Like I’ve written earlier on this blog and as comments on Tiffany Dow’s blog, I use iWriter as a filler. If I have a few minutes (at least 15), and I don’t have anything else to do, I go there and check, if there are any interesting jobs.
Obviously, I check the following:
- How high is the requester’s approval rate?
- What does the Special Instructions say?
- How many words is the article supposed to contain?
- Any specific keyword demands?
If I feel that this is an article I’m able to write and do well, I take the job.
Yesterday, I discovered that there was a flaw in my method.
Poorly Defined Request – This Should Have Been a Heads-Up Already
The job, I found and thought looked interesting, just told me to write a 500 words-article around the keywords “Internet Marketing”.
The special instructions told me not to use the keywords more than 3.6% of the time, because the article should be used on Ezine Articles.
No problem. I tend to write too few keywords, unless I force myself to repeat them more often.
So I clicked on the Write Article button, did some brainstorming, wrote an outline based, included the four learning methods, and wrote the article.
After I finished (at 529 words), I ran the article through WhiteSmoke to check for spelling and grammar errors.
After that I submitted the article.
Then I got this strange feeling…
Slow Approval – Give Low Stars in the Ratings to the iWriter Requester
iWriter wants us to express with our star ranking how we were treated by the requester. Does he approve fast? (Meaning faster money to you.) Does he comment and tell you his reasons for his review and the rank he gives you?
I should have checked this requester, before writing for him… This is what happened.
After I’ve hit Publish, I got this strange feeling, so I repeatedly went back to iWriter to see, if my article was approved.
It wasn’t.
Not until this morning, I could see that it was approved, and that I’d scored my first 4 star rating. No explanation at all. What didn’t he like? What was wrong? I had no idea.
I Should Have Known – and This is Why You Should Check the Requester Thoroughly
Although it seemed that this requester got a high rank, 5 Stars, if I’d moused over his rating, I would have noticed 4.9 stars. And that’s for a requester who’d asked for hundreds of articles.
Digging down in the reviews, I saw several complains about missing explanations for why he had only given 4 stars, or why he’d rejected an article.
That’s certainly not the kind of requester, I would like to write for. So I should have checked this before accepting the job.
I mean… Although I hate getting a 4 star rating, I would accept it if I’d known WHY he didn’t totally love my article. Was it because he’d had other ideas, but just didn’t give away any clues about those ideas? Did some grammar og spelling pass unnoticed through WhiteSmoke?
WHAT?
Anyway, I learnt my lesson, and I’ll certainly include a mouse-over star ranking check the next time, and if I see less than 5 stars in total, I’ll go through the reviews.
Do you write for iWriter? What do you do to protect yourself from bad rankings or rejections?
Great article, Britt, and your advice overcomes a problem about which most people probably aren’t even aware.
Thank you, Pete. No, I at least weren’t aware of it before.
I noticed that for the past few weeks, several articles I wrote were rejected for no valid reason, even as the requesters themselves admitted that the articles were well written.
Has anyone had this problem lately ?
I have also experienced the same issue and am very grateful for the advice I have received here please keep the good work going because ignorance is no excuse and prevention is better than cure, thanks
I was an Elite writer for iWriter for quite some time. Recently the requesters have become low quality. Three times now I’ve written high quality articles (flawless grammar, good keyword density) and had them rejected with 1 star! One rejected me simply because they wanted a different writer and forgot to special request them. I think I’m leaving that site. Very unfair ranking system. As a writer it is very challenging to figure out who to write for. I’m pretty careful and I still seem to find some pretty terrible people who either are stealing the articles or reject with terrible ratings. I am still a middle level writer with 153 articles approved with 4 stars or higher, but the 5 rejects kill me.
Thanks for the heads-up, Gdeg. I haven’t written there for a while myself, since I have plenty of my own projects.
I’ve read a few requesters being unhappy with the writers on iWriter, but those requesters asked for basic writers. They didn’t want to play the little extra to get an Elite writer, so I must say that I blame the requesters, not the writers in this case.
iWriter should have a complaint possibility, so that such things as you’ve experienced wasn’t allowed. To reject with 1 star, just because the requester wanted another writer and had forgotten about it, is so unfair. Have you tried to write to Brad Callen about it? I think such a requester should get kicked out!
There is something going on with Iwriter, they blocked IP address and writers no longer access the site. Any help will be appreciated
I don’t think you need to worry, William. It looks as if they are messing with their PHP scripts. I was online earlier today, and I hope they’ll get this fixed, soon. But I’ll keep an eye on it. Thanks for the heads-up.
I finally make it to Elite status and I get rejected. The requester acknowledged in the rejection message it was 5 star work, but not what she was looking for. Unbelievable! What else can you do? I believe she’s stealing my work so I reported it to iwriter.
It’s too bad they can’t design a way for this type of requester to be held accountable and weeded out. If this continues, I will stop writing for iwriter. I’m not going to put that much effort out for unreasonable rejection AND low pay!
By the way, I got an email from Brad Callen himself saying the IP thing was being fixed. It is still intermittent as of today.
Oh, Kathleen, I’m so sorry to hear that. It makes me sad. I wish Brad Callen hasn’t stressed the fact that requesters can reject articles for no reason at all, if they don’t like them.
If they want articles written NOT just as 5 star work, but something that fits their taste, then they should use another procedure. They should use Elance or a forum and communicate with the writer through an Instant messenger. Not use iWriter.
I’ve seen many badly phrased article demands. Ha! Like this one:
“ONLY American Citizen with Enligsh as their first Language! Reviews From a photograph EXPERT. MUST have Experience!!”
American Citizen (singular) with Enligsh (what language is that?) as their (plural) first language…
No keywords, and when you check the details, it says: “When you apply you will go through interview before we decide who to work with”
It’s “whoM to work with”. I mean…
And then they want only serious bidders. No wonder, they have only received one that they’ve rejected. Serious bidders will NOT bid on something like that.
If iWriter shall survive, I think Brad Callen should do more for the writers – we need more protection.
Well, I’m lucky! I met a fantastic requester almost immediately, and I love working for him. But all the rest? Pffff…. No, thanks.
Thanks, Britt. You give me hope that I might also find several good requesters to work with. I’m going to keep at it. I had several repeat customers on my way to “Elite-hood” Unfortunately, they still want me to work for standard pay. 🙄
Hi Kathleen
Those clients don’t deserve you, then.
I had only written a few articles for other people, when I ‘met’ my main requester. Right from the start, after the first article, he requested articles from me and paid more than the basic price. He’s raised the price since, and he gives me tips about for every second article. He has great and interesting ideas, and I love how he makes me feel appreciated.
If your clients are happy with your writing, but don’t want to pay the price that you deserve, find some other clients. There are many who are looking for quality articles. You only have 24 hours per day. So don’t waste valuable time on low paid jobs, when you could make other requesters happy.
It is not requesters, but Brad the F Callen who lets the requester able to do that. Brad the F Callen using the non native English writers as a victim, Brad knows that Africans and Indians or Filipinos hungry, Brad danced over the suffering of others.
Stop buying anything from him.