Cheap vs. Expensive Freelance Writers: Who’s Better?

We paid 3 freelance writers (at different rates) to create content on the exact same topic. See our takeaways on the quality and if more expensive writing services result in better content.

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Additional Content Marketing Resources

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We put up a job post on Problogger Jobs looking for freelance writers to write a product review post for a pseudo ‘affiliate site.’

In less than a week, we received 435 applicants.

Since we wanted to compare quality with the price, we chose writers based on their per word rate. The lowest rate was $0.02/word, the median was $0.15, and the highest was $0.40.

Each writer was given a content brief with some basic guidelines, product recommendations, and headings.

As for a word count quota, they got a pretty wide word count range from 500 to 1300 words.

Then we blind-tested the articles and scored them on a scale from 0 - 10 based on:

► content clarity;
► content depth;
► content usefulness;

We also had Josh and Patrick guess who were the cheapest, the medium, and the most expensive of the authors based on content alone.

In this video, you’ll learn our reflections on these articles.

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro
3:05 $0.02 per word writer
6:55 $0.15 per word writer
9:48 $0.40 per word writer
14:02 Takeaways and use cases

#contentwritingservices #contentwriting #contentcreation

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[DeloryRob]

I find conversations like this extremely useful for anyone in digital marketing, especially for team discussions.

[miloslepotic]

What the hell?! I need to get myself a ProBlogger account or whatever. I am charging less than that first guy, and I'm pretty confident I'm better than the second dude. Eye-opening! Thanks guys!

[tonycelentano]

Interesting video, but for the actual subject niche (laser pointers), I feel like what you guys really proved was diminishing returns on QPR (quality-price-ratio) for generic blog content. That's easily deducible for anyone in this industry for some time. I also think your writer hiring process was a little flawed, so you were basically gambling on the results.

That's not an insult, let me explain because I've provided consultation to digital agencies for years on this stuff. You guys can afford to do these sorts of "exercises", but a lot of webmasters can't really spend much $$$ on paid trials for different writers. They need a more efficient way of separating the wheat from the chafe.

For such a generic subject (laser pointers), you're definitely going to hit a plateau of "writing quality" between $.15 - $.40. We're talking about readability, flow, prose, etc. At $.40 per word, what are you expecting? Anne Rice prose for laser pointer reviews?

"The luminescence of the laser doth shine vividly, enraging my cats whom, upon spotting its scarlet beam, begin to frolic and leap about in futile efforts to catch the dastardly pinpoint that eternally evades their swatting paws."

So once you go past the QPR of English prose itself, you're paying for additional things like the writer having actual subject expertise, and delivery times. You want it in 3 days? Okay, $0.10 per word. You want it today? $0.20.

Even in that sweet spot range of $0.10 - $0.15, you're going to get varying levels of quality. One writer might have a super compelling intro, but a weak section or two, whereas another writer could have a lousy intro, but present some really in-depth information.

Here's what I usually tell agencies I've PM'd for - you can't expect a writer to give you the Mona Lisa, when you asked for "a woman with brown hair". Which is sort of what Ahrefs did here, by blind-testing writers with minimal instruction given. Your conclusion was correct (diminishing returns), but using a flawed methodology (gambling on writer trials using a minimal info packet).

To get the best results, you need to provide references, templates, examples of writing styles you like - anything that helps the writer match your vision of what the "perfect article" looks like. Otherwise you're just gambling $$$ on different writers in a set price range until you find one that intuitively "fits" you. Which is highly subjective, and shooting yourself in the foot.

This is why for any technical niche, I set up resource databases and specify exactly my vision for the final result. I provide the writers with a "paint-by-numbers" framework, so they can more easily deliver the Mona Lisa. You guys did provide an info packet, but it was quite minimal, so you were leaving it up to chance. For generic content like laser pointer reviews, writers are going to give you the minimal effort at any price range, unless you provide more exacting specifications for what you expect.

This exercise would've been a lot more interesting if it was done with a more technical subject, but for 'proving' that there's little quality difference between $.15 - $.40, that's just common sense, particularly for that content niche.

[aimeeliza]

This is super useful! And insightful too. I somehow feel a little better being a freelancer who's still in the $0.02/word rate, realizing that judging an article's quality is subjective, that somehow it also depends on "the eye of the beholder" and not just on the writer's skill itself.

[unmiss-com]

Expensive: These professionals know their worth. Because they charge reasonably and have marketable skills, they don't work for the promises and cheap benefits that less-skilled writers give in order to earn more money. This means the company has more stability when these freelancers complete a project than at cheaper rates as there is no fear that one time fees would be unpaid with good payments spread out over multiple projects. Cheap: Using educated interns, who cost very little and growing companies experience huge drops in overhead costs in addition to low cost labor, there's a lot of advantage to hiring based on skill rather than price. Thanks for sharing this video

[cherrieannbalictar]

I think the $.15c/word article is the best. Also, if I am paying $.40c/word, I would expect an immediate turnaround time. This writer took 6 days to complete the task, so I don't think it's worth the wait.

[KekeliBuckner]

I think I would go with Sam. Room for improvement and the turn around time wasn't bad as well

[musicbysazid]

As a fan of Ahrefs blog, I will stand by Josh's ratings.

[Sbr]

Thanks for this amazing experiment and for giving links to those posts.

[virtualVisions]

Please make a video about AI content writing. Will that articles actually rank on google?

[ChrisProutyVideos]

I love watching your videos because they always motivate me to take action.

[stemcareers]

Is ahrefs still offering a 7 day trial? I can't seem to find the link to it on the website

[wooacademy]

In Slovakia: 250 words (1 normo page) = 20-30 € (0, 08-0, 12€) for good quality content ...

[fabiano]

For a 40¢ per word I would expect something at least a bit more in depth. Yet, in my opinion, I have no doubt it was hands down the best writing style with clarity and good flow. I'm with Patrick. :)

[AltBeliefs]

So, assessing content quality can be highly subjective and yet Google would have us believe that they've reduced it to an algorithm. It's all smoke and mirrors.

[omosuviejoseph]

All three writers have different writing styles. Good content from all three.

[nakata]

I don't know why but i always smile when I see Patrick 😁😁😁

[yakubheartbeats]

Here is a take away for Ahrefs team, buy a mic for joshua too.

[LetsBeTechy]

With due respect, why you're only targeting million dollar companies, SEOs like us can no more afford ahrefs, it's very sad that ahrefs is becoming greedy day by day. I hope you'll think about beginners and launch some affordable plans also. We love Ahrefs.
Thank you!

[rohillasanju]

Disclosure - Video is sponsored by ProBloggers 😅