Articles: how cheap is too cheap?

[porschedude]

Let me start off this thread by saying I am not asking to be spoonfed and that it would be a shame if this thread somehow descended to a flamewar. Anyway, I've dabbled in IM and made a bit of money on Fiverr using scrapebox but the majority of my money has come from article writing. I've generally billed around $1.25/100 words and I've heard only good things from the clients I've worked with. Unfortunately, I've hit a bit of an extended dry spell in finding clients. Most of the community here is excellent at returning PM's, but it's been a bit of a struggle as of late. With that said, it seems like I'm going to have to lower my rate to get some work. How low would you guys suggest, given that the content, I believe, is incredibly well-written and well-researched. As far as other income generations methods go, I'm at a college that is draconian in their policies regarding proxies, so a good deal of other IM methods are out the window.

Cheers,

 

[dabeast]

Never undersell yourself. I pay as low as 0.3-0.4$ per 100 words to 1.5-2$ per 100 words depending upon the quality and turnaround time. People have and will always pay decent rates for quality stuff so if you can produce quality stuff without excuses like "I was ill yesterday, my net was down so I will deliver the articles tomorrow", then there is always a market.

Good luck

 

[damagesmith]

Let me start off this thread by saying I am go, I'm at a college that is draconian in their policies regarding proxies, so a good deal of other IM methods are out the window.

Cheers,

And you are forced to use the schools Internet connection because.....?

 

[porschedude]

dabeast: thanks for the advice

damagesmith: I live in University housing, I can't exactly have cable or high speed internet installed in my room

 

[seoguy81]

I always tend to 'burn my fingers' when it comes to content writing. Maybe blame it on my attention to detail or my expertise in the niche.

While I can't answer you on how low your rates should be, if Finance/Economics is something you are familiar with, then drop me a PM and let's do a trial article for 600 words (re-write an article) which takes me about 20 minutes to complete. If indeed your articles are 'well researched' then i'll be your long term customer.

 

[mmslax2]

As others have said don't sell yourself short. If your articles are truly rich in content, quality articles you shouldn't have a problem selling them. Don't just advertise here, there are hundreds of IM forums where your services could be utilized.

 

[ardvark]

Like other people have said, don't undersell yourself. Stick to what you think your articles are worth.

Myself. i charge $3 for re-writing articles upto 500 words, as there is no research involved, amd all my client are very satisfied.

Good luck

 

[mrhelpfulguy]

Start your 300 per words at $4.00 and set a price standard for your quality work. People often under value a lot, and keep in mind, people on elance other outsource sites are around the same or even higher.

 

[damagesmith]

dabeast: thanks for the advice

damagesmith: I live in University housing, I can't exactly have cable or high speed internet installed in my room

I have used wireless in the past. On a 4g network
not as good as cable, but not horrible.

 

[CashFlowGuy]

You get what you pay for, obiously if you want to make a micro niche website in order to get clicks you want cheap content because you are just trying to get clicks, but in the case of high traffic blogs you want quality content.