How good is the article-sale "business"?

I'm a very impatient person. I'm also a hard-working person. Do these traits match? Maybe not, but they explain the reason why I haven't been able to achieve my goal of making good money off the Internet yet. I earned some peanuts through PTC sites but that's about it. Recently I discovered about freelancing sites and tried my luck on them but after being rejected ten times due to inexperience, I kind of lost my patience. (Recently = 2 days ago! )

Well I gave an example about how impatient I am; now let me tell you about the other one. I like working on something that I'm interested in, and I found out that my ability to string together letters and words using English can be used to write articles for the web, and this can be a huge earner if done right. Looks like I've rambled long enough; I'll get to the point - How much can a qualified writer demand for his articles (cost-per-article) on places like digitalpoint and also on freelancing sites? I've seen many established freelance writers criticizing beginners for lowering their rates in order to get their first job. So what exactly is a good rate for an inexperienced writer like me?

By "inexperienced", I mean having no presence on the Internet. I've written around 20 articles for various local newspapers so far, but over here I'm still a newbie. So can someone provide some good pointers for me? Digitalpoint seems to be a good place to start selling my work and I wanted to know what kind of response I can expect, the average rate that I can demand, etc.

Thank you for reading through my pointless post!

 

Being a hard worker is a good trait, but impatience can hurt you. On the other hand, the impatience can motivate you to start doing something and making this post is a great start.

I'm no expert about articles, but there is a LOT of demand for them. Cheap article writers are everywhere and I see a lot of them on Namepros.com. But good native English writers are not so common, and writers that know SEO are even less common.

My suggestions:

- See what other article writers are doing / charging and see if you can work for the same or less to get started.

- Get a domain and web site or at least a blog and start writing for it. If you can write articles that people can use to make money, you can do it for yourself. It won't happen quickly though, so you should do other things like selling articles to make money more quickly. I can help you find a good domain name for your business site. Something like WritePark.com perhaps?

- When you get more experience, then I would go after bigger clients. Then you will be a "copywriter" and not just an article writer. Once you are copywriter you should be able to get more for the writing you do.

You are a hard worker, so work at gettting some patience. Try meditation. You will hate it, but it may be good for you and help you focus. If you are against that idea, read the book "Sidhartha" by Hermann Hesse and it may help to change your attitude.

Good Luck!

 

I know being impatient isn't healthy. I guess I'm impatient in a positive way, i.e., I want to get work soon and see some results! I know the best buyers are most probably looking for native writers only, and being an Indian, I know my chances may be a bit strained (what with a few Indians tricking their buyers and all ). Anyway, I'll try to do my best to compete against the tough market while maintaining a certain amount of quality

Thank you very much for the suggestions. I already own a couple of websites but none of them were created to establish my writing portfolio. I'll definitely take the advice you've given me and try to create a business site soon. And I'll try to reach the status of "copywriter" soon too

Oh, and btw, I've been practicing meditation since the age of three. While it has helped me greatly in health and mental issues, it's failed in giving me a little patience

 

Thank you for your nice reply to my post.

First of all, as a native English speaker (USA) I have to tell you that I did not know you were not a native speaker. In most cases I can always tell, even if there are just small hints. But you fooled me (without intention) completely. So you should not have any limitation there or not nearly as much as you think.

And i apologize about saying you should meditate. I had the wrong image of the kind of person you are and that is a limitation of this kind of communication. Clearly your problem is not patience but indicative of your drive and motivation. I have no doubt you will do well in time.

 

Well I must thank you for your flattering reply English is my third language but I've been using it regularly since childhood . I got some confidence due to this and that is why I'm trying to make that confidence profitable And there is no need for you to apologise about mentioning meditation; very few people take meditation seriously (even over here in India) and there's nothing wrong in trying to spread the word.

Coming back to the topic, thank you once again for your kind words. I'm looking forward to starting my business of selling articles pretty soon. If only DP didn't have the 14-day waiting period for newbies to buy/sell in the BST forum Oh well......

 

You're welcome, and I was just being honest about your language skills.

While waiting for DP to approve you, try some other forums like Namepros.com. Just make sure you read the rules for posting under each forum to avoid mistakes.

You can also use this time to work on your site and do some SEO for it. The keyword research part of SEO will be valuable for any writing you do for the web.

Please keep me posted about your business as I am interested to follow your progress.

 

i think it's good that u r a hard worker but i will suggest turn your impatience into infectious impatience and as about article selling business i think it's fine but everything depends upon marketing like all businesses.

 

Thanks for the helpful tip. I'm having a look at Namepros but it doesn't look to be as friendly as DP. I guess it'll do till I get full access here I'll be sure to keep you updated; you've given me quite a lot of useful advice already!

That's a cool suggestion And I agree that selling articles depends a lot on marketing; I hope DP will help me get better at it.

 

If you want to be taken seriously as a writer, use your 14 days of waiting to:

1. Set up a professional site of some kind. Even a Blogger blog is better than nothing at all. If your primary form of marketing is a thread, you're not a serious writer.
2. Get some verifiable samples out there and then link to them through your new site. There are plenty of websites that accept submissions that include a byline and link back to your new site. Choose your sites carefully - some might even help you earn a nickle or two. (Associated Content and Suite101 come to mind.)
3. Build your reputation as a knowledgeable individuals. The best business comes through direct connects in a forum - not through just-another-sales-thread that gets lost in the shuffle.

As for your original question, I'd say you'd do well to do a bit of industry research outside of the forums. Depending on who you asked, you'd hear that the best starting rate for a single article is $5 to $150. Personally, I like $50 to $75 if you're at the professional level, but without a site, brand and presence, you're not just yet. I'd shoot for $10 - $15, but be ready to justify those rates with effective marketing.

 

1.That's some seriously good advice; thanks a lot! I've started setting up my online portfolio. Although there isn't much to put in there just now, as you rightly pointed out, it's going to be very useful in the future.

2.I tried submitting my articles to ezinerticles.com but they seem to be taking a long time to approve them! I'll keep on looking.

3. I see what you mean. Getting offers through the forum directly is a very beneficial thing. In fact, I got two offers through PM on my very first day, just because I had commented in a few posts involving writing articles It's another matter that I never heard back from those members once I revealed my location Anyway, I can see that DP is going to be a very good place for me to find work.

I've done some research on people selling their articles online, and it seems that even $10 is a low amount for some established writers! They consider it cheap. I think it's a good starting point, and I hope most DP members wouldn't consider it a high price. I'm really confident about my work so I'm looking forward to prove my talent.

 

thanks!!! for listening because nowadays guys avoid even suggestions.....lol

 

I'm glad to hear you've done some research. You're right $10 to $15 is extremely low on the writing scale. My rates are still considered low in the professional sense at $50 to $100 per typical article. To command higher rates though, you'll need to be experienced in the industry and ready to market yourself as a professional with experience and knowledge to back your rates up.

 

Don't focus only on DP.

You should expand it to more forum such as warrior forum etc to get more sales.

 

Well, there are all kinds of people in the world!

Wow, getting $50 per article seems to be a distant dream! I hope you go even higher soon and meanwhile I'll do my best to catch-up

I've seen some other forums but to be honest (and not just to impress members here ) I think DP is the best place to start. Other sites (like Warriorforum) require $20 to post a classified ad, and Namepros seems to take forever to approve my thread in the marketplace. I haven't got any experience yet in DP, but I've been a visitor here since many months (mostly through Google) and it seems to be the best place for a person like me.

 

Hi Simpelton, how to start a writing service.

1) Show your skills - post 10-20 articles on different niches in articledirectories, under the penname, that you wished to work.
2) Make a thread in a forum or several Im-forums, where you post your services.
3) Give away in one forum, three reviews ( 3 times 3 articles for free) to a respected member in exchange for a review. This will get your business running, when they post in your thread.
4) Email 100 semiadvanced marketers to ask for small jobs, charge 3 buck a article in the beginning. Wne you got more experience and more customers, raise the price to 5 dollars.

regards, LASSE