How Much is a Word Worth? Content Mills: Curses and Blessings

They were the best opportunities,

They were the worst opportunities.

Since the turn of the XXI century, many aspiring writers

who wanted to earn some actual income online

would invariably trickle down to the content mills.

The content mills: peculiarly informal online writing agencies that presented many easy and quick assignments, for anyone with the drive to put words together for a quick profit.

Many writers throughout the world seized such opportunities as an exciting new opportunity to kick-start their career.

Many writers throughout the world regarded such opportunities as the low hanging poisoned fruit that would best be avoided.

Both viewpoints were absolutely right, and this article will elaborate on the underlying reasons.

While pointing out the dangers of working for the content mills, we’re also making a case for why any aspiring income writer reading this article today might want to buckle up, stiffen up the upper lip, and decisively go for a stint in the content mills…

…while making sure to wear the appropriate psychological safety gear – and always keep one foot out of the door.

What exactly is a content mill, and why does it matter to you?

The “content mill” concept is somewhat of an affectionate scorn of the modern web content industries; a dwindling legacy of a grittier time.

The term refers to low-end content writing agencies, whose business revolves around supplying search engine fodder for digital marketers.

Content mills are renowned for supplying easily accessible writing opportunities, fast and reliable payment processing times…

…along with dramatically low pay-rates (usually as low as one penny per word, at entry level – and seldom exceeding five cents per words, even at the most advanced levels).

For better or worse, content mills have long been offering quick and easy opportunities for many thousands of aspiring writers, who turn to the web looking for ways to capitalize on the short term.

There used to be dozens of such agencies (several still remain active), each offering a daily fresh pool of content assignments that writers could peruse freely and apply to on a first-come-first-serve basis.

How does a content mill assignment work?

When you’ve made it into a content mill, you’ll get access to the system backend and will be shown a list of available orders.

Usually, there is a ranking system and available orders are limited to your current level as an author.

Having reserved an assignment, a content mill writer is given the immediate green light and expected to comply with a strict deadline, as well as being required to be very mindful of the number of words in the text along with the density of certain keywords.

Typical assignments available in the content mills usually range from 500 to 2,000 words, and the specifications supplied by clients go from casually sparse to intricately dense.

For the most part, there is a sweeping imposition for all texts to be woven around a list of keywords that must be seamlessly included in the text and repeated within an arbitrary range, as specified by the client.

Very seldom are there assignments available on a content mill that aren’t decisively keyword-centric, often at the expense of the actual articulation of ideas.

Typical clients are mostly concerned about their keyword lists and ideal keyword densities, even if sometimes that gets in the way of grammatical consistency and textual appeal.

The expectations of clients who buy from the content mills are often notably disproportional to their available budgets, and typically they will be mostly concerned with the form of the writing rather than its creative flair (a quality often discouraged, or at least assigned a minor role within the keyword optimization directives).

Working for the content mills, much attention is placed on grammatical and syntactical requirements, keyword densities, and the ability to follow orders precisely and adjust to a specified writing style and tone.

Many available assignments revolve around producing so-called “listicles”, or otherwise rewriting and paraphrasing a provided source.

All things considered… this approach to content writing is now very outdated, as many external developments of the industry have outright reversed the best practices of content writing.

While during the golden era of content mills the focus was quantity over quality, nowadays it’s very much the opposite.

We’re now living in a time where it can be actually harmful for a website to publish low-quality content or collect low-quality links.

The content mill business model is doomed to fade out eventually, giving way to proper content agencies; this shift is already complete for the most part, as you’ll learn in the following sections.

Regardless, there are still several content mills available and always they’re always looking to welcome new writers, as their seasoned authors invariably move on to better opportunities.

If you’re just getting started writing for the web, you may want to consider cutting your teeth by joining some of the available content mills.

Why would you do that, you wonder?

The low entry barrier coupled with a wide range of writing assignments (which despite being underpaid do offer compensation) will provide you with a valuable training opportunity.

Training is what will make you a good writer. Confidence will open doors to you, luck will provide you opportunities… but at the end of the day, the proof is in the pudding.

Amassing experience is the only way to consistently make a better pudding.

Challenge yourself to complete a few dozen assignments – make it a few hundred, if you value self-improvement aren’t afraid of hard work.

As invalidating and gruesome as the content mill lifestyle can be for the aspiring author, it still holds valuable training opportunities…

The ancient art of Kendo, and the value of persistent practice.

All writers want to succeed from the start.

All people want to reap their rewards before they sow their efforts.

But that is not how the natural law works.

What quickly rises may quickly stumble. You cannot build a sturdy building on shaky foundations.

Persistent practice is the only real path to proficiency.

These are core concepts of just about all martial arts: enduring painstaking mindless practice, as the first step in the ladder leading towards mastery.

Such principles can be readily observed in the ancient art of Kendo.

This is a martial arts style that descended from swordsmanship and whose meaning is “the way of the Sword”.

In traditional settings, initiates to Kendo were required to go through several months – even years – of highly repetitive, excruciatingly boring training, that often revolved around very strict and basic routines.

In the ancient martial art of Kendo, it was not unusual for a new student to be required to tirelessly swing around their sword in extremely simple motions, before they were allowed to progress to more advanced training routines and actual combat.

During this initial training period, the harsher masters often required their students to endure countless hours of monotonous sword-swinging, comprised of very basic moves that were meant to be repeated to exhaustion, as a way to build muscle memory.

This process is not unlike the training of aspiring musicians – who are even now required to practice basic scales until it becomes second nature, before they start focusing on learning actual melodies.

The ancient Kendo masters were well aware of the importance of dwelling on the basics for a while, before one would aptly aspire to the highest skies of creation.

Engaging in repetitive yet mindful execution of basic movements does not make for particularly exciting or glamorous training, but truth of the matter is the dividends of such training are often quite bountiful.

This is a transversal theme in many fighting styles – as you may even recall from a certain iconic pop movie about a Kid who wanted to learn Karate, and instead was taught all about waxing and polishing, to begin with.

Does this analogy to Kendo and martial arts help clarify why it may be beneficial for all aspiring writers to put their ego aside, and do some work for the gruesome and exploitative content mills?

It can be a positively humbling experience, as well as the perfect setting to grow some muscle as a wordsmith.

Such qualities may be sometimes disregarded in a increasingly fast-paced and shallow society, but no truly substantial writer can do without them.

There are no shortcuts to the true mastery of any given craft.

In this sense, a stint at the content mills can be quite beneficial as an early motivation to put words together, along with providing structure and discipline.

Working at the content mills can teach inexperienced writers a lot about meeting deadlines, following instructions, dealing with unreasonable clients and apathetic editors, as well as being fully capable of weaving words together on command.

An old master used to say: anyone can create excellent writing consistently… but only after they dig out the bad writing first.

Everyone has a thousand pieces of bad writing in the way of their creative gold.

Why not use the content mills as an opportunity to dig closer to your personal goldmine?

Writing is a never ending journey across mountain ranges of unpredictable heights.

You’ll never produce worthwhile work until you start regarding your relationship to writing as a process, rather than a means to and end.

The essential act of actually writing is often shockingly overlooked as the secret weapon of accomplished writers.

Where inexperienced onlookers see talent, seasoned specialists will often recognize the presence of hard labor and tireless discipline.

However, it’s worth noting that a balance is essential here, as well as a healthy perspective.

There is power in repetition and there is value in hard work.

As such, the hardships of working for content mills can provide most valuable schooling… but they can also break the unprepared writer, and even curb the writing enthusiasm quite irrevocably.

The hidden dangers of getting paid by the word, and how to protect yourself.

A little of something is better than a lot of nothing. This is the reasoning that compels inexperienced writers to sign up for the content mills.

While the benefits of blind practice have been alluded to in the previous section,

the dangers of blindly selling your creative abilities will now be discussed – and they cannot be understated.

The content mills can provide a good learning experience, along with an attractive opportunity for a quick profit.

But there are dangers lurking in these virtual ecosystems, and anyone who contemplates diving in must be ready and willing to take the good with the bad.

You must also make sure to diligently prepare your escape route even as you jump into the fray (more on that in the following sections).

Even though their business model and guidelines are outdated, working in the content mills still provides a quick and effective setting to learn the ropes of writing for the web:

You will learn the best practices of structuring content and creating appealing headlines, and you’ll get a diverse mix of assignments involving painstaking instructions as well as generic and looks assignments, which sometimes will allow you to flex your creative muscle.

Most importantly, while working in the content mills you’ll be required to follow through on your aspirations by actually writing content under immediate deadlines – typically 24 to 48 hours form the moment you pick up an order.

Moreover, you will be able to freely pick the assignments you like, and should you fail to deliver on time… there are usually few repercussions, asides from the being released to the author’s pool, where some other writer will readily take the order and deal with it.

This fast-paced environment with clear rules and mild responsibilities, offering a diverse selection of paid assignments to choose from, can indeed be conducive to a good training experience – so it’s something to consider for anyone who is just getting their feet wet in the possibilities of earning some income as a writer.

On the flipside, working in the content mills can be a soul-wrenching experience that will cripple your style and discourage your individuality – the very things that could allow you one day to stand on your own, as a writer who enchants a sizable audience.

Moreover, the business model of content mills usually revolves around being paid literally pence on the word, with your main task being to reach the specified word count, while making sure to fulfill the all clients’s specifications.

Being paid by the word may sound unusual and even fun at first, and it can actually provide some structural guidance.

It will encourage you to measure your words wisely and make sure you cover all there is to say without straying too far from a specified word range.

This will stimulate a sense of brevity and deliberation in your writing that can be useful up to a certain point… but eventually you will feel as though you’re just being crippled on a creative level.

One of the major perils of the content mill ecosystem for the experienced and mature writer is exactly that which makes it a valuable experience for novice writers: the expendability and plasticity of it all.

Should you try working for the content mills as a learning experience, you must make sure to walk away before that day comes when your writing passion starts dimming.

Up to a point, this experience should provide a useful training opportunity; but if you stay there too long and you have nowhere else to turn to make a living, the content mills will invariably become a toxic environment.

Working there for too long will begin to instill negative self-perceptions, making you feel devalued and ultimately stiffling your joy for writing.

Losing heart is a looming threat for any content mill writer, even more so than losing face.

Although submitting to this kind of experience could cause a surface dent to your authorial credibility in the eyes of status-driven editors… this is something to be easily avoided by using a pseudonym, should you be so inclined.

But were you to lose your writing passion because it all seems fruitless, that would set you up for a much harder predicament.

This is why you need to watch your feelings closely as you’re putting your time and energy towards working for a content mill.

You need to make sure to protect your best interests and watch your morale, otherwise it will invariably be usurped by a harsh business model where writers are regarded not as valuable creative assets, but as very expendable cogs.

Go ahead and experiment with the content mills as a healthy part of your learning experience.

All the while, stay focused on what you’re looking to achieve by reaching out for the low hanging fruit of the content marketing industries.

Approachable and nutritious as it may be, this fruit can sometimes be poisoned… so make sure you always have alternative nourishing and always have an escape plan in mind, even as you begin.

What should a content writer do when looking to move away from the mills?

In recent years, many of the so-called content mills have been gradually replaced (or evolved into) a more reasonable business model – that of proper content marketing agencies.

This renewed approach revolves around attracting readers, as opposed to beating competing websites in a number’s game of mindless, insipid link building.

In a nutshell, the online content writing industries have been forced to evolve to a point where quantity is no longer the main focus, but rather quality.

Nowadays, most serious webmasters and online publishers know the only truly effective way to manipulate search engines for traffic is to secure the attention of readers, by creating a valuable and engaging experience.

This is what is meant with “content marketing”; it’s now all about publishing excellent content to establish credibility and generate business, where once upon a time it was all about publishing the most content the budget would allow, and building as many links as possible.

This development has naturally been lauded by Internet users everywhere. It has also, however, been very adverse to the standard methodology of content mills.

It brought along drastic upheaval to the field, and it gave rise to more sophisticated freelance writing agencies – which are only interested in purchasing excellent, unique and engaging website content that is meant to attract actual readers, rather than tricking search engines.

Given their higher quality requirements, content agencies are usually a little more challenging to join compared to content mills.

There is actually a screening process to go through – which involves delineating your expertise, as well as providing some references and writing samples that attest to your your skill and proficiency.

In any case, these companies are usually more accessible than printed magazines, and their scope is somewhat different.

There’s now a fledgling new market around content marketing, and some interesting opportunities to be found.

Content agencies deal mostly with corporate clients having a good budget and overarching content strategies, which actually present interesting creative challenges to seasoned writers, along with reasonable earning potential.

Seeking out content marketing agencies to join will provide you access to more valuable opportunities that will usually revolve around introducing ideas, rather than counting words and measuring keyword densities.

As you look for attractive opportunities, you will also find that several top tier websites are very accommodating and even accustomed to dealing with freelance writers directly; often, all it takes for you to get published (and, eventually, decently paid for your services) is simply to reach out to the editors with a pitch they like, comprised of ideas which are both fresh and relevant to their audience.

While you can theoretically attempt this (and succeed) with any website… your chances of success will be far greater if you focus on pitching your best, most relevant ideas to websites that ask for content submissions, and that expressly state how much they’re willing to pay and what exactly they are looking for.

Connecting with content marketing agencies and reaching out to individual websites are two essential aspects of securing steady work as a modern freelance content writer.

However, throwing your ideas to editorial walls hoping they’ll stick will be a good amount of wasted effort; such wasted energy won’t be sustainable as your writing career progresses.

This is why you may want to think long term, and put together a machine that will eventually generate business leads on your behalf…

Your website, your domain, your style, your launch platform, your calling card, your escape route, dot com.

The most natural way to create a presence while writing for the web – one that will help you sustain a profitable career around your work – is to take the time to methodically build up a portfolio website where you publish your finest work, while actively building up an audience.

This is now such a crucial thing to do, that even traditional publishers will ask you whether you have an online presence around your work, along with an active audience. Succeeding at this will open many doors to you.

Establishing your own website can thus be the most important thing you do on the long-term, towards reaching the truly valuable opportunities that will set you apart from the crowds of aspiring content writers.

The operational phrase here being “establish a presence”, since it’s not nearly enough to put together a halfhearted effort that no one cares to read.

You have to take methodical action to actually research, plan and develop content that resonates with an audience.

The best approach for succeeding at this is by locking down on a niche and adding useful and fresh content to its discussion; write interesting articles around a topic that interests you and is in demand; stay consistent, and always be relevant.

Once your brand name has established some expert credibility, as result of you consistently producing and publishing useful content around a niche or topic, you will likely start being approached by website editors and webmasters who will spontaneously present you with worthwhile proposals.

You will also find it much easier to have successful pitches in your outreach campaigns once you have a established your own website; these two distinct fronts of attack are actually quite complimentary and self-reinforcing, in ways that will be elaborated in future articles.

In the meanwhile, you should make sure to articulate your efforts from the beginning with an eye on the short-term and another on the long-term.

You want to both focus on persistently improving your craft and be on the lookout for better opportunities, along with gradually developing an interesting clip folder / online portfolio that is attractive both to your ideal readers as well as your ideal editors.

So how do you go about doing such a thing? It all ties up together, actually:

First, you need to get ample and diverse writing experience under your belt, and you must be wiling to do the hard work – even if it involves joining some content mills, to begin with; you need to think of this a difficult – but temporary – learning experience on your road to success.

Second, you keep developing your proficiency and confidence, and work on regularly pitching your best ideas to content agencies and reputable websites that will pay reasonable amounts for your efforts, help you start building a name, as well as attracting more profitable opportunities.

Third, you take the time to find a niche that interests you which is also in demand, and you focus on creating an interesting website that adds to the discussion around that topic, so you can position yourself as an expert; essentially, you want to absorb all the available information and create a better alternative.

If you keep following this website, you’ll find many useful articles that will help you throughout these three stages- Have you see this piece on how to explode your productivity as a writer, for example?

Here at incomewriter.com, you will learn some useful tricks to help you maximize your writing and minimize your struggling; you’ll learn why it’s so important to put a lot of work into refining titles and headlines, you’ll pick up some new and exciting marketing tactics, along with many other insights that will help you stay motivated and on track.

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