…regarding the turn around to write an order – All articles, once they are picked up by a writer, are required to be written within a 8 hour time frame. There is a timer built into the article itself, so its always best to be ready to write when you pick up an order. Doing it this way has helped us to keep articles moving through the queue.

…

Regarding time frame – As you said we work under a first come first serve basis but once an article is greater than 72 hours old, then it receives a priority status in the queue. That means if all articles are more than 72 hours old then the writers have free reign on what they would like to write, but there is an understanding that if we have “Priority Red” articles in the system then everyone jumps in to make sure we clear through the queue. While you may have to wait, 95% of all articles are completed in a 5 days time frame – there is no other company out there now, doing the volumes we are doing that provides that kind of service.

In the last 2 weeks we have done close to 2,500 articles and have been doing over 1,000 articles each week for the last 6 weeks.

Because of the volume of business we are doing we have over 700 writers that have gone through a vetting process where they first submit their application and then are on a 5 article probationary period, where each article they write is reviewed prior to them being able to pick up another articles. Once they pass that test and withstand the time frame of waiting, they are able to write freely.

As I mentioned in my previous article, I’ve had quite a few articles written by TCA and have always been impressed with their service. The articles are nearly always top quality, and the few that I’ve gotten that needed to be rewritten were done so quickly. The only complaint that I’ve had with TCA is the length of time I’ve had to wait to get the articles back, but I’m not sure if that’s a legitimate complaint on my part or just wishful thinking – I’d always like to get the stuff I outsource back sooner.

Like I said before, if you’re looking to make some money by writing articles, or if you’re looking to have someone else write some of your content, definitely check out The Content Authority.

The Content Authority is a fantastic content provider that I have been using, in addition to Textbroker, for my outsourcing needs. As I’ve mentioned before, a large part of internet marketing is publishing content, and outsourcing the writing of the content you need is a great way to multiply your efforts.

Writing For The Content Authority

As with Textbroker, you can sign up with TCA to be a writer if you are looking to make some quick cash. You receive topics and articles to be written from the clients that use TCA, and each article will include the specific instructions you need to write the article. You will most likely be asked to write on a wide range of topics, and while you’ll never be required to write on a topic you’re not comfortable with, knowing how to do some quick research online will allow you to write on a wider range of subjects. Learning to do research quickly and becoming able to write a quality article on a topic that is new to you are the core talents you’ll need to develop in order to actually make some money writing articles.

If you are interested in writing for TCA, there are a couple of things that you should know beforehand. First, all of the writing that you’ll be doing will be in English, so you’ll need to have a very good command of English grammar, spelling and punctuation. You don’t have to be a native English speaker, but a high level of fluency is to be desired. You’ll also need to be comfortable working on a deadline (48 hours seems to be the regular turn-around time for their articles). You can find the TCA writer’s application at their website, if you are interested in writing for them. The application is not super complicated, and you could probably complete it in 20 minutes or so.

Using The Content Authority For Content

I’ve used TCA several times over the past few months and have always been very impressed with their service. I’ve gotten to know two of the guys behind TCA, Shawn and Draanor, through the Keyword Academy, and they are both very focused on providing top quality content for their clients. As of writing this post, I’ve ordered over 80 different articles from TCA, and I’ve only had to send 1 back for revision. That’s a pretty good track record.

The main thing that sets TCA apart from Textbroker, from my perspective as a content publisher, is that Textbroker is more of a freelance marketplace, where clients post articles that they want written, and the writers can pick and choose which articles they want to write. This means that you might get super quick turnaround on your articles, if they are on a popular topic and get chosen quickly, but it can also mean that your article never gets picked for completion. I’ve ended up writing at least a few articles myself that I had originally posted at Textbroker.

TCA works a bit differently than that. As far as I can tell, TCA sends out the article orders it receives in the order that it received them, and their writers are required to finish the articles that they are sent. From my perspective, this means that your orders are guaranteed to be completed, but it also means that you have to wait your turn in line – and if the person just in front of you put in a large order, that line can be quite long.

All quibbles aside though, The Content Authority is a great place if you want to write for money, or get good quality content written for you. Definitely check them out.

Textbroker is a fantastic website that offers ghostwriting services to anyone needing an article, blog post, or term paper written quickly. (Please note that I just mention term papers as an example. I am not suggesting that you hire Textbroker to do your homework for you, thereby freeing up your time for more fun and/or important things. That would probably be against the rules. It definitely would be if you got caught.)

There are plenty of websites out there that let you hire someone to do your writing for you, but Textbroker is unique in that it allows you to sign up as a client, to get writing done, or as an author, to write for other people. Both services are great, but being able to sign up as an author is especially handy if you are looking to make money online fast.

How It Works

I’ve used Textbroker numerous times to have articles written for me and I’ve nearly always been pleased with the results I’ve gotten from the Textbroker writers. Here’s how the system works.

Pricing for Textbroker articles is per word, and there are 4 different price/quality levels:

• 2 Star (Legible) – $1.00 per 100 words
• 3 Star (Average) – $1.40 per 100 words
• 4 Star (Excellent) – $2.00 per 100 words
• 5 Star (Professional) – $6.70 per 100 words

Let’s say I need a 500 word article written on the subject of socket wrenches for a new website that I’m working on. I generally go with the 3 star service for content that I put on my websites, so I would be looking at a cost of $7 for that article (500 words x $1.40 per 100 = $7). To get the article written, I would log into my account at Textbroker, and give them the information on the article – the desired length, the article keyword (socket wrenches), the quality level, the deadline for delivery, and anything else that I want in the article.

Textbroker then takes the information I’ve given them for the article, and posts it in their article database for authors. Every author that is signed up with Textbroker can search this database for articles that they want to write. Authors can search for specific keywords, to look for articles that they have some expertise on, or they can browse by topic or category. When an author finds an article they are interested in writing, they can get additional information on it such as the deadline for delivery, the desired quality level, and any special requests the client has.

Once an author selects an article to write, the clock starts ticking on the deadline set by the client. You obviously only want to select articles that you know you can fulfill by the deadline. You don’t have to only write on topics that you have expertise in – you can research new and unfamiliar topics and keywords easily on the Web – but make sure to set aside time for research if you are going to write on a new topic for the first time.

When you have the article written, you submit it to the client via the Textbroker website, and the client is able to review the article before he releases payment. If the article is not up to the client’s standards, he can request that it be revised. If the client is happy with it, then he accepts the article and releases payment.

How To Make Money Fast With Textbroker

Now that you know how the system works, let’s look at what sort of strategies you should have if you’re going to try and make some fast money with Textbroker. Firstly, to make any money at all with Textbroker, you have to be in their system and be registered with them as an author. This process can take a couple of weeks to complete, so if you like the idea of making money by writing articles for clients, then go ahead and sign up with them.

The next thing to know is that there are going to be far more short, low quality articles (SLQA’s) available to be written than long, high quality articles. This is true for a couple of reasons: number one, internet marketers (the largest segment of Textbroker’s client base) outsource far more SLQA’s than they do long, high quality articles (I’m not going to get into the why of that here; just trust me, it’s true), and number two, the few long, high quality articles that do make it into the Textbroker article database are going to be highly contested and snapped up quickly.

Your best bet, if you’re looking to make some money quickly, is to write as many short, 2 star articles as you possibly can. You’re going to be making about $2 to $3 per article, so you may initially feel like you’re not seeing much in the way of results, but all of those articles will add up.

As an internet marketer, I outsource lots and lots of these SLQA’s via Textbroker, and here’s why you should focus on these articles: the quality of the article I get back doesn’t matter to me one bit. Here’s what I’m looking for: 1) unique, original content (i.e., not copied from some other source), 2) quick delivery, and 3) an article of the length that I specified. That’s it. When I get articles like these back from Textbroker, as long as those three rules have been followed, I immediately accept the article and release payment.

To give you an idea of how many SLQA’s you can complete in an hour, I wrote one myself this morning that I needed too quickly to be processed through Textbroker, and it took me all of 7 minutes. It was even a topic that I’m not incredibly familiar with. You could conceivably write 8 to 12 of these articles an hour, which works out to an hourly wage of $16 to $24. Not too bad for part time work.

Other Benefits of Textbroker

Besides the opportunity to make fast money online, Textbroker also lets you build a client base over time, and form relationships with clients that like your work and want to hire you directly. This can lead to some exciting things, not the least of which could be a full or part time business that you can run from home.

While we could have covered the $800 from our emergency savings,  I decided to try to make up the difference with some freelance work. I went to Elance and found two jobs that met my criteria and I applied for them both. One month later I deposited $730 into my checking account. Here are the steps that I took to make money fast.

1. Determine your criteria for a freelance job.
I had several criteria in mind when I started looking for a freelance gig. First, I needed to to have a reasonable chance of winning the job with a $800 bid. Second, the timeline for the work needed to fit within my window of availability which was the month of May. Third, I wanted a fixed fee job rather than an hourly job. Oh, and most importantly, I wanted a job that was tax or accounting related since that is a type of work that I can do quickly and well.

2. Sort through the available jobs.
You can search Elance using some of your criteria to help narrow the possible jobs. I did a search for jobs in Finance & Management that are fixed fee jobs with a budget over $500.

Elance.com job search

Once I did this I looked at the details of each job to see if I had the necessary qualifications. Equally important to me was to figure out which jobs I would enjoy and which job providers  were actually willing to pay for quality work.

3.  Place your bids.
I considered several questions when was placing my bids. First, what did my gut tell me was a fair price for the work. Second, what would my employer have charged a client for doing this work. Third, what would my employer have paid me for doing this work.  And fourth, how much was my competition charging.

The project that I bid on was the preparation of two federal tax forms related to foreign businesses. This was specialty work that I had done before  and my gut told me that a fair price was somewhere between $750 and $1,000. I estimated that my employer would have charged around $1350 and would have paid me $ 375 to do the work. I was the first to bid on the project, but if you mouse over the number in the bid column (see above) you can see the  lowest, highest, and average bid amounts.

4. Do the work and get paid
After you’ve been hired for a job both parties will agree on the timeline and you’ll get to work. Once the work is completed, the other party will release your payment. (It’s been held in escrow until now). You have the choice of receiving your payment as a paper check, a direct deposit to your bank account, a direct deposit to your Paypal account, or a prepaid debit card.

Some other things to consider:

• If you need to net $800 from your freelance work, then you’ll need to earn $875. Elance deducts 6.75% to 8.75% of your earnings as their fee for hooking you up with work. Be sure to take this into consideration when you’re placing your bid.
• Elance is a great way to make money fast as long as you can wait a few weeks to get the cash.  The bidding process can take a couple of weeks, and then it may take you  a few days to do the work, and the employer a few days to approve the work and release the funds.
• If you’re not as choosy about the jobs, then you can probably speed up the money-making process. I was very particular about which jobs I would take and how much I was paid for my service, and as a result about 6 weeks elapsed from the moment that I realized I would need more money and the moment I actually received the money.
• Take some time to look at the types of freelance jobs on the site and how much competition there is for the jobs. You may be able to identify a niche area that pays well, has little competition, and for which you could learn to do relatively easily.

Please feel free to share your experiences as a freelancer in the comments, or ask any questions that you may have. John and I have both hired people through Elance so we have some perspective from the other side as well.

Elance is a fantastic place to head to if you are looking to make some quick money. They have a huge marketplace of people looking to hire and sell services of just about any type. Many of the jobs are technologically-oriented, but no matter your background or experience, you can just about always find some sort of freelance job there that matches your skills and interests.

Here are some of the categories of jobs being posted:

Programming

Design

Writing

Administrative Support

Sales and Marketing

Legal

Probably the most important thing to know about finding freelance work on Elance is that there is a good bit of competition for most jobs – especially jobs that don’t require a specialized skill set. Having some experience or a degree in the field you’re looking for work in will definitely help, but you can find work in a completely new field if you stick to it.

Here are some ways to set yourself apart from the competion:

Once you have a job, the list of things to do is pretty obvious: do high quality work, come in at or below your budget, and do things when you say you’ll do them. Two things, though, that I do want to mention in particular. First off, make sure to send regular status updates. It’s a bit disorienting for an employer to send someone he’s never met a job to do, and then not be able to call or walk to their office to see how they’re doing. Make sure that your employer always knows how the project is going and what you’re currently working on. Secondly, if you have any questions on the project, always (always, always!) ask for clarification before you proceed. Your employer will always prefer for you to ask some follow-up questions than do the work incorrectly.

Now, go forth and make some cash!