In this article, we’re checking out another popular content writing service – HireWriters.com. HireWriters is one of the older content writing services on the Internet. It has developed a, well, shaky reputation from writers and clients. While it advertises itself as a premium service for content marketing and article writing, some claim it does not deliver the high quality content it promises. Today, we’ll see whether this reputation is justified, and whether you should consider HireWriters for your next writing project.

What is HireWriters.com?

HireWriters.com is a basic content writing service. They advertise unique content writing in a variety of areas (article writing, transcription, rewriting, eBooks, etc.). The main difference you’ll notice is that HireWriters boasts prices much lower than competing writing services. For example, clients can get a 700-1000 word article written for $5! But, as you might suspect with a service this cheap, its reputation is not so stellar.

What is the Reputation?

The saying “you get what you pay for” tends to be a pretty reliable indicator of what you can expect from rock-bottom pricing. As such, HireWriters has developed a reputation for sub-par quality, and a less-than-happy writing staff. Writing jobs at this website are underpaid and don’t offer a freelance writer the chance to offer high quality content because of this. That being said, we know that reputations can be misleading, and we want to offer a fair critique. So let’s break it down and see whether HireWriters has earned this reputation. Here are the positive and negative aspects of the service.

Pros

Cheap Content

You aren’t going to find content writing much cheaper than HireWriters.com. In fact, unless you get it for free, you’ll struggle to find prices even close to HireWriters. So if you’re willing to roll the dice and buy some content, then you’re not going to find a place where you can spend less than here. HireWriters also offers rewrites for even cheaper rates.

Varied Content

HireWriters works with a lot of writers, so they’re capable of producing quite a bit of different content types and varieties. HireWriters offers new articles and rewrites of articles, eBooks, poetry, blogs, and much more. Once again, if you’re willing to give it a shot, you might get what you’re after.

Fast Turnaround and Fair Approval Process

HireWriters advertises turnaround times of 1 day (or shorter upon request). This is very fast. Once again, we don’t think these short deadlines are conducive to high-quality writing, but at least you’ll know quickly whether you are satisfied with your work. HireWriters also states that they rarely miss these deadlines, and will penalize their writers in this case. HireWriters also gives you 72 hours to review the work before you accept it, and you are free to reject it if you are unhappy. HireWriters does require you to put the money into escrow upon ordering an article, so you have to contact them directly to reject a piece, in which case they will send the money back to you.

Cons

Low Pay for Writers

If we were really to boil down the problems with HireWriters, it basically comes down to this: Because HireWriters charge such exorbitantly low prices for content, there’s not a lot of money left over to pay their writers. In fact, some writers report making less than $3 per content piece. HireWriters does utilize a ranking scale, where writers earn more if they are more experienced, but it still doesn’t cap out at very much.

Basically, it’s next to impossible to attract top-quality writers while paying rock-bottom rates. They might occasionally luck out and hire a talented writer who is looking to build their portfolio, but they are unlikely to last long. As a client of HireWriters, you can’t reasonably expect top-quality content without being willing to pay for it. Quality content writing should (and does) cost hundreds of dollars, while HireWriters is charging under $10. Something doesn’t add up, and the business model simply isn’t conducive to quality work.

Variable Quality

As we examined above, it’s difficult to expect quality content writing at rock bottom prices. So it shouldn’t be a huge surprise that that’s what HireWriters produces. While there are certainly reports of satisfied clients, it hasn’t been our experience. Essentially, unless you luck out and are paired with a talented writer, the quality will be about as you expect. Then again, perhaps the quality is pretty on-par with what we paid for it, so it’s hard to say that HireWriters is overly misleading.

Shady Reputation

Our experience with HireWriters has been, unfortunately, far from unique. HireWriters has a reputation in the writing community as a less-than-reputable content writing service. Once again, we think it all stems back to the rock-bottom pricing model, but the end result is the same. There are reports of many writers who are unhappy with the employer, and many clients who didn’t receive what they asked for. Of course, we can’t personally verify all of these stories. But at a certain point, if your reputation precedes you, then it’s hard to argue against.

Complaints from Writers

We also can’t verify these claims, but there have been numerous complaints from writers claiming that HireWriters has locked their writing account, cutting off communication. On certain occasions, writers claim to have not been paid for work. Once again, we can’t verify these claims, but they seem numerous enough at least to raise skepticism.

Critique

If something seems too good to be true it probably is, and that’s the case with HireWriters. If you aren’t willing to pay for quality content, then it’s difficult to expect quality content. HireWriters’ prices are low, and their writers get paid even less than that. If you’re wondering how they manage to attract talent by offering these rates, then you probably already know the answer. It’s hard to say good things about a company which doesn’t pay their employees a fair wage. On the other hand, if you really want to risk it, at least your commitment is low. Maybe you’ll get lucky and your work will be assigned to a fantastic writer who gives you exactly what you were looking for. And if not, at least you’re not too far out of pocket. You can also reject the work and get a refund if you are truly unhappy.

In this article, we’re looking at two popular content writing services – TextBroker and Verblio (previously known as BlogMutt). They both offer their own team of freelance content writers that provide you with written content for blog writing, social media, article writing, and other services – and both promise high quality content. These two services are direct competitors, both firmly planted in the content marketing space, but which is best for your business? We’ll examine both services, give you the pros and cons of each, and help you decide which is best.

Verblio

Verblio is a content writing service with a good reputation. Verblio offers services similar to most content writing services, with a few tweaks to the business model.

With Verblio, clients purchase content by length, with varying “tiers” for the complexity of the content. You can find the whole details here, but the prices are quite reasonable for a writing company.

Once a client has purchased content, they work with Verblio to outline their content goals. This includes providing details on brand voice, target audience, content goals, and more. From there, clients provide details on the type of content they require – including length, type, CTAs, keywords, etc. If clients are too busy for this, they can opt for Verblio Complete, and their content briefs will be created for them. Once the briefs are ready, they are uploaded to a portal where they can be accessed by Verblio’s writers, who have their own specific online writing skills and experience. The main difference with Verblio, as opposed to other content writing services, is that multiple writers can accept writing work simultaneously. Writers are essentially “competing” for the clients’ business. Once the writers submit their work, clients can review all pieces, and accept the one they like best. From there, they can leave reviews, and “bookmark” certain writers to work with in the future. Clients can find a group of writers they prefer, and (ideally) their work becomes more personalized as time goes on.

The Writers

A content writing service is only as good as the quality of its writers. Often, this is the “make or break” factor which determines whether a platform is recommendable. Verblio has an impressively extensive vetting process for its writers. Only 4% of applicants are accepted to become Verblio writers, which indicates a rigorous quality standard. The herd is further thinned as clients leave reviews on each writers’ submissions. Basically, the best writers naturally rise to the top, and those are the ones who will likely be tasked with the work.

Pros

• Intuitive, streamlined platform.
• Competitive prices.
• Only 4% of applicants become writers. 
• “Competitive” submissions process gives clients several options to choose from.

Cons

• SEO tools are minimal.
• Quality can be variable.

TextBroker

Next up, we have another content writing service that has gained some notoriety – TextBroker. TextBroker offers a service very similar in appearance to that offered by Verblio, but there are some very apparent differences that may affect your decision.

TextBroker, like Verblio, offers content of many types. You can order blog content, web content, newsletters, eBooks, and so on. Once a client has ordered content, they use TextBroker’s streamlined platform to create their content brief, and to let writers know what they are looking for. Clients can also note any keywords they want included. Once the brief is ready, TextBroker assigns it to a writer who has the expertise to match. It’s all quite straightforward, and TextBroker’s platform is quite intuitive. Ordering content and creating briefs is streamlined, and we’ve been impressed with the simplicity. Of course, before you consider any content writing service, you should have an idea of your content goals. If you can’t provide the service with an idea of what you want, then you’re bound to be disappointed regardless.

The Difference

The main difference with TextBroker is that it is much cheaper than Verblio. TextBroker’s content plans start at just 1.5 cents/word. For reference, that comes to $4.50 for 300 words of content, while Verblio charges $35. Pretty massive difference.

And while prices this low may sound appealing, it also leads us to that old saying – “if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” Because, if you thought TextBroker’s prices were low, consider that their writers are getting paid significantly less than that! And if you think it sounds difficult to attract and retain quality writing talent while paying rock bottom rates – that’s because it is.

Simply put, you can’t pay the bare minimum and expect quality work. And this isn’t to say that all of TextBroker’s writers are poor, because that’s certainly not the case, but it is to say that a business can’t expect a motivated workforce while not paying them even close to a market rate.

Herein lies the fundamental problem with services like TextBroker, and is also why they are so difficult to recommend.

Pros

• Rock bottom prices.
• Intuitive, streamlined process.
• Content is delivered in a timely fashion.

Cons

Rock bottom prices – difficult to expect quality work.

Which Should You Choose?

Based on the above information, our choice should be pretty obvious. One content writing service delivers consistent, quality content that you can depend on. With the other, the quality of content is, well, what you paid for. Of the two, our recommendation goes to Verblio. 

We will say that we were impressed with both service’s platforms. They both provide an easy, intuitive method of signing up & creating a content brief. And as far as we can tell, the work is delivered in a timely, orderly fashion.

Sure, you can roll the dice and order content from TextBroker. There is certainly the chance that you will receive content from a motivated, talented writer. But it’s simply too difficult to depend on quality work when you aren’t paying the going rate. If you don’t feel like risking it, order from Verblio or from a vast selection of quality content writing services. Content marketing shouldn’t be a race to the bottom, and we’re glad that services like Verblio are committed to upholding the integrity of the industry. 

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.