A few words on content mills

I read the Freelance Writing Jobs blogs every day. They get sent to my reader, so I don’t have to navigate the ever-growing list of blogs in the FWJ community, yet I still get all the great info.

Every few weeks, there’s a post from FWJ maven Deb Ng about how she’s against content mills as a whole, but how she gets slammed for having Demand Studios as a sponsor.

The truth is, I use a few content mills myself. I’m no stranger to word whoring.

What is a content mill?

So first off, what is a content mill? It’s generally a very low-paying place where you sign up and pick writing jobs like apples from a tree. You log in, there’s a list, and you pick what appeals to you from the list. Articles tend to be geared toward SEO marketing, though there are a few exceptions that actually require quality of content over quantity of keywords.

Which content mill to choose

I use three different ones: Textbroker, The Content Authority and Demand Studios. They each offer something different in terms of pay and type of articles.

The Content Authority is the proverbial $5 blowjob. Pay starts at half a penny per word. Articles are for SEO websites on different subjects, ranging from automobiles to making moonshine to getting your degree online. They tend to be short – rarely more than 450-500 words, and they don’t require a lot of effort or research to complete. FYI, Content Authority is currently understaffed and is offering bonuses to writers.

Textbroker pays a little bit more. You can make up to $20 per article, depending on the length. I’m a “Four Star” writer (it goes up to five), and I make about two cents a word. I know, rock the casbah!

Demand Studios is my favorite, as far as content sites go. You know where the article will be published, first of all. They tell you that right up front. It could be to eHow, or Livestrong or one of their other partner sites. Demand recently partnered with USA Today for some travel content. Articles start at $7.50 for simple 150-300 word jobs. Most of the articles I choose to write are $15 for about 400 words. Not hugely profitable, but at least I learn something while researching the articles.

So why do I even bother?

Well, every month, I set myself a monetary goal. That’s how much money I need to make from my various income sources – advertising, affiliate products, individual clients, etc. By the third week of the month, if I’m not on track, I kick into gear to make up the shortfall on the content sites. My sub-goal is to write less and less for the mills each month, and earn more through the other streams.

For example, at the start of 2010, approximately 35% of my income was from low-end mills like Textbroker (and bless them, it helped me pay off a surprise bill I hadn’t budgeted for). Now, about 20% of my income comes from Demand Studios. I hardly touch the other sites, though I’ve been paying a bit of attention to The Content Authority in the past week because of their desperation incentives.

Does this make me a loser?

Some freelancers turn up their noses, feeling that content mills are beneath them. Most of those freelancers have been in the business a while, and have a steady stream of income from other sources that they’ve built up over time. So yes, content mills are beneath them, just as one day they’ll be beneath me.

Whenever someone struggles to build their business, they will inevitably take some low-pay gigs along the way to top up the old bank account. Freelancers shouldn’t be ashamed to troll the mills once in a while. I’m not. I’m a proud word whore!