Starting an Article Writing Business

The prices you're charging are reasonable in some markets, however writers on Fiverr and some in the warrior classifieds charge less.
You should consider looking into some article writing sites where you can advertise your services as well - in addition to your website. iwriter.com, odesk, there really are a lot of places you can list your services.

I strongly suggest you implement this WSO by John Coutts: http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-...ml#post8263211 I have no affiliation whatsoever in the WSO, but having earned a living from writing for many years, I can attest to the brilliant information and advice it contains.

BTW, I would also suggest that you DO NOT ever align yourself with Fiverr writers or yout writing career will be doomed from the start.

You have to be a really strong writer to get $40 an article. Wow!

Hi Stefan! I think they're low. Start at 600 word articles - Google sees these and more likely higher word counts, as being worthy - for like $30 to $40, then work your way up from there.

400 word articles are going the way of the dinosaur, unless you're Seth Godin

Hope this helps!

Whilst that seems like a good idea for people wanting content for their sites, you'll be competiting against a monster freelancing site called Fiverr.

There are good and established writers on there who unfortunately, write 400+ articles for $5, so please bare this in mind.

That's not very good timing, Stefan. Articles created predominantly for SEO purposes are rapidly losing whatever ranking effect they may once have had. The trend in content creation is to focus on the reader, rather than the search engines.

That generally means longer, more engaging pieces, written by professional and/or topic-expert writers. And such content doesn't come cheap.

While you may find some (or even several) clients who have yet to adjust, with your intended business model you'll risk getting sucked into a price-dominated, shrinking market.


Frank

Iam going to take a stab and say you are worth the $10 per 400 word article.

Do not worry about people at Fiverr. Charge what you "know" you are worth. And not a penny below.

That being said an intro price of $10 is a good place to start . And get your feet wet and some needed exposure.

After awhile consider your efforts more valuable and up the prices.

Personally, I write for myself. I did some writing in the past for clients but found out my overall earnings suffered when I wrote for other people.

I am selfish that way so I just do not want to pursue being part of a Writing Team.
Sorry, hope you understand


Robert

Hi,

As friends mentioned above, the prices a bit high, there are many freelancers are charging less than you...
like 400 words = $5 !

Secondly I suggest to you to start to sale PRL (private rights label) and when you get some audiences then you would grow slowly slowly ...

For Your Success !

Don't ever, ever, ever compare yourself to Fiverr writer's in the areas of pricing or quality.

If you want to be a head chef, don't look to line cooks for pointers.

That being said, you may have to settle for lower rates in the beginning just to get some work and experience. As you build a portfolio and rack up positive reviews, you'll be able to leverage those into higher and higher rates.

I'd suggest setting up a profile at a freelancing site like Elance, paying for a WSO here on the forum, and working your way up the ranks.

Your prices are too low if you're a good writer. They are too high if you're a poor writer.

I've been freelance writing for about 4 years, and I do pretty well with it ($2000-3500 per month, part time). It is a good business, if you enjoy writing and researching and marketing yourself.

Good luck

Michael

1. For the people still buying "SEO articles", these prices are likely to be a little steep. Don't believe me? Check all the responses saying you can find good writers on Fiverr for half of what you propose.

For people looking to buy quality content, they seem a bit low. As others have said, really good content in the hands of someone who knows how to use it is worth much more.

2. Very selective paid advertising aimed at specific niche groups. You don't want to advertise general content services -- that puts you back in competition with the rest of the bottom dwellers.

That's not to say that you can't serve multiple markets. You can. Just don't advertise everything to everybody and hope they find something they like.

I poke a lot of fun at Florida lawyers, but one thing they do get right is targeting their ads to specific groups. They don't pitch personal injury suits to people contemplating divorce or bankruptcy. Nor do they pitch divorce to people in neck braces.

3. You couldn't afford me.

I started freelancing less than a year ago, and I pondered the idea of starting out at two cents a word. Ultimately, though, I decided to set my rates a little bit higher. I never had much of a problem finding clients who were willing to pay what I asked.

I'm still not swamped with assignments, but I'm doing pretty well. After a few weeks of bidding for low-paying jobs on various sites, I finally landed my first private client. They paid me what I was asking for (a little more than three cents a word, or $16 for a 400-500 word article) and have continued to supply me with steady work up until this very day. I wasn't making enough from them to quit my day job, but I was almost there.

Now I make a pretty decent living doing this stuff. I work primarily with four different clients who provide me with 80% of my work (I still dabble with bidding sites and other writing websites during my downtime). Except for my first client, all of them have been sent to me via referrals from an existing client. I've tried marketing myself as much as possible, but most of my work has basically landed in my lap because I turn in solid work and I'm pleasant to work with. My customers appreciate that and they tell their friends about me.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that you should charge whatever you think you're worth. If you think you're a talented writer, you should charge more than $10 per article. If not, maybe that rate is appropriate for you.

One thing to be careful of: a lot of these writers that start out at $10 (or less) per article have a hard time increasing their rates as time goes on. It's just my opinion, but I think there's a big difference between those who buy $5-$10 articles and those who pay $15 or more. Those clients who will pay at least $15 tend to care a lot more about quality and are willing to pay a little extra in order to increase their conversion rates. They're also more willing to stick with you when your rates increase (unlike the $5-$10 crowd, who will more than likely look elsewhere when you start charging more).

That's just my opinion. I'm sure others will disagree. But if you think you can provide customers with high-quality writing and exceptional service, I'd recommend you start off by charging at least three cents per word. It's a nice, happy medium where you'll still be able to easily find clients but you won't be stuck in the bargain basement cesspool.

Oh, and as far as getting potential clients to visit your website: I would keep posting on this forum as well as any other relevant forums, be active with social media, send out some "cold e-mails" to anyone you think might be interested in your services, and maybe consider posting a WSO right here on the Warrior Forum. My marketing skills are pretty basic, and I'll admit that I got somewhat lucky in landing my first client, but I think these methods work pretty well for just about anyone.

I hope this was helpful. Best of luck.

I guess this is fine in a situation, wherein the writers are either freshers or have very less experience in the field. Those who are really good at writing or have been writing for long now, would consider this as too less when matched with the proficiency they are providing.

So yeah I believe if you are looking at great content from some good writers, then you would have to raise the bar a little if not more!

This part about Fivver isn't necessarily true. I've tested $5 per 50 words on Fiverr, which comes to $50 for a 500 word article, and got bites pretty fast. Made some sales too.

Nothing to retire on, but Fiverr does have some potential.

I agree with everything else you've said in this thread though.

Just a short post. Two things you can do to stay out of the low end of the pool.

Connect with Web developers/designers that are working for offline clients. Offer to be their "in house" writer. Offline people often don't know there are writers that work super cheap. There are hundreds of thousands of Web designers out there. You just need a handful. Your selling point is, as their in house writer they become a one stop shop for clients.

If that doesn't appeal to you then get yourself a copy of Writer's Digest Writer's Market. That's where I got my first gig paying $.10/word gig. If you're on a budget you don't need the most current edition as much of it doesn't change. You can get the 2014 Kindle Ed. for ten bucks. It's loaded with publishers looking for decent writers.

Do anything you need to to to stay clear of writing for small money.

I went back and read the opening post again, and I think most of us missed something.

It look like the OP wants to be the middleman, buying articles from his "team of writers" and selling them on. Nothing wrong with that in itself, but I see problems ahead.

Out of every $10 article, some goes to the writer, some to the OP as profit and some to marketing. Let's allow 20% for marketing and a 50/50 split of the remainder with the writer.

That means that the OP has to sell $4 articles for $10. That could be a hard row to hoe.

Adding to John's comment, why would you want to run an article writing service if you don't even have a successful business of your own? You would need to check all quality going out as it's still YOUR name on the work. Also you have to share your income. Why do that when you can keep all you earn?
I am a writer. I have had people ask to write for me and I have always refused. I have a certain standard and, whatever that is, it's mine...nobody else's so I can be confident in selling my services because I KNOW what I write.

Your prices are OK but there are other people like you who offer for cheaper prices.

Look at some of the prices on Elance and compare them with yours.

As long as you have good examples, you can make a good living on places like freelancer and odesk. Forums like this one are great too! Your prices seem reasonable, but you would need examples for anyone here to be sure. No harm in sharing them here, it may line up some customers for you if you ever start a thread here!

good luck!

Yes, the prices are reasonable, but you should make it worth. Write some high quality articles for that prices

If you are a seriously talented writer, don't demean your own talent by listing your services on Fiverr. Find a very popular site specializing in written articles that allows you to set your own prices.

The prices are reasonable, but it depends on the quality of writing. If your English isn't very good and you don't have much knowledge of SEO, then you are going to struggle as you will be competing against the bottom end of the scale. Take a look at sites like fiverr and you will find hundreds of writers prepared to work for a lot less than that, who already have established profiles.

Often buyers will expect a lot and want to pay very little. I would start by setting up a website, which has links to pdf samples of your work, along with links to where they are published. You could write a blog yourself on the site, which will also demonstrate the quality ofyour writing. I would advise against giving out free samples, as often buyers try to get free content. They will use the sample and you will never hear from them again.

I think it's not about the price but the quality of the artcles you write. Try to write a couple of free articles for some clients, so as to get some positive reviews and feedback, then you can continue from there. Good luck.

If you can provide solid examples of your writing quality to back up why you should be earning so much per article, then you are more likely to attract a high end client who does not mind paying so much.

I don't have a problem with higher prices for quality articles. But, where I see an issue is with buyers who have no clue what to do with a quality article. Uneducated content buyers, which seem to be plentiful, tend to group a $10 article with a $40 article and freak out at the price because they have no clue what to do with a $40 article or how to use and monetize it.

That being said, if I where to get into the article writing business I would concentrate on [of course] building a list of prospects and the way in which I would do that is to write a high quality report educating people on how to use high quality articles to increase their business, etc.

In the report I would also explain why cheap articles are actually hurting their business, etc, etc, etc...

I think you rate is high. In starting, You should work with normal rate.

If you have website then do SEO and SMM i will definitely help you.

After getting an experience you can increase your rate.

Good Luck...

Depending on your target market, your price can be higher or cheaper. A $10 article is still competitive but if your competition is fiverr writers, this is a bit high. You need to find good paying customers.

The prices are reasonable in some peoples eyes but you have to understand that many people can get these articles done for $5 compared to your $20-$35 articles. Unless you believe that your articles are of the highest quality, I recommend lowering the prices.

However, I have found a better way to receive more than $100 each per client. Instead of writing website articles and blog posts, why don't you write kindle books for people or even sales letters. These are expensive and most of your clients will want to work with high cost workers because they need quality work done.

This is such a mighty topic of conjecture. (I love those!)

Little secret: I've been ghostwriting for quite some time, and have had generated literally many dozens of elated clients. (And accompanying testimonials). - Now you might think "Many dozen... That's IT!!??" - Well, I prefer to work with a handful of clients who aren't henpecking curmudgeons, as opposed to a massive array who are just that.



Often times I'll take work for less than what I'm worth, one time a client literally gave me twice as much cash for my work; because it totally kicked ass. (Yes, I'm confident mentioning that my content totally kicks ass. And no, I'm not accepting any clients haha).

But, don't take my advice, I'm seriously a hippie tech nerd who often tells clients "Pay whatever you can". (You might think this is crazy... But over the years... I've helped people with IT stuff, told them to pay whatever they can, and they end up giving me 10x what I would have asked lol... Then again I honestly think that IT work has a higher perceived value than writing in many instances).

No real story lesson here. Just one dude contributing a chaotic (and contrarian) two cents.