I have been a busy beaver lately on my search for work-at-home jobs. I have discovered something called Content Mills. Of course I had no idea what it was until further research. A content mill is basically a company that hires large numbers of freelance writers to generate large amounts of textual content for clients. In other words, a company that has clients that want content or articles written will hire you if you can write quality content.
To be honest, I don't consider myself a professional writer. I consider myself to be decent, maybe even average. So I thought to myself, why waste my time on trying to do something that I'm not capable of. Well, there go those lovely insecurities again. Not even willing to give myself a chance. Well I continued my search, and became more and more intrigued by what I was reading from others' experiences. To make a long story short, I decided to get over my fear of the unknown and sign on to one of these content mills.
I'm gonna break this down for you in a who, what, where, when, why, how fashion. Furthermore, I'm going to be talking about this company from an author/writer's point of view.
Who?
Textbroker-
Since 2005, Textbroker has been the main supplier of unique, custom content. In addition, they have offered many freelance writers a home.
What?
A large number of writer's and clients from around the globe execute more than 100,000 content requests through Textbroker consistently. So if writing is your passion, you too can become a writer.
Where?
Well, the obvious answer to this question would be in the comfort of your own home. But you can write from your computer or laptop anywhere. As long as it's in the U.S.
I'm sorry to the people that aren't from the U.S. This offer is not available to you as of yet. You never know, maybe in the future it will be.
When?
You can write anytime, day or night. As long as there is content available on the assignment board, and it falls under your classification number (I will cover classification under the 'how' section).
Why?
So that you can satisfy your passion to write and help client's meet their needs. Oh and most importantly, get paid. Some awesome perks are: It's free to sign up, you get paid weekly as long as you have $10 in your account, direct access to projects, and write as little or as much as you want.
How?
Pretty simple really. First you just need to go to their website at https://www.textbroker.com/ and sign up to become an author. They will send you an e-mail asking you for a copy of your ID. This is only so that they can verify you as a U.S. citizen. They have a lot of people from other countries trying to write for them. While I don't blame them, it's against Textbroker's rules. You are allowed to black-out certain things on your license so that helps with maintaining some privacy.
Once they verify you as a U.S. citizen, they will then ask you to submit a writing sample. Don't freak out, it's only 120-250 words and they supply the topics. The topics were things like sightseeing in your city, party locations in your city, objective description of a technical object, and a description of your favorite store, business, or brand. May not be the most interesting topics, but it could be worse.
Remember I told you I would talk about classification in this section? Good, you were paying attention. Classification is pretty much the level or star writer you are. You can be a 2, 3, 4, or 5. So, this is pretty much where that writing sample comes into play. They use the sample to 'rate' where your skills are at. So if they think that your skills are pretty much the bottom of the barrel, they will label your classification as a 2. If you rock, and can show them something extremely awesome, you will probably be labeled as a 5.
After they've rated your writing sample, you are good to go. You can create your profile to help market yourself a bit to potential clients. If a client happens to like your writing and your profile, they may hire you to do direct orders for them. What that means is that those assignments go directly to you, not on the board. So that's pretty awesome! Now, you don't have to complete your profile all in one sitting, you can do the basics just to get you started. But after that move onto the assignment board. That's where the content/article requests will be. Make sure that the content requests fit within your classification number. You can write content below your classification number and at your classification number, but never above it (unless your classification changes of course).
Now that I've covered the basics, i'm going to get into pay and all the fun stuff. Here's a basic breakdown of payment:
I know the numbers look fairly bleak, but it adds up after writing a few articles. Notice the jump in pay from the 2 star to the 5 star writer? See, the higher the star, the higher the pay. You have an opportunity to raise your levels after producing quality articles with good ratings. The clients rate you as well as Textbroker. Clients rate you so that other clients can see how well you performed for them. Textbroker pretty much rates you to see where your classification should be. One thing I do want to add, when you do your first 5 articles, Textbroker will hold your account until they've had a chance to evaluate and rate those 5. Which is where I'm at right now. Hopefully it won't take too long before I can get on the board again. They did say that once that's done you're all set again. They just want to be sure that you are in the appropriate level based on your skills. Textbroker also gives you constructive criticism. Basically they let you know what you need to improve on so that you can get higher in the ranks. Not to mention, the more quality writers they have, the more clients they'll get, and the more money for everyone.
You will get paid through your PayPal account. You can request a payoff to your PayPal account once a week, as long as your Textbroker balance is greater than $10.
Also, just so you know, you are not considered an employee with Textbroker. You are an independent contractor. Therefore, you are responsible for you own taxes.
My quick opinion of the place. I actually really like it. I am in the beginning of it all so I know I have a lot to learn, but overall I am enjoying myself. As stated in the post, I have written 5 articles. Each of those have to first be rated, accepted, or declined by the client. The client does have 3 days to accept or decline your article. If they go over the 3 days and do neither one, you get paid anyway. Oh and just to let you know, sometimes revisions will be asked for. If you feel it's worth it, just do it and resubmit it to the client. If not, then just cancel the job and take it as a small loss. It's better to be a small loss than a bigger one. So far I have 1 article that has been accepted and I'm waiting on the other 4 to accept or decline. I hope they are all accepted, keep your fingers crossed please! I feel good about the company and can't wait to get back on the board.
~Well, I think I've written enough to give you a good overview of Textbroker and the endeavor I've been embarking on. If you have any questions or would like to add to this post, please leave a comment below.~
**Textbroker and/or Paypal are not responsible for the contents of this post. The author is not sponsored or compensated in any way from this post. The post is based strictly on the author's experience.
***This blog contains affiliate ads or links. By clicking these links it will take you to a site that gives you the opportunity to view and/or purchase products relative and non-relative to the blog topic. Clicking these links will give Nikki-Liz-Blogs a small commission and does not increase your price on any product.
To be honest, I don't consider myself a professional writer. I consider myself to be decent, maybe even average. So I thought to myself, why waste my time on trying to do something that I'm not capable of. Well, there go those lovely insecurities again. Not even willing to give myself a chance. Well I continued my search, and became more and more intrigued by what I was reading from others' experiences. To make a long story short, I decided to get over my fear of the unknown and sign on to one of these content mills.
I'm gonna break this down for you in a who, what, where, when, why, how fashion. Furthermore, I'm going to be talking about this company from an author/writer's point of view.
Who?
Textbroker-
Since 2005, Textbroker has been the main supplier of unique, custom content. In addition, they have offered many freelance writers a home.
What?
A large number of writer's and clients from around the globe execute more than 100,000 content requests through Textbroker consistently. So if writing is your passion, you too can become a writer.
Where?
Well, the obvious answer to this question would be in the comfort of your own home. But you can write from your computer or laptop anywhere. As long as it's in the U.S.
I'm sorry to the people that aren't from the U.S. This offer is not available to you as of yet. You never know, maybe in the future it will be.
When?
You can write anytime, day or night. As long as there is content available on the assignment board, and it falls under your classification number (I will cover classification under the 'how' section).
Why?
So that you can satisfy your passion to write and help client's meet their needs. Oh and most importantly, get paid. Some awesome perks are: It's free to sign up, you get paid weekly as long as you have $10 in your account, direct access to projects, and write as little or as much as you want.
How?
Pretty simple really. First you just need to go to their website at https://www.textbroker.com/ and sign up to become an author. They will send you an e-mail asking you for a copy of your ID. This is only so that they can verify you as a U.S. citizen. They have a lot of people from other countries trying to write for them. While I don't blame them, it's against Textbroker's rules. You are allowed to black-out certain things on your license so that helps with maintaining some privacy.
Once they verify you as a U.S. citizen, they will then ask you to submit a writing sample. Don't freak out, it's only 120-250 words and they supply the topics. The topics were things like sightseeing in your city, party locations in your city, objective description of a technical object, and a description of your favorite store, business, or brand. May not be the most interesting topics, but it could be worse.
Remember I told you I would talk about classification in this section? Good, you were paying attention. Classification is pretty much the level or star writer you are. You can be a 2, 3, 4, or 5. So, this is pretty much where that writing sample comes into play. They use the sample to 'rate' where your skills are at. So if they think that your skills are pretty much the bottom of the barrel, they will label your classification as a 2. If you rock, and can show them something extremely awesome, you will probably be labeled as a 5.
After they've rated your writing sample, you are good to go. You can create your profile to help market yourself a bit to potential clients. If a client happens to like your writing and your profile, they may hire you to do direct orders for them. What that means is that those assignments go directly to you, not on the board. So that's pretty awesome! Now, you don't have to complete your profile all in one sitting, you can do the basics just to get you started. But after that move onto the assignment board. That's where the content/article requests will be. Make sure that the content requests fit within your classification number. You can write content below your classification number and at your classification number, but never above it (unless your classification changes of course).
Now that I've covered the basics, i'm going to get into pay and all the fun stuff. Here's a basic breakdown of payment:
- 2 star writer - 0.7 cents/word
- 3 star writer - 1.0 cents/word
- 4 star writer - 1.4 cents/word
- 5 star writer - 5 cents/word
I know the numbers look fairly bleak, but it adds up after writing a few articles. Notice the jump in pay from the 2 star to the 5 star writer? See, the higher the star, the higher the pay. You have an opportunity to raise your levels after producing quality articles with good ratings. The clients rate you as well as Textbroker. Clients rate you so that other clients can see how well you performed for them. Textbroker pretty much rates you to see where your classification should be. One thing I do want to add, when you do your first 5 articles, Textbroker will hold your account until they've had a chance to evaluate and rate those 5. Which is where I'm at right now. Hopefully it won't take too long before I can get on the board again. They did say that once that's done you're all set again. They just want to be sure that you are in the appropriate level based on your skills. Textbroker also gives you constructive criticism. Basically they let you know what you need to improve on so that you can get higher in the ranks. Not to mention, the more quality writers they have, the more clients they'll get, and the more money for everyone.
You will get paid through your PayPal account. You can request a payoff to your PayPal account once a week, as long as your Textbroker balance is greater than $10.
Also, just so you know, you are not considered an employee with Textbroker. You are an independent contractor. Therefore, you are responsible for you own taxes.
My quick opinion of the place. I actually really like it. I am in the beginning of it all so I know I have a lot to learn, but overall I am enjoying myself. As stated in the post, I have written 5 articles. Each of those have to first be rated, accepted, or declined by the client. The client does have 3 days to accept or decline your article. If they go over the 3 days and do neither one, you get paid anyway. Oh and just to let you know, sometimes revisions will be asked for. If you feel it's worth it, just do it and resubmit it to the client. If not, then just cancel the job and take it as a small loss. It's better to be a small loss than a bigger one. So far I have 1 article that has been accepted and I'm waiting on the other 4 to accept or decline. I hope they are all accepted, keep your fingers crossed please! I feel good about the company and can't wait to get back on the board.
~Well, I think I've written enough to give you a good overview of Textbroker and the endeavor I've been embarking on. If you have any questions or would like to add to this post, please leave a comment below.~
**Textbroker and/or Paypal are not responsible for the contents of this post. The author is not sponsored or compensated in any way from this post. The post is based strictly on the author's experience.
***This blog contains affiliate ads or links. By clicking these links it will take you to a site that gives you the opportunity to view and/or purchase products relative and non-relative to the blog topic. Clicking these links will give Nikki-Liz-Blogs a small commission and does not increase your price on any product.