is 10$ for 700 - 1500 word articles too much

This really comes down about what kind of quality you're looking. Maybe the $3 jobs are much more simple and don't require a thorough research.

Usually you get what you pay for with these types of services... $10 is really cheap.

If you need good quality then it's usually worth paying at least 2-3x that amount.

Sites like fiverr have really decreased the value of article writing. $7 is not very much for a good quality article (700-1500 words). I'm not a freelance writer, but if I was I would not accept a job for $7. A series of really high quality articles could send your ranking, CTR and conversions into overdrive.

IMO, I would find The best quality writers and negotiate a good price with them. It will be worth it in the long run as opposed to the value you would get from $7 articles.

A friend of mine fell on tough times a while ago. She wanted and needed to make fast money online. I introduced her to freelance article writing. So she went to a popular forum, offered a few sample articles for free, and got great feedback. She had to keep raising her prices every week because she was in such demand.

There will be serious marketers here and elsewhere who value high quality content. If your work is good, you will get paid more than $10. Build the demand steadily and then you'll get to set the price.

If it is written good, than it is cheap. Go check oDesk - you will find many great writers, even cheaper...

I think you're well within your rights to charge so much. Any blogger worth his salt won't settle for less than 1,000 words.

So to charge more than triple for content that will matter to the search engines as opposed to content half as good I think $10.

Value is perceived, if you have nothing less than 1,000 words and it's optimized properly and relevant to the buyer....why not charge them for YOUR time and to SAVE theirs?

If you wrote similar to my style and in my niche, I would pay 10 bucks to save me 2 hours. $5/hr is peanuts buddy I'd be all over it

Again though, you need people who don't want control of their content and who's style you fit with.

Hope that helps

-Mike

It pays to use quality if you're having actual traffic look at it, otherwise it doesn't really matter what you put up..

I have paid $3 for a 500 word article, and i wasn't impressed with the article. it's matter of luck.... if you're paying $10 then you better make sure you have the option to reject the article if it doesn't meet your standard.

Hi,
Have you been able to see a sample of their writing? Quality articles for 400 words usually run between $15-20 and goes up from there.
You don't want junk because you will spend more time fixing them then it's worth. Trust me, been there, done that!!
Good luck with what you decide.
Geri Richmond

$10 for a 1,000 word article is definitely worth it! Not too much at all! I believe my article writing team that I have charges about that price right now... not sure as I don't manage that side of my business anymore. But you're good, just figure out how to stand out, and really get the value across to your potential buyers.

If you are a new freelance writer, you'd be offering a lower rate than $7. If buyers like your writing skills, they can offer you more $ or you can demand a higher rate later. Offering a low rate at first would entice clients to try you out. Once you get that good feedback from various clients, then more probable buyers would go for you. That's how I've seen it based on experience.

You get what you pay for, OP. If you are okay with getting lower quality work than what you're getting now, hire those cheaper writers. If you want higher quality work than what you're getting now, and more professionalism, pay more.

Depends on what you hope to create online, I suppose.

Let's look at it this way.

We'll say that a 1,000 word article takes you one hour to write. Someone above suggested it'd take them two hours to write an article of that length but I'm feeling generous.

That's $7 per hour.

The federal minimum wage in the United States is $7.25.

That means the employee at your local McDonald's who rolls their eyes when you ask for no pickles and is texting under the counter makes more money than the person you are paying to write your articles.

Picture the absolute bottom rung of the socio-economic ladder. Now look below that...yes, right down there in the dirt and filth.

That is the person you are hiring to represent your business and your brand to the world.

Unless they are an illegal immigrant or living in a third world country, they could be making more money doing ANYTHING else. Literally, anything.

Folding clothes at Old Navy. Standing on the side of the road in a cartoon pig costume, holding an "Eat at Earl's BBQ" sign.

So why are they working for you at below minimum wage? What kind of skills do you think this person possesses? What kind of quality do you think they'll provide?

Don't confuse price with quality.
I've tried both cheap and expensive writers.
Cheaper writers are not always bad in quality.
And expensive ones don't necessairily write better than cheaper ones.
It's a disgrace that some people charge high fees for bad quality writing.
But then again how we define quality is subjective.

I don't think its to much but it does depend on the quality. Why don't you run some offers to get your articles out to people. Let them see your quality, everyone needs good quality content and thus you will get some good repeat business.

$5 for an 700-800 words should be fine i guess. id do for a price like that. But again it all depends on what writing style you like.

For a 700-1500 word article I'd charge between $25 and $50, depending on the topic and other details.

With freelance writers you typically get what you pay for. If you find someone who will do it well for $10, snatch it up, but understand that he will raise his prices before too long.

$1/100 words and it being an SEO article is an OK price. If research and thorough reading is required before writing the article, then paying higher price is reasonable because of the considerable time spent by the writer.

$10 or more for 1000 + word articles is reasonable. If you are advertising on Fiverr, make the 350-400 word articles for $5, then add a +$5 or +$10 for longer articles that require some research.

Just make sure your work is worth the pay, re-read the material you wrote 3-4 times and eliminate any typos or grammar mistakes.

I think the question you should really be asking is;

Is 10$ for 700 - 1500 word articles too little?

-Chris

I think that if you offer 7 $, you can require for better quality content. Some people are desperate for money and they would accept much less. But 7 $ seems like a good price to me.

$10 for 700 is absolutely NOT too much.

But please remember that all writers are NOT created equal.

I'll get hatemail for saying this, but it's my hypothesis that native English writers are of better quality and ultimately worth more money.

When you look on Fiverr, the majority of writers worth their salt charge MORE than $5 per 500 words.

The decent writers these days are charging $5 for 100-250 words, and $10-$15 for 500 words. (And that's on FIVERR, and still dirt cheap).

The problem you're encountering, is that you may have writers who are gladly accepting your $7 article, but they'll also succumb to $3 articles.

Maybe they LOVE writing, and are willing to work for any price?

Or maybe they are actually substandard, and are taking you for a ride?

The real question you should be asking; is the quality of their writing WORTH $7.

Does it suck? Or are you impressed with the content?

We've had a lot of experience buying content when working on our 300 niche website development. I've seen many of those $3 and even $2 for 500 words quote.

I'd have to say though that depending on the purpose of the content it's worth while investing with a reasonable rate. Those content typically can contain some information though they don't effectively engage the user.

Would it make a difference to anyone if i am only hiring people educated in the field, already write in the tone i am searching for and the articles are not SEO intended other than the title of the article?


Breaking these down
- research would be very minimal as the writer already knows what they are talking about.
- they already write in the tone in which i am searching for, so there is no need for training.
- they don't have to go the extra mile to be SEO optimized.
- and they dont have to write 1500 words if the article can only be written in 700 im still giving them 10$, if it can be written in 1500 they still get 10$
- plus i am giving them credit on an author page on the website. The articles wont be linking back to them but on the about us section, they will be listed with a picture of themselves and link to a personal portfolio.
- and its going to be ranking in the top 10 because there is literally NO competition.

It all depends on the quality. Ask to see some samples and if they are good, start small and keep growing!

I have a writer who charges $30 for 1000 words and I gladly pay it because his content is incredible. In fact, if he asked $40 I would probably pay that. Even $50 for an incredible 1000 word piece of content is cheap if you know how to use the content properly to maximize your ROI.

I have bought articles from Fiverr and other writers who charge $5 for 400 words or $10 for 500 words and the articles have always been sub-par. In fact, the majority of them are downright crap.

Good writers know what their content is worth and when it comes to buying content, the term "you get what you pay for" couldn't be more true.

I have two places that I go to purchase great content and I have never been let down. Yes, it's a little pricy but WELL worth it. I avoid Fiverr and other low priced content writing services like the plague now. Are there some good writers in the mix who charge very little? Sure there are, but my guess is once they realize how much good content is actually worth they raise their prices.

People underestimate the difficulty of writing great content. I have no problem paying top dollar if I'm getting great quality.

Depends on quality

It all depends on the content and on research. There are many writer who give you spin content for cheap without any research.

I have recently paid one writer $30 to write a 300-350 words copy for me - I believe(d) what you get is what you've paid for .... but I have been scammed (not too sure if I can call it a scam) just by believing that a native high paid writer means s/he could be a good writer, unfortunately my experience is otherwise.

However, still in most of the cases, a good writer asks for higher payment and that's obvious. But outcome may not always be satisfactory. Recent days, especially after big G's updates and Matt Cutts' consistent recommendation, it has been almost imperative that you MUST have the best content on your website, and not the crap ones, so that the audience would stick to your site and that signal matters.

But, IMO, I have seen many self-proclaimed writers ask for high price, whereas they do not have any skill for writing. I do not want to disrespect anyone, but the fact is writing needs a special skill and intelligence, and not every person can be a writer, no matter if s/he is even writing in her/his own native language - but these days, unfortunately, many claim to be a native writer - they may be native, but that doesn't mean they could be a good writer.

I am still waiting for my $30 copy, and I sincerely hope that it will turn out to be the best. I ordered it in other place, not in this forum.

My writer charge me $25 / 700 words. I use his writings for all my dating sites SEO articles and trust me his articles do help me a lot.

Price should always depend on quality and not on quantity. This is a very simple methodology and those who understand it will last long in their businesses.

$10 for a 700-1500 word article is extremely cheap for an article that long. I would honestly snap at that and start getting my articles written straight away.

I think it's the quality of the English you are looking for. It's got to be readable and make sense.

You can tell when English is a second or third language gauging from the structure of sentences, so for a good quality peace of work I would pay top dollar.

If I'm doing SEO for money sites I would pay good money, not so much for tier 2 or PBNs

There's an old adage that you get what you pay for. Quality should always be your main consideration. Sometime you can get good quality at the lower scale of the spectrum. You really need to shop around a bit and try and see samples of people's work, this way you will be able to gauge what you like best. Take your time and do comparison shopping. Hope that gives you some food for thought!

As a writer, you need to think of the amount of time it takes to complete an article. The amount of research required influences how much you should charge. You should think in your mind how much you want to make per hour, too. Some jobs you can crank out in about 15 minutes while others might take you two to three hours. It usually takes an average of 1 hour to write a high-quality 500-word article. Any longer than that and it usually pushes into two to three hours if it's not just a cheap content-mill style one.

There is a myth that the Google bots and ranking algorithms can distinguish good writing from bad and rank the better writing higher. They cannot. Not yet. However if you don't have quality writing on the pages of your sites, no one will want to finish reading your articles and no one will trust you enough to buy our products.

Also please stop listening to what Google says and start watching what they do.

Quality of the content,good keyword research matters a lot to improve search rankings.In my view,it's better to write the content by ourselves rather than depending on some others to write it.

I wish that all writers worth their salt would start charging proper rates and not ask for slave wages. I think many writers don't know how to position themselves that's why they're easy prey for cheapskates.

I always say that it boils down to your budget. When it comes to outsourcing for writers there will always be hits and misses. This is why it's important that you ask for writing samples (published or unpublished).

For those who have a tight budget, a reasonable rate is $1 per 100 words. There are good writers from 3rd world nations who are willing to get paid for this rate. For those who are willing to compensate a very good writer then by all means pay the amount that the writer is demanding. Just make sure that his or her articles will translate or convert well.

High quality contents need to be meticulously checked. A more than average rate per article does not always mean good content. What works well for me is putting myself in the writer's shoes and sincerely assessing my writing skills if it's worth the rate I'm asking for. For those who are not confident in doing this method, then it's best to follow your instinct/intuition.

I tend to pay around $20-25 for a decent article of that length. There are times when you get lucky and find a really good writer for around $10, but in my experience, most of the time there is not much substance in the writing. It can often be well written gramatically but it lacks research.
I do pay $5-10 for articles that I would use for backlinking purposes though.

I think it depends on the writer. If we're talking about a talented writer with experience who does his/her job right, 10$ is not that much. After all, it is a win-win situation, for both of you.

I think you might be asking the wrong question. Why aren't you writing this content yourself ?

If you need o engage on your blog with readers then it is much easier if you have written the content yourself. Additionally once you get going and get into the swing of things then pushing out a 1k word article will take you no time at all.

For me it is all about planning and setting aside the time to do write your own articles.

Find Good Writers if u find then 10$ is very cheap in these days.

If you are best in writing then you may increase your price.

Going back to the OP again, there's one thing I failed to address in my previous posts - and most of the other writers in here seem to be missing this point as well.

The initial concern of the OP is that the same writers are charging him more than they're charging other people. Ignoring the low-rate markets we're discussing here, I think it's only fair we all acknowledge that if we were paying more for the same service provider than other people were paying, we would experience some doubt and wonder why.

I can certainly understand where you're coming from in that aspect, OP.

In fact, I'll admit that I often charge different clients different rates. It's a whole other level of the writing markets, but some articles I do for $25. Other clients pay $50. Others pay $100+. Some even pay $450+.

But...

Here's the thing.

Do you think all of those clients are getting an equal share of my time and energy when it comes to their articles?

Of course not. Clients get what they pay for.

In fact, there was a time when it wasn't uncommon for online writers to offer different quality levels to their customers - with silver, gold, and platinum often being options. This type of thing is more rare now, but you can bet the same process still takes place in the writer's head when determining the quality of work the client is looking for, bidding jobs, and carrying out the work.

To answer this aspect of your questions more directly, the last thing you want to do is constantly be engaging your writers in a push towards the bottom. You may be able to notch them down another few bucks or whatever figures you're dealing with. You may be able to get similar writers bidding on the same work.

But chances are the quality is going to go down. The writers will work a bit faster to keep their pay rate up (because time is their only leverage point for increasing pay) and may start offering more shoddy customer service.

Buyers paying more than you, on the other hand, may have the same writers bidding on the jobs, but if those writers land the work, chances are (though not always), they'll be more likely to give it more time and enthusiastic effort.

So same writers - possibly - different end result.

Something to think about.

This is a very real dynamic.

You can find good rookie writers to pen your content, but eventually they'll either a) realize they can charge more and learn some marketing, thus disappearing from your end of the market, b) decide the only way they can increase their pay is churning through the work faster, or c) give up on writing for a living completely and head to McDonald's for work instead (perhaps leaving you completely hanging on the deadline for your latest project).

If you don't mind constantly hiring new writers, filtering out the ones that are a hassle or no good, and re-hiring as you lose them to increasing rates or decreasing quality, then yeah, you can keep seeking out good writers who don't know any better.

But in the end, working with non-professional, temporary writers is a temporary solution for content.

Yeah, it just depends on the level of work you're looking for. Google is the only research tool needed for a certain level of work, but if you want top content, phone interviews and other traditional journalist methods of research can go a long way towards creating a good story and completely unique content.

Getting on the phone is, of course, not necessary for great content. But it's one research method that does bring you to the next level.

Think about it this way. Even for crappy high school essays, they teach you that Google is a trap of misleading information. It's usable, but you need to know how to filter though results and find true authorities whose data you can count on.

Cheaper writers don't have the time at their pay grade to do that - many of them don't even know how.

If you want the freelancer to go as far as calling people up and doing interviews, I'd say $100 per article at the very bare minimum. This type of thing takes a lot of time aside from the actual writing and redrafting.

Elance. Craigslist. The job boards at ProBlogger. Even here if you properly vet the talent.

I'm not a journalist, so I'm shooting myself in the foot with this advice (as my main biz is still articles), but if I were you, I'd put in my ad that I'm looking for someone with journalism experience.

In fact, I think any writer planning to do this for the long haul, including myself, should consider taking some journalism courses. There are plenty of great ones online too.

Unless you're aiming to be a sales copywriter; I don't think journalism is imperative for that particular skill.

But for blogging, it's a real asset.

Credentials are good.

That said, in the age we live in, they are not imperative, as many writers have built solid careers without ever setting foot in the traditional writing world.

Examples are a good way to ascertain what a writer is capable of. Checking out their own blog, their testimonials, and their online presence, etc, also helps.

Get on the phone with them or a Skype call, and you can usually figure out if they are legitimate or not - you know a real pro when you talk to them on the phone.

And just order one article on the first go so you can be sure you know what you're getting. Consider heading over to Elance or using some other type of escrow service to keep the money in lingo for a bit of extra protection.

Hiring online writers without credentials has its pitfalls, but they're avoidable.

For instance, I don't have any rewards or traditional credentials. But I've worked with some of the biggest names out there in insurance and other financial industries. I guess those are my credentials.

But had no one ever hired me without them, I never would have gotten there to begin with.

The pool of writing talent is much more dynamic now, and possibly more volatile. But successful online writing is a lot different than offline writing, and those who worked their way up in the online writing markets have some skills that traditional writers may not.

They're worth a look for that reason alone.

Exactly.

It's not just about traffic at all. It's about engagement and conversions.

Readers should always be your first priority.

And as far as Google goes, they may not be able to shuffle the best content to the top yet, but it's no secret that they're constantly trying to move in that direction. When you try to fool Google, you constantly have to redo your content and reassess your strategy as the algorithms change.

Instead, why not walk up ahead of Google and plant yourself firmly in their path?

End result?

Google chases you instead of the other way around.

They constantly tinker their strategy for finding you. Eventually they'll figure out how because that is their entire business plan and purpose for existing.

Then there's an issue of credibility and branding. Would you hire a $3 per 500 words writer to pen the content for a brochure that represented your business?

How about a billboard? Or any other serious marketing materials?

Of course not...

This is why it blows my mind that any company considers putting half-assed content on their website or other online promotions. It's almost like they don't take the online face of their business seriously because it's virtual, but doing it poorly can be just as damaging to your business reputation (if not more so due the wider audience).

I'm assuming you approach IM like a real business, which you should. And once you see it as such, you realize that every footprint your business leaves in the world, offline or online, should reflect how you want your company to be perceived by your target market.

That being the case, cutting corners simply won't do...

Content marketing needs a lot of time and effort to work. No point paying for crappy content just as you have a low budget and just to get content on your blog. If you can't pay for the higher rates, some sites like Greatcontent and Textbroker usually have good writers for low rates. Avoid sites like iwriter though. Or, even better, write it yourself.

I don't understand why the op couldn't figure this out and why nobody addressed this so far.

$3 per 500 words is $9 per 1500 words or $6 per 1000 words.

They are charging you what they are charging elsewhere as well. If you advertise up to 1500 words they will charge you for 1500 words. $9.

And rates are never set in stone. Most writers have an average rate and take work at +-25% of that base rate.

They are charging you in the same ballpark as they are charging the others.

If you are so worried, ask them for 500 words articles or 700 words articles, directly and exactly and you will get the response you are looking for.

If i was a freelancer and spent all my time writing i would not do it for $7. Unless i have just started my writing career. But i had been doing it for awhile and know i was producing high quality articles i would accept $7.

it is depend on the quality and content...

Actually $3 for 500 words is not appropriate at all, Minimum $10 needs to write 500 unique words. No plagiarism.

It really depends on the quality & what the description offer....

$3 for a 500 word article sounds to me that an auto-spinner software is used to spin the article - which usually produces poor quality articles.

Back in the old days, I would often look for cheap options for having my articles written. My experience has told me that cheap 500-1000 word articles tend to be spun or poor grammar & context is used..

I (as well as many Internet marketers i speak to) would be happy to pay a $10 (or even a little bit more) for a hand written, grammar perfect 500-1000 word article.

When advertising for work, just make abundantly clear what you're offering.

The price has to be worth your while though...It's not fun sitting down writing 10 x 500 word articles by hand every day & only getting paid a pittance for it - unless of course you're addicted to writing!

Az

Decent price. Just save your money and write it, though lol. I write over 8,000 words per day in only a few hours. 1,500 words can be done in 25-35 minutes easily.

it all depend on you, the size of your pocket and the quality of the articles. probably you shouldnt contract all articles to one person. spread through 3-4 persons and see the one that has a good quality.

$10 for a 700-1500 word article is way, way too high. You should be able to get them down to 18 cents ($0.18 USD) for each article. Tell them 18 cents per article and go no higher!

Discussions like this usually go nowhere. You have people (usually writers) trying to convince a guy to PAY HIGHER FOR QUALITY. You get publishers posting the low rates they get from their writers. The issue is simple. If you don't like the price, don't write at that price level. Simple. If you are a publisher and you think some writers charge too much money, look for writers that will write for less.

It's a big market out there with many segments. Focus on your own needs and take care of business.

You get what you pay for. If you think $10 is too much for 1500 words, than you are not serious about providing decent content

It's not, if your article is high quality. I even saw people high quality 1000 words article for $100. Work on your quality.

I don't think 10 dollars for a 700-1500 word article is too much at all! In fact, I have 1 writer I absolutely love that I pay 10 dollars for every 500 words.

Oh that's less than $5 a page! I started off my career as a writer and worked my way up from a dollar a piece to $75 a page. But, I have realized one thing - if your writer is unhappy with the price and has to work his tail off for the price of a cigarette, your end customers are going to be unhappy too with your content.

Thanks to technology, there are a bunch of plagiarism tools (yes I said plagiarism tools - not the Copyscpae stuff) on the market that can make copied content pass Copyscape and if you make your writers write for dimes and nickels that's what you end up getting. And, by the time you realize the truth, the money's been already paid.

Content is king. So, treat it like one and everyone will be happy.

I charge $45 for easy, 600 word articles, and pro rate as you add words and if I have to research too.

Nope, considering I'd be charging $70 or $80 or more for 1000 to 1500, ain't cutting it for me

Pay well to publish the smart articles needed to grow your business

I'd add, it's about knowing one's worth. Freelancers with low self esteem, well, you can take advantage of them if you believe in bad karma lol...or if you simply blame them for charging low.

Freelancers with high self esteem, and experience, are similar to a doctor who'd laugh off being asked to offer their expert services for $5, or $10, for 30 or 60 minute's worth of work. We freelancers ain't saving lives but we'll put money in your pocket and save you many hour's worth of work and research writing and researching articles, and the smart ones, know this, and charge accordingly

All the best!