Freelance Writing Job to Avoid - Content Gurus
By Raven1
@Raven1 (577)
Australia
May 13, 2009 4:39am CST
Hi all,
One of the readers on my blog emailed me and asked me to investigate a freelance site called "Content Gurus". He wanted to apply to be a writer there.
The research I did showed me that this site offers to pay $2.50 for a 400 word article. The same research showed that along with being an EXTREMELY low paying market, there are a lot of writers complaining that the site doesn't pay them at all for the work they've done.
So Content Gurus goes into the 'jobs to avoid' category.
:)
2 people like this
5 responses
@scheng1 (24649)
• Singapore
13 May 09
Hi Raven1, thanks for the information. It must be very painful for the writers, anyway the site is not paying that much. Just $2.50 for a 400 word article is very cheap.
Some of the writers for Associated Content managed to get as high as $9 upfront, plus opportunity to earn page view bonus.
I come across a new site, Topicwrite. It is similar to Dailyarticle. I have upload a few articles, hopefully can sell some at the end of the month.
The approval time for dailyarticle is usually long. My articles took a whole month to get approval. Hope the new writing site, Topicwrite, proves to be worthy of my time.
3 people like this
@Raven1 (577)
• Australia
13 May 09
Thanks for responding. I put most of my online work on Constant Content first and usually set my prices between $40 and $50 per article. I have a couple of articles on Daily Article, but I've found that the prices are lower and the time between sales is much longer than Constant Content.
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@scheng1 (24649)
• Singapore
14 May 09
Hi Raven1, agree that dailyarticle is not as good as Constant-Content, in term of customer flow and quality of customer.
Some AC writers who are able to make good use of SEO techniques, can earn more than $15 per month from page view payments alone.
One writer, captdallas2, wrote about "Gatorade versus PowerAde which is the best sports drink". This article generates between 1,200 to 1,500 page views per month, which is making him more than $20 per month.
An article with good keyword density (especially evergreen article) is better off earning from page views, than to sell in Constant-Content for full rights.
2 people like this
@Sandra1952 (6047)
• Spain
13 May 09
Thanks for the tip. I recently did a job with 10 400 word articles for $5 per article, and I thought that was low, but okay as the articles were quick and easy to write. I write for Helium, and I know the pay is poor, but I'd rather do that than allow these people to take advantage of my writing skills. At least with Helium you still own the copyright. I would imagine that as Content Guru are 'paying' you for articles, they retain the copyright as well?
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@Raven1 (577)
• Australia
13 May 09
Thanks for your reply. I didn't check into the copyright for Content Guru. I was more concerned about the fact that they're not paying writers at all, so I wanted to try and get a warning out to as many writers as I could. I'll check the copyright and get right back to you. Wait there....
Ok I'm back... Thanks for waiting. It's a ghost-writing site. If you submit work to them, they own the copyright. They're buying full rights. What a joke.
1 person likes this
@paid2write (5201)
•
14 May 09
If the site is not paying out, I suspect that is because she can't find any buyers because she is not gettting articles of good enough quality.
For a writer to sell a good article with full rights for $2.50 is just allowing other people to sell it on as their work and make a big profit.
There is nothing to stop anyone who buys articles with full rights to offer them on sites like CC and DA, using different pen names. They could even use freelance sites to sell the articles to someone who will pay a decent price.
I write and sell articlea of that length with full rights for a minimum of $25, usually I get paid more than that.
I can get $2.50 for a new article at Helium and then I will earn additional daily income from that article. I can sell non-exclusive rights to my stock articles at Helium for $5. I still own the copyright, and those articles keep on earning money for me from page views.
@Raven1 (577)
• Australia
14 May 09
Thanks for commenting. The writers I contacted regarding Content Gurus were asked to complete article assignments for clients. The owners of the site are paid up front for any article orders received, so they've been paid.
The writers aren't being paid once those assignments are completed and submitted, so I felt that it belonged on my growing list of 'Freelance Writing Jobs to Avoid'.
My only goal out of all this is helping writers earn what they deserve for their time and effort, so I'm happy to tell as many writers as possible to be wary of sites like this.
@LindseyRainwater (12)
• United States
10 Jun 09
Hey Raven, I just wanted to say thanks for the heads-up. Thankfully I saw this warning on your blog too, and I can help warn people away from Content Gurus.
Anyone who hasn't been to Raven's blog yet . . . you really should go. Great stuff!
--Lindsey Rainwater
www.rainwaterfreelancing.blogspot.com
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