Content material mills: the nook of the web the place everybody’s promised the moon, however most individuals are left at midnight.

Writers are provided a chance to be nurtured by editors, construct their writing expertise, and develop an expert portfolio. Corporations are promised high quality work that is delivered rapidly for a minimal funding.
I do not suppose anybody comes out a winner in 90% of those preparations. I do know I misplaced after I wrote for a content material mill ten years in the past. Now with a contract writing profession and a ebook deal to my title, I see my time writing for content material mills as a hazing interval meant to induct me into the trade.
Do high quality content material mills exist? Theoretically, sure (although it‘s arduous to seek out good critiques to again any single firm up). Let’s study content material mills from the attitude of each the content material mill writers and the businesses trying to purchase these articles. You will most likely be stunned at what you discover.
Desk of Contents
What are content material mills?
Content material mills, or content material farms, are companies that rent a big group of freelance writers and pay them usually low wages to provide an unlimited quantity of content material for shoppers.
Companies typically order lots of of articles directly, and content material high quality varies enormously. The demand for content material mills has decreased enormously with AI writing and advertising instruments.
Content material Mill vs. Content material Advertising Company
Content material mills might sound just like content material advertising businesses, however there are key variations.
Fee
Writers are sometimes paid very low wages by content material mills due to the quantity-over-quality strategy. Businesses are likely to worth writers and compensate them higher and see writers as group members as a substitute of merely a method to refill their marketing calendar for the yr.
Studying Alternative
Content material mills goal inexperienced writers, tempting them with the dream of being paid to write down and formed by skilled editors. I discovered my job itemizing on Craigslist and obtained no coaching. Businesses do not need to churn and burn by way of their contractor and as a substitute need to construct long-term relationships.
Specialization
Businesses typically focus on a particular area of interest, permitting them to rent editors and freelancers who’ve experience (or obtain coaching) within the trade they’re writing about. Status is the whole lot to those specialists, and the chance for trade specialization is gigantic.
Right here’s a real-world instance: Kat Smith is the founding father of a number of standard travel websites, in addition to being the content material supervisor at a digital advertising company BuildUp Bookings that focuses on the holiday rental trade.
She manages a big group of freelance writers and editors. Based mostly on her experience within the journey trade, she’s developed a rigorous system for assigning articles and creating trip content material. Kat even shared that they cap writers at a particular variety of articles per 30 days to take care of the best high quality for shoppers.
This tailor-made, quality-first perspective is like night time and day when in comparison with content material mass manufacturing.
How Content material Mills Work
So, how precisely does the content material mill course of work? This is an summary.
Writers be part of and anticipate assignments.
After getting accepted by a content material mill as a author, you‘ll both get assigned articles by administration, otherwise you’ll need to bid and “win” article assignments from an inner job board.
Corporations order articles.
Corporations can order any kind of writing from content material mills, akin to:
- Weblog put up with (commonest).
- Product assessment.
- Product itemizing.
- Touchdown web page.
- Copywriting.
- Fiction.
My final content material mill project was writing product listings for automotive elements. I did not even personal a automotive. I resigned after I submitted my last work.
Writers settle for and course of assignments.
Writers settle for assignments from shoppers and have to finish them throughout a particular time interval. Turnaround time is commonly fast, and directions on assignments fluctuate enormously. Fee is commonly decrease to start with with the promise of a increase down the highway.
Revision interval.
As soon as the shopper receives the article, there is a interval the place they’ll request revisions. The variety of revisions obtainable relies on the bundle that the shopper paid for; typically limitless revisions are part of shopper packages.
Obtain cost.
Fee strategies fluctuate based mostly in your settlement, however try to be paid inside a specified interval of getting your content material accepted by the shopper. The businesses will typically take a share of your earnings. One of many beneath mills takes 30%.
Content material Mills You Would possibly’ve Heard Of
I haven’t got any private suggestions for content material mills, so I requested ChatGPT what probably the most respected mills have been.
ChatGPT offered WriterAccess and Verblio, although I ought to point out that neither of those firms use the time period “content material mill” to explain themselves.
I‘ve by no means labored with these firms immediately, so I learn dozens of critiques from each shoppers and writers. Right here’s a abstract of my findings.
WriterAccess
WriterAccess is a content material advertising platform that connects companies with a big pool of writers with numerous backgrounds.
The platform permits you to vet writers to seek out specialised freelancers like medical doctors and legal professionals, which suggests it has the potential to generate distinctive and insightful content material by consultants, moderately than a run-of-the-mill rehashing of what is already on the market.
Whereas there is a honest variety of damaging critiques on the market, one independent publisher stated that they have been glad sufficient as a shopper to order 5,000+ articles. The timestamp on this assessment is dated for Might 2022, earlier than ChatGPT went public.
It is price noting {that a} frequent sentiment from writers of their critiques of content material mills is that the variety of assignments plummeted post-ChatGPT. WriterAccess boasts a group of 15,000 writers, however on-line boards say that the work has been declining in recent times. You’ll be able to learn critiques right here:
Verblio
Verblio is a content material platform that addresses the elephant within the room: AI content material writing. They provide a particular AI content material writing bundle, although different platforms provide related providers without cost. You should use HubSpot’s free AI content writer as a substitute.
Verblio shoppers can select between AI content material and 100 human-generated writing, they usually may discover very particular sources akin to PhDs and subject material experience to assist with particular tasks.
There are ample critiques obtainable on-line, with one from an unbiased publisher citing the expertise intimately, together with screenshots citing dozens of errors missed by in-house editors. You’ll be able to learn critiques right here:
The Downside with Content material Mills
We‘ve spent the final thousand phrases collectively dancing across the darkish aspect of the content material mill trade — let’s not be coy and take a minute to look carefully on the arduous points with one of these content material.
Writers may be taken benefit of.
Muhammad Hamaz is a contract author who has penned many printed articles. Most notably, his work has been printed in Enterprise Insider.
However he wrote that piece as a ghostwriter for the entrepreneur who was featured. Muhammad was solely compensated $20, and another person‘s title is on it. He’s not even listed as a co-author.
“The outsourcing tradition has drowned us economically, particularly writers from nations like Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan,” Muhammad shared, who’s positioned in Pakistan.
He shared that $500 per 30 days is taken into account a high-paying wage for a full-time author, and that search engine marketing writers can receives a commission $800 most. For reference, an search engine marketing author within the US may be paid $800 for a single article.
“Outsourcing firms take benefit. There must be recognition of writers’ work.”
Corporations that rent content material mills must confirm how a lot the writers themselves are paid in the event that they need to outsource ethically. The cash paid to the mill says nothing about how a lot they’re paying writers.
Readers worth first-hand expertise.
Mills promise a stream of fixed content material. Except you vet writers very nicely for experience that matches up along with your trade, you‘ll find yourself publishing content material by writers who’re simply going to learn what’s on Google after which regurgitate it.
Whenever you pay writers virtually nothing, you’ll be able to‘t anticipate authentic reporting. Writers are instructed to learn what’s already on-line and switch that into an authentic (sufficient) article.
On condition that the web is stuffed with errors, bot content material, and outdated data, this units the bar very low.
The web would not want extra product critiques being written by individuals who have by no means examined the product (learn a surprising deep-dive on this here).
Readers need first-hand expertise; it is why so many individuals add “reddit” to the tip of their Google question. The pursuit of genuine expertise is altering the way in which the general public engages with search engines like google.
Google desires authoritative articles, too.
Google likes authoritative writing a lot that it developed the EEAT guidance:
- Expertise.
- Experience.
- Authoritativeness.
- Trustworthiness.
In case your content material doesn‘t examine any of those packing containers, then what’s the purpose of it? You may refill your website with 1000’s of phrases, nevertheless it‘s extremely arduous to confirm the content material that you simply’re publishing.
There are too many loopholes.
If your organization is hiring a content material mill, how are you going to assure that the articles are authentic and never stolen? Those that suppose they’ll simply detect plagiarized content material writing will not be conscious of the ability of the free instruments in the marketplace.
To check this, I discovered an article from the Mayo Clinic on hypertension and wished to see how lengthy it will take somebody to tear it off. Utilizing free instruments, I used to be in a position to get it to go a plagiarism and AI scan in lower than 5 minutes.
First, I prompted ChatGPT to rewrite all the medical article from the Mayo Clinic:
Then I examined the article in a plagiarism detector. It failed the primary few scans, regardless of me prompting ChatGPT to rewrite it.
I then deserted ChatGPT and opened a free plagiarism rewriter and requested it to rewrite ChatGPT’s article. On its first try at rewriting the article, it achieved a 0% plagiarized scan:
Then, I ran the article by way of CopyLeaks to see if it was AI-generated. CopyLeaks reported that, certainly, this complete article was AI, so I ran it by way of a textual content humanizer.
With just one try utilizing a free AI-to-human textual content instrument, I used to be in a position to get this text to go a CopyLeaks scan:
That is vital: Moral writers would by no means steal content material, however many content material mills will not be moral firms. Throughout my time writing for a content material mill, I used to be inspired by editors to paraphrase and take concepts from articles that I discovered on-line. It is why my tenure there was so temporary.
Content material Writing and AI
Mendacity or sloppily utilizing AI is pointless when the freelance market is stuffed with unimaginable writers with whom you’ll be able to construct relationships.
I‘m requested ceaselessly (too ceaselessly) what I consider AI as a contract author. It’s too massive of a query to handle right here, however I’ll share a couple of statistics from our State of Marketing developments report that present that AI is not right here to interchange skilled writers:
- 95% of entrepreneurs who use generative AI to generate copy need to edit the textual content, with 44% reporting they make important adjustments.
- 60% of entrepreneurs share the priority that AI can hurt their model’s fame by way of plagiarism, bias, or misalignment with model values.
- Fortunately, solely 6% of entrepreneurs say they use AI to provide an total piece of content material for them.
The originality of writing is tough to gauge, and even established publications are getting caught red-handed utilizing AI articles written by pretend personas. Examine Sports Illustrated for a surprising exposé. Or Microsoft. Or any of these.
It is sensible to leverage AI in advertising, however those that are careless can pay the value.
Everybody’s promised the moon.
Massive guarantees are made by content material mills, spanning:
- Raises in cents per phrase.
- Total incomes potential.
- Article high quality.
- Optimization.
- Coaching.
Each firms and writers must be crucial of those guarantees.
Right here‘s an instance from my expertise. The content material mill I labored for bought firms search-engine-optimized web site articles, however the one search engine marketing steering that I obtained was this: use a key phrase 5x per article. This firm might’ve provided actual coaching or directed writers to free trainings provided on-line.
As a author, I wanted actual coaching. I had little or no skilled writing expertise. I didn’t know something about search engine marketing and relied on the steering I used to be given.
Wanting again, I feel that the editors genuinely knew about search engine marketing. If that they had spent one hour taking the free SEO training in HubSpot Academy, they’d’ve discovered greater than they taught their writers.
To paraphrase a one-star assessment left on Certainly for a content material mill: “They chew up and spit out writers prefer it’s nothing, and never for lack of expertise, however as a result of the editorial group would not perceive what they’re doing. Writers are set as much as fail from the beginning.”
Writers do not profit sufficient.
Freelance writers depart writing gigs with multiple kind of cost. They’re financially compensated, in fact, however additionally they rely on issues like:
- LinkedIn suggestions.
- Authority constructing.
- Portfolio development.
- Talent constructing.
- Referrals.
With the content material mill because the intermediary between writers and the publications publishing their work, freelance writers are unable to construct lasting relationships with their shoppers.
The dearth of possession isn‘t an accident. It’s part of some content material mills’ contracts with freelance writers requiring writers to make use of an alias for “privateness” in order that shoppers can not discover them on-line and search them out independently of the corporate.
Content material Mills: What to Do As an alternative
There’s been numerous speak about what to not do with content material outsourcing. So, the place must you focus?
Develop a content material technique.
What number of high-value weblog posts are you able to publish per 30 days? Answering that query will set the stage in your editorial calendar and technique. We are able to stroll you thru each single step of this course of:
High quality over amount.
High quality content material that serves your viewers and nurtures leads takes time to develop. Deal with making content material that your prospects and trade really need. It’ll deliver you nearer to your audience and provide help to perceive your personal product and enterprise higher.
This takes time.
Wirecutter famously spends 20 to 200 hours writing new guides. I just lately began a brand new area of interest web site on a Portuguese pilgrim trail, and I‘ve written greater than 35,000 phrases attempting to construct visitors from the bottom up.
I might purchase a bunch of $10 weblog posts written by individuals who had by no means even been to Portugal, however what’s the purpose?
You do not faucet into the benefits of content marketing whenever you do it poorly.
Place your self as a pacesetter.
Nice content material would not contribute to the noise; it leads and positions you as a subject knowledgeable. Each freelance writers and firms trying to produce extra content material can prioritize this with:
- Ongoing training.
- Authentic reporting.
- Networking.
Not solely will this EEAT-ify your content material for Google, however it’s going to additionally inevitably make your content material extra precious for readers. For an instance of unimaginable management by way of content material creation, take a look at the extent of dedication that HouseFresh has delivered to its readership.
Spend money on writers.
“We really feel like you understand our enterprise higher than we do.” A shopper advised me over lunch once we lastly met in real-life after I would been working remotely as their content manager for 2 years. That is the results of long-term relationships with freelancers as a substitute of churn-and-burn outsourcing.
Join with writers immediately. Discover us on LinkedIn or platforms like UpWork. Ask for a direct author referral out of your trade connections. Record your freelance place on job boards, and allow us to come to you.
Whereas skilled writers are able to hit the bottom working, think about giving a less-experienced freelancer an opportunity and coaching them. Begin with a paid freelance writing trial interval and practice them. Pay pretty and make investments, and you may see the outcomes.
Whereas it isn’t particular to the writing trade, this put up summarizes the worth of hiring somebody with out expertise superbly:
Content material Mills Received’t Drive Significant Interplay
Whereas I am no stranger to content material mills, I used to be shocked whereas researching to see the lots of of damaging experiences detailed on-line.
Some freelancers will handle to seek out content material mill jobs that assist them develop their writing expertise and construct their portfolios, however these outcomes will not be the norm. There are higher freelance writing jobs that provide dependable revenue and actual skilled development.
I hope that these insights will help humanize the freelance writing trade to firms on the lookout for content material. We deserve higher than what content material mills can provide; so do you.