How Not to Implement a Freelance Writing Career
It is prudent for business owners to look for ways to increase productivity. When you can save time and make more money, that is a dream for most entrepreneurs. But when those time-saving measures use unethical methods, it may be time to take a step back and evaluate what you are doing. This article will help you learn how not to implement a freelance writing career.
The technique I describe is one I saw on YouTube today. I sometimes look for techniques or methods and evaluate whether they can make money for my readers. That is, after all, the reason for my website.
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You won't find me recommending too many items from YouTube, because most of them are either useless, scams, or they may be somewhat legit, but will likely ruin your reputation. The technique I write about here falls into that third category. My guess is that it isn't illegal or a scam, but it's not useless, either. It might actually work if you tried it. But the risk of taking a hit to your reputation is huge, in my opinion.
The Technique Described
Know that I am not a fan of bashing people online. Therefore, I won't mention the video or the person who created it. I am only going to give you high-level information about how the techniques work and will give you reasons why they may not be ethical. Hopefully, you won't need my reasons to see for yourself why they should not be used.
The concept is to find news items online, copy the text of these news items, and then use article spinning software to make the article completely unique. Again, I hope you see where this is going.
Then, after you spin these articles, you find blogs that are willing to pay you per word for your "article." According to the video, you could make up to $1.00 per word from these blogs. Seems like a dream come true, right?
The Results from Spinners Are Junk
I realize that artificial intelligence (AI) can do wonders for creating realistic articles these days. We could go on and on with commentary about this development. But AI is not what we are talking about when referring to spinning software. Currenly, AI software that can produce quality articles is used by big league players who can afford the big ticket prices of these AI software packages.
If you have ever seen the results from spinning software, you already know it's junk - and that's being nice. Most of the time, the articles don't make any sense.
Submitting Your Spun Junk "Articles" to Legitimate Blogs
Any blog willing to pay you $1.00 per word is a popular blog that gets a lot of visitors. They also get return visitors, too. Imagine if you start submitting junk created from these article spinners to legimate blogs who want to maintain a high editorial quality.
It's not likely that they will even accept your article, but if they do, you'll likely get a byline. That means your name is being associated with the junk article they allowed you to publish. Is that any way to build a business?
The more likely outcome is that you will be blacklisted by the editors when you submit the crap that the article spinners produce. I have been working as a freelance writer for several years now. I can tell you that editors of well-established blogs don't accept junk and they will have little patience for people who submit it.
Editors Talk to Other Editors
If an editor decides to put you on a blacklist, maybe you think you can simply move onto other blogs to post the junk articles. After all, there are millions of websites, right? Yes but did you know that editors talk to each other about writers? If you get a bad reputation from one editor, it's likely to carry over to many.
Is This Technique Worth the Risks?
Perhaps you'll find a few blogs that will post your junk. And even if you get one half of $1.00 per word, that fifty cents per word. That's pretty good money, no?
But wouldn't you rather establish a good working relationship with editors who will send more work your way when you do a great job for them? Oh, and you know how editors talk about bad freelancers? Well, guess what they do with good and great freelancers? They talk them up, too That means that you will likely start getting work without even asking for it from other editors.
Freelancing Is Hard Work
Don't let anyone tell you that you can make easy money as a freelancer. There is a lot of competition. Also, editors are a tough breed of people. If you don't have a thick hyde, you're not going to do well with the criticism. You can be sure that you'll get it from editors, too.
Some bloggers can be a bit fickle, too. You could be sailing along getting great assignments weekly, and then out of the blue, you don't hear from some of these bloggers ever again. You reach out to them, and it's like they disappeared completely. You reach out several weeks later, and all you get is radio silence.
It doesn't matter that you were their best writer. When they decide it's game over, you may as well head to the proverbial locker room. Because you aren't going to hear from them ever again!
Freelancers are also plagued with inept bloggers. These are people who would rather try to beat down your price to two cents per word. They'll claim that there are plenty of writers that will be willing to work for that amount. Of course, many of these writers submit work with grammatical errors and the quality is only a step above what article spinners produce. Sometimes, the spinners do a better job.
These inept bloggers have changed careers without even realizing it. They have become writing recruiters. They would rather spend most of their time looking for writers for two cents per word then to find a high-quality writer who can produce content that will draw visitors and increase sales.
Even writers who initially accept the two cents per word will move on quickly when they discover they can make a lot more once they learn about how the business works. The writing recruiter will be back to the drawing board looking for another two-bit, two-cents writer. This cycle is never-ending, well at least until they run out of money from not making a dime.
Is Freelance Writing Worth It?
I can't answer that question in a general sense. I love the work and the challenges associated with it. But like any other field, it's not for everyone. If you are looking for the easy way out, like what I described for this technique, then freelance writing is definately not for you.
If you are willing to learn what it takes to build a solid freelancing business, though, you'll take the steps to build a good relationship with editors and bloggers, and you'll find that you too can be rewarded in this field.
"Who Else Wants an
Insider's Edge to
Making Money as a
Freelance Writer?"
What if we told you that you could learn everything you need to start making great money as a freelance writer?
Seems impossible, doesn't it?
The truth is, it's not so difficult once you know what your doing. Simply apply what you learn and start raking in the dough. Okay, it takes a bit more than this, but the training you are about to receive will make all the pieces fall into place.
