Am I Charging High For My Service! $2

by zaccks
38 replies
Please I really need warrior reviews. I wrote 700 word articles for a client and the deal was $2/700 words.

After completing 20 articles for him, he sends me another 30 keywords to write. But this time he's paying $1.5/700 words. And all the previous 20 articles I've written for him, he didn't make any complain, they passed copyscape premium check, nor did he make complain of mistakes in the articles. I honestly write the articles according to his instructions.

I'll share a link to one of the articles I've written and warriors please I need your help to review the article and see if my writing is actually worth no more than $1.5 , here is the sample article;

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0abi5xvia7...Pest.docx?dl=0


I don't mind writing for $1.5/per article if that's what my writing is worth, but I really need help from warrior to rate my writing. I am back online after a long time and I need to pick up freelance work no matter how small it is. I have my target to write like around 300 articles only so that I can get funds to start getting into the internet marketing biz.

I really appreciate all your thoughts and comments,
Thank you.
#charging #high #service
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  • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
    No, you definitely stick up your hand and ask about this unexpected change of terms.

    This is called an ambush and is not acceptable.

    You have to be willing to walk away. Focus on the change of terms, "why were the terms changed here without us speaking?", rather than "Why did you change the terms?" You don't want them to have to justify their change. If you push them into a corner and make it about 'them' and 'their decision', they'll defend and defend and defend.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kay King
    Two problems with your post:

    1. you did not post a writing sample. Don't link out to an article - just post 3-4 paragraphs here so people can see the quality of the article.

    Edit: you have now posted a writing sample. It's not bad, but not good, either. Maybe it's worth writing more to improve if someone is willing to pay you to do it. You'll be that much better when you are writing for your own site. You have to decide if the effort to write is worth that amount of payment or not.

    2. you are putting prices in U.S. dollars - but how does that compare with your own local currency? If the cost of living in your country is far less than in the U.S., you can't make such a comparison.

    I don't mind writing for $1.5/per article if that's what my writing is worth
    Your writing is worth what someone is willing to pay for it - and what YOU are willing to accept as payment. $1.5 per article sounds horrible - but if that is worth $6 in your monetary system...not bad. Is that the case here?

    Your English is very good but there are sentence and word errors in your post above and in the article. If a buyer must edit articles before posting them, that might lead him to offer a lower price. Whether you accept that price is your choice.
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  • Profile picture of the author zaccks
    you are putting prices in U.S. dollars - but how does that compare with your own local currency? If the cost of living in your country is far less than in the U.S., you can't make such a comparison.
    $1.5 can buy a decent meal in my area. This is Africa.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    The OP article example is obviously keyword stuffed for SEO.

    Buyers for this type of content will never pay much.

    Your competition is text spinning software.
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  • Profile picture of the author Triple 888 SEO
    Why not write higher quality articles and charge $10?
    Good content is always needed and when things are busy I have paid $20 for a decent 500 word article.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kay King
    $1.5 can buy a decent meal in my area. This is Africa.
    That was my point. And the buyers know that, too. $1.50 is about the minimum wage...is that right?

    The writing is 'content mill' quality. If you can write 2-3 articles per hour - that may be a livable wage where you live. Compare the income from writing these articles with income from a job in your country - and decide whether you want to write the articles or not.
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  • Profile picture of the author tomopalinski
    1.5$ for a 700-word article is very cheap for a decent article in my book.

    Do not lower your prices if you believe that your articles are worth more. The buyer already showed that your content is acceptable to him/her and he/she is willing to stay with you. Lowering the price is just an attempt to get more out of you than you are already giving.

    Stay with the price. Keep in mind that this is a partnership that should always work both ways. A buyer needs to be a great fit for a seller and a seller needs to be a great fit for a buyer. Otherwise, its just unhappy relationship and those should never last long.

    Good luck and enjoy the process.
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  • Profile picture of the author OptedIn
    An article, just like a website or a domain name is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

    People are always going to look to pay the lowest price possible, regardless of the quality. Every seller needs to set their own low price where they feel that anything below that figure affects their own level of self-respect and commit to not accepting anything below that amount.

    This is an individual choice, but if you are going to accept jobs below that dollar amount you must realize that no one put a gun to your head to accept the work and you really don't have much to complain about. You had a choice in the matter.

    Accept the payment without complaint, or move along.
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    • Profile picture of the author PPG19
      Originally Posted by OptedIn View Post

      People are always going to look to pay the lowest price possible, regardless of the quality.
      Completely wrong and so far from the truth.
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      • Profile picture of the author OptedIn
        Originally Posted by PPG19 View Post

        Completely wrong and so far from the truth.
        Really? I guess you look to pay as much as possible? Just one more way that you're 'special.' :-)
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        • Profile picture of the author PPG19
          Originally Posted by OptedIn View Post

          Really? I guess you look to pay as much as possible? Just one more way that you're 'special.' :-)
          Yours was just a untruth statement based on nothing, probably because you have no idea...
          Are you saying that there aren't people willing to pay premium prices for quality?
          Then i guess the right place for you is Fiverr...
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          • Profile picture of the author OptedIn
            Originally Posted by PPG19 View Post

            Yours was just a untruth statement based on nothing, probably because you have no idea...
            Are you saying that there aren't people willing to pay premium prices for quality?
            Then i guess the right place for you is Fiverr...
            Reading is a prerequisite for participating in a forum thread. I'll try this, again.

            "People will always look to pay the lowest price possible for anything they purchase, and this includes things deemed to be, 'high-quality."

            Regardless of the 'quality, people will still want to pay the lowest price they can, for whatever level of quality of product or service they are shopping for. No one wants to pay a penny more than they have to - regardless of the quality. If I'm shopping for a Rolls-Royce, I want the absolute lowest price I can get for a Rolls-Royce. If I'm shopping for a Chevy Impala, I want it at the lowest possible price that I can find one for. I don't expect to buy a Rolls-Royce at the price of a Chevy Impala.

            This is called, 'human nature" and 'sound financial sense.'

            Hopefully I cleared that up for you. :-)
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            • Profile picture of the author PPG19
              Originally Posted by OptedIn View Post

              Reading is a prerequisite for participating in a forum thread. I'll try this, again.

              "People will always look to pay the lowest price possible for anything they purchase, and this includes things deemed to be, 'high-quality."

              Regardless of the 'quality, people will still want to pay the lowest price they can, for whatever level of quality of product or service they are shopping for. No one wants to pay a penny more than they have to - regardless of the quality. If I'm shopping for a Rolls-Royce, I want the absolute lowest price I can get for a Rolls-Royce. If I'm shopping for a Chevy Impala, I want it at the lowest possible price that I can find one for. I don't expect to buy a Rolls-Royce at the price of a Chevy Impala.

              This is called, 'human nature" and 'sound financial sense.'

              Hopefully I cleared that up for you. :-)
              No kidding. Thank you for your lessons once again..
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              • Profile picture of the author OptedIn
                Originally Posted by PPG19 View Post

                No kidding. Thank you for your lessons once again..
                I live to serve. Teaching is just a natural byproduct. :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
    Fascinating you guys...I've had a contract for $100 for a 600 word article.

    Yeah, they were for scientific and testing equipment...

    ...yeah, they had to be technically accurate...

    ...and yeah, they were for engineers and contractors and scientists and educators to read and have a good feeling about the competence of the company because of...

    ...but $2 for an article is chump change.

    I wouldn't even buy an article for $2. Not even under $20.

    I want to know the writer is COMMITTED and DEPENDABLE.

    I guess it depends on the scale you're operating at.
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    • Profile picture of the author yukon
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Jason Kanigan View Post

      Fascinating you guys...I've had a contract for $100 for a 600 word article.

      Yeah, they were for scientific and testing equipment...

      ...yeah, they had to be technically accurate...

      ...and yeah, they were for engineers and contractors and scientists and educators to read and have a good feeling about the competence of the company because of...

      ...but $2 for an article is chump change.

      I wouldn't even buy an article for $2. Not even under $20.

      I want to know the writer is COMMITTED and DEPENDABLE.

      I guess it depends on the scale you're operating at.



      Sure but you have to put the project in context with the buyer.

      Look at OPs example article, it's a local business buying keyword stuffed pages for SEO (pest control austin texas).

      In this case the buyer knows OP can be replaced with a lower bidder for the same content.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jonathan 2.0
    Banned
    If you can create a good income (relatively speaking) from 2$ articles ... Then go for it. (You can always charge more as you hone your skills.)
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  • Profile picture of the author MartinBuckley
    What you are charging is cheap compared to what others are charging, but at the same time if you are getting clients on a regular basis at the prices your charging and it's working for you and feeding your family and your happy with that, then stick with it. I would just be afraid that if you raise your prices you might loose some or all your clients and I wouldn't want that to happen to you, so you just have to do what you know is best for you and your family. I wish you much success!
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  • Profile picture of the author rockerjaw
    I wonder how many 700 word article's I could write at that price? How long does each article take to write? Maybe think about working for an hourly rate instead. I think the work load over an hour is worth more than $2 per article as long as the qualities there. However if the money is needed and its value increase in your neck of the woods...Its a balancing issue.
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  • Profile picture of the author Maxxx333
    hello dude, sorry but what i really think is that you really undercharge him for your work dude, no matter the quality of articles you are writing for this dude, it's really not well paid. You should try to join some freelancer platform as Upwork, and try to work with them, for more incomes.
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  • Profile picture of the author drgreg
    Have to agree with most of the other replies here. Your rates are very low. Having been a medical writer on and off for the past 8 years, I can tell you from experience that clients don't take you seriously with those rates.

    They think you are desperate and will therefore be willing to take a lower rate. Even though your writing and English is not great (sorry but I'm being honest), you should never price yourself so low. Stand your ground with this client!!!
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    Originally Posted by zaccks View Post

    Please I really need warrior reviews. I wrote 700 word articles for a client and the deal was $2/700 words.
    This price astounds me. There's no way in the world someone could expect great quality from an article that only costs $2 for 700 words. You can go and fiverr and make more money than that. At this rate, no matter how many clients you get, you will literally be writing yourself to death.
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  • Profile picture of the author DIABL0
    I looked around and $2 per 500 was basically the average of low-cost services that I found.

    I would message the buyer and say you are pretty booked and can't do any further work for less than $x and don't be afraid to walk away.

    Otherwise, take the work and do it.
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  • Profile picture of the author anayb
    You're doing something terribly wrong, my dear friend. Writing is the most laborious task I have ever done! You're much underpaid. I suggest you better learn how to market your skills, and look for higher paying clients.
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  • Profile picture of the author radu
    Originally Posted by zaccks View Post

    Please I really need warrior reviews. I wrote 700 word articles for a client and the deal was $2/700 words.

    After completing 20 articles for him, he sends me another 30 keywords to write. But this time he's paying $1.5/700 words. And all the previous 20 articles I've written for him, he didn't make any complain, they passed copyscape premium check, nor did he make complain of mistakes in the articles. I honestly write the articles according to his instructions.

    .
    Regardless the country you're in you're writing kind of for free ;-) at this price to be honest..unless you write for a client that has a website in Bangladesh or smth similar which would make no sense to write the articles in English.. For the US/UK/AU market the prices for a good article well researched are around 35-50 dollars (for around 1000-1500 words..so reflect on this..u can see for yourself on the freelance jobs sites like upwork, guru, freelancer, etc the prices..TIME IS MONEY don't forget that..and good writers are in high demand these days..

    Your time spent to write these articles so cheap is much more valuable I believe..don't you?
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  • Profile picture of the author DABK
    There's a thing called value, which is subjective. And a thing called price. Price is what you ask for your writing. Equally subjective. And there's payment. That's what someone pays you for something.

    Value is the amount of money a typical buyer and a typical seller, typically motivated agree upon.

    Here's where people go wrong: they assume that there's only one market. To be specific, there are many people who think that there's only one market for articles...

    The guy who was happy with 2 dollar articles but wants 1.5 dollar articles now either has no idea what value in the market they are playing in has or they are playing in the market where a 700-word article is worth around 1.5 dollars.

    If the first, if they don't have a clue, turn them down, insist on $2, since this is what you know the market values articles like yours.

    If the second, find another market, one where you write them articles at $5 and they counter offer at $4.5; or where you write them articles at $25 and they counter offer with $22.

    Your article is fluff meant to be used as fluff. Fluff has little value to the client. If your client is in Austin, TX, though, 1.5 for 700 is cheap all the same. $2 is cheap.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    I'm trying to figure out how someone could be ok with $2 but $1.50 isn't ok.

    That's a $0.50 difference, lmao.
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    • Profile picture of the author OptedIn
      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      I'm trying to figure out how someone could be ok with $2 but $1.50 isn't ok.

      That's a $0.50 difference, lmao.
      That's referred to as, "Having to draw the line, somewhere." If not - where does it end???
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      • Profile picture of the author yukon
        Banned
        Originally Posted by OptedIn View Post

        That's referred to as, "Having to draw the line, somewhere." If not - where does it end???

        Like the saying goes... "Screw me once, shame on you. Screw me twice, shame on me.".
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      I'm trying to figure out how someone could be ok with $2 but $1.50 isn't ok.

      That's a $0.50 difference, lmao.
      Put another way, the OP's buyer is asking for a 25% discount for the same work with no rationale.

      Fifty cents may be piddlin' but 25% is a pretty big ask with no reason given.
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      • Profile picture of the author yukon
        Banned
        Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

        Put another way, the OP's buyer is asking for a 25% discount for the same work with no rationale.

        Fifty cents may be piddlin' but 25% is a pretty big ask with no reason given.


        He lost 25% of his dignity.
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        • Profile picture of the author DABK
          Originally Posted by yukon View Post

          He lost 25% of his dignity.
          Actually, it is one third of a decent meal where the OP lives: the OP stated $1.5 buys a decent meal.
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          • Profile picture of the author yukon
            Banned
            Originally Posted by DABK View Post

            Actually, it is one third of a decent meal where the OP lives: the OP stated $1.5 buys a decent meal.
            So the $2 was steak and lobster?

            Probably not.
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  • Profile picture of the author UnkwnUsr
    In my opinion whether it's a lot of money or not is irrelevant. The buyer wants to change the rate without any explanation or negotiation, that shows disrespect on his part. If the writing is even half way decent he'll be able to find better clients.
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  • Profile picture of the author ChrisBa
    Originally Posted by zaccks View Post

    Please I really need warrior reviews. I wrote 700 word articles for a client and the deal was $2/700 words.

    After completing 20 articles for him, he sends me another 30 keywords to write. But this time he's paying $1.5/700 words. And all the previous 20 articles I've written for him, he didn't make any complain, they passed copyscape premium check, nor did he make complain of mistakes in the articles. I honestly write the articles according to his instructions.

    I'll share a link to one of the articles I've written and warriors please I need your help to review the article and see if my writing is actually worth no more than $1.5 , here is the sample article;

    https://www.dropbox.com/s/0abi5xvia7...Pest.docx?dl=0


    I don't mind writing for $1.5/per article if that's what my writing is worth, but I really need help from warrior to rate my writing. I am back online after a long time and I need to pick up freelance work no matter how small it is. I have my target to write like around 300 articles only so that I can get funds to start getting into the internet marketing biz.

    I really appreciate all your thoughts and comments,
    Thank you.

    That price point seems very low. I'd hire you to write articles for that price if they are quality. Normally I pay 10x that.
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  • Profile picture of the author dilipcybex
    Those days have gone. $5 is the new minimum.
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  • Profile picture of the author Eurotech
    Sorry, I would never write anything for $1.5 or $2. I'm sure you can find higher-paying freelance jobs...
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  • Profile picture of the author sonlongho
    Just say no to such clients. I had a client who used to pay me $1 per words in 2010, he reduced it to $3 per 500 words and then started asking for even lower. I politely said no, after few months he contacted me again with offer of $2 per 100 words.
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