There are numerous issues in the writing world where people disagree about numerous things. One such issue is whether or not it’s okay to write for content mills. There are two schools of thoughts here. One school tells you to do it, the other doesn’t.

Both sides have their arguments which I shall analyze below briefly. But first a definition is in order.
Definition: A
content mill or writers mill is a slang term used by freelance writers and
given to a company, website, or organization designed to provide cheap website
content, usually at a significant profit to themselves, and usually by paying
very low rates to writers.
Content mills are not interested in the
quality of your writing. They are more interested in things like keywords and
anchor text which will help the content rank better in search engines.
Since writing for bots is different from
writing for humans, these articles are of an inferior quality and any Tom,
Dick, and Harry can sign-up and start making money as a writer.
I haven’t written for content mills but I
have written for SEO companies which is more or less the same thing.
However be aware that if you’re looking for
a personal account of a writer experienced with content mill writing then this
article is not for you.
The pros of content mill writing
You
can get a lot of work
Writers who write for content mills claim
there is a lot of work available there. Though the pay rates are meager, if you
are prepared to put in lots of hours every day you can generate a decent income
because the total ads up.
Although the exact rates depend on your
writing skills (they have editors who’ll evaluate your writing style from time
to time and appraise you accordingly), you can expect to get $5 per article.
Having said that, I’ve also seen writers
claiming they have made up to $25 per article. But these are the exceptions,
not the rule.
Also, $5 per article is considered a
pittance by many Americans but for us Indians is that really too bad? It’s up
to you to judge.
You
can practice a lot
How many times you must have heard the
advice that in order to become a writer you should read a lot and
write a lot.
Content mills allow you to do the latter
i.e. write a lot and earn some money in the process.
I feel it’s much better to write and get
paid for it, even if it’s a meager sum, than write tons of material for
practice and then junk it altogether.
You’ll
get disciplined
One of the biggest issues for me when I
started freelance writing was a lack of discipline. Working from home and being
your own boss is not free from its disadvantages.
Some of the things I kept doing again and
again were checking Facebook, watching YouTube videos, reading an article
online and then following an external link in it, then reading that new article
then following more links, … you get the picture.
However when you are given assignments to
complete and there is a virtual boss siting on the other end expecting you to
deliver on a deadline, you can’t waste your time like that.
Working when you’re answerable to somebody
inculcates discipline.
“Writing at its best is a lonely life” said
Hemingway and you need to be very disciplined to pull it off. Content mills will help you achieve that.
The cons of content mill writing
The
rates are poor
I said that above but it’s important enough
to be mentioned again. Content mills don’t pay you much.
Many newbie writers start working with
content mills because of the reasons I mentioned above. But they’re only able
to garner a proper income if they write too much.
What I’ll advise is there’s nothing wrong
in working with content mills when you are starting out. But keep trying to build
your portfolio by contributing to some reputed publications.
Once you start getting better clients from
other sources you can leave the mill and graduate to better rates.
It’s
ghostwriting
Most of the writing a content mill will ask
you to do will be ghostwriting which means your name will not be published
along with the article. Thus you can’t add it to your writing portfolio.
However this feature may also be an
advantage, if you think about it. As I said above these are very poor quality
articles and some freelancers churn out three such articles in two hours.
So will you really want to put your name on
something as terrible as that? I won’t.
It’s
addictive
In my early months of freelance writing I
was working with an SEO company. They gave me a lot of work and though the
rates per article were inadequate, it certainly added up to a total.
I had plans to do guest posts on popular
blogs, read good books on writing, write a book myself,
shift my blog to a better platform, but all of it kept pushing down in my To-do
list. Why?
Because after writing so many articles per day for that SEO firm, I
was left too exhausted to focus on anything else.
And since I was able to pay the bills with
the money I was making, I didn’t ever feel an urgent need to shift gears.
I have read similar accounts of many other
freelance writers who kept working for content mills for months or even years
before they realized they could have done something better with their time.
So what’s the verdict, you ask?
I feel if you are a new writer just
starting out into freelance writing—give content mills a try. But treat it
as a crash course.
Don’t allow yourself to get addicted with
them and keep doing other better things on the side like learning new skills,
marketing your freelancing business, etc.
And then when high paying clients start to
approach you directly, you can quit the mill and focus on better quality
writing.
What do you think about content writing
mills? Have you ever worked with them? What has been your experience? Tell
me in the comments below.
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