So How Are Sales?

[TjCharles]

So I've been away for a bit. January is hitting other sites hard. How are things going here? It's been a few weeks since I've seen a Writer's Pool invite and I haven't been checking the recently sold list.

[Isabelnewth]

Quiet at my end, for what that's worth.

[topquark]

Quiet for me too, not just here but on other sites. From speaking to other writers, it seems that a slight slowdown is quite common in January.

[ReneeF]

The one other site I used to work for has been at zero requests and traffic is dead at the places I contribute. In my 13 years experience, January is normally dead with an upswing around tax time. Then, summer is dead, with an upswing during back to school that lasts through the holidays.

[Isabelnewth]

That's a bit comforting!

[Lysis]

I figured out why the main contributors of the forum disappeared. Prolly has something to do with writers shadowing content. Annoying.

I write for 4 different places. Agree with tax season being the upswing. I've always had random deaths to certain places. This industry is so volatile. I generally like to do a project and move on to the next one or maybe I just have commitment issues.

[ReneeF]

Shadowing content? You mean stealing others ideas? Yeah, that's why I don't post my ideas here or articles, etc.

There are huge changes with how Google is handling content. This means that our customer base is being forced to change. It will be a good thing in the long-run. The new stricter editing requirements are likely a reflection of this. In this industry we face many uphill battles. The bottom drops out of the writing industry when Google makes changes and it usually has the effect of killing companies. I don't see that happening here. I know that quite a few of my colleagues or friends of friends have lost positions when companies crumbled after Google algorithm changes and quality definition changes. Constant Content is one of the few places which has remained through it all. This is due to their quality standards and their strict adherence to editing standards. Now, we might see some clientele die down as those who purchase the cheapo content (that some writers insist on undercutting the rest of us to sell), but this will mean that we will likely draw in better clients over the coming year. Clients who are willing to pay good money for high-quality information for their businesses.

Although I just recently started posting in the forums and posting articles for sale regularly, I have been with Constant Content nearly three years and have watched how they do business. It seems that they are one of the few who will last even in the worst of times.

[Lysis]

Like.. I write an article and then they write basically the same title. At first I thought it was just from sales and I wasn't too bothered from it, but nope it's basically taking titles from other writers and rewriting them. I'm probably not the only one. There's one dude who is really annoying me with it. I assume he does it from a few different writers. We had this as Suite101 too. It's an annoyance.

As for Google, Google has had the same quality guidelines for years - don't create links to manipulate search, create a site for users, create good content. It's just people have taken advantage and they are now enforcing it. They are getting better at detecting web spam.

You are right about CC staying consistent. They don't rely solely on Google, which is why they survive. Relying solely on Google is a horrible business practice that will fail sooner or later. I'm like you and have seen people lose a business because of the changes in rank. You need to always have marketing dollars and a budget to compensate for fluctuations in search. It's basically a year to recover from Penguin.

Incidentally, I had an article sell that I had put up about 4 years ago and another sell that I had put up about 3 years ago. I had actually written those off as duds! Go figure!

ETA: I like it here so much better than this other place and their lame SEO rules. It's become a nightmare to submit content, because of "SEO" that's so outdated it's ridiculous. Only place I've ever worked for who has actually sent me back an article to add one more word. Yes, add *one* word.

[MKatz]

I like to write here too. These articles are much more interesting than writing SEO articles.

I had a great December at CC, but I've sold nothing here in all of January. Some sites seem slow at this time, but some sources of work are busy. I wish I could write here more, but I've got to keep tending the eggs where they get laid at the moment.

I did get to work on a project here in December, and I really enjoyed it. However, the invitation has not been repeated. Hopefully, it will in the future.

[McCoy]

I was getting updates by email almost daily about what needs work, and I haven't seen one of those emails in almost two weeks now.

[Lysis]

Oooh it could have been tech issues. They had email issues with automated emails a couple of weeks ago. Actually, come to think of it, we haven't been getting updates to public requests, have we? Man, my mind is going. haha

[mnicol22]

Aaaahh... I miss writing for C-C and participating on the forums soooo freakin' much, but I barely have time to sleep these days! I still get the occasional sale from my existing catalog, which is always a nice surprise. From what I can recall, January and February were always slow for me, so I guess it's a general thing. Don't worry, just keep writing and the sales will pick up eventually.

[Lysis]

Yeah, I made about 20% of my income last year through writing on the side. I made about 95% of that 5 figures between March and July. It feels like the Walking Dead, Writer Sales Zombies between Nov and Feb.

[JDWhang]

Looking forward to that season. I wasn't very active between last March and July. My best months have the past few as I've simply been churning out more volume.

[TjCharles]

Looks like the New Year Blues are ending at other sites. Let's hope that goes for here too.