The appropriate rate for written content is ?

I happily pay $10-$16 per article (700 words roughly) if the research and writing is good.

In some circumstances quite a bit more.

It will depend 50% on your skills as a writer and 50% on your skills as a marketer.

I agree. You need to build a track record. Once you have that and provided that you have built a good reputation you will be able to set the price.
You could consider to specialize yourself in a certain field to build a reputation faster. But high quality and good conversion rates are most important.

Definitely... You will see how other warriors have advertised for their writing services. I say show off your skills there lol.

Great Advice

Wrong

There are two completely different and separate sets of writers plying for work:

1. SEO writers who produce complete garbage structured around a few keywords.
2. Content writers who research their subject in depth and produce engaging, well-written work.

Similarly, there are two completely different sets of buyers looking for articles:

1. Those who need nothing more than keyword stuffed, ill-written garbage that they intend to spin and plaster all over the internet.
2. Marketers who understand the true value of quality content and are more than happy to pay for it.

Align yourself in section one in both cases and you'll never break free. Write for the SEO buyers and immediately you try raising your prices they'll drop you like a hot potato and go with the next low cost guy (or gal.)

Maybe these earlier threads will provide you with a better, more in-depth perspective:

• http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post5095639

• http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post5041283
• http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post6064316

If, when offering your writing services you find yourself dealing with potential clients who don't know or understand the true value of quality content and are focused on paying pennies for your time and skills, move on. They aren't worth bothering with.

Not so - this doesn't work.

Selling articles is a slightly artificial market. In fact, it isn't really "one market" at all.

In the "up to $10 article market" there are nearly as many service providers as customers, and what attracts the customers to the writers is the fact that the articles cost up to $10 each. If you acquire some customers and put the price up to $15, what happens is that you lose all the customers, who have (literally) hundreds of other article-sellers from whom they can buy at lower prices.

To many of these customers, an "article" is a chunk of text of a certain length, with a certain number of keywords in it, to which a backlink can be attached. Their concept of "quality" is fundamentally different from yours and mine.

These are typically temporary customers: their own businesses tend not to survive indefinitely, because they have an "SEO-centered" approach to article marketing which will ultimately let them down (to put it politely).

To charge more than this, you need to choose to compete in different markets.

Those different markets do exist.

Writers producing $5/$10 articles need permanently to replace their clients, whose businesses gradually fold up. They're advertising and promoting their article-writing services all the time, for this reason. We see hundreds of them advertising here, and thousands elsewhere. What you don't see to the same extent is writers of $100+ articles advertising their services in the same way. That isn't because they don't exist (as some people mistakenly imagine). It's typically because they're fully booked up with regularly returning customers who know how to use the products they produce and whose own businesses therefore tend to flourish.

Making a living in this market requires marketing skills as well as writing skills.

It's possible that some of the resources in this post may help you: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post6794793

But note that "attracting clients first and then increasing prices" is typically the wrong approach - any highly paid, successful writer will tell you this. The people who will tell you something different are not typically making their livings as writers.

And good luck!

What Annie said!

Understanding who your target audience is and what type of content you desire to write is key before you get started with any sort of advertising.

What I believe a lot of newcomers do, is believe they have to start lowballing other writers to get started without even understanding what type of content those other writers are composing. Then what happens all too often, is they will find it much more difficult to command the pay they are worthy of once they have set that bar way too low for their writing talent and skills.

Terra

Follow AnniePot's advice.

I have found that most "article" buyers in the IM niche are primarily interested in SEO content, where keyword usage is more important than a compelling article real, live people will actually want to read. Many of these buyers cannot see the difference between an article written as search engine fodder and one written with the intent of actually being read. As such, they gravitate toward the cheapest price.

If you want to make decent money writing content, you need to target the buyers looking to buy content that will actually be read, shared and linked to by real people, not bots.

Guy asks how much he's worth - Someone says $10 is too high - People jump in and attack him - All hell brakes loose



Where have I seen this before lol

I would appreciate it if you could pint me to those threads

With all due respect, you are wrong.

You can come out of nowhere, a complete unknown, and charge $25, $35, $50, or even $100 (or more) for 500 words of content and get it - if you position yourself right. You will need the writing skills, but the right marketing skills will get you far farther than most people realize.

Serving your time at the bottom to get experience and the trust of clients is a waste of time. You don't need to do it, and in fact, you shouldn't do it if you want to earn good money through writing.

John.

Well, that is true enough, lol!

However, the only reason it is repeated is because the questions continue to be repeated for the hundredth time.

Also, I imagine they never tire of trying to help others.

Terra

No, it isn't. It's an insult to anyone who can produce well-written content.
John.

You make me sad

No matter. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single footstep

That's what I do just now, more or less, but I'm moving to Thailand so I can live cheaper while doing it.

I think that would be pretty hard to sustain a living on that wage, and it's quite hard to write more than that and keep the quality. I've tried 10 per day and it gets very stressful.

But if you're prepared to move to a developing country it's definitely an easy way to earn a living.