The WMF Archives: Make Content Mills Work for You

Friday, February 19, 2010

Make Content Mills Work for You

6:00 AM

By Rebecca Sebek

Content mills get a bad rap because some of them pay next to nothing. However, there are some content mills like Demand Studios that have a steady following. Some writers earn $1,000 or more per month. This isn't too shabby if you're a new freelance writer. Hey, you have to begin somewhere and it beats writing for free.

Many writers "poo-

poo" content mills because they believe they take advantage of writers. There are some decent content mills that pay writers $20 or more for a blog post. Finding those companies takes some effort from writers. Don't sign up with every content mill on the internet because you're desperate to earn income. You'll set yourself up for disappointment and failure. Choose your content mills with care. Get rid of the desperation right now!

Alert: Investigate content mills before you sign up with them. All that glitters may not be gold! Make sure you read and re-read the guidelines, policy, and terms of services.

Content mills can be a great place for an aspiring freelance writer to get their feet wet. Don't quit your day job! Freelance on the side, build up a portfolio, and then market your services. Make sure your boss and company don't find out. Some businesses frown upon those who "moonlight" on the side.

You may be able to negotiate your pay with a content mill. If you're a strong writer who is demand, write your own ticket. Speak with the owner or manager of the content mill. Perhaps you can receive a pay increase because clients keep coming back to the site and use your services. It doesn't hurt to try.

Before you put the brakes on writing for content mills, give them a chance. You may be surprised at what you find. You could have the potential to earn $1,000+per month. That's income you could use to start a savings or emergency fund account!

Labels: content mills, Content Mills Week, Rebecca Sebek

6 comments:

Carol Tice said...: Count me among the writers who do not think $20 a post is "decent." It's still utterly indecent in my view. For comparison, it's well below the lowest, bottom pay rate I ever got writing for the alternative press in the early 1990s, one of my break-in places. Yes, mill writing is often very quick and requires little research...but still not an appropriate wage for writing an article. Writers who look to the mills as a way to break in often seem to be uninformed about the many better-paying writing options out there.

I agree that if you're going to write for mills, at LEAST find the best-paying ones! Pay really does vary, and if you're going to write 30 or 40 articles a month for them the difference will add up.

Writers can better 'get rid of the desperation' by having a diversified portfolio of client types rather than depending on a mill or two for most of their income...as this week's closure of B5Media's entertainment portal showed yet again. Yes, markets of all types close, but because mills are mostly startups and the model is fairly new and still a bit experimental, the failure rate is quite high.

Carol Tice
On Make a Living Writing: How to Successfully Blog; February 19, 2010 12:21 PM
Rebecca said...: Content mills could be a great place for new writers. It will give them a chance to write and make some money on the side. I wouldn't make a career out of it, but new writers have to begin somewhere and it beats writing for free.; February 19, 2010 1:31 PM
Laya Bajpai said...: Rebecca,
I agree with you on this one. For new writers getting published is a great thing and content mills actually provide that much needed opportunity to build an online portfolio. You can use your published articles as samples and you still manage to get paid for writing them.
Laya; February 19, 2010 1:49 PM
Life And Death said...: Great post. I feel the need to add that those who write for content mills also need to be sure that they develop their SEO skills for maximum page views. This is what makes content mill writing so different from any other type of writing.; February 19, 2010 5:08 PM
Rebecca said...: Laya,

New writers will make some cash along way while honing their writing skills :)

Life and Death,

SEO is important. Some freelance writers still shy away from SEO because they want to stay true to their writing -- whatever that means. Unfortunately, clients want their keywords optimized in an article or blog post. Writing is like any other profession -- updating your skills is a must!; February 19, 2010 6:03 PM
Alyssa Ast said...: I do think content mills serve some form of purpose, such as learning SEO's. If I had never wrote for a mill I probably never would have learned how to correctly use them. In return it has led me to bigger, non-mill gigs.; February 20, 2010 10:31 AM

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