I Just Paid $40 For 487 Words

by 262 replies
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And I consider that a BARGAIN! The writer is a friend of mine and he's very good. But my point here is two-fold...

  • You have to know what to do with content so that the cost to have it written is an investment, not a true cost.
  • Work with people you know you can trust. The only way to get to that point is to engage with people. Don't be a hermit.
When you see a thread about getting $4 articles, it's usually someone pretty new. They don't get that those cheap articles are usually crap that has to be edited. That takes time. Time = money.

Even well written $4 articles (and yeah, I know there are some out there) often lack any real substance. They're just lifeless sentences strung together to fill a page. They don't inspire your site visitors. They don't CONVERT, in other words. That's what most new people don't understand. The words on a page need to achieve a goal that helps you. It's not enough to fill the page.

That's why $40 is a pittance for quality content that I know will convert.

John
#main internet marketing discussion forum #$40 #487 #paid #quality content #words #writers
  • Finally someone on this board who cares about quality.
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    • What do you mean Finally?. There are many
      people like the OP that prefer quality over
      quantity, myself included.

      Glenn
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  • Awesome John, and I hope to see more threads like this soon, with the google update giving quality writing a much needed boost. I regularly pay between 25 and 40.00 for articles of roughly the same length. I live or die by good writing. And you're absolutely right. It's a worthwhile investment. Cheap cannon fodder articles have always been completely useless - if not counter productive to my online business.
  • Loads of newbies reading this will be thinking 'what a rip of' lol but..

    Only when you realise the true value of quality do you realise that $40 actually is a pittance for quality content, especially if you are confident that it converts.
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  • You mean you have to actually pay writers decent compensation to get content that isn't cliche-filled tripe loaded with heavy-handed amateur-hour sales tactics??

    What is the world coming to??

    Nice John, great post that helps the board understand why someone would want to pay well for writing that will monetize itself several times over.

    Totally agree...and my clients do as well.
  • To further emphasize the point...

    If a person lands on your website and finds you unable to string interesting sentences together, why would those folks ever consider you worthy of their dollars?

    Won't people just think that if you are willing to give them crap content on your website or in your promotional materials that you would be equally willing to give them crap products and services for their hard earned money?
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    • I entirely agree that quality is necessary and I would definitely pay a premium for high quality content, however my question is;

      What exactly IS high quality content?

      By what measure or metric can I tell whether a piece of writing or a writer is worth paying premium for?

      I'm not asking for an absolute measure to determine the $$$ worth of individual English sentences/paragraphs/articles, I don't think it even practically possible (theoretically perhaps).

      ... BUT how do you (the IM community) determine which writer is worth the premium costs and which to give a wide berth?
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    • Here! Here!
  • Something that a lot of people don't seem to grasp is that you pay ONCE for the content to be written. That's it. Let's say it's a page for your niche site. I pay $40 one time to have it created. Then I start sending traffic to it. Let's say it's a page about acne and I've chosen a Clickbank product to monetize the page. I might earn $25 for every sale of that product, which I link to in the sidebar and in the content through text links.

    How many sales do I need to be profitable? 2.

    Had I paid $4 for some blah content, I might never make even one sale from that page. In fact, I bet many who are reading this and have paid that small price for content know that feeling very well.

    So who really paid too much for their content?
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    • John, you've hit the nail squarely on the head here. People (newbies especially) tend to get too preoccupied with the cost of articles and other things in IM, when they really should be considering its ROI.

      You can't just define something as "expensive" or "cheap" when you're in business, ultimately what matters is its return on investment. Something can be outrageously expensive in monetary terms, but provide an incredible ROI.

      For example, let's take salesletters. Many people might consider a $10k salesletter outrageous, but if it results in even a 10% higher conversion rate for a high-ticket $2,000 product, you'd sell 110 products instead of 100, resulting in $20,000 extra being made - that's a 100% ROI on your $10k salesletter. Suddenly your $10k salesletter looks like a really smart investment, doesn't it?

      Paul
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    • Banned
      You might never make even one sale from a $40 article either, in which case you would be the one who paid too much for their content.

      It's all relative, folks. There's no guarantee a $40 article will produce anything, nor is there any guarantee a $4 article will produce nothing. I guarantee you there's a lot of crap being produced at both ends of the spectrum.
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  • Absolutely correct, John.

    If the quality is low you might make a few accidental sales. But if you have excellent quality, your site will grow organically as your visitors will recommend your site.
  • IMO, not worth it. Not a person on Earth can string together a series of words that would be worth $40 as good as a person on Earth that can string together a series of words that would be worth $4.

    But hey, to each his own.
    • [2] replies

    • I guess you totally missed the point of the original post...

      If a $40 article can generate sales in excess of what you spent to buy the article, then the endeavor would be profitable...

      And isn't that the reason we run an online business -- to make a profit?

      I have written articles that have generated sales in the four- and five-figures.

      If I had written an article for you that generated $10,000 in sales, are you saying that what I have written is still not worth at least $40 to you?

      If you said yes to that question, I bet you would have really **** a log to realize that I was charging more than $100 to write most of those articles...
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    • Agreed, also I believe it depends on what the content is being used for..

      Sales? Indexing?
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  • If you're in a niche where credibility isn't going to be a factor to make sales, then by all means spend $4 on an article. I wouldn't expect to pay any less than $30 for a well researched, engaging, and exciting article.

    Heck, I would even consider that a killer deal and feel like I'm ripping off my writer.

    I am interested in how exactly Google is judging quality though. If anyone knows please speak up.

    - Dean
    • [2] replies
    • Thanks for the answer's all

      For the record, this is exactly what I was talking about when I said a method of absolute measurement of writing quality was "theoretically possible".

      I'm sure Google have at very least a small team (probably a large one!) of people researching towards this very goal.

      Anyone gone through Google patents for ideas about how the measure quality?

      Thinking about it, any measure of writing quality (in Google's eyes) must currently be helping to rank those who rank highly in any selected keywords... SO, my advice would be to look for oddities/anomalies in ranking while doing keyword research.

      Check all the typical factors (backlinks, quality of, distribution of anchor text phrasing, targetting of anchor text, on-site SEO etc etc...) and if it still stands out, analyse the phrasing on the site. Does it stand out in some way from other similar websites around it that rank more poorly?

      Nowhere near an exact science, but when it comes to Google, unless someone out there has the algorithm and is willing to share it's probably about the best we can do.
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    • http://www.warriorforum.com/adsense-...t-content.html


  • this is really what I wanted to say too. I run a review site and pay between $60-100 dollars per 800 words + pictures too but the review is well written and all I need to do is just copy paste the HTML code that my writer provides me with.

    If you can make $600 from a $60 article- it makes complete sense to do it well
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    • Hmmm - From what I'm reading here, I should be charging more for my writing services. I won't send anything less than top-quality, and I include HTML whenever necessary.
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  • As the old saying goes, "You can't put a price on quality"
  • Arguments in a forum are often educational. Imagine how boring this place would be if we were all just preaching to the choir. In my view, the more pervasive the myth (like you should pay as little as possible for content), the more often the more experienced among us should tee it up and bat it around. Not that many newbies are going to even know to search the forum about something like this. See what I mean, Dave? It's one of those things that has to be out front and center fairly often for it to have an impact on the very people that need to see it most.
  • That's a great price to pay for sales copy grade material. If you're writing an article for Ezine articles, then the only reason why you would pay that much is if your goal is to get maximum publisher conversions - that is getting the maximum number of readers who read your article to publish it onto other sites. To maximize this percentage, you've got to have a stellar and convincing article that provokes the reader to share it with others.
  • [DELETED]
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  • John, could you please share the article link so that less experienced marketers and writers here can tell the difference from good and bad?

    Best,
    Ewen
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    • Nope. That's a good way to have the content become worthless in a hurry. But I know you didn't ask for that reason, so no worries.
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  • Thank you for sharing the ROI aspect of having content created for you, John. I think many people fail to see the big picture when getting articles written, and instead just want to get as much as they can for the cheapest price tag.
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    • Yep, they want to make thousands per day, yet pay pennies for the people who do the work for them...
  • I'm paying about $25-35 an article myself, but the work is amazing. She writes better English than my English teacher. She puts a lot of great thought into it as well. When I use content that has my name on it and I am not the one who writes it, it is her or one other writer I use.

    Cheap content has its place as well, back-linking and other places where humans typically don't even read it.
  • Here is something else I found interesting.

    John, you are one hell of a writer. One of the best on here, and you find more worth in paying top dollar than doing it yourself.

    That is some serious food for thought, look at Bill Platt and Alexa Smith they are fantastic and could get $80 -$120 for 500 words and yet I doubt they do a lot of ghost writing.

    Which must mean there time is spent doing something with a far higher return on investment.

    And in answer to anyone dogging on this thread, if top warriors spent more time going over the popular topics on the forum, maybe there would not be so many newbies asking the same thing. ... I can dream can't I ?
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  • As anyone who has studied writing at all will tell you,
    The Gettysburg Address has just 256 words. The Ten
    Commandments (in English) have only 313. I'm
    pretty sure I'd have laid out $40 for either of them.

    Thomas
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    • LOL. You just inspired my next Ezinearticles submission

      10 Handy Tips to Avoid Eternal Damnation
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  • John great work and great info, you explained it very well.

    I have paid $30 for an article and get this done from time to time.

    Why do I do this, because I have had one of my writers write an article so good it was stumbled, posted on about 8000 blogs, more backlinks and now has over hundreds of thousands of views.

    Quality matters, no matter what google does, or what happens to places like EA....if you have a quality articles and a nice calll to action to your squeeze page, and build your list from this. $40 is a no brainer. Especially when that one high quality articles is bringing hundreds of subscribers and money over serveral years. Many people raise their eyebrows and thinks WHOA! $40 bucks.....john you are insane. But after the reason why u should do this, it makes total sense.

    This is a good reminder here, that articles and especially high quality articles are worth more than $40 in the long run.
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    • what actually matters is the quality....if the quality is really good then I think you can gain profits...price is not the main thing, try to focus on the quality...
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  • This seems to be a great topic to discuss. I don't know about other newbies, but for me, it seems like a bit expensive, especially because I'm starting IM with limited budget, not with a big budget. I try to get everything I needed first, and then by the time I make a little money, I try to reinvest them to my business as well.

    Maybe in the future, I am able to budget my way to "$40 for an article". For the meantime, I think I don't have a budget for it.

    Do you think It's okay for me to ask for reference at this post? I think I'll be needing it for future months

    Thanks
  • Exactly!

    this is why I often write myself and about subjects that I know on my sites.

    Because, honestly, I feel that I'm insulting my visitors if all that I offer them are $4 articles that basically go like "<insert niche here> is a very broad and interesting subject. One must learn a lot to be proficient in <insert niche here>". I mean, come on!

    That's why I always either write myself, or at least add something of real value - like well researched outgoing links, related youtube videos, something along these lines.

    And $40 would be a bargain for a well written page that must convert. That's a higher league than information articles.

    So, I feel like I'm preaching to the choir here, but anyway.. quality quality quality! It will win every time.
  • If the OP had put the title as:

    "one quality article written for $40 increased conversion by 46% and generated $3,465 profits in 2 days"

    Then there would not be a debate about quality of article
  • Spot on. I charge £20 for a 400+ word article. I spend time researching the subject area so that I understand what the reader will be looking for, and consequently, what I should include to convert those readers.

    Constructing an informative article that people will not only enjoy reading, but will be compelled to act upon, is a skill that carries a premium. Also, as a copywriter with my own business, I've got to evaluate what my time is worth, as well as what's a reasonable price to charge the client.
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  • if you got what you wanted then it is ok we all have our standards
  • What a rip off.

    Youre best off paying $2 an article, having it re-written multiple times and wasting weeks doing it.
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    • Now that made me laugh....coming from you..
  • Thanks for saying this John! I often have students confused about how often they see requests for $2 per page - they don't truly believe there are higher paying clients out there and that's what my whole ghostwriting business was! All those gurus who hired me - John Reese, Rich Schefren, Ewen Chia, Jimmy Brown, Travis Sago, etc...they didn't blink about price. They wanted the best. They would probably never have paid $2 an article because that's risky.

    You confirmed as a buyer what I try to explain. lol
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    • Interesting posts.

      Some people want high-quality content, but they'll like to pay $4/$5. What's our business, as long as they're satisfied :-)

      I've charged peanuts for quality content before (an entry strategy, for quickly getting reviews and testimonials), believe me, it's not a sustainable practice. No smart business person puts in a lot for little rewards.

      I remember reading an article by John Reese, where he explained why he makes sure he pays high rates for his content. It's common sense. Price is really a measure of value.

      Ghost-writing is a business, and quality takes time (but I'm biased). One of capitalism's defining beauties is the freedom to choose. You can even get (desperate) writers for $3 or $2.

      It's a free world.

      Michael Newman
  • Agreed- Quality over quantity, every time
  • Quality over quantity always wins the game
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    • You just summed up OP original post in 7 simple words.

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  • I have just charged someone £50.00 for an "about" page, which in effect will be the home page. My client is more than happy, so happy that they have ordered seven more pages of content. Whilst it is impossible to give a guarantee that that copy will convert(no one will do that) it is implicit that it will convert. As I know I am going to have to correct it if it is wrong then I don't make the mistake in the first place.
    In other words I drill down to the unique selling points and find out exactly what type of client they are targetting. That is why the price is as it is!

    As usual John, sound common sense; Though I suspect that there are many people on this forum who will not agree with you.
  • Speaking about quality, what is the difference between a $40 and a $20 articles if written by both very good writers? Although it is true that you may consider it an investment, but when speaking about real investments, even big corporations are looking for cheaper alternatives without sacrificing the quality. That's why there is a lean manufacturing - reduce cost while increasing productivity and quality.

    Not all expensive products always comes in good quality...
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    • What is the difference? polishing and soul. I know how much I want to earn the hour, if you pay $40 for an article, you have 2 hours of my undivided time, I can go the extra mile and make it 3. If you pay $20, you have one hour of my time, an hour and a half going far; and I will not be happy having to work fast - which imprints in the writing as I´m a very strong emitter.

      This is why I don´t do articles too much, I prefer ebooks or reports. Works better for everyone, as once I´m on a row I can write pretty fast for hours non stop.
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  • Way to say what some of us really believe.
  • you are right, better communication is one of the keys to get better work, and cheaply done article can get you down instead of taking up.
  • wow, this really made me think about the quality of the artciles I write.
    Also open my eyes about quality a little bit. I usually see articles for 25-30 only, this is actually the first time I heard somebody who bought an article for 40$, however it seems it was a good choice.
    May I ask how regularly do you buy articles?
  • Quality is what matter

    $40 for 400+ words may sound a lot but when its expert quality you cant complain.

    -matt
  • How refreshing - a thread that (mostly) makes me smile in delight. Why? Because so many experienced, successful marketers are willing to underline how quality content can be one of the most important investments you make. Strike that - IS one of the most important investments you make, whether it be copy, ebooks, reports or articles.

    Slap your reader's eyeballs with the audacity of your words...make their mind dance with your message...get 'em giggling in the aisles with your wit and you have a surefire winner on your hands. When I write a book I give it my all knowing that the investment of my time and my publisher's money = income over and over again in sales. Same applies online, especially as there is so much crap swilling around out there.

    $40 to me is cheap at the price and I don't think price should ever be the central issue. Of course, you pay what you can afford but the trick is to think longterm. And don't forget that once you've bought that content, you can reuse, repurpose and regain your investment many times over. Great writing is for life...especially on the internet where it lives virally on forever.
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  • Excellent Point John! I can't agree more with using quality content. Hell, the $40 will pay for itself in backlinks JUST from syndication... Not to mention sales, opt-ins, etc.

    However, from the other side of the fence. How does one transition from a $4 an article writer to one that can charge $40 an article? (Maybe TPW or Alexa can help with this question?) I often do freelance article writing in addition to my own article marketing endeavors. Should I just market myself as a $40 article writer? My plan now was to build up the clientele with intentions of charging more in the future (in theory they will know my "value" by then). Or would it be better to take on less work now and charge higher prices (like say $40) with intentions to eventually charge $100 or more (like TPW mentioned)?

    Obviously, the question would assume the skills were capable of obtaining that price, so lets just pretend thats the case, lol.
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    • The reality is that whatever price you currently market yourself, later when you are ready to raise your prices, few of your current customers will remain your customers.

      If you increase your writing rate by even 20%, fewer than 20% of your customers will continue to employ you.

      If you increase your writing rate by 1000% ($4 to $40), you will be lucky if one or two of your current customers stay with you.

      The reality is that when you raise your price from single-digits to double-digits, you will be starting your business over from scratch, each and every time.

      There are only two benefits in writing cheap when you start, and that benefit is building your portfolio of written works and building your reputation.

      Yet, if you are only charging $4 an article to start, you would not be losing much just to focus on building a portfolio of articles to prove your worth to your future clients.

      There are only three things you need to be able to raise your prices to $40 an article right now:
      1. A Portfolio of Sample Articles;
      2. The Confidence and Guts to Charge What You Are Worth; and
      3. The Patience to Stick to Your Game Plan Until it Starts to Pay Off.

      The third one is interesting, in that you can have two sales pages, so long as both are not on the same website.

      People who pay you $4 an article will not pay you $40 an article. And those who would pay you $40 an article will never shop for writers who ask $4 an article.

      Build a website to sell your writing at $40 an article, and while you are building that side of the business, keep open the door to accept $4 an article to pay the bills.

      When I started out, I started at $35 an article. I continued to take work for $35 an article, while I was selling my services for $70 an article.

      I continued to take work at $70 an article, while new people were being told that $95 an article was my expected rate.

      I continued to take work at $95 an article, when I raised my prices to $125 an article.

      And as you can guess, I continued to take work at $125 an article when I raised my rate to $150 an article.

      The most important thing you need as a writer to make what you are worth is the confidence and guts to charge what you are worth.

      If you do not believe that you offer at least $40 value to your customers, then your customers will not believe you either.

      The level of confidence you have in your own work will leap off of the page and into the mind of the person reading your content.

      Be aware that some folks will come along and try to convince you to take less than your advertised price. But you must resist the temptation to give in to the big promises.

      Yes, they will promise you the moon and the stars "if you lower your price so they can hire you." But the people who do that are often just looking for a bargain this one time. They will not buy from you again.

      When I was charging $95 for a single article, I did offer a discount for ten or more articles at $75 each.

      People would try to buy 2 or 3 articles at $75 each. To those people, I responded with an immediate refund. I set my prices, not them.

      All of those people would come back and try to get me to take their lower price. I always refused.

      When they would finally agree to pay my stated price, I would refund them immediately. If they tried to cheat me, I refused to write for them on my normal pricing scale.

      They would always come back and ask why I refunded them, when they chose to pay my listed rates. I would explain to them that I work for who I want to work for, and I don't want to work for people who try to cheat me.

      If they would press on, I would tell them that only if they were willing to pay a premium of 20% beyond my standard rates, then and only then would I consider writing for them.

      You would be surprised how many people agreed to those terms.

      The convincing factor in my mind was the fact that I was confident enough to show them that I did not need their money. When you show them that they need you more than you need them, that carries power and communicates real confidence.

      The last guy I did that with paid the 20% premium to get me to write for him, and he made $4000 on the first article and $400 on the second. And he paid me $150 an article to write for him. So he ended up profiting $4100 on what I did for him, regardless of what he paid me to do the work.


      p.s. And as others have said, ALWAYS get paid in advance.
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  • The fact that paying $40 for high quality writing seems to be high says a lot about our niche but not much else.

    I've paid much more and been paid much more (thousands of dollars) for content and been very happy to.

    If you go to any established offline business and asked them what they'd expect to pay to have a professional writer create an article about their business - you would not hear $40 or less...... It's just IMers that want everything for nothing and are always hoping they can get it all on the cheap.

    The reason - because the people wanting cheap content generally do not have a profitable business, so they don't see the content as a valuable asset, but think of it like something they could do themselves so want it to really cheap and have someone else do it.

    In reality it's a false economy since they don't really have any idea what their ROI will be and therefore have no way to tell what the value to their business is.

    Hence we end up with people running around wanting it all for free because they know it won't really make them any money.
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    • Banned
      You made a lot of assumptions in that post. Maybe people paying thousands are just suckers?
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  • Just figure that needed to be restated since we're all obviously in the presence of greatness.

    EDIT: Seems someone has felt the need to edit out what I quoted above from their post. Hmmm...
  • I have seen many writing job postings on the freelance sites, where the job posters state that they are only prepared to pay $1 or $2 per article, and go on to give a great list of what they expect to be done for said low payment.

    I have also seen many writers bidding for this work at same low rates. I wonder if they are quality writers who are desparate to earn something, or they are not quality writers and the low pay job posters really don't know what quality is.

    It comes down to a question of interpretation and opinions to some extent, I suppose, but it is rather worrying that rates so low are so very often happening.

    I can see if the articles were only being used for backlinks, then quality doesn't stand out as being so important for the buyer, but the writer is still working for a very low sum.

    Many blessings,

    Sarah
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    • Here's the deal Sarah - there will always be buyers demanding $2 page content. And there will always be sellers willing to do it. But it won't be a long term relationship either way.

      These buyers generally don't have much of a budget. Big earners don't mind spending decent money on content (as I stated before). As soon as these buyers start making more, they'll be okay spending more.

      And writers initially sometimes sacrifice earnings to get the ball rolling, to get feedback, to get practice - and as soon as THEIR ball gets rolling, they'll raise their rates.

      There's just a "floor" for everyone on every level. You have to decide which floor you're going to start on and then decide if you're willing to push the elevator button up or down as you set your rates.

      tiff
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  • I've been saying this for decades.

    In my experience, most IM people have no idea what quality writing looks like, so they're happy with "lifeless sentences strung together."

    IM people devalue writing, and in doing that they crimp their own oxygen hose.

    All good writing has a psychological foundation. Good writing is about conveying ideas, not just words.
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    • You make an interesting point. Key words are from hell, and all they do is generate the ads on which Google makes a fortune--and as IMers we get the crumbs. But then, the Internet and Google are in their infancy, and it may take another 10-20 years or more before we are able to search for "key ideas" instead of "key words."

      It would be best if Google did not reward junk articles, and I think they are now trying to curtail that reward system. But, as you indicate, they'll really never be able to do it until they are able to analyze the relative value of ideas rather than just mere words.

      Maybe we should start a new thread: "IM in the year 2020." What will the Internet, Google and IM be like then? After all, none of it existed at all 20 years ago (except the Internet was in the lab then). We have come a long way, but its all still pretty primitive.
  • Demand a higher price.

    Be ready to prove your abilities.

    Get paid up front.

    All the best,
    Michael
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    • There is nothing heroic about paying $40 for 487 words. That's just about 8 cents a word.

      In the 1850's, when Edgar Alan Poe was an unknown writer, he was paid the going rate for his work, which was 4 cents per word. Back then a penny was worth something!

      Too many people in IM don't actually know what they're doing, so a few cents per word seems right to them.
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    • This is a great thread. I read almost every post in this thread and I'm both perplexed and amused by the replies. This is one of the reasons why I love this forum - people with different views offering valuable opinions that influence a lot of budding marketers (like me).

      I'm planning to offer my writing services here but I'm a bit wary of the cutthroat competition. I want to stay away from freelancing sites because I can no longer compete with writers who are willing to work for $1 or $2 for 500 words. I used to belong to that segment of underpaid writers but I now value my time and hard work, thus I'm looking to get paid more for my time and effort. Back then, I had really no choice and I was desperate for money (I was in college).

      I have a dilemma: offer relatively low rates for my services and get plenty of customers, OR place a high price tag and get only a few clients. Despite the claims of many esteemed marketers that they are willing to pay big bucks for quality content, I believe that bargain-hunting marketers outnumber the big-spending ones. In my opinion, most bargain-hunters are beginners or just starting out in IM, and so are not capable or willing to pay $40 or so for a 400-word article.
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  • The cost of an article and "quality" are mutually exclusive. If that is your point, I'm pretty sure that bit of awareness hasn't given anyone here an awful ice cream headache trying to ponder.

    First you're on about how redundant this thread is, and now you're knee deep in a debate about how "quality" can't be determined with a price tag, which is not only obvious but completely not the point of the OP. Then you further this stance saying that certain people may or may not be complete idiots for paying quality money for a quality effort. I mean, your argument is what exactly? That one can find good articles cheaply? Most of us are quite aware of that epiphany.

    There's no doubt a piece of sheer brilliance can be picked up at 5.00 for 500 words, just like I can pick up a $20.00 bill occasionally on the street in front of the bar I frequent. Thing is, it's a helluva lot more difficult finding said quality when looking for it where people have to write for pennies - because that's as high as their skill set reaches. It's much easier to find quality from those who are already commanding a larger paycheck from their work, and have the resume, clients and reputation to back up their price.

    Which all goes back to the point that "quality" writing can only truly be determined by it's consumer. It's a subjective art form after all. For some, quality is damned hard to find @ 5.00 per. It's that simple. For some, reading an article spun by my 5 year old is "quality". Each to his own. And with that said, I find it really hard to deduce any real reason behind the things you've been saying here.

    Would I turn down a piece of brilliance because it was 10 or 15.00? Of course not, but I'd also be helping that author get out of such sewers - as it would only help me to help him/her.

    People who can extract creativity and a unique voice from the written word will always rise to the top of the game and be afforded the luxury of, I dunno, being paid what they are worth. Why? Because in the end, most folks prefer their reading from the folks who know how to write it, and most folks appreciate effort when it's combined with talent.

    Philippines, Kabul, Philly, or Phuket, it truly doesn't matter, a good writer @ 5.00 per will not be stuck at that pay grade for long, because there's a market for excellence, and not everyone feels it's necessary to capitalize on a person's environment or desperation.

    I guess I'm just confused by the things you're assuming people here have been saying. Because I haven't seen this attitude ...

    ...once in this thread.
    • [ 2 ] Thanks
  • It's also possible that it was a bargain because it was a very specific type of article, the writer understood what his friend wanted, and it may have been delivered very quickly...and still maintained the high level of quality Zeus was looking for.

    Just a guess.



    All the best,
    Michael
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Cheap content usually goes hand in hand with short-term 'speculative' IM business models which involve finding loopholes and gaming the system.

    The business plan is to spend as little as possible to exploit the loophole before the 'system owner' finds out, then get out fast. The site owners who make money this way don't mind abandoning websites filled with $2 articles when the loophole closes. In fact, that's part of the exit strategy and is figured into the cost of the plan up front.

    Heads up: Many of the 'hot new products' on Clickbank are based on these kinds of systems. They're published right after the 'guru' has exhausted the loophole and it's about to be closed.

    But John's talking about a long-term, asset- building business model that uses content publishing to attract and retain customers.

    It's not a new business model, and has been used successfully for decades in industries like finance, real estate, health care, insurance -- any product or service that benefits from consumer education within its marketing cycle. And writing to entertain to capture attention is BIG business - just take a look at the success of Sports Illustrated, based on pure recreation.

    Andy's point is interesting. We can see in this thread that people are quibbling about the difference of paying .01 cent vs .10 cents per article.

    Yep. Only in IM does this kind of argument take place.

    In the world outside if IM, there are plenty of established (long-term) publications -- which earn their revenues from advertisers (sounds a lot like 'niche marketing' to me...) -- that pay $1 per word and up:
    And that list is the result of only a 5-minute web search.

    Gail, good writers are also avid readers. Read some of the articles published in the online versions of the magazines I listed above. Or read top-of-the-line blogs like Copyblogger, Problogger or others in your niche.

    We're surrounded by great quality writing online!

    Read Wikipedia, for that matter. It's not as entertaining as reading Seth Godin's blog. But at least the basic model is to source the content and verify the sources. That's one way you can tell good quality writing from the chaff -- it's not just based on hearsay and opinion.

    So to me, the take away from John's post is that if you're interested in building a long-term business, invest in content.

    The cheap stuff is meant for a different use. Kind of like the difference between using paper plates for a picnic, and serving a traditional holiday meal on fine china. Bon appetite!

    Audre
    • [ 5 ] Thanks
  • Well, it all depends. Good articles if you are trying to sell something. Bad articles if you are trying to get people to click on the...hmm...blue addy-waddy text links!! LOL! =P

    It comes down to how you monetize your sites...adsense or affiliate.
    • [1] reply
  • I recently had a client more than willing to pay more than that. He did it because I was honest and he trusted me.

    He was simply frustrated with foreign writers and after he saw my work he was more than content.

    Sorry if that sounds like a self promotion but really the one thing you need if you want to succeeded is passion.

    And not just overall. I mean on every single piece of work you do.
  • Guys, I completely AGREE with the OP, $40 for a high quality article is ABSOLUTELY worth it. I really wish more people would start to understand this, and perhaps the more Google keeps chipping away at the junk content, the more people will start to understand.

    Heck, even a $300+ PER ARTICLE is worth it. Look at the online magazines such as popular mechanics, wired, etc... you think those writers get $40 per article? Absolutely NOT, they get a lot more than that!
    • [1] reply
    • The "problem" is the ROI. You need a good marketer, able to choose a good niche and a good keyword, able to do his/her homework in terms of ROI and who actually knows what to do with the article to have a successful outcome.

      Those who are not so good, need to cut expenses, and in most cases it actually leads to a closed road. A brilliantly written article cannot solve a bad business decision.

      When article marketing started, around 5 years ago (?), a friend of mine sent me a link to the product and I got it. Wrote one article for a pregnancy website I just had started out. It brought tons of traffic, but I was (and probably still are - I know what has to be done, but refuse to do it) a very bad marketer who were not able to create a flow inside the website, and had too much stuff for free to just click on my links. Not one opt in, not one affiliate sale.
      • [1] reply
  • I'd love to see some articles that get sold for $30-40+ for under 500 words a piece.

    Additional Question: Would you pay an Indian writer, given that he delivers amazing content, something like that? I asked an expert IMer once (on another site), and he said, "sorry mate, since you're from India, people may not be willing to pay you American rates." It's kinda disheartening as to why my geographic location hampers my earning potential when I can do as good a job, if not better, as some very good writers in Western homes.

    Yea, I get it... Using words like "kinda" won't earn me bigger dollars per article; but for now... let's just focus on the Question, shall we?
    • [1] reply
    • I don't care where you're from or who you are.

      If you can write an article and get me the return I'd see from a $120 article writer I use in the States, I'd pay you $120 an article.

      I couldn't care less where you're from. We'll both do nicely out of it.

      Personally I'd pay you the same. That seems fair to me.
      • [ 4 ] Thanks
  • I agree that the higher quality the content the better it will convert and that you can pay more as long as it will bring you a higher profit.

    If you pay someone 4 bucks, yes it will get you an article and save you time but it does not mean it will convert the visitor in any way.
  • I agree with the ROI argument...however,

    Do not simply assume that because someone offers an inexpensive service that it is low quality. Take a look at reviews and samples, then decide.

    My articles are cheap. Really cheap for the quality. I make very little per article. However, I do make good money on volume. I have lots of repeat customers and a good system to manage the flow of orders. (A.K.A. "Logistics." Thanks UPS.).

    John, you just downed everyone out there like myself who does not inflate their prices, saying that even the best inexpensive articles are "...lifeless sentences strung together to fill a page."

    Sure, I could probably sell my articles for 3-4 times as much. But why? So I get more money in my pocket and price other hard-working Warriors, who may not have $40 to spend, out of the market for good content?

    I do understand your argument. If you make $400 from a $40 article, then that is a great deal! However, do not simply assume that you could not have made $400 from a $4 article.

    I know a company that charges $4500 for installing a Wordpress template. Does that make them any better than the guy who does it for $20? I doubt it. (I also understand that this might not be the best analogy, as articles are not templates, but I think you see my point.).
  • Personally speaking, if you have chops it doesn't make a difference if you're in or from India, Somalia, Bangor-Maine, or Middle frikin Earth. I pay writers what they ask for IF the material warrants what they charge. As has been the case with me in the past, if a writer undercuts their own work and I see it as superior quality, I will add bonuses liberally. Having said that I don't think many entry level marketers would understand what I'm doing as anything other than ridiculous.

    I'd also suggest you consider that if your potential customers are the people in a marketing forum, you're at a disadvantage starting out. The ART of quality writing is lost on a substantial amount of people in this industry.

    For some in the IM industry, it's far easier for the folks to grasp how to get traffic, links, leads and sales through a technical formula (SEO, PPC, JV's, e.t.c...), then it is to fathom how a series of exceptional quality articles can generate the same - if not better results.

    Marketers can learn how to input data and push buttons, they can buy roboform, SENuke, AMR, and fill in profiles all day. Explaining data to these folks is easy. But there are many marketers can't write their way out of a wet paper bag, so the entire concept of the quality article is all but lost. A well written article is a skill-set some can't ever hope to learn or understand. The difference is similar between absorbing calculus and absorbing jazz music. For some both can't be achieved.

    That's why a fair enough portion of marketers have mild heart attacks when we mention paying more than 10.00 for an article. I mean there truly are people who could see a great article next to a candy bar wrapper and find the wrapper more interesting.

    Just as a heads up, if I were a writer, IM would be the very last place I would ply my craft.

    Just search Warrior or google for peeps like Alexa Smith, Kay King, Jenn Dize, Steve Wagenheim, or google Naomi Dunford, Irene Mckay, Johnny B Truant, Sonia Simone. These are all cats writing stuff that, unless I'm tragically misinformed, rake in premium dough for their skill as word-smiths.

    Hell, look over some of the cats in this thread, they write with the kind of skill worth plenty of money.
    • [ 3 ] Thanks
  • It's been my experience that quality generally comes with a premium. Yeah, you might luck up and get a decent article written when you bottom feed but its hit and miss at best.

    There's something refreshing when you encounter a writer who desires to be the best at what they do. When you learn how to turn information in dollars then how much you pay for an article with become negligible.
  • I am certain most internet marketers would pay a premium price for an article if they knew how to maximise the return on their investment. Unfortunately most IM's wouldnt know what to do with a $40 article - hence why they prefer to pay $5 per article.
  • I've just paid $125 for an article I don't even own the copyright to.

    But I still expect it will make me more than my investment.

    I think the time of paying for $4-5 articles is nearing an end, as shown by the damage to EzineArticles in the past few weeks.
    • [1] reply
    • I dont believe google slapped Ezine because the articles were poorly written or poorly researched. If you do some research you will discover that the reason why they slapped them was because these articles were associated with topics that google dislikes such as penis enlargement, **** berry and the like. These topics have saturated the internet in recent times.

      • [2] replies
  • But that crappy $4 article can be spun into thousands more crappy articles. That's good value.
    • [2] replies
    • Just sounds like a bunch of crap to me.
      • [ 4 ] Thanks
      • [1] reply
    • Eating at McDonald's or any other fast food place, night after night or week after week may be good value too. Ask your Dr. about the long term effects of that 'good value' choice.

      I hear stuff like, "you're expensive" all the time. And....what's your point? Do you want results? Then that is what it costs. Don't like it...go somewhere else, and come back to me when that doesn't work.

      The OP was probably thrilled that the article was ONLY $40.
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • I've heard of people using the crappy 4$ articles and throwing them on site and using it's boringness to direct people towards the Adsense on the page. The more interesting your article is the less chance they are going to click off the page, but if content is something you are looking for then this is good. I guess it just matters what you plan to do with what you paid for.
    • [2] replies
    • What about when they finish your great content? People always need something to do "next," even on sites with superior content. So yes, believe me I know what you mean about Adsense sites and less-than-stellar content. But, for most online marketers, the rewards in terms of authority, trust, and list building are numerous when you choose to put up really good content.
    • Wrong! The ideas is to create interesting, compelling content that gets your reader excited that he'll want... need to click on the ad.
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
      • [1] reply
  • After reading through this thread reply, I realize that there are two classical believe about providing content

    1) Mass distribution and try to dominate the search engine. Most of the time people just care about speed and distribution.

    2) Quality content and focus on promoting the content to the mass

    Is there a right or wrong approach?

    Let the market tell you and I guess strategy number 2 made more sense to me.
    • [3] replies
    • Good value if your goal in life is to be a s**t spreader.
      • [ 1 ] Thanks

    • Both methods do work.

      And you can generate revenue and profits with both models.

      But myself, I have generated far more sales using the second than the first, by a factor of +1000x.

      In my own little mind, I would rather spend more money to create an article that I can use to make a lot more money, rather than to spend less dollars to make some money.

      It is a matter of selecting the model that will allow me to maximize my earnings potential against the money spent to create the content.
    • Those are the two main mindsets at work (there is still a third one),

      red mindset: the first group are "salespeople" by nature, they just want something to sell and the rest are just pieces to put together to attain an outcome. This group will try to cut costs in any place possible, some don´t even like to read. Of course among salespeople you have different levels. Those on high levels that deal with a more educated and wealthy crowd, will seek quality; but only because it is what their clients want

      blue mindset: the second group are the ones who enjoy writing and reading and bad quality just feels like a kick in the stomach (literally). These will look for quality because they love it and find the way around to make it profitable
      • [1] reply
  • I do some content writing myself and charge $100 for 500 words.

    Yes, some people are happy to pay that.
    • [1] reply
    • Where do you find them? Please tell me. (or , maybe)
      • [1] reply
  • Ah, the "More you spend, the better the product" fallacy.

    Always brings a good little chuckle.
    • [3] replies
    • Care to illuminate 1 post in this thread where what you've just said is being given as advice?
      • [1] reply
    • My interpretation of the OP was "If you get a product you can profit from, it doesn't matter what you spend."
      • [1] reply
    • I think you have it backwards.

      Garbage in = garbage out.

      I agree that an expensive product/writer/whatever doesn't necessarily mean you're getting a good value.

      But...

      Paying someone $4 for a 500 word article means you're getting whatever **** they cut and pasted from a hasty Google search and rewrote in 7 minutes.

      Guaranteed.
      • [1] reply
  • The funny thing is, i/we could "logically" explain why $100 for an article would indeed be feasible...giving that a web site or blog with good quality content can make a MULTITUDE back in ROI.

    But the reality is that such people like that client are VERY rare, respective hard to find.
  • Contrary to popular belief, paying more doesn't ultimately make it better and there is certainly a point where the returns diminish. What spending more probably does make is it easier to find better quality with a larger budget but that doesn't mean cheaper doesn't work either. There is no set rule says that "I paid a lot, ergo I get a lot." We sell real estate investing courses in real life and let me tell you the $5-10k weekend seminars are usually full of marketing hype and rarely deliver real ROI.

    Having said that, the OP seems to be satisfied with their purchase and they feel the ROI is worth so more power to them.
  • How do you find a good author? How do you know when you have found one?
    Does it mean testing every $40 author and waiting to see which one gives you a solid ROI ?
    If I charged $40 to write you an article, would you buy? You would probably be wasting your money...but I don't know. Maybe I am a good author, how do I even know that?
  • Well everyone got scammed once in their life, bu the only thing you can do is to learn from it
  • No need for black and white discussion.

    Most new IM'ers wouldn't, as another Warrior pointed out, have a clue what to do with a $40 article. I certainly didn't starting out!

    $40 article as a guest post/article on a niche leader could generate thousands in profit from referrals and backlinks or it could bomb completely.

    Think about it, one single article on a PR7 website in your niche would probably do more for your rankings than 5000 cheap backlinks (I excaggerate - maybe). And what's better is that it's a one time payment.

    Is it good business if you only have small affiliate sites? Probably not, but for an authorithy site great value!

    Giving great content away for free (almost) is THE best backlink strategy. You just need to identify the kind of website/blog that would be open to such a proposal and have enough value. Again, I spend a considerable amount of money every month renting links and it sucks.

    So many ways of leveraing great content in IM!
  • UPDATE: The $40 content I put up last night has produced one sale ($37) already. Conversion rate is about 12.5% (1 sale from 8 unique visitors). Way too early to draw any firm conclusions, but I've almost broken even after about 24 hours.

    I've never tested the typical $5 stuff on one of my sites that converted at more than a fraction of 1%. That is, unless I substantially "fixed" the original so that it actually did what I needed it to do. Might as well have written it myself.

    So, again, for those who continue to try to force me into their own box...

    If you want backlinks or you don't care what your site visitors think of you and your site (perfectly fine for some business models), more power to you paying $4 or $5.

    If you sell your own stuff or do affiliate marketing on your blog, etc., then find someone professional who you can give explicit instructions to (and I'm not talking about simple things like how many words or keyword density). A "real" writer will ask you what your purpose is for that content. They want to know what your specific goal is and they'll write to achieve that end result.

    Again, someone PM me a $5 writer who can do all of that and not need babysitting or major editing of the deliverables, and I'm all over it. I'll give them a ton of business.

    I won't hold my breath.
    • [3] replies
    • I've 3 (one would probably need a small bit of handholding), but you're not getting them :p

      Congrats on the sale.
      • [1] reply
    • Relax. You need not feel like anyone is trying to force you into any kind of box.
    • The sad thing is writing becomes easier IF you know all of that up front. Knowing the purpose gives direction in writing instead of just "shooting in the dark".

      Keywords and density can all come after the fact of writing with purpose, but not usually the other way around. Two completely different mindsets when you sit down to write.

      One thing I do notice in John's posts is his very clear objective with his article purchase. He is buying for CONVERSIONS. He is not buying to fill the Internet with backlinks to his site for the sake of backlinks. A clearly different type of purchase over what many article buyers are seeking.

      Always consider your objectives first. Then you can make a wise purchasing decision.
      • [ 2 ] Thanks
  • Hmmm. That would put the Gettysburg Address at... $22.14. The Ten Commandments would come in at a whopping $25.83.

    Hey. Those are WSO prices!


    Paul
    • [ 4 ] Thanks
    • [2] replies
    • One of my favorites quotes, which has been attributed to T.S. Eliot, Cicero, Blaise Pascal, and a couple of others:

      "If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter."

      I've never understood the concept of paying for writing by the word. I've done it, but I don't understand it.
      • [1] reply
    • Could I get a discount if I only went for Eight Commandments (I can use spun PLR for the other two)

      Steve.
      • [ 3 ] Thanks
      • [1] reply
  • Well I would guess that everybody will do things there own way as is expected, personally I would rather write my own articles and usually a bit longer than that but a huge part of it is knowing what will convert and what will not. I spend quite some time writing my articles so that they are interesting, informative and most importantly paint the picture that I need them to. If you want to pay $40.00 for something thats your perogative, as for me I will continue to do it the old fashioned way and write the words myself.
  • Newer online marketers seem to forget about some of the basics of business.

    It does not matter how much you spend. Only how much you spend in relation to how much money you earn from it (ROI).

    As long as I have a positive ROI I'm happy to pay more for high quality. If you pay $200 for an article, provided that article results in you earning more than $200 from increased sales then it is still a good investment
    • [1] reply
    • The first priority of business shouldn't be money. For me it is giving quality services to my customers. I will never try to earn money with cheap labor.

      Of course money is in the equation, but the funny thing is it is often more profitable to focus on giving good values to your customers.

      My 2 cents.
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Banned
    [DELETED]
    • [2] replies
    • About 3 years ago I paid $175 (and had actually budgeted $300} for a specialized financial article. The winning bid came from a graduate student who cited his credentials (impressive) and said the article would be original, fully researched, and ready to be published within 14 days - for $175.

      I accepted this bid from over dozens of others willing to be paid $25, $10, or even $5. Why? To put it into a business perspective, writers who sell themselves cheaply have a deficit on both sides of the equation.
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • You have to ask yourself, what's your time worth? If you deem your time to be worth $250 an hour, I would rather spend the $40, that way my time can be spent generating the $250. If I wrote it, it cost me $250.
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
      • [1] reply
  • Banned
    come on... there are awesome writers on odesk with 15$. it might be a good investment but surely you could find cheaper writers.
    • [1] reply
    • Don't see many folks here (if any?) saying you can't find quality writers cheaply. Of course it's possible.
  • Banned
    [DELETED]
  • [DELETED]
  • $40 for 487 words doesn't really sound like good value to me.... BUT $400 for 4870 words does.

    Therein lies the real beauty of outsourcing, scalability.

    I could probably make myself write a 487 word article and pocket the $40 myself to buy something useful, like 20 cheeseburgers, for example.

    But I know that if the topic is something I'm not interested in, or I'm busy, there's no way I'm going to write 4800 words any time soon.

    In that case things look different. At this stage in my business I'm fortunate enough to not really miss the $400, but if I had a product or set of valuable content sitting there ready to go, I would definitely notice and be able to use that effectively...

    Now there's a bargain!
  • Over the years the Ten Commandments have had an outstanding
    conversion rate. The backlink possibilities boggle the mind. I'm
    thinkin' upsell here.

    Thomas
    • [1] reply
    • Introducing .... the Ten Commandments video set and private forum.

      Hurry, hurry, hurry, go go go ... Limited stocks .... Only $397 for TODAY ONLY (or $17 if you try to exit the page then click on 'cancel').
  • Forty bucks for a quality article is not expensive. Take it from a guy that used to run a magazine.
  • Hi, as a brand new member, one that doesn't have a product, niche, anything yet, I'd love to see part of all of a quality article, just to get an idea of what you guys are discussing. I'm a better-than-average writer, but I've mostly written very technical stuff (my engineering background), and I have no idea how to write compelling content to sell something. I'd like to read one of those 5 figure generating articles, just to see how it flows, if that's possible. I understand if it is not possible, as that content has value, and I probably should not expect to review it free of charge.

    Maybe someone cant point me to training on writing this type of content, training that has helped them succeed, to follow the "teach a man to fish" adage.

    No matter what, I can tell I've joined the right group to begin my journey to financial freedom. Thank you all for the great discussion in this one thread.
    • [1] reply
    • The reason people won't post an example of what they consider quality here is that it opens them up to baseless ridicule. Just like if were having a discussion on who has the best looking girlfriend, if I were dating Jessica Alba and posted a pic, somebody would come up with something to criticize.

      As far as what makes writing quality, the simple (and useless) answer is that it conveys the message it is intended to convey. If the message is meant to motivate people to purchase something, a good soft sell is quality. For a technical educational piece, an insightful presentation of researched and referenced facts is quality.

      The problem is that for a person to really be able to judge the quality of a given piece of text on sight, the person must be qualified to have created the piece him or herself. Show me a thesis on the effect that saline levels in the ocean have on plate tectonics and I'll just say, "Ummm, OK." While it's possible I might be able to tell that someone put in a great deal of effort on the piece, it is inconceivable that I could judge its factual accuracy at a glance.

      For new people who haven't actually been able to compare different styles and applications first hand, it's really impossible to judge quality until after using the content and measuring results. The tendency to try and use $2 articles to build an authority site is just another symptom of the "no work, no money, push button success" dream lots of marketers push (I've even seen a writing gig posted where someone wanted a an author to write the COPY FOR HIS SALES PAGE for $10).

      For someone who does not have the experience to judge whether someone is capable of doing the job effectively (whether the job is writing or anything else), the only way to get a measure of confidence that they can is references and credentials. Unfortunately for those who have tight budgets, people with excellent references and credentials generally have an idea of the worth of their efforts and won't work for fifty cents an hour.
      • [1] reply
  • The thing is that it is quite simple. There are very few 'good' writers out there. There are a whole lot of people who can string words together all spelt correctly and in roughly the right order. They don't have the first clue about marketing nor do they know the difference between an article, a blog post, web content, etc. For $5 they will give you 500 words on a given subject, written as if they were writing an entry for the world's most boring encyclopedia. No-one wants to read it and anyone unlucky enough to be looking for help will hit their back buttons before getting to the second paragraph.

    Sometimes people writing this rubbish will post links to their articles on here and even people claiming to be 'good writers' will say it's a good article. Now maybe they are just being polite, maybe they realise that it's not in their interests to help out rival writers and maybe the self-proclaimed 'good writers' aren't really that good. Not good enough to tell the difference between an article that will work and an correctly spelt, grammatically correct informational piece about scalp problems that reads exactly like 99% of all articles about scalp problems.

    Undoubtedly, some bad articles will get people onto your website or blog and you will be making sales. Most articles won't. Not because they have spelling errors or bad grammar, but because although the writer had an above average command of the English language, he or she didn't really know what they were doing - and neither did the person who paid for the article.

    Anyone who knows what they are doing with article marketing knows a few simple facts:
    What an article written for the purposes of marketing a product looks like.
    That a good one will make at least 2 sales
    That a good one is worth at least as much as the commission for one sale.

    Anyone doubting this, doesn't understand article marketing and isn't making any money from it.
  • It is clear from reading through this thread than very few people indeed understand article marketing.
    Three totally different pieces of writing - all misleadingly referred to as articles - are discussed on this thread with everyone taking about them as if they are the same thing. The only conclusion I can come up with is that people just don't understand the difference.



    TPW     as an experienced writer you should be able to tell simply by looking at an article and where it is published whether or not it will serve the needs of the publisher. You don't need to know anything at all about the health benefits of Iodine pills to be able to judge whether this article will do what the publisher obviously intends it to do - attract advertisers, sell a clickbank product, sell the pills themselves, etc.

    myob writers can read the Stylebook until they're blue in the face but it won't help them write articles that sell products on Clickbank, etc. It's OK for people who want to get into online journalism not so much for people wanting to get into marketing. All the latter get is the ability to churn out nicely written articles that don't sell anything.

    Writers in general there are 1000s of people desperate to buy articles from you and will pay less than $10 per 500 words. They have no idea what they're doing because they don't understand article marketing (which is why they'll say things like "it's to go on my blog and then I'll submit it to Ezine"). Even if they buy a hundred articles they will probably only go on to make a couple of sales and break even on what they paid you. But that is fair because if you are writing articles for less than $40 then you don't know what you're doing when it comes to article marketing either.

    Article Writers looking for work There are 100s of people willing to pay $50+ for articles. Many more than you could actually write for. If you are good then they will never ever let you go. There isn't time enough in the day to write for more than 2 or 3 clients. If you need to ask why, the answer is that they keep coming back for more articles.

    If a man gives you $40 and you give him an article that makes him $80 he will come back with $80 and ask for two more. It's as simple as that.
    • [2] replies

    • I think you missed my point.

      I don't write medical articles, because this is clearly one area where I would be committing malpractice.

      I avoid medical topics when I write, because if I get the information wrong and someone else follows my not-so-excellent advice, I could lead someone to injure or kill themselves or others...

      I can tell whether the article accomplishes what the publisher intends to receive from the article - attract advertisers, sell a clickbank product, sell the pills themselves, etc.

      But I cannot always tell if the information presented is factual and accurate... I think that really matters as much as the ability of the article to get the job done!

    • I think you missed my point.

      My writers are expected to use the "Associated Press Stylebook", because that is what is widely expected in nearly all mainstream newspapers, magazines, trade journals, and of course to a much less rigorous extent for ezine publishers and blogs. This standard is easily recognized by editors, and makes our articles quite readily accepted into our targeted publications. Each article when fully syndicated within our network will generate an average monthly revenue of $3,000 - $7,000.

      You are correct on one point, however; our articles don't sell Clickbank products. LOL!
      • [ 2 ] Thanks
      • [1] reply
  • The biggest question to ask your writer, in my mind, is whether they have research experience vs. real-world experience with their topic.

    Anyone can write an article using Google to help research - it'll often come across as bland because it's just recycled information.

    Real-world information, on the other hand, gets you those little inside secrets and quirks that connect with individuals because it's coming from experience rather than book smarts.
    • [1] reply
    • Absolute statements like this only serve to make you appear rude and arrogant. Your way is not the only way to do things.

      I charge less than $40 to write articles (although not $10, either) so that makes me ignorant of article marketing?

      You seem ignorant of the fact that articles serve different purposes. Not every article written is to sell a product. Some are written merely to inform and educate. There are different levels of content and different levels of skill required.

      I disagree with this - providing the writer has the skill and talent to carry it off. My landing page for one client made him several thousand dollars. Believe me when I tell you that I know absolutely nothing about the premature ejaculation niche, beyond what I researched. I used to write a lot of casino-related content for an old client, that helped make his site an authority site in the niche as well as making him a lot of money - I've never stepped foot in a casino in my life.
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  • It is all a matter of worth. It is very hard to measure quality, but lets say we could measure it, how much would a 10/10 quality article be worth relatively to 9/10 article quality?

    Since these questions are not answerable I always split test when conversions are at stake, eventually I might ended up paying 300$ for 350 words, cause I had 50 versions I checked, it doesn't matter.

    When I need content which is not measurable (no direct conversions concerned) I found the writers I appreciate and just stick to them (and some cost me 3$/article and others 5 times more).
  • I have to agree with what tpw said earlier on, if I go to a page that has crap content on it, I push the [Back] button...
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
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    I Just Paid $40 For 487 Words

    And I consider that a BARGAIN! The writer is a friend of mine and he's very good. But my point here is two-fold... You have to know what to do with content so that the cost to have it written is an investment, not a true cost. Work with people you know you can trust. The only way to get to that point is to engage with people. Don't be a hermit. When you see a thread about getting $4 articles, it's usually someone pretty new. They don't get that those cheap articles are usually crap that has to be edited. That takes time. Time = money.