Is content writing really worth it?

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From the perspective of a content writer, is it really worth it?

I mean, most of the money I earned online was through writing for others. But, given the nature of the SEO field, most of the rates proposed are shit. It's awfully rare to come across clients who want actual online content delivered, not just SEO-tailored. I love writing, but we're not given the chance to explore our skills as much as we'd like; we're not properly paid, and we're definitely treated as human machines who can produce properly structured texts.

I'm grinding day in and day out to stop writing for others. Currently, I get around €16/1000 words reviewing online casinos. I'll probably kill myself if I end up relying on that client for the rest of the year (I really hate gambling by now). Let's say I write that in an hour; that's way above the minimum wage here. Some would even envy me.

But do you think it's sane to write for eight hours a day the same shit over and over again?
It's sickening.
It's demeaning.
And, above all, it drives one insane.

No, really.
Like... actual insanity.

I'm not sure why I'm venting here. It's probably because I have to get my work done today at one point or another; when I'd rather be washing dishes for 8 quid an hour. It's just difficult to look for a job and get yours done at the same time.
 
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Pretty neat writing. The switch of pronoun from singular to plural in the same sentence was a tad discomforting, but it can be argued that within the context, it is technically permissible.

Seriously: You write well. Double your rate and get better clients. Find niches within niches you like.
 
reuse said:
Pretty neat writing. The switch of pronoun from singular to plural in the same sentence was a tad discomforting, but it can be argued that within the context, it is technically permissible.

Seriously: You write well. Double your rate and get better clients. Find niches within niches you like.
Click to expand...

This cheered me up a bit. Thank you.

Honestly, I enjoyed working as waiter for a week way more than I did writing for five years. I got to practice my social skills and improve my.. coquetry. I know there's room for improvement in the content writing industry; one can even create an agency, outsource most of the work, and end up just editing and dealing with clients.

I'm just really sick of it.

I enjoyed doing SEO for a couple of clients I got last month. I'm not an expert, so the scope of my services is quite limited. But I was willing to put in extra effort to make them happy, as I was myself.

I'd like to go back to uni and get a journalism degree. But I have to survive for three years before I do that and shift my career altogether. I'd love to do SEO, get a day job and just write a diary on the side or something. I don't hate writing online content, but I'd prefer to publish that on my own blogs.
 
Writing about casinos all day would probably drive me insane too.
It's probably not the writing that's so unpalatable, as much as it is writing the same content day in and day out.
Try to find some other clients to mix your topics up.
 
UninvitedSoul said:
This cheered me up a bit. Thank you.

Honestly, I enjoyed working as waiter for a week way more than I did writing for five years. I got to practice my social skills and improve my.. coquetry. I know there's room for improvement in the content writing industry; one can even create an agency, outsource most of the work, and end up just editing and dealing with clients.

I'm just really sick of it.

I enjoyed doing SEO for a couple of clients I got last month. I'm not an expert, so the scope of my services is quite limited. But I was willing to put in extra effort to make them happy, as I was myself.

I'd like to go back to uni and get a journalism degree. But I have to survive for three years before I do that and shift my career altogether. I'd love to do SEO, get a day job and just write a diary on the side or something. I don't hate writing online content, but I'd prefer to publish that on my own blogs.
Click to expand...

If an SEO guy gets the writer to optimize it for SEO, then the buyer is definitely not good with SEO. No offence to writers, but I would never trust a writer to optimise it for SEO, I want writers to give me a good article, then I'll do the SEO optimisations, that way I know it is perfectly optimised.
 
Content packages in forums are really low priced and they are competitive.

Where as copywriting/becoming an exclusive sales page writer is very lucrative.

A basic sales page copy can cost $2k/$3k and the lifetime value of the customers is very high.

Try something like this?
 
If you want to be successful with content writing, you need to brand yourself. You need to get few mentions on top blogs and sites. I wish I was good at English. Invest in yourself.

Few guys on BHW make shit tons of money by writing content, they dont need to get into SEO and all other BS.
 
UninvitedSoul said:
From the perspective of a content writer, is it really worth it?

I mean, most of the money I earned online was through writing for others. But, given the nature of the SEO field, most of the rates proposed are shit. It's awfully rare to come across clients who want actual online content delivered, not just SEO-tailored. I love writing, but we're not given the chance to explore our skills as much as we'd like; we're not properly paid, and we're definitely treated as human machines who can produce properly structured texts.

I'm grinding day in and day out to stop writing for others. Currently, I get around €16/1000 words reviewing online casinos. I'll probably kill myself if I end up relying on that client for the rest of the year (I really hate gambling by now). Let's say I write that in an hour; that's way above the minimum wage here. Some would even envy me.

But do you think it's sane to write for eight hours a day the same shit over and over again?
It's sickening.
It's demeaning.
And, above all, it drives one insane.

No, really.
Like... actual insanity.

I'm not sure why I'm venting here. It's probably because I have to get my work done today at one point or another; when I'd rather be washing dishes for 8 quid an hour. It's just difficult to look for a job and get yours done at the same time.
Click to expand...

Charge what you are worth.

People will pay the least amount possible for work done that meets their standards though. Don't forget that.

I personally don't like crappy re-hashes of a product description so I tend to pay my writers more that can prove to me they can write a compelling post on a product that get the readers interested in it.
 
I know what you mean, I did some writing for a guy on fiverr. He paid me a huge amount of money ($60/500 words), the most I have ever been paid for writing, but the work was rubbish.

I ended up telling the guy it would be better for him to find someone who was interested in the topic.

The reason I am saying this is because you may want to try and diversify who you are writing for, what topics, etc.

As another example, I have a customer who wants me to write about a topic I enjoy. I like the subject, and I like the research I need to do. And no, I dont get anywhere near that silly money I spoke about above, but its OK because I enjoy it.
 
UninvitedSoul said:
From the perspective of a content writer, is it really worth it?

I mean, most of the money I earned online was through writing for others. But, given the nature of the SEO field, most of the rates proposed are shit. It's awfully rare to come across clients who want actual online content delivered, not just SEO-tailored. I love writing, but we're not given the chance to explore our skills as much as we'd like; we're not properly paid, and we're definitely treated as human machines who can produce properly structured texts.

I'm grinding day in and day out to stop writing for others. Currently, I get around €16/1000 words reviewing online casinos. I'll probably kill myself if I end up relying on that client for the rest of the year (I really hate gambling by now). Let's say I write that in an hour; that's way above the minimum wage here. Some would even envy me.

But do you think it's sane to write for eight hours a day the same shit over and over again?
It's sickening.
It's demeaning.
And, above all, it drives one insane.

No, really.
Like... actual insanity.

I'm not sure why I'm venting here. It's probably because I have to get my work done today at one point or another; when I'd rather be washing dishes for 8 quid an hour. It's just difficult to look for a job and get yours done at the same time.
Click to expand...

I agree with a quote above that your writing is good. I don't know how you can adjust to different niches but in general your writing is good.
Also, $16/1000 that's too low? $30-$50 sounds more reasonable... of course depending on how well you do your research.

If you pay attention you will notice how many threads pop up here on bhw where people search for writers. I understand why... because so many of the writers are rubbish and just rehash the same old shit. If you can do research properly and write in a decent manner you'll be fine.
 
Content writing is not worth it. For the most part it’s pure exploitation.
 
linlin2000 said:
Content writing is not worth it. For the most part it’s pure exploitation.
Click to expand...
Why do you say that?

Exploitation: - the action or fact of treating someone unfairly in order to benefit from their work.

Are you suggesting that the people who sit at the computer all day, researching, planning, writing, checking, and editing articles do it to exploit the people who pay?

Just out of interest, how many articles have you written?
How much would you charge, or suggest that writers charge, for the same service?
 
praetserge said:
Because you can't write?
Click to expand...
And you seem to be looking for attention or a meaningless argument with a stranger? How about you go and write some content for a few petty pennies since you ‘can write,’ instead of replying to me.

Stuffedegg said:
Why do you say that?

Exploitation: - the action or fact of treating someone unfairly in order to benefit from their work.

Are you suggesting that the people who sit at the computer all day, researching, planning, writing, checking, and editing articles do it to exploit the people who pay?

Just out of interest, how many articles have you written?
How much would you charge, or suggest that writers charge, for the same service?
Click to expand...

Writers should be payed more. It’s as simple as that. Without writers, no site would make any profit. With the money I see offered, it is indeed exploitation. And yes, I know what the word means but I’m glad you too love the dictionary. The original post laced with painful insanity proves just that.
 
linlin2000 said:
And you seem to be looking for attention or a meaningless argument with a stranger? How about you go and write some content for a few petty pennies since you ‘can write,’ instead of replying to me.



Writers should be payed more. It’s as simple as that. Without writers, no site would make any profit. With the money I see offered, it is indeed exploitation. And yes, I know what the word means but I’m glad you too love the dictionary. The original post laced with painful insanity proves just that.
Click to expand...
OK, I clearly misunderstood your post, I apologise.

The way I read it was that people who are content writers exploit website owners.
 
I can feel your pain. I think this industry has seen a lot of reduction in pay over last few years because of competition. In 2010, I had multiple works at $2 per 100 words. Now even at $2 per 500 words, people do not want to order much.
 
If you can write good content, why not just make your own website and write content you're interested in and monetize the website?

And if you can't or don't want to learn and deal with SEO and traffic generation and creating a website, maybe do a JV (joint venture) with someone to where you write content, they do the rest, you monetize the website with ads and/or affiliate links or whatever, and share the profits.
 
I need content writer that can write 'engaging type of content' so bad.
Most just typical journalist style, dull, or just for the sake of it is 'content'.
 
krishnaverma said:
I can feel your pain. I think this industry has seen a lot of reduction in pay over the last few years because of competition. In 2010, I had multiple works at $2 per 100 words. Now even at $2 per 500 words, people do not want to order much.
Click to expand...
Forget about $2/100 words. Nowadays, people want quality content, SEO-optimised, well researched, no grammatical errors, and quote the price below $1. Still, i am writing for $1 for some people to earn extra money until i build myself a great portfolio in writing so i can charge more. At least the latest client i have is easy to work. Some people pay extremely low and is a pain in ass to deal.
 
If it isn't making you feel happy, take a break. Perhaps, you'd be interested in working on different sets of niche.
 
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