Freelance Writing

Freelance Writing: Keyword Articles

Time after time I receive emails asking what type of freelance writing projects I take on. These emails come from other freelance writers as well as clients who are interested in hiring me. In order to get a better idea of the type of projects that are available to writers, I am going to put together a series of posts detailing some of the more common options.

Keyword Articles

What are keyword articles? These articles are general in nature but are based around a specific keyword. For instance, a client may ask you to write a 500 word article with the keyword of “web design” at a density of two percent. This means that they want the phrase web design to appear approximately 10 times in the article. Keyword density is something that every webmaster has a differing opinion on. Some will tell you that a low density, such as one percent, is best. On the other hand, I have had clients request a keyword density of up to 10 percent. As you can imagine, it can be difficult to naturally insert a keyword that many times into a relatively small article. That being said, I provide what the client wants; even if I don’t agree with it.

Keyword Article Payment

How much money can you earn writing keyword articles? Before I get to the answer of this question, you should know that these projects can be relatively easy to come by. One of the first good paying projects that I received was for 10 keyword articles on cancer. For each 400 word article, I was paid $20. This may not be a lot when compared to my current level of income, but back then I was ecstatic.

Now to the question of payment: the amount that you receive for writing a keyword article depends largely on the client you are working with. I have some clients that will pay $50 or more for a single keyword article of 500 words. At the same time, it is not uncommon to come across buyers who are not willing to spend more than $4-5 for one of these articles. By having a rate sheet, you will be able to avoid jobs and clients that do not suit you. For instance, you may set a rate of $25 for 500 words, $22.50 for 400 words, and $20 for 300 words. That is just an example; you will want to base your rates on your skills, how much work you are trying to bring in, your target audience, etc.

Freelance writers who are skilled at creating keyword articles can earn a lot of money. No, you are not going to get rich off of these articles, but you can increase your freelance writing income by adding these projects in addition to others.