I haven’t been impressed with the job postings on Elance this month. They seem to be consisting of more and more “bulk” jobs (ex. 50 articles) and not anything that interests me. I’ve applied for some editing/proofreading jobs this month because I could use the extra money but unfortunately none of those have panned out.
There is one more job I am considering, though I don’t know enough about the whole blogging for money industry to determine if it is worth it. Essentially the subject is something I am familiar with and would not have any problems formulating topics to blog about. However the pay is $5/post. While the employer doesn’t specify word count (leaves it to the writer’s own judgement), I am cautious that I will end up writing and re-writing a 300 word blog post over and over again for the sum of $5 (less Elance fees). Also, Elance has a minimum bid of $50, so I’d have to bid on 10 blog entries (at $5/each) just to bid the job to begin with.
What do you think? Have any of you been paid to blog for someone else? Is $5 per post a good rate?
more cat pictures
6 comments
Comments feed for this article
June 26, 2008 at 7:43 pm
-M.
I think $5.00 per post is pretty low. For blog posts of 250 – 400 words I don’t charge less than $20.
Yes, it’s high, but I make sure my clients understand what they’re getting. Me at $20 or more a post is a world away from the writer at $5 per post. Not only do I speak and write English, but I understand it’s colloquial nuances. A non-native writer (and even native writers who aren’t very good) can’t deliver the same product.
Your writing has value. Make your clients understand that, and you’ll get paid more.
June 27, 2008 at 7:35 am
blueeyegirl
M.
You are so right. It’s easy to forget sometimes, especially on globalized sites such as Elance that we American writers are competing with non-native English speakers for these positions and to take into consideration both our ability to use the language properly and the cost of living differences that affect the bidding rates.
By the way, I had a chance to catch up on your blog and I really thought your post about how you choose which projects to bid on on Elance was great. I think I might have to start trying out your method.
Enjoy your weekend, don’t work too hard!
-L.
June 29, 2008 at 2:43 pm
IrreverentFreelancer
I agree with M. Although I know a lot of bloggers work for $10 per post, I won’t accept such jobs for less than $20/post. That said, I think $5 is way too low. I’d hold out for better if I were you. On a side note, I also no longer bid on copyediting projects on Elance. For some reason, even with the new limited allotment of bids, those projects still seem to secure 50+ bidders, and many of them are working for $1/page or less. I just can’t compete with that.
June 30, 2008 at 6:52 pm
blueeyegirl
IrreverentFreelancer,
I am just about at the end of my rope with them as well. I’ve tried my luck bidding higher than usual just to see what would happen and sure enough, all my bids were declined either because thee “bid seems unrealistic” or “bid is too high”. I agree with you 100% re: the competition, there is no way that I am going to work for as little as some of the other bidders and it seems like lately more than ever, the lowest bid is getting awarded the project. On more than half the jobs I bid on, the buyer doesn’t even bother to look at my profile. It’s frustrating to say the least.
-L.
July 3, 2008 at 10:01 am
Emmaline
I am in the UK – so its even worse for me! So whilst someone in india is charging $5, someone in the us may charge $15, I have to charge £15 or $30 – at least. Its pointless me doing it for less.
I keep going for the highly paid ones…I have to really there’s no point working for free esp when Elance are fleecing me for about $1000 a month in fees at the moment!
July 7, 2008 at 8:32 pm
blueeyegirl
Emmaline-
That’s tough. Sometimes we forget just who were a competing with when we bid on these jobs. The globalization thing aside, the fact that money has to be converted into all those currencies (especially with the weak dollar). I can see your point. That must be very frustrating for you.
-L.