Confessions of a Professional Content Writer

Do you operate a blog or need to spruce up the content of your sales page? If so, you may have been tempted to hire a content writer at some point. It’s not going to be a full-time position, just somebody you can pay so many dollars per article. So you hit the Web to see what’s out there. Freelancer.com is a favorite, and so are websites like Fiverr.com. You just wonder how those guys feel about churning out other people’s content. The truth is…

Some of us have blogs of our own. Sure, we’ll write your article, but don’t expect it to be our best work. The main reason we’re content writers is that we need to pay the bills, too, and we don’t have the extra money to pay one of our colleagues to write the articles for us. So we do the work and also find the time to write articles for our own blog.
Google is our friend. How many times have I Googled topics like “How To Clean Your Fireplace”? The fact is, content writers are not going to be experts on every topic that comes our way. You might get a unique article that passes Copyscape out of it, but you can be sure that we used the search engines just to get the basic information.
We hate those so-called “content writers” that don’t understand your preferred language, too. Any good content writer is going to hear about it at some point. Somebody wasted their money on somebody who just didn’t have a good grasp of English grammar, syntax and spelling. That drags down the reputation of content writers everywhere. When you look for a content writer, we all would appreciate it if you use the same common sense that you would while hiring another employee.
Did you pay $12.95 for that article? You may have overpaid. A typical content writer is making $6 or less for every 500-word article. If you’re paying $12.95 for an article, you should at least get something like 1000 words for it. Whenever possible, skip the “agencies” and go directly to a good freelancing site that takes less of a cut of the money.
You’re not our only client. Even if you buy 25 articles a month from us, we might put you aside for a little bit to squeeze out an article for someone who bought one. The best and busiest content writers can expect to crank out between five and ten articles a day, usually for a few different people. So tell us if you need the article today and, if we like you, we might find a way to fit it in. Otherwise, don’t panic if you have to wait a day or two for your article.
We’ve all had that client from Hell. You have that boss who makes you overhaul that huge project two or three times before he’s happy. We have clients who make us completely overhaul the article four or five times before we see a cent. We’ve also had the ones who rant at us long after the project is over until we turn all their communications over to the police, the ones who never get around to paying us, and the ones who try to get us to write ten articles for their X-rated site. And they wonder why we turn down the occasional project and insist on a signed contract up front for the rest.
We’re working from our “home office”. For content writers, a typical commute consists of the few feet from our bed to the computer. It’s not unusual for me to check for new jobs while still in my pajamas. Very few of us have the money or inclination for an elaborate office when all we really need is a desk, a laptop and an Internet connection.
Very few of us take weekends off. For many of us, content writing is our full-time job and we work Saturday and Sunday too. If I pass up a $60 job, it’s not because I want my weekends free or because my eyes are glazed over from churning out other people’s content. The usual reason is that the job just isn’t going to work out for whatever reason (and, yes, you can find content writers with fewer scruples).
We’re bored. So you want ten unique articles on how to choose cages for various breeds of parrot. How many times can you reasonably rehash exactly the same information? It’s a paycheck, but it’s also monstrously dull work.

Create Content That Encourages Visitors To Stick Around

It is so tempting to create content that’s attractive to the search engines. But what about your visitors? They’re the ones who are actually seeing your website and (you hope) sharing it on Twitter and Facebook. Which means creating content that actually encourages them to stick around for a while and maybe buy what you’re selling. This book should provide a good primer on how to do that.

More Stuff You’ll Need For Creating Good Content

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