How much do you pay per word when the writer does its own research?

Hello everyone,

I run a website, which is getting bigger and bigger. I do all the topic and keyword research and I also prepare the articles for my two writers (I copy/paste bits and pieces from different articles that I like). I occasionally do some writing on my own, which is then proofread and edited.

However, I'm noticing, that I'll have a hard time growing the site if I continue to run it like this. There is also a growing list of old articles that need to be updated.

I'm thinking about letting my writers do all the research/writing part. I currently pay $20 to $23 per 1000 words for pre-prepared articles. However, I usually spend at least 1-2 hours preparing the articles. If I pay for this extra time, the cost per article would probably rise to $70-$100 per 2.000+ word article.

That would not be an issue if I knew that the article will perform. But the reality is that 70%-80% percent of articles don't bring any meaningful traffic. So how do I force myself to spend $100 per article without knowing if it will even rank on a meaningful position?

How much do you guys pay for articles that are researched and written by your writers? Or do you have a person that does content research for your writers?

I'd appreciate your thoughts.

pirxus said:

So how do I force myself to spend $100 per article without knowing if it will even rank on a meaningful position?

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That, my friend, is why Quora, Pinterest and Amazon rule the SERPs.

It's not worth investing in good content any more. Google just ranks the big brands.

pirxus said:

So how do I force myself to spend $100 per article without knowing if it will even rank on a meaningful position?

Click to expand...

That’s the gamble you make. If your keyword research is done properly and the writer understands how to write optimized content, and if your on-page is looking good and you’re building suitable links, there’s no reason your content shouldn’t be performing.

In the long-term, it’s not all that difficult to recoup a hundred bucks from an article.

pirxus said:

If I pay for this extra time, the cost per article would probably rise to $70-$100 per 2.000+ word article.

That would not be an issue if I knew that the article will perform. But the reality is that 70%-80% percent of articles don't bring any meaningful traffic. So how do I force myself to spend $100 per article

Click to expand...

It’s worth the cost depending on how valuable your time is. Would it be worth it to spend the $100 on 2,000 words for content you won’t need to spend two hours out of your day revising that could be spent growing your business?

That’s another consider-worthy point.