Can Content Mill Writing Improve Your Writing Capabilities
by AlexandriaIngham
Content mills have a bad reputation, but I've found they can actually improve writing capabilities. Do you agree with my findings?
You may hear a lot of negative comments about content mills. Personally, I am in two-minds about them. I do see the negatives, but I also notice that there are many positives to writing for them. It really depends on your goals as a writer, your typing speed, and whether you truly understand the way they work.
It is possible for content mills to improve your writing capabilities. I certainly improved as a writer because of them, even if the rates were low. Here are some of the benefits that you could gain writing for content mills.
 How quick can you write a quality art... Pixabay |
You Become a Faster, More Efficient Writer
The more you write, the more you earn. But that writing needs to be good.
You need to write quickly if you want to make decent money with content mills. At the same time, your writing needs to be well-researched, proofread and high quality. You can’t just write anything and expect to be paid for it. So, that helps you become a more efficient writer, as well as faster.
Writing for content mills helped me develop a few tricks that I still use today. I save the links to resources used, as the research can often be used in the future, and links to any websites that have royalty-free or copyright-free images. As much as possible is planned ahead of time, which includes a general article outline so I can get straight into writing it once all the information is gathered.
You will start to develop a system that works for you. The more you write, the better this system becomes and the more efficient you will be as a writer. It does take practice.
It Is Possible to Become a Better Writer
Improve your writing for other lines of work.
As well as efficient, your writing capabilities can be bettered. This really will depend on the content mill, but I’ve found a few that focus on high quality English writing. They have different levels, and editors will check the content regularly to make sure it is proofread and the best for all clients. Writers can then be promoted or demoted depending on their regular work.
Over the years, I’ve managed to get promoted to the top level on The Content Authority and am working my way up Great Content. They are the two main ones that I write for when I need a small amount of money quickly.
While improving your English capabilities, you improve your online writing capabilities. The content mills have to keep up to date with any changes to the search engine algorithm changes for their clients, and will need to update their writers. Those that don’t do this will end up losing clients and reputability. This is great for you as a writer. You quickly learn about the updates, and how it affects the clients. You can use this information in your own writing, and for other content mills, to make sure you keep making money.
Diversifying Becomes Second Nature
You'll learn more about diversifying your income streams and the risks of putting all your eggs into one basket.
You can’t make all your money from one content mill. In fact, writing for content mills alone is likely to create the sustainable income that you dream of getting. However, writing for the mills does teach you about diversifying your income so much that it becomes second nature. That way, if one mill disappears or dries up, there are others around so there is not a sudden drop in income. You can then start looking for other content mills to replace the ones that have disappeared or currently have little to no work available.
How Many Baskets Do You Have for Your Writing Eggs?
 Don't put all your eggs in one basket Naypong/Freedigitalphotos.net |
This skill will help you in the future. Diversifying your client list or passive income opportunities will become second nature. There is very little worry of suddenly having no income, whatever route you take for your freelance writing career.
Take Out the Fluff
Condensing your content becomes second nature because you don't get paid for those extra words.
Many writers add in fluff to make up the word count. Clients hate this, and the reputable content mills do too. It also adds in words so you end up writing more than you’re paid for, and there’s just no point in doing that. The clients are already receiving a lot of work for little money, so you don’t want to add any more into that.
When you’re writing for content mills, you soon learn to cut out all the fluff. It can take a couple of rounds of revisions the first time, but you soon get it down to one or two revisions at the most. This also improves your turnaround time and reputation as a freelance writer.
It could be worth doing a few jobs writing for content mills. While I don’t recommend this has a full-time option, I certainly found it has improved my writing capabilities. I believe the content mills can help anyone become a better writer, as long as you keep your wits about you.
More Articles on Wizzley About Freelance Writing
Updated: 06/17/2014, AlexandriaIngham
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Comments
I've never been able to write articles off my phone, but I do have an Android tablet that I like to use. I should download Drive, but I use Dropbox and Android's version of Word for now. It does everything I need.
Thanks, cmoneyspinner. I really appreciate the share.
Scooped. http://sco.lt/7kosQz
I should add that 400 words is a good length to write on a bus commute too. I have a gig due in four hours but I've already written 331 words of it on the way home this evening. Google Drive on an Android phone. Genius! It's how I've managed to fit fiverr around a fearsome work deadline for the last few months.
I join you in the comments about Fiverr. It may be low pay, but it is extra cash and I've gained so much research from it and some great ideas for my own writing. In fact, I used one idea and it went viral! I look forward to reading more from you, Paula.
From my point of view, yes, writing for content mills can improve your writing. I am doing quite well with 400 words a pop on fiverr and Bubblews as well as turning out 1000+ word articles for my main client. When the work deadline passes I have dozens (literally!) of ideas to write out for publication here and on other sites. I also write for work, so the creative juices are well and truly flowing. I'll explain more in my future articles, but my starting point is that I can write 400 words on anything. Yes, on fiverr it is only $5 a gig, or £3, but when I have between four and eight gigs a week, that's an extra bit of cash I didn't have before. 400 words is simple and quick to research and write too. I can't write fiction, so publishing a novel is beyond me. But like you, Alexandria, I also rework research into more than one article, or use it as the jumping off point for something more detailed (watch this space...)