It boggles the mind how many people are hiring content writers these days - and what is even more puzzling is the amount of pay they list for these various jobs. I have seen people advertise for a "job" that pays $1 per 500 word article. They also stipulate that it must be well-written by a native English speaker. I have seen listings like this all over and it bothers me immensely.
No one can make a living on that kind of money. If you are a seasoned writer it takes at least 20 minutes to come up with a decent article let alone proof read it. You may end up making $2 per hour. It angers me that people post jobs for these rates, but what really irks me are the writers who devalue not only themselves, but all of us - by accepting these ridiculous rates.
I know many newer writers feel pressured to "take what they can get". What these writers need to realize is that they are doing themselves a great disservice (and they are to the rest of us as well) These kind of clips for your portfolio are NOT going to get you anywhere when it comes to finding real work.
Here is what I suggest for content writers who want to make themselves some money - rather than help others profit by taking advantage of them.
Write great content and place it on HubPages, Squidoo, etc. At least on sites like that you build back links to your website(s) and also earn revenue. You can earn through Adsense and Amazon affiliate programs on these websites.
Use a website like http://www.constant-content.com and name your own price for your work! People who are wanting to purchase quality material do go there and they do purchase articles.
The websites I have found that offer the most ridiculous rates for articles/content are freelancing sites like 0desk and Elance. Once in a great while you might see something that pays "fair" - but mostly it's the same slave wages postings and not worth your time for the writing jobs.
I have also seen absolutely ridiculous advertisements for "writing gigs" and "writing jobs" on Craigslist. I can't count how many times I've seen the following variation for both web design and writing.
I have the next greatest thing since sliced bread idea. I want you to write/build it for me and I will give you a percentage of the profits when it takes off..... Give me a BREAK. The thing is they wouldn't keep advertising crap like this if it wasn't for naive people being duped into thinking they'll get rich down the line.
Folks, if the people with the great idea don't have capital, don't have talent to develop ideas themselves, or write that book - do you think they have marketing skills and the ability to "stick to it" required to push a new product/idea into a huge profit maker? No - they don't they are clueless and that is why they are looking for someone to do all the work for them for a "percentage". A percentage of 0 is 0. No writer or designer should spend those kind of hours working on a project that may never (and probably wont) pay off in time.
Do all the rest of us freelancers a favor and stop writing for pennies an hour and developing projects for free. It devalues our entire profession(s) and makes finding real work harder for ALL of us.
Soapbox finished....
Remember - If you are willing to work for pennies - at least get an Adsense account and a blog and let those pennies be for you - not the other guy who is essentially taking your hard work for slave labor prices and making a huge residual lifetime profit on it.
You CAN build up your own residual income. I started off never reaching the 100 dollar Adsense threshold each month, but over time and with continued efforts my Adsense residual income is always over 200 per month - for things I wrote that were evergreen and just sit there. Much of my content makes search engine rankings which gives it the ability to generate income. That means that essentially I do very little for that money once I put in the initial effort. The more content and information (that is valuable by the way not a 5 minute throw together) that I develop that is useful - the higher the search rankings over time and the more residual income I generate.
Now think of these marketers who just bought your article for a measly $1.00 - do you think they are not making nice residual income off of that or reselling it themselves for a huge profit?
Think about it - and then think long and hard before taking a writing job that pays a pittance. You aren't only harming yourself!
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