By Curt Smothers on being a writer for Verblio.
So why do I like being a writer for Verblio? Let me count the ways.
1. You Don’t Bid, Compete, or Pitch
You just find clients who need posts in your wheelhouse and write. Verblio has this fantastically easy user interface. Just click the “Research” link and take your pick of assignments. Newbies can work alongside veterans and write blogs for the 250-word customers. Work up to level 4 and beyond to qualify for the higher paying 600, 900, and 1,200-word assignments.
2. Verblio Staff Runs Interference Between You & the Client
Every writer has encountered a customer with whom you need extra help. On one hand, I have also encountered clients while freelancing who actually failed to pay. The Verblio writer experience, on the other hand, is simply to write, without unproductive contacts with clients, bad feelings, or misunderstandings.
3. Verblio Pays Weekly & on Time
I have, to date, submitted over 50 weekly online invoices to Verblio. Each has shown up in my PayPal account faithfully—without the usual PayPal deduction from my net earnings.
4. Verblio Offers a Generally Unstructured, Freedom-Based Writing Environment
Although clients sometimes ask for specific, themed blogs, most clients simply want content focused around keywords. The content they want has to add value to their websites, and they appreciate good writing. I have found that customers appreciate writing they would do themselves if they had the time.
Of course, all that freedom and lack of structure require an iron self-discipline. That means relentless quality, flinging out the fluff, and getting inside the client’s head as a writer for Verblio. It is somewhat of an out-of-body experience where you have to get over yourself to become the ghost in the client’s machine.
5. My Blogs have a High Acceptance Rate
Yes, from time to time, as a writer for Verblio, I have submitted work that the client politely (or not) rejected. My rejection rate over the past four years has been approximately 10 percent.
6. Writing for Verblio Has Made Me a More Experienced, Knowledgeable Writer
The internet not only has an insatiable demand for content, but it is also an inexhaustible resource for ideas and research. Ideas and research are the grist for the blogging mill.
Four years ago, before I started being a writer for Verblio, my knowledge of subjects like the cloud, cybersecurity, and disaster recovery was scant to downright nonexistent. Writing for a wider variety of Verblio clients have required extra reading and research, which has paid dividends in being able to write for a number of clients in similar industries.
Also, the aforementioned subjects have become part of my kit bag of blogging expertise. I have written dozens of pieces on subjects like SaaS, IaaS, HIPAA, call center administration, sales data analytics, etc., for clients who either accepted my work without comment or praised my work.
7. Verblio is Always There for Me as the Freelance Gap-Filler
One common complaint against Verblio is its low pay. When I started four years ago, Verblio offered only one price per post. Now there are higher paying opportunities and a growing number of 600-word clients. Nevertheless, Verblio generally pays less per word than other content services.
However, other sites provide a highly competitive writer environment. Once a high-paying opportunity gets posted, it is usually gone within minutes. To get consistent work on other sites, then, requires persistence and longevity. Even so, assignments tend to dry up for the other sites I patronize. When that happens, I return to Verblio and always find work.
8. Verblio is a Cut Above the Usual Cutthroat Freelance Environment
Verblio has a community of writers who actually like and help each other. The service’s highest value is that, unlike others, it does not tend to eat its young. Newer writers find support and fellow bloggers to share the thrill of selling their first piece along with the agony of rejection.
Verblio’s writers’ forum is a no-flaming-allowed environment where oldsters who have been there and done that can groom, inform, and nurture newbies who want to go there too and be successful writers.
9. Verblio’s Site Comes With a Do-it-Yourself Manual
I have worked for content services that offer no more guidance than “Here’s the subject; get busy!”
Verblio, on the other hand, has a help archive that actually helps the writer figure out how the site works and how to become a decent blogger. The best advice to any new Verblio writer is, as they say in the military, “RTFG!” (Read the fracking guide!).
So, four years later and over 1,000 blogs under my belt, I am a Verblio fan. I didn’t use “the pay is great” as a reason I like writing for Verblio, because, the pay isn’t as great as other places. On the other hand, my Verblio earnings have paid my monthly internet bill. I’m also a gadget and software junkie, and my Verblio money comes in handy.
Having said all that, the real reason I like writing for Verblio is that I get paid to do something I love to do: write.
Learn More About Being a Writer for Verblio
Looking to scratch that writing itch and earn some extra scratch? Come to Verblio. Take the basic writing test and join the team. Expect some extra supervision, to begin with, but once you earn the editors’ confidence, you’re on your own with as many assignments as you can handle.
