Text Broker / Content Mills advice needed

[Success19]

I doubt most writers keep 5,000 articles on their computer to sort through. I cleared most of mine out to speed up my computer. I am also at about 5,000, and it would have taken days to open up the pages and read the things.

Right now, you can hear a pin drop over there for the most part.

I have decided to play hooky and get outside today.

I am gearing up again to look for a brick-and-mortar job because I am tired of hunting and pecking for orders that are not there.

Being a door greeter, stocking shelves or operating a cash register seems more lucrative right now to me.

[AC80]

I'm sorry, Success, but I have the feeling that you may be misunderstanding the situation. I write for TB on occasion, and I have not experienced anything close to what you're describing. Naturally, they don't want you reusing old articles, but I have a tough time buying that they are actually asking writers to rifle through their past articles....can you point me in the direction to where they're actually saying this?

[beanandpumpkin]

Originally Posted by AC80

I'm sorry, Success, but I have the feeling that you may be misunderstanding the situation. I write for TB on occasion, and I have not experienced anything close to what you're describing. Naturally, they don't want you reusing old articles, but I have a tough time buying that they are actually asking writers to rifle through their past articles....can you point me in the direction to where they're actually saying this?

I was curious too, so I went and looked at the blog. On a post about plagiarism, it says:

"Keep copies of your work saved on your computer so that you can review them and remember what you have written previously."

https://www.textbroker.com/combating-copied-content-0

I don't write for TB so I have no horse in this race, but I wanted to know more!

[AC80]

OK, well, I guess I just don't interpret that as a requirement to check through all past articles prior to submitting new ones....just a reminder to be aware. But I definitely agree with Success about it being a huge hassle to save every single article. I'm not gong to worry about this, though. Thanks beanandpumpkin!

[Success19]

This was one of the issues recently addressed in the site's blog. In TB's forum discussion, they actually stated that writers were misunderstanding what was being said (after I posted here).

Meanwhile, the direction details over there are become more obscure. A client might drop 50 orders with titles of blog 1, blog 2 or order 1, order 2 with directions such as:

Write about the topic in the title - and there is nothing else - that means writers must message the client asking what the topic is - this leads to an editor needing to read and approve all of the messages - send the messages - the client must read the messages - write a response to each one - then an editor must read each message to approve it before it is sent to each writer.

A long and tedious process that could take days to complete.

Keep in mind that TB might have low staffing at particular times of the day, night and weekend.

It would be a wise move for TB to streamline the process by having editors look/read directions along with titles and checking links before the order is placed in the queue.

This method is faster and would make big improvements to the site IMO.

Of course, none of these suggestions do any good when the editors have never written for the site and do not know what writers are up against.

[AG1976]

One site that I write for not only has an automatic plagiarism check for external content but also an auto check that scans the writer's own previous submissions. TB could implement something similar if they wanted.

[Success19]

Originally Posted by AG1976

One site that I write for not only has an automatic plagiarism check for external content but also an auto check that scans the writer's own previous submissions. TB could implement something similar if they wanted.

This system is in place over there but is causing problems with submissions getting hung up until it is reviewed by staff. The problem is that if you are writing direct or team orders and you must use the same business name, address and telephone number, it gets stuck there for days until a editor has time to review it. This does not make clients happy, and they tend to take their frustrations out on writers not the people in charge.

[adbullock]

I definitely encourage you to make the leap to private clients as quickly as possible and only resort to content mills when times are lean (just be warned that EVERYONE resorts to content mills in August, November, and December so don't count on them during these months as they may as well not exist).

I know a lot of people here are recommending diversification as a key to success when it comes to freelance writing, but I have a different suggestion: specialize.

It may seem counterintuitive, but you can command higher rates and often write much faster when it's a subject matter you know well. You don't have to start out as a specialty writer and you don't have to do it exclusively -- we all have to pay the bills, but once you begin specializing in a specific field, your name and reputation in that field will grow, making it possible for you to demand higher prices for your work and maximizing your time (because you're earning more money writing articles that take less time to research).

It doesn't even have to be a topic you know well now. If you've worked in a certain field though or have a certain educational background it can be highly useful. I've leveraged work I found interesting for past clients into fields where I specialize today and I stay busy -- a LOT of the work I get today is word of mouth recommendations, I don't even keep up a website anymore -- and I really need to take my own advice about raising my rates and valuing my time better. Unfortunately, it's easy to fall into a rut of working with the same clients year after year without raising the rates.

I also do recommend staying up-to-date with the latest SEO practices -- and to understand that, unless you make the move to print, this will be a part of your job as a freelance writer forever. The rules of SEO and expectations of writers are constantly changing.

Good luck!

[Success19]

Originally Posted by adbullock

I definitely encourage you to make the leap to private clients as quickly as possible and only resort to content mills when times are lean (just be warned that EVERYONE resorts to content mills in August, November, and December so don't count on them during these months as they may as well not exist).

I know a lot of people here are recommending diversification as a key to success when it comes to freelance writing, but I have a different suggestion: specialize.

It may seem counterintuitive, but you can command higher rates and often write much faster when it's a subject matter you know well. You don't have to start out as a specialty writer and you don't have to do it exclusively -- we all have to pay the bills, but once you begin specializing in a specific field, your name and reputation in that field will grow, making it possible for you to demand higher prices for your work and maximizing your time (because you're earning more money writing articles that take less time to research).

It doesn't even have to be a topic you know well now. If you've worked in a certain field though or have a certain educational background it can be highly useful. I've leveraged work I found interesting for past clients into fields where I specialize today and I stay busy -- a LOT of the work I get today is word of mouth recommendations, I don't even keep up a website anymore -- and I really need to take my own advice about raising my rates and valuing my time better. Unfortunately, it's easy to fall into a rut of working with the same clients year after year without raising the rates.

I also do recommend staying up-to-date with the latest SEO practices -- and to understand that, unless you make the move to print, this will be a part of your job as a freelance writer forever. The rules of SEO and expectations of writers are constantly changing.

Good luck!

I would love private clients but must look way outside of my geographic zone to find them. The telephone directory for my entire county is about 1/4th of an inch thick and that includes the white and yellow pages (and a lot of those addresses and telephone numbers are from way outside of the area). I have tried to find clients in larger cities in my state but apparently SEO and blog writing, isn't a popular concept in my state (yet). When I write for contact mills, I have noticed that most work is for very large cities (Miami, Atlanta, Los Angeles). I suspect this is because businesses are trying to compete with each other with the content is king concept. In smaller cities, there is no (or little) competition.

I am able to write on a lot of areas due to life experience, but I have developed a few speciality niches.

[beanandpumpkin]

Originally Posted by Success19

I would love private clients but must look way outside of my geographic zone to find them. The telephone directory for my entire county is about 1/4th of an inch thick and that includes the white and yellow pages (and a lot of those addresses and telephone numbers are from way outside of the area). I have tried to find clients in larger cities in my state but apparently SEO and blog writing, isn't a popular concept in my state (yet). When I write for contact mills, I have noticed that most work is for very large cities (Miami, Atlanta, Los Angeles). I suspect this is because businesses are trying to compete with each other with the content is king concept. In smaller cities, there is no (or little) competition.

I am able to write on a lot of areas due to life experience, but I have developed a few speciality niches.

My current clients are located all over the country. My three biggest clients are in Florida, North Carolina, and Southern California. I had a long-term client in Australia a couple of years ago, too. This is the Internet; you don't have to limit yourself to one geographical area at all.