the Warriors for Hire forum scares me....

When you are an unknown people are skeptical and want to see reviews from other members.

Once you start working and you deliver on time and the content is as expected, you will sure get more and more orders.

I'll use the same analogy I always use when this sort of thing comes up. Walmart sells purses, but they didn't drive Gucci or Prada out of business. Those super cheap writers are only your competition if you choose to make them such. Competing on price is a race to the bottom, not to mention the buyers in that market are a headache to deal with. Competing on value brings you people who tend to give better instructions, have more realistic expectations, and appreciate the things that make you unique. Instead of worrying about how cheap they're selling their writing for, think about what makes you better. You said yourself that you love research. How many of those penny writing services are pitching the quality of their research? At most, they probably say they write "high quality articles" but don't give any kind of detail as to what their definition of "high quality" means. People still buy at decent rates here, as they do anywhere else. It's up to you ask what you're worth and demonstrate that you're worth it.

I wouldn't pay too much attention to these cheapo article writers you see floating around. I've tested a handful of them and more times than not the writing is so poor that it would be an embarrassment to post it online.

Because you will need to gain some trust before taken seriously I'd suggest that you to open up your service at a discounted rate in exchange for their honest opinion. No free reviews given away but do write some examples to display your talent. Always deliver quality over speed of quantity and as business grows adjust your discount downwards (moving your price up) until you find a price point where both you and clients feel like winners.

The only real competition you should have is yourself in always trying to beat your most successful hits. You'll find writers who will charge $5 a page and professional copywriters that charge $1000's a page.BTW there's a shortage of "good" copywriters in the world.

Pick a price point of what you think your value is and discount it 50% to start giving prospects the ability to test what you can do for them then adjust your price up or down from there. You'll never know until you put it out there so go for it.

Let me know what you offer and your style is if you decide to go for it.

Cheers

I usually hire a writer when they're offering a discounted rate, just to see if their work suits the tone of my site. If not, then I haven't invested much but if they're good, I often keep working with them and pay their full rate. Cheap writers aren't your competition if you can deliver well written articles with informative content.

Right in the spot, writers who sells their precious skills just to build a client list is indeed an embarrassment. Client who wants cheap article is just as desperate as the writers. They are both will stay at the bottom of Internet Marketing pyramid forever.

"Any problem can be solved with the right sales letter." - Gary Halbert

I think you should position yourself as the high-priced, superior option. You may not have a bunch of testimonials yet, so submit some pieces you have written on various topics. Offer the first article free.

I'd err on the side of fewer clients paying me more and not more clients paying me less.

Since this market tends to be very price-focused, perhaps the WF isn't the right place to start a writing service. Or you can say you typically charge $900 per article, but for WF members, they get them for $55 each. Whatever. Postitioning.

Meh, don't worry. It's a rotating membership in that subforum. People burn out, newbies thinking they can start off as writers fill the empty space. If you can actually write, avoid that vicious circle and charge what you're worth.

If you can actually write.

Yeah I agree some of the prices on there are ridiculous. Though the old adage is true... 'you get what you pay for'.

However it's possible to make a good living writing content an articles if you're good. There are tons of clients out there who value content more than buying a 10 pack of articles for $10.

Unfortunately, the largest block of "buyers" of almost everything on this forum doesn't understand the importance of quality writing. And for those who do, whether here or anywhere else, you're going to need a portfolio. That shouldn't be too hard if you're a good writer. Either write or gather 20 or so of your best articles and put them on your site (you'll need a professional site if you want to earn as professionals do).

I was freelancing when I joined this forum in '08 and charged 10 cents per word. I didn't get a lot of clients here, though I did get some at that rate. If you're looking to earn good money you're going to have to work markets where people understand the value of quality writing and are willing to pay for it.

Do not worry..there are people who are willing to pay for top notch articles

If you can do good research and write why don't you write your own books?

I would like to go for a high priced high quality articles instead of cheap and bad written ones. But yeah I like to test different writers and get the best one that works best for me considering the price, quality and time.

You can start selling it cheap. Or give away some review copies first. Get some good testis, reviews and when you have a good portfolio, increase you prices. There is no wrong in doing that.

My partner gets paid $200 for her articles. The money is out there, but you need to be worth it, feel comfortable asking for it, and know where to find the right type of clients.

I say this as someone who gets five figures for a single sales letter (plus royalties). Your mindset dictates what you make.

-Daniel

You advertise here starting at a lower price, but one that you are comfortable with. Give out a few freebies for reviews. Once you have a reputation, the money will come.

This forum is for 'low price thrill seekers' more than high quality buyers. Keep that in mind.

There was one Warrior who was offering copywriting at
a ridiculously low price. Some copywriters were even
upset and became critical. To me I reasoned, "Each his
own."

That model could not be maintained and he finally had
to close shop because there was a long thread complaining
about lack of delivery.

I guess that some people can justify the low price because
of their local economy, but most such low-balling businesses
will soon get overwhelmed and fold up shop EXCEPT that
they may be taking advantage of other writers who don't
know their reel worth.

-Ray Edwards

Offer what you can and work for whatever you're willing to accept and then raise your price or lower your price depending on interest.

I consider myself to be an above average writer and I used to have a gig in the WFH section and charge $10 per 500 words. I figured it was a decent figure for the time I invested in it.

A couple of weeks later, a client of mine approached me and said he would need a whole bunch of articles written on a constistent basis with exclusive delivery time.

He said price was not an issue, and I could use as many or as little words as I like. I quadrupled my fees. The guy still contacts me when he needs fresh articles written. Why? Simple - he got conversions.

I don't know whether that's luck or not, but there are people who don't really care about the price, as long as you can give them what they're looking for.

I have ordered a few of such services for $5 (500 words) and ended up spending time that i could have used to write 2 of those article myself due to typos..

There will always be a market for very cheap writing.

Typically these are offered by people that are new to writing online and are building their reputation, or by writers with lower quality.

As someone who regularly outsources writing work, I can tell you what my priorities are when it comes to choosing (and keeping) a writer:
- Consistently high quality
- Consistent on-time delivery
- Clear communication

All of those things are far more important than how much you charge.

Currently I am looking for new copywriters and local business web content writers.

If you have skills in either (or both) of those areas you are welcome to PM me to discuss.

For any freelance writer I recommend putting together an "author pack" that includes:
- Samples of different types of your work (or links to work you have published online)
- A brief bio explaining what writing experience you have, including any blogs you may maintain
- A list of your writing and related skills

The warriors for hire section is turning into fiverr 2.0

You guys are full of advice. So much so I'm beginning to feel overwhelmed!

Where would you guys recommend promoting writer services, if not the WFH subforum?

I'm new to the IM field, but I'm excited that it's one that offers possibilities to a young writer. I've dreamed of making a living writing for a long time, and for JUST as long, I've worked on improving my skills. I'm proud of that effort, and I'm proud of the skill I have to show for it today.

It's encouraging to see that so many of you agree with me; or, that so many of you who WOULD hire a writer want the kind of service I'm looking to offer.

That service seems simple to me, and it seems fair - if one of you were to pay me enough so that I could afford the time to do so, I would LOVE to research your topic, brainstorm article ideas, write, rewrite... hell, that's what I was trained to do in school. It's my passion.

I just don't want to put on gloves in a ring that favors the cheap and dirty boxer. I want to be a GOOD writer for someone, and hand over QUALITY material that actually offers the reader something of VALUE.

The For Hire section is kind of funny. My favorite part about that section is all those people looking to have their products "reviewed" so they can increase hype and sales in the WSO section. They ask people to do free reviews on products that claim to make $200-300/daily or even more but they can't afford to pay people. Sounds legit

You will ALWAYS deal with cheap ignorant people who expect quality for sub-par pay on the forums. The very first time I ever called a REAL SEO Company and offered my services, they told me no because my price was too low. I told them $5 per 100 words and they told me it was simply too low. I was shocked, because I was so used to writing on Digital Point at the time for $1 per 100 words.

Yep, I've been there.. I've dealt with cheap clients who expected rockstar results and always complained about work. I've also dealt with $3 per 100 words people which is what I currently charge and most of them aren't too bad.

I honestly write on the side when I have nothing else to do or I'm not out on the town because it's better than say, playing World of Warcraft. I've been there, trying to write for peanuts to afford rent, food, etc.

My biggest complaint is the staggering amount of people who simply don't give a damn. I'm serious. I would have so many people contact me about "urgent" work needing done, but then they would go offline for a few days or weeks.

Seriously? Am I the only person that checks their e-mails as soon as they come in and responds to them right away as long as I'm not in the middle of something important? It's just a trend I've noticed here that people are in no hurry to get their content done and they take days or weeks to get in touch with you. I'd be royally screwed if I wrote for clients from here full time, but I will say that there are more people who are willing to pay a little more on here.

One thing I have to say about Corey's post that I've also found to be true. The people who pay big money have very often been the most reasonable clients while the cheapest have mostly been the most trouble.

Dude, just post your offer and charge a reasonable fee so you can provide good work. I have a writing team that I consistently find work for on this forum. There are people willing to pay for quality. They're rare, but I'll tell you what...they're a LOT easier to work for. They have reasonable expectations about delivery time and about getting results.

The people who buy cheap content are the worst customers ever. They want everything right now, they expect to post a few lousy articles and see money pouring in and they're the least loyal because they're always sniffing around for a bargain.

I've found customers on here who, now, consistently pay my company thousands of dollar a month for more than just content. We do SEO, marketing consulting, web design and product creation. A lot of them are also well connected so they bring us referrals. That's the great thing about high value customers. They invest value, so they make money, so they have money to spend, they stay in business (so they keep buying from you) and they're credible so people who are referred by them are more likely to take them seriously.

Never let the "El Cheapos" intimidate you into forcing your value down by dropping prices. Base your model on giving value, not being the lowest bidder, and you'll be fine.

Yes. There are clients out there who will pay a decent wage for quality work, but they are not here browsing the Warriors For Hire section. Pretty much everyone shopping any of the advertising forums here is primarily shopping on price.

There's nothing wrong with that, of course. But if you want to deliver a high-quality product for a fair rate, you won't be doing that here. This is a low-volume commodities market.

quality is more important than quantity as many said here bcz even after paying if we have to re do or rewrite them is just waste of time and money.

We hire a lot of writers at different quality levels (quality level depends on the project). The market today is a catch-22 situation. Many people think they are writers but they aren't good. There are others who are great but underprice themselves because they don't realize what they are worth.

I recommend building a portfolio of different samples, getting some smaller jobs from potentially repeat clients at lower rates to get business/reputation and build things from there. If you really are good, you should be able to increase your rates as you start to build a reputation.

Good luck!

Why not start out with a WSO

Sell, say 10 articles of 400-500 words @ $5 each and there after make the price go up by $1 each article/order. Once you stop getting buyers you will have either reached your price ceiling and/ or writing style value for money, or WSO has slipped too far back.

Good luck in starting your business. HB

I'm glad someone said it.

If you're the peanut guy, you're only going to attract cheap and scum clients. No one of intelligence that needs quality work done sees a $5 writer and thinks "That's my guy!"

I got to meet someone who's done web design work for some of the top brand names in the world. He hasn't built their websites but he's worked with them and got to work with a company that has done them. Do you know how they find their designers?

They take quotes and whoever gives them the highest price quote wins the job.

I browse the WSO section every day to try to find out the fascination with selling/buying $1, $5 and $7 WSOs. I just don't understand what people expect to get for that price.