Why Content Mills Aren’t Worth the Money for Businesses
I’ll be honest: I’ve written for content mills in the past. A lot of great writers have. For freelancers, they can be a way to get started on a portfolio or pay the bills in lean times. But finding those quality writers can be less like finding a needle in a haystack, and more like swimming through a sea of stinging jellyfish when what you really wanted was a jelly donut. Ultimately, this model doesn’t make sense for businesses or creatives, and here’s where the breakdown happens.
What are content mills?
Content mills are businesses or sites that contract with writers to produce content for clients at a very low cost (and a low rate for writers and other creatives). These sites sometimes position themselves as creative agencies, but they often are just a churning word machine of low-quality work, contracting with dissatisfied writers and going for quantity over quality. Plus, they take a sizable chunk of the payment as commission.
You get what you pay for
Content mills are notorious for low rates on both the client’s and the freelancer’s end. But think about it: if you have a $200 budget for a blog post, and the middleman is taking 20–50% before paying out the writer, you’re getting a writer who’s willing to do the work for $100, while the $200-level pros are walking right on by.
Your money would be much better spent if you find the $200 writer and pay them what they’re worth right from the start. Or if all you’re looking for is a $100 writer, find them and pay them within your budget.
Communication can suck
Most of the time with content mills, the business commissioning the work has zero communication with the actual writers, working only with the mill as a go-between. That means that your business needs can get lost in the shuffle, and sometimes you wind up spending much more time on the back-and-forth than if you had the ability to just work directly with the content creator.
Even with sites like Fivrr and Upwork, where clients do brief the freelancers, communication over the app instead of email and phone can be tricky. And if you find a contractor you love and want to work with them again, you’re bound by terms and conditions that make it impossible to take your working relationship off the site, since they don’t want to lose that commission percentage they take.
It seems quick and easy, but often isn’t
I’ve worked with agency clients that came to me after working with a content mill, where they had attempted to outsource writing work. I heard horror stories about copy filled with errors, a stilted voice and style that didn’t match the brand at all, and sentences that made no sense, sounding like they were freshly garbled by Google Translate. It took the agency more time to edit the piece to be legible than it would have for them to just write it themselves in the first place.
You’re missing out on long-term relationships
A long-term relationship with a professional contractor is money in the bank for your business. You get the benefit of working with a top-quality professional, without the cost of having them on the payroll full time, and you foster a relationship you can trust. You also have the ability to find a specialist in your field, or your region, who can help your business grow.
With content mills, you’re cutting off that potential for an enduring working relationship, and you’re setting yourself up for disappointing work that might not fit your needs. There are countless benefits to working directly with writing professionals, and there is no reason to throw your money away by going through content mills.
How can you find a freelance writer you’ll love working with? *Raises hand* Find out if we’d be a good fit in a free 30-minute consulting call.
Originally published at https://juliabsmit.com on October 18, 2020.
