Why do content writers charge high rates?

[carol037]

Why do content writers charge high rates?

[Shadow_Ferret]

Because they work hard?

[novelette]

LOL@Shadow Ferret.

Seriously, I've seen a very wide range of pay rates. What's "high" to you, carol? I've seen some content writers write a 400-word article for $2 and some charge 50-cents a word. A lot of the time, experience and expertise factor into what they charge.

[speel00]

I agree with novelette. But I also know, that many people think $10.00 per article is high! Which is pretty low in reality.

[robinana]

I am new here, but am a freelance writer who gets most of my work writing web content. Because of the fact that most articles need some degree of research and keyword saturation to provide search engine optimization SEO for the client, I charge anywhere from $15 to $30 per article. Most clients have no problem with that. I started out writing for different "brokers" at about $5-$10 per article and eventually got my own client base by having a website and a Twitter following.

[IndianaJane]

You get what you pay for.

[Hsekhar]

@ carol037: You need to post what you think is high. I have seen different kinds of people writing a 500 word article from $1 to $50. Like someone said it all depends on what kind of experience you have, who good is the quality, and how famous you as a writer are!

[Old Hack]

I know that the word-count of the articles concerned hasn't been given here, but I don't usually write for print publications for less than about £350 per thousand. So those rates seem very low to me!

[boron]

If you spend a day or two for a well reserched article from the field that requires some professional knowledge, you won't charge $10 for 1000 words. It's per hour on the end...

[BrookieCookie777]

Sadly, many writers work for pennies on the dollar for this kind of work. If you were to ever poke around Elance or any other freelancing site, you would find that many bids are placed for 50 plus SEO articles for about $50 for the ENTIRE project.

This kind of work is so tiring. And some low rate magazines pay 50 dollars per article.

If you are a business person looking for content writers, it is true that you often get what you pay for. But then again, in this economy it is possible to find good writers desperate for work.

Don't think that really helped anything, lol but there you go.

[StumbleRum]

Online content writing is very low paying in general, but it doesn't have to be. If you know how to add value to your writing and market yourself and can find out who to market yourself to, it can actually be even more lucrative than magazine writing.

[veinglory]

Because they can.

[Matt Willard]

I charge high rates because I want a PSP :V

Well, if that bugs you, you can go for high rates and then offer discounts for new clients, referrals...things like that.

[Words Are My Life]

I charge higher rates when working directly for a company on a brochure, flyer, re-doing their website content completely etc. I spend A LOT of time on this and feel I deserve to be paid at least the same as someone would who would do this type of job internally at a company. Like someone else said, you get what you pay for. The only time I get this type of work is through direct connections in my everyday life.

On the other hand when picking up small jobs online writing random web content I often get paid a lot lower, but am only spending maybe an hour doing the article.

[Keyword Geek]

Good writers hold attention, interest and convert.

[mathewferguson]

Projects that earn the client a lot of money should earn you a lot of money.

A single well-written article can draw in masses of hits and over its lifetime earn much more than the freelancer cost.

[FreelanceKen]

The idea for good content on a website is content that engages the reader, gets the attention of the search engines and encourages a sale. To get all that in under 500-750 words is valuable.