from a good writer and paying $15 from someone who TRULY has the gift of the gab. But if you are using articles for backlinks vs click-through, it's quite different in terms of what you are willing to pay for a solid ROI.

Well, that's kindof the problem, I've seen numerous articles where they all seem very similar in tone and are either promotional or educative.

I'm going to be using two separate approaches to this

1. The first group of articles will be non promotional in nature - educative tone

2. the second group will be promotional in nature - more salesy.

I'm VERY surprised more people here aren't using the non promotional method.

Like if you had a product and got everyones HONEST opinion, sure, some of them might say stuff that's not exactly flattering, but isn't that the point? IMHO it would make the rest of your pitch more believable as there isn't a product on earth that doesn't have some flaws with it....Yes even the WSO's:rolleyes:

I can't sell to people who don't trust me, and admitting your product may have some flaws is more believable.Maybe I'm totally off base with this one, and I'd gladly admit I'm wrong if someone here can show me how telling everyone your product is better than sliced bread will get more sales than admitting it isn't perfect through selected testimonials.

Unless you can get a reference from someone you trust the only way to find a quality writer at a price you're willing to pay is to try a few writers out. There's no need to start off with a 100 article assignment though. Find a few writers and give them maybe 3 articles each. Then which ever one gives you the best value for you money is the one to hire for the rest of your writing needs.

There is no objective "correct" amount to pay for any service in any business.

ROI is the only proper measurement of whether a service is worthwhile for your business or not.

If you pay $2,000 to get a single article (most likely you would call that article a sales letter or an advertorial at that rate), and that article earns you $50,000 over the next year, then your one year ROI is 2500%. I'll buy those all day long.

If you pay $1 per article for 100 articles and they earn only $50 over the next year, then your one year ROI is 50%. It doesn't matter how "cheap" they are. They aren't worth the investment. The ROI is less than 100%.

As you said in the subject line of this article, you need to split test authors and judge their results based on ROI, not on how much you pay per article.

I once paid $50K for a single article and it earned 2.2 million in the first three months.

I have also paid $1-$25 per article from many, many, many sources and not received anything of any value (less than 100% ROI).

Test!

I believe the rate variations are often determined using experience, as someone said above. A new writer may be willing to write a 500 word article for $5, while a writer with more confidence and experience will charge more.

I myself have never understood how any writer can come out ahead if they spend the time to research and write a quality article. In my mind, this would normally take at least a good 45 minutes to an hour, if the content is 100% original and well researched. Who would work for $5/hour?

Anyway, try a few out and see how you like them. If you are looking for buying traffic, you do need articles that get the clicks!

Good luck