Content writing has become a full-blown career for many aspiring and professional writers alike over the past decade, with numerous content writing sites appearing online and offering convenient payment in exchange for writing services on a wide variety of projects. For perhaps the first time in the history of the craft, making money as a writer has become a little easier, thanks to these websites and the speed and efficiency of the Internet. That said, it doesn’t mean every content writing website out there offering payment for your words is worth writing for. These freelance employers vary greatly in their practices, assignments, and ways of paying their content writers. Below is a helpful guide for what to look for in content writing sites before you settle on one as a source of income.
Do They Have Standards For Their Writers?
Many writing sites will make new writers apply, take tests, send in samples, or do assignments for them before they can begin accepting orders from clients. Sometimes this requires a writer to do free work. While this may come off as frustrating to some freelance writers out there, that they are doing free work for a company off the bat, this is actually a good thing. You don’t want to write for a content site that lets anyone in, as it most likely means lower pay for you and more competition for good jobs. Make sure the content writing site you sign up with has high standards and then work to meet those standards, as it will pay off in the long run.
Are the Assignments Regular?
Once you have begun working with a content writing website, the amount of work available is critical. Is there regular work or are there long stretches with nothing to pick up and work on, leaving you without anything to do and, in turn, no income? The latter is clearly a bad thing and, while this happens with almost all content sites from time to time, if it goes on for more than a day or two, it’s a bad sign. There may not be a lot of work coming their way or there may be too many other hungry writers snatching up assignments. Either way, it’s a detriment to the quality of the content site.
Are the Assignments Worth Your Time?
Other content sites will have more work than a stable of writers could ever do, but will literally be paying a dollar or two for hundreds of words, meaning your time and energy will be tremendously undervalued. While pricing is often determined on a per word basis, those who only have these very low paying assignments all the time aren’t worth it for most writers, as you are basically toiling away for minimum wage—and that’s assuming that every assignment you turn in doesn’t need a rewrite, ever. Which means you could be making well under minimum wage for a lot of work.
What is Their Reputation?
Before working for any content writing site, do some research on them. What are other writers saying? Do they always pay, are they reliable, what’s the general feeling from other freelancers? Don’t ever write for a site that has repeated bad marks from it’s hardworking freelance employees.
Eli K has written for content sites for a living for close to a decade, allowing him to work from anywhere and have the freedom that writers deserve. It also allows him to have very long lunch hours and explore a wide variety of restaurants.
