In this article, we’re checking out a content writing service that has gained traction in recent years – WordAgents. WordAgents claims to offer speedy, well-written website content from native English speakers at affordable prices. We’ll be seeing whether these claims hold water, and we’ll also help you understand WordAgents somewhat complicated pricing model.

What is WordAgents?

Starting with the basics, WordAgents is a content writing service which operates on a typical content marketing business model. Clients submit briefs, WordAgents assigns the job to a freelance writer, the content is delivered. Of course, it’s somewhat more complicated, but that’s the jist. WordAgents offers many types of content services, including blogs, eCommerce, SEO writing, and more – whatever fits the niche of your business.  WordAgents only works with North American writers who are native-English speakers, and have a decently extensive vetting process for all writers. They offer competitive pricing, with a pricing model that is somewhat convoluted at first glance, which we’ll talk about next.

WordAgents Pricing Structure

Subscription Tiers

As per the title of this article, we’re here to help you understand WordAgents pricing structure. Eventually, we’ll get to the all-important questions – is WordAgents worth it?

Basically, the WordAgents team operates on a tiered subscription-model, which you will see outlined here. You pay per amount of written content, with tiers being categorized as Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Each tier nets you more content at a cheaper rate/word. Bronze offers 1000 words for $0.12/word, Silver gets you 5000 words for $0.10 per word, Gold gets you 10,000 words for $0.08 per word, and Platinum gets you 20,000 words for $0.06 per word. The more you buy, the cheaper it gets. Once you’ve selected a plan, WordAgents gives you “credits”, which are redeemable for content. Each “credit” is essentially a word of content, and you can divide it up as you please. You can create multiple articles of different lengths, or a select few longform articles. You can work with WordAgents’ customer service team to pin down the exact content type, topic, and tone you are going for.

Is There A Contract?

No, you do not sign a contract with WordAgents, but you do have to pay for your credits up-front. That being said, you can stop redeeming your credits at any time, and cancel your entire subscription (getting your money back).

Do Credits Expire?

No, WordAgents credits do not expire. You can take as long as you want, and schedule website content for whenever you please. WordAgents pairs you with a project manager who will be your direct line of communication with the company.

Are There Hidden Costs?

No, each subscription cost represents the entire amount owed. Once again, you do have to pay this amount up-front to purchase the credits. But once you own the credits, you can take as long as you want to redeem them.

Is WordAgents Worth It?

The big question, is WordAgents worth it? As mentioned, WordAgents sports a very competitive rate when stacked against other top content writing services. It’s not the cheapest service, but when it comes to getting quality content, it’s far from the most expensive.

Unfortunately, their somewhat low rates are also indicative of an underlying problem – low pay for writers. Because WordAgents offers less-than-competitive pay for writers, they have difficulty attracting top writing talent. When compared to other services such as Content.ly, the level of quality is noticeably lower. We still found the quality acceptable, but it’s not going to win your site any writing prizes. As the old saying goes, you get what you pay for, and WordAgents offers an acceptable level of quality for the price level. That being said, WordAgents runs a tight ship. From the outset, clients are matched with a responsive project manager, who works with the client to craft content briefs to help meet your goals. From there, the work is assigned and completed in a timely fashion. In fact, WordAgents guarantees a turn-around time of no more than 7 business days for content packages up to 10,000 words. For smaller orders, they tend to turn it around much faster.

The Bottom Line

Overall, for what you are paying, WordAgents is a solid choice. The quality of the writing can be a bit shaky, but it’s acceptable for the price. Some writers are better than others, but that’s a risk you take with most content writing services. WordAgents is an affordable way to order mass-content for your business. They have an intuitive platform, dependable turn-around teams, and a process that is smooth and efficient from beginning to end.

In this article, we’re taking a look at a popular new(ish) content writing service – Content Fly. Content Fly boasts on-brand, high quality content writing for your business needs. In this article, we’re examining whether the content creation service lives up to these claims.

What is Content Fly?

Content Fly is a content creation service that specializes in various types of content for businesses. They have a large network of writers with various disciplines and expertise, which allows Content Fly to create content for just about anyone. Compared to other content services on the market, Content Fly aims to separate themselves through a streamlined process and top-quality writers.

Content Fly Review

Let’s get right into – what do we think of Content Fly? For our review, we’ll examine the pros & cons of the service, and then give you our overall thoughts.

Pros

Writers Are Well Paid: It’s difficult to expect quality content without a satisfied freelance writer base. If a company doesn’t pay their writers well, it becomes difficult for them to attract quality writers, and the end work suffers. Fair wages are essentially a requirement for any professional writer delivering quality content orders. Luckily, Content Fly gives a large share of their profits to their writer base, ensuring consistent, quality work that isn’t exorbitantly priced on your end!

Content Fly claims that they vet their writers extremely diligently, and that less than 1% of writers are accepted onto the platform. We can’t verify these details, but they’re impressive if true.

Simple, Streamlined Platform: Requesting and receiving work with Content Fly is easy. As a customer, you can sign up for the platform in roughly 5 minutes. From there, they have a convenient dashboard for requesting content. You can be as detailed as you want. We recommend getting as specific as possible so the content you receive matches your requirements. Once you’ve submitted a request, Content Fly matches the request with one of their writers. In a few days, you’ll receive your content.

Up-Front Pricing Model: While Content Fly isn’t necessarily the “cheapest” content service around, we do appreciate their up-front pricing. Simply use their pricing slider to determine how much your content will cost. There are no contracts or commitments, and you can cancel your order at any time. We really appreciated the lack of hidden costs, fees, or sneaky commitments. 

Varied Content Possibilities: Due to their wide writer base, Content Fly is able to handle a large amount of business content types. Their primary focuses are blog articles, landing page copy, newsletters & emails, and social media posts. These pieces can all cover a large range of focus topics, and Content Fly assigns the work based on the expertise of the writer.

Cons

Writer Quality Varies: Although Content Fly’s writers tend to be pretty reliable, there’s really no escaping this factor with any content service. Some writers are better than others, it’s just a fact. Luckily, Content Fly does offer free revisions or touch-ups if you aren’t happy with your article. SEO is Lacking: Content Fly’s SEO appears to be pretty minimal compared to other content services. Their SEO strategy is barely touched on in their website, aside from certain buzzwords like “high-converting” and “ROI”. As far as we can tell, they don’t have a specific process to optimize an article for keywords, link-building, and other relevant SEO tactics.

What Do We Think of Content Fly?

Overall, we were pretty impressed with Content Fly. Finding a content service with reliable writers and consistent content is difficult in the age of “content mills” and Internet scams. Content Fly is a breath of fresh air in this regard, offering reliable content from a highly-vetted writer base. Their writers are well-paid, and have a diverse breadth of expertise, which ensures that Content Fly has a writer up to the task. And while we did find their SEO practices a little bit lacking, there are plenty of other options if this is your primary goal. Remember, as with any of these content services, you need to be sure to clearly outline your content goals from the outset. Work with Content Fly to clearly indicate your business goals, and what you hope to achieve with the content. The more direction, the better, because it increases the chance you’ll receive something satisfactory.

The Bottom Line

All that being said, we would recommend Content Fly if you are looking for high-quality, reliable content written for your business. The platform is simple & easy, and the prices are transparent. If you don’t want to overthink it, Content Fly is a great choice.

NOTE: Percolate was acquired by Seismic, and is now integrated into the Seismic platform. It seems like it offers similar functionality, so this article focuses on Seismic’s platform instead.

In this article, we’re examining two popular content marketing platforms – Percolate and Contently. Both platforms are built to integrate directly into your business’s content marketing activity, allowing for comprehensive planning, creation, and monitoring of content. Content marketing is a competitive landscape, so taking a look at how each platform’s content creation and marketing strategy will help understand how each company can work for you.  We’ll run down each platform, and help you decide which of these content marketers work best for you!

Contently Overview

The Platform

Contently is designed as a comprehensive content marketing platform. This platform is designed for use by businesses as a way to plan, monitor, and organize their content marketing strategy from end-to-end. Contently operates on a subscription basis, with a subscription netting clients access to the platform.

Contently advertises a “data driven content strategy.” Contently’s platform uses its own StoryBook proprietary technology, which analyzes a businesses’ content strategy to predict which content will have the biggest impact going forward. StoryBook is specific to the type of content, the length of the content, the tone of the content, and much more. Once content ideas have been generated, Contently matches businesses with a network of freelancers who have the skills to create the content. Once created, Contently’s own AI software optimizes for SEO, and it can be published. From there, there are multiple tools for tracking the content’s performance, and what to focus on going forward.

Pricing

Contently’s pricing scheme isn’t as straightforward as other content marketing services. To get accurate pricing info, you have to book a consultation, where a member of Contently’s team will assess your business needs. The price varies based on the size of your business, and how many people will need access to the platform. A subscription to Contently also nets you access to Contently’s premium network of freelance professionals. Contently matches you with professionals based on your content needs, and you have the opportunity to build a working relationship with each professional. Freelancers on Contently’s platform are capable of everything from content writing to videography to illustration and more. But do note that you will be responsible for paying these freelancers, as Contently’s platform only provides the matchmaking.

Pros

• Comprehensive content marketing platform.
• End-to-end solutions for planning, executing, optimizing, and monitoring content.
• Taps you into a premium network of freelance professionals.
• User-friendly, streamlined UX. 

Cons

• Requires a major commitment from your marketing team. Contently needs to be integrated into your overall marketing strategy.
• Expensive.

Seismic Overview

About Seismic

Seismic is a comprehensive sales & marketing enablement platform. Like Contently, it is designed to be integrated into a business’s overall operations. But unlike Contently, it covers a lot more than just content strategy. Seismic is built to be the backbone of your business’s entire marketing efforts. But for the purpose of this article, we’ll be focusing on a specific application within Seismic’s entire platform – its “Content Delivery” application.

The Content Delivery Application

Seismic’s Content Delivery application is designed to help a business predict, create, and deliver actionable content across a business’s entire operations. Unlike Contently, Seismic is less about creating content, and more about sharing content throughout an organization.

If this sounds confusing, it sort of is, but that’s a good thing in this case. Seismic’s content delivery will automatically send content to certain teams based on their role in the business. For example, if a certain sales team is frequently dealing with customers in a certain industry, Seismic will automatically send them news content which is relevant to that industry. This allows the team to stay on top of current news and events, and provide them with a strategic advantage when talking to clients.

Seismic’s NewsCenter gives an administrator control over which news content is sent to which teams, and allows them to add commentary, explaining its relevance. You can also create custom landing pages for different teams, allowing them to access all of this information at their own leisure. There’s a capable search function if they prefer a more hands-on approach. We know, that’s a lot to take in at once. If you only want one takeaway, just know that Seismic is a tool for delivering relevant content across an organization to help teams succeed.

The Cost

Seismic, like Contently, doesn’t come cheap. Remember that the Content Delivery application is just a single tool in a much larger platform. Seismic is, at its core, a platform to support and manage an organization’s entire sales staff, and these types of software do not come cheap. Like Contently, you’ll need to book a consultation, and a member of Seismic’s team can evaluate your needs and provide a quote.

Pros

• Proven sales & marketing management software.
• Allows teams to receive relevant content when they need it.
• Comprehensive tools to share, discover, and customize content.
• Designed to facilitate and improve sales numbers.

Cons

• Not a tool for creating content. If that’s what you’re after, consider Contently.
• Requires extensive onboarding and training.

Contently vs. Seismic

At the end of the day, there are few reasons a business would be debating between Contently and Seismic. Both are designed for very different purposes. And while both platforms offer very capable content solutions, they barely overlap in their functionality.

If you are looking for a platform to help you create, manage, and optimize marketing content (content used to promote your business) then the clear choice is Contently. Contently is designed to facilitate this process, and the platform helps businesses create content that converts.

If you are looking for a platform for discovering content for internal use, then Seismic is the winner. Seismic helps you manage relevant content across your business, and gets it to your team when they need it to succeed. But do note that Seismic’s content management application is just a small part of a much larger platform. No matter the choice, both platforms require a fundamental shift in how you do business. Both are platforms designed to act as a “backbone” for parts of your business, and require significant investments. If you’re looking for a more basic content creation service, consider Content Refined.

iWriter is a popular content writing service Using this freelance platform, iWriter advertises premium writing skill and service for rock-bottom prices. However, as is the case with many service offerings of this nature, some have found it too good to be true. In this article, we’ll examine whether it lives up to these lofty claims, and also give you several iWriter alternatives to consider.

What is iWriter?

iWriter, at first glance, is your standard content writing service. They work with thousands of writers to mass-produce written content pieces, and offer their service at very competitive prices. iWriter allows clients to purchase different ”tiers” of website content, depending on how much work, research, and SEO optimization they require. That being said, even at the ”Elite Plus” tier, iWriter’s prices are very low. The most you can spend for 1000 words of content is $72.

Of course, working backwards, lower priced content means lower paid writers. Therefore, it’s not reasonable to expect that iWriter’s writer base is comparable to what you’d expect from a more expensive service. That’s not to say that you can’t find talented writers on the platform, just that top quality writers know their worth. All this being said, if you’re looking for a more reliable content writing service, let’s check out some alternatives:

Alternatives to iWriter

UpWork

UpWork is less of a content writing service and more of a ”freelance marketplace.” On UpWork, freelancers of any kind can create a profile, advertising their services to the world. Freelancers list their experience, list their expertise, and set their own prices. Clients can review their work, so the most talented freelancers rise to the top. As a client, you submit a proposal, and freelancers can contact you about the work (or vice versa). If you’re willing to put the time into building relationships on UpWork, there is fantastic content writing to be found. Just be sure to clearly outline your content goals in your proposal to increase your chances of finding the best match.

Compose.ly

Compose.ly is quite similar in principle to iWriter. The main difference is in quality. iWriter carefully vets its writers, claiming to accept less than 1% of those who apply. iWriter also pays its writers much higher rates, which also means their service is quite a bit more expensive. But the level of quality tends to be much more reliable as well. Basically, you can expect high quality content from Compose.ly, but you can also expect to pay more for it.

Compose.ly also offers basic SEO optimization for their writing services. Compose.ly performs keyword research, and optimizes content to help it rank on Google. Compose.ly positions themselves as a premium content writing service, and we’ve found that they uphold this reputation. They are more expensive than iWriter, but the difference is noticeable.

Verblio

Verblio has a rather unique setup in managing proposals and assignments. As a client, you submit proposals to have content written. You have a chance to outline your brand voice, content goals, and content outlines. From there, the proposal is uploaded to a writer portal, where Verblio’s pre-vetted team of writers can access the work, and write the content if it matches their expertise. Essentially, multiple writers can “compete” for your proposal.

Once the work is completed, you are free to review it, and you can accept the content that you like best. As long as you are willing to put in the effort to review the work yourself, you are likely to find something you are happy with. Verblio is priced competitively, and their writing team is competent. If their unique business model sounds good to you, then give them a shot.

Content Fly

Content Fly is a new company, but they’ve developed a solid reputation. Similar to Compose.ly, Content Fly invests their efforts into hiring top writers, claiming to accept less than 1% of those who apply. Also similar to Compose.ly, they charge more than their competitors for content. In other words, you can expect quality content from Content Fly. Content Fly offers a streamlined platform. It only takes a few minutes to join and submit a proposal. Proposals can be as detailed or basic as you want, but we recommend you clearly lay out your goals so you’re happy with the work you receive. Once a proposal is submitted, you can expect your work within a few days.

Content Refined

Content Refined takes a bit more of a personal approach to content writing. From the outset, you’ll be paired with a project manager, who will work with you to outline your content goals, brand voice, and so on. From there, they’ll work with you to create a custom content plan, which includes SEO tactics to help content rank. From there, they’ll pass on the work to one of their pre-vetted writers, and the work will be completed according to the deadline. Content Refined works with a diverse group of writers, who have expertise on many different subjects and topics. If you’re looking for a more personalized approach, check them out!

The Bottom Line – Pick The Service Best For You

In this article, we’ve given you a wealth of options to choose from for your content writing needs. The best choice is just the choice that best matches your needs. Before you consider any content writing service, you need to consider what you are looking to achieve with your content. Examine your business, examine your goals, and decide how content will help you meet those goals. This way, you’ll be able to work with a content provider to create a proposal to help your business succeed.

There are many quality options above, but it will be difficult to be satisfied with any option if you don’t know what you’re looking for. We hope you’ve found our list helpful. We know it can be difficult to sift through the crowded content marketing space. Good luck in your next content endeavor!

In this article, we’re comparing two popular content marketing platforms – Gather Content and Contentful. If you aren’t familiar with these platforms, they both share the goal of helping a business manage, create, and optimize their content marketing. We’ll be examining each digital platform, their content model, and letting you know which is best for your digital content business.

Gather Content

Gather Content is, as they put it, a “content operations platform.” Essentially, it’s a comprehensive digital platform designed to help businesses manage, plan, and implement a content marketing campaign and strategy. If that all sounds a little vague and open-ended, it is, but only because Gather Content has such a wide array of features and content creation capabilities.

At the heart of the platform is the Content Hub. The centre of content operations, the Hub allows you to organize content across your entire organization. Anyone can access new, planned, or ongoing projects. Administrators can choose which team-members can access which content, and can assign work to different teams. The Hub also allows you to track processes, identify bottlenecks, search content, develop a content strategy, and more. It’s a comprehensive organization tool for planning tasks that can usually become overwhelming.

But the Content Hub is far from all that’s on offer with Gather Content. It also has dedicated tools for predicting, planning, and creating content. The Content Planning tool helps teams see which content they are responsible for, and they can use Gather Content’s templates and style guides to complete the work. At its core, Gather Content is a good organizational tool and content management system. With modern businesses and marketing departments requiring such an enormous amount of structured content, it’s helpful to have a platform that connects everyone, and keeps all workflows organized and on-track. But as with any platform, you have to give your team time to learn its ins and outs.

Pricing

Pricing for Gather Content is done on a subscription basis. You can choose to pay monthly or annually, with some added bonuses for an annual plan. There are 3 basic plans available for Gather Content, that scale up based on the number of concurrent projects, rather than the number of users. Gather Content’s “Start” plan allows for 3 concurrent projects for $99/month, the “Scale” plan allows for 15 concurrent projects for $299/month, and the “Transform” plan allows for 60 concurrent projects for $799/month. There are also other caveats that you can find here. Gather Content also offers plans for larger organizations, but you’ll need to book an individual consultation.

Contentful

Contentful operates within the same space as Gather Content, offering a comprehensive platform for managing content. According to Contentful, their content platform “aggregates, structures, and delivers content across an organization’s digital footprint.

At the core of Contentful’s service offering is the Content Platform. The content platform provides a central hub for creating, planning, and managing content. Team members have access to the central hub, where there are extensive tools to organize content workflow. The Content Hub brings together team-members to seamlessly create content. Designers, creators, editors, and marketers all have access, and work simultaneously with developers and publishers to share content across all the organizations’ channels and mediums.

Pricing

Perhaps where Contentful differs most from Gather Content is their pricing structure. Rather than paying per concurrent project, you pay for the amount of people on the platform. The pricing is a little convoluted, but we expect that’s by design. The only advertised price is for the “Team” tier, which starts at $489/month. Bigger organizations will have to book a consultation with Contentful.

Which is For You?

At the end of the day, Contentful and Gather Content are very similar content platforms. Both are geared toward helping an organization create, manage, plan, and share content. Both are meant as organizational tools, rather than tools for creating content. Your decision may come down to which platform your organization likes best, or which platform offers your organization the best deal! Do note that both platforms are extensive, and require real buy-in from members across your organization. The platforms are only as effective as the commitment they receive from your team. If everyone works together to create and share, you’ll be much happier with the results. This also means that you’ll need to dedicate time and resources toward training & onboarding team-members onto the platform.

Conclusion

Thanks for checking out our head-to-head comparison of Gather Content and Contentful, two content management softwares that we like for different reasons. Once again, these are platforms for managing content, not creating it. If your organization is looking for help creating high-quality content to share, consider Content Refined.