What’s wrong with this Freelance Writing Ad?
When I was getting started as a freelance writer, I spent countless hours browsing bidding sites such as GetAFreelancer. In fact, I found so much work on GAF that I never took the time to sign up with similar sites. Although I do not bid on as many jobs as before, this is still a market that I keep an eye on.
Feedback from readers on bidding sites has not been good as of late. It seems that there are two major issues that many of you guys and gals are running into time after time:
1. Every job on these bidding sites is low paying. And low paying means just a couple of dollars for 500 words or so. While I am all about working for less to get started, you have to draw the line somewhere.
2. They are outbid by writers who are willing to work for pennies, but do not produce high quality work. This is difficult to overcome because the buyer has the final say on who they want to work with. And in many cases, it is the person who will save them the most money.
While looking through some emails this morning, I came across this job on GetAFreelancer. From the get-go I could see quite a few issues:
Hi,
I am looking for efficient and affordable teams for ongoing projects
I need original articles, blogs, website content and re-writes. I need only dedicated teams who can deliver timely work on daily basis without making excuses. Mention in your bid what amount of work you can handle comfortably.There will be no payment if the projects are delayed or quality is compromised. We want you to follow the guidelines exactly. Guidelines will be well explained and in detail.
1. First off, you can see that the buyer forgot to insert a period after the first sentence. Additionally, there are other grammatical and structural issues that are quite obvious. This shows from the start that the buyer is not serious or professional. Everybody makes mistakes, but these are simple errors that should never be published.
2. “There will be no payment if the projects are delayed or quality is compromised.†This is a red flag to be aware of. When a buyer says this, it gives them an “out.†In other words, they can keep your work and not pay you by blaming it on a missed deadline or poor quality. The problem is, who is to say what is poor quality?
Rates will be (no negotiations, you should bid only if you are comfortablewith rates)
Original 250 words article – $1
Original 500 words article – $2.5
Original tech 500 words article – $3
Original 350 words article – $1.5
Re-write 500 words – $1
rewrite 250 words – $0.5
1. These rates are quite low, to say the least. Although you may be able to earn a good bit if you work in bulk, you are going to waste a lot of time to make this money. Getting paid $1 for 250 words of original content or $.50 for a 250 word rewrite is not good; even if you do need to break into the industry. Things have changed a lot over the past few years, and you should be able to find jobs that are higher paying; even if only by a couple dollars.
The projects will be ongoing so need only reliable teams
Attach a sample article of 150 words on “my attitude towards life” or “Role of ecommerce today”
1. As I have said before, beware of any potential client who asks for samples upfront. In many cases they will take one sample from a group of writers and in turn end up with enough free unique content that they never have to pay. This is the oldest game in the book, and one that you want to avoid at all costs. This does not mean that you should never supply samples, but you should definitely expect to get paid if you have to write a unique article.
At this point, there are only two bids on this job. Even though the terms are not that great, you can be rest assured that somebody will accept this position.Â
When you come across a quality job at a bidding site you will know it. Simply put, the job outlined above has too many holes to consider it worth your time.Â
