Would a business supplying affordable US writers work?

[GNews]

Hello,

So i have an idea to start another business venture this year. I've already launched one blog successfully and I found a problem. Lack of content supply at will , with a good price, from Americans.

So, I know there's websites with freelancers but I have ready access to Americans WANTING TO WRITE NOW and earn daily.

Do you think, a lot of sites have use for this type of service today? Do you guys here for instance still even focus on content sites at all or have a need for content?

I'm wanting to launch a website that will provide rapid content....

 

[ryandiscord]

Sounds a lot like this. I'd say there is definitely a need.

 

[contract]

There are hundreds if not thousands of those service providers already out there... Ranging from shadily spun to special $5K+ per article providers. How are you going to convince people or brands to shop you? Content is content, but your writers better be ALL STARS. AMERICAN all-stars..

Who can turn out 2000 words within 24 hours or less. The vast majority want cheap, fast and high quality though. If it's cheap, what incentive are you going to give writers to stick around?

What features are going to offer to reduce any stolen/rejected content? Someone's got to be the manager there to determine fraud on both ends.

I could go on here...

The best approach I've seen is: content writers - middle man - client needing content. Client's don't get mad at the middle man, they get mad at the individual author for delays, poor quality, etc. So they move onto to another and block them. Market determines if an author makes money or not. Middle man just takes the cut and steps in if there's an issue/rejected piece.

There are only two mid level article places that come to mind.. Below that it's all garbage. Above that it's WAY too expensive in the $1K+ range per article.

The biggest problem: People don't have time to deal with ONE or even 10 authors. Authors flake. They want a company that has 10000000's authors. So their project ALWAYS gets done according to what they want. And that same company will manage everything and deal with all the hiring/firing/etc.

The only situation where having a team of writers is in a local office. You can get FAR more work done that way and cheaper/faster when people either produce or get fired and starve when their rents not paid and they have no food on the table.

A hybrid approach would be interesting... In-house staff + outsourced writers = Nice way to ensure everything gets done and there's always authors ready to write.

Where 99% of the forum content sellers fuck up: They say they'll deliver in X hours or days but they fail to. They have no back up... If a writer quits or the rest of the team is booked, they are 100% fucked and the client, now furious moves on. Just one article that's rejected fucks up their entire schedule and sends it all into chaos.

 

[GNews]

I'm thinking an easy set up.

1) Client posts topic/niche, word count, and we have pre-set turn around times for this

2) I have about 30 people saying they would write. All American. Not All-star writers however.... BUT , they are willing to give it a go to earn extra and mostly mature adults.

The 'hook' I think to make this really work is to have a feedback system and I would have a middle man reading over all content before submitted to buyers. Proof reading.

I'm NOT targeting the really high end, magnificent content writers. I'm thinking more of the people who need massive content but would offer a premium , clearly.

 

[Steve Brownlie]

The 'hook' I think to make this really work is to have a feedback system and I would have a middle man reading over all content before submitted to buyers. Proof reading.

This isn't a hook it's a minimum standard those of us who outsource content *expect*. That's a basic standard feature. There are more content agencies than anything. Also you'll be really shocked at how bad the content a 'mature adult' with no writing experience produces. This whole game isn't as easy as you think it is - I don't want to put you off as you can make good margins in the content game, but definitely look for more of an edge and more of a quality benchmark than where you're thinking right now.

 

[GNews]

This isn't a hook it's a minimum standard those of us who outsource content *expect*. That's a basic standard feature. There are more content agencies than anything. Also you'll be really shocked at how bad the content a 'mature adult' with no writing experience produces. This whole game isn't as easy as you think it is - I don't want to put you off as you can make good margins in the content game, but definitely look for more of an edge and more of a quality benchmark than where you're thinking right now.

I'm not saying trash content. I''m saying I'll provide standard 'basic' content from good creative writers and then I'll have PREMIUM content from people who may have studied journalism or english

The proof reader(s) would be there to supervise content (as stated above) and keep standards

I never studied either and have had several major sources pick up on things I typed. I will say though, i'm an artist who loves to write at times.

 

[CCarter]

I think there is a better market on the higher-end side of this. I'm thinking TheWireCutter.com level of content creation. The details and research they go through is exquisite. If you know the end benefits of that level of content and then throw in an interactive javascript feature like an interact map, adds the next level of engagement that improve the sharable element (Creating "Compelling" Content - Interactive Engagement) of the content piece by the audience.

The thing with Interactive content is you will need a javascript programmer onboard to handle that end. So that could be your "corner" of the market. So that's an angle I would try to push. Engaging content with "calculators" or "maps" or something that breaks down an industry will get spread within that industry since it's different and fresh - the viral level will be longterm. An Interactive Content Agency doesn't exist from what I've see, but that's where I see the "next level" of the internet going. More and more content will have not only imagery, and video, but now the next level is interacting with the data at a higher level, and that's going to require a programmer to get onboard. You get that, and put a nice price tag on it, you can be the first flagship boat for this new wave of what's coming. Example:

Sauce: Alaska's villages on the frontline of climate change

We saw this type of interactive content during the election and Brexit, where data was being updated in real-time and you could refresh a page to see the newest data as votes were coming in.

Think about this, realistically, most website owners are lazy with their content, they MIGHT put up a header image and call it a day. As a reader if you start reading a piece of content with more than 2 images you are lucky. But when people start combining content with imagery and interactive data being displayed - that's the trifecta.

So if it were me, I'd push that route, use some D3 premade javascripts to get things going: https://d3js.org/, and now you've made yourself a distinguishing player of the game.

If I was in the content game, I'd be pushing that angle, for higher-end content, and stop trying to go after people pinching pennies for word count. Go beyond "SEO content" and go after "viral content".

I don't see any "new" demand for what you are going for. There are literally thousands of outlets for what you are offering already. Textbroker.com can handle the whole process of what you are attempting to do and they've been around for a long time (yes they've got a proofreading service too - it's simply one-click to send to a proofreader).

 

[miketpowell]

There is a huge market for producing content for people and thus plenty of large companies in the space pushing the margins down as well.

Content production businesses fall into a certain category of business where scaling is much more difficult because the product is 100% dependent on labor. To produce more content you must hire more people. These type of businesses are very difficult to scale past the small/medium size because of it. Think of think like contractors, mobile detailing and lawn care.

Those 30 people that are telling you they'd be happy to write for a few extra bucks, well that's not going to go nearly and smoothly as you envision. You will work hard to get jobs, then they will fuck it up by saying they are going to do it but just delaying, which causes you problems with the client.

Personally I'd say it's a great business for you to jump into if you want. Not because it's going to make you a ton of money and will be the last business you ever create but because it will be a fantastic learning experience about managing and hiring labor. I ran a mobile detailing business in college that was very successful with 20 workers that I thought would scale to hundreds and make me millions very quickly. Then through experience I learned why there aren't any 500 person mobile detailing businesses.

 

[stackcash]

Where and how have you identified that there's a niche market of buyers that want this so-called "massive content" that's not premium, but also not trash?

Asking for a friend.