7 Things Companies Are Doing Wrong with Content Writers

Freelancing has never been a cakewalk for content writers. Even after having years of experience and being proficient in different niches, freelance content writers face multiple odds. A content writer spends months and years creating his or her personal brand online. Establishing oneself as a leading content writer can be quite difficult, given that the competition is too high out there. He creates his own portfolio website and leverages social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Instagram, etc., to get qualified leads.

A freelancer manages everything single-handedly – self-branding, discovery calls, invoice management, and much more. All these activities consume so much time and energy. But even after putting in so much hard work, professional content writers face many difficulties while working for their clients. Read on to know how companies are exploiting content writers by indulging in inappropriate practices.

Things that a freelance content writer needs to face while working with the clients:

1. Clients often ask for free samples before they hire content writers: Writing quality content is indeed a time-consuming task and requires lots of research work. And that’s why professional content writers deserve to be paid for each word they type. However, companies often tend to ignore this fact and blatantly ask for free samples. There are different avenues using which clients can judge the capability of a writer. They can go through his portfolio website or take a look at some of his previously published work. But demanding free samples is absolutely demoralising for any freelance content writer.
2. The deadlines sometimes tend to get quite unrealistic: More often than not, clients do not realise that setting unrealistic deadlines for writers can be counterproductive. To cut down on time, the writer feels compelled to limit his research work and scope of creativity.
3. Clients do not explain the content requirements and expect an A-class write-up: When a content writer is assigned a specific task or assignment, the client should keep in mind that he provides ample information to the writer. He should guide the writer with the language of the content, the target audience, the purpose of the content, keywords, and other such stuff.
4. Clients often end up calling the writers at odd hours: Clients often forget to respect the privacy of the writers. They often keep calling writers at odd timings to provide feedback or ask for edits.
5. They do not provide feedback in time: A proper feedback motivates a content writer to a great extent. For a content writer, feedback is necessary. It helps him in gaining confidence in his capabilities. Also, feedback enables writers to work on their weak points. But clients often keep the content writers waiting for feedback. And when they do provide the feedback finally, they tend to ask for immediate edits.
6. They ask for endless editing and revisions: This is one of the worst issues faced by freelance content writers. Clients generally ask for endless edits and revisions. They never seem to be satisfied with the quality of work and keep asking for multiple edits.
7. They never clear payments on time: Writers often can be seen cribbing about the delay that they face in receiving the payment from their clients. Once a content writer delivers the final approved content after multiple revisions, he expects the payment soon. But the clients keep delaying payment clearance in most of the cases.

If you are a professional content writer and face the same issues, then the best solution for you is to create a contract and mail it to your clients before commencing the work. The contract should cover all the points such as the number of edits you will provide, your working hours, payment due date, deadline of content delivery, and your charges. Clients should value the hard work of freelance content writers and acknowledge the contract and adhere to it.

Bidisha Malhotra

A traveller at heart, writer by profession, Bidisha carries 5 years of experience in content writing. Her words give wings to brands, businesses and influencers and help them notch up their work to the next level. Writing is definitely her cup of tea, and she prefers sipping it now and then. When not writing, you will find her cooking and dancing.

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