ABOUT "ARTICLES" REQUEST

[vjlenin]

Hi Celeste, Ed,

I am at work on the request titled articles by mmarson. But his purchase rating is zero, does this mean that he hasnt yet purchased even one article so far? Can I trust on this project as it is about file extensions and if mmarson doesnt purchase it, it is unlikely to be sold at all being a rare topic. Can you find out in any way if this customer is active at all? I have already sent him three or four questions, but he doesnt reply at all, do we get reminded of the replies through email?

[Celeste Stewart]

Yes, zero usually means that the customer has not purchased anything yet. This serves as a clue to let writers know how active a customer has been. It's not always accurate though as some companies have several people that work together. For example, one of my customers requested work and his partner bought it. This is rare but it happens.

It's hard to make the call on how much time you want to dedicate to a particular request. Some requesters take weeks to come back and buy their content, others never reappear. It's always a risk.

In this case, I wouldn't limit the articles to just this one customer. I see you have a little note telling customers not to buy the article unless they are the one who requested it. Since it sounds like this guy is taking his time getting back to you, why not make them available to anyone who might want them. I do have one customer who has bought TONS of file extension articles from me through private requests so these may not be as obscure as you think. In fact, the only reason I haven't answered this request myself (since I now know a lot about the topic) is I think it would be a conflict of interest for me to write for one of my regular customer's competitors.

Anyhow, good luck!

[vjlenin]

hi celeste,

many thanks for the intuitive answer

[outspan]

[quote="vjlenin"]Hi Celeste, Ed,

I am at work on the request titled articles by mmarson. But his purchase rating is zero, does this mean that he hasnt yet purchased even one article so far? Can I trust on this project as it is about file extensions and if mmarson doesnt purchase it, it is unlikely to be sold at all being a rare topic. Can you find out in any way if this customer is active at all? I have already sent him three or four questions, but he doesnt reply at all, do we get reminded of the replies through email?[/quote]

I am writing about the PDF extension, but I have a question: how do I know whether the customer has already bought that particular article? Is that ok to send him a question? Isn't there an automated way to tell which articles of the group have already been sold and which ones have not?

thanks

[Lauren]

The only way to tell if a particular article is sold is to keep an eye on the "Recently Sold Content" list. In this case, you should write the article and then just link it to him. As Celeste said, if you don't end up selling it to him, someone else might pick it up.

With the exception of the few customers who specifically say to contact them before writing on a topic, it seems that most prefer to just receive article options (rather than responding to questions).

[grouchy]

I queried this requester and received a couple of prompt replies. I disagree with you.

[Ed]

Our preferred protocol is to have content in-hand so that customers aren't flooded with writers who offer to write content. This isn't to say that if you have a valid question, you shouldn't ask it, but when requests are made, customers get a lot of unnecessary "What do you want me to write?"-type questions. They respond better to those who have content already prepared, and it takes up less of their time.

Ed

[Lauren]

Noted, grouchy - I was only speaking from my own experiences and all with other requesters.

[jentypist]

Hi, if someone requests content and I am able to complete and deliver it, what happens if someone else has already fulfilled the request before I was able to? Does that mean I just have another article now that I hope sells? If there a way to secure the deal with them?

[dsletten]

Public requests are open for anyone to send the customer an article (after it's approved). You just take the chance that they may or may not purchase your article. If it is a popular subject, in many cases if you don't sell your article to the requester someone else will come along and purchase it eventually. Many articles I've written for public requests that the requester didn't purchase have sold to others. I have also had other customers grab up my public request article before the requester buys it. So, if it's a subject you think might sell again I wouldn't hesitate to write for the public requests.
Good luck!

[Celeste Stewart]

Hi,
Yes, if the requester already bought articles and doesn't need any more, you are stuck with an article that you'll hope sells to someone else (they often do). That's the nature of the deal.

No, you generally can't secure the deal first. This site markets itself to webmasters in such a manner where they don't have to deal with resumes, bids, etc - they just ask for content and pick the one that they like best. So, in effect, if you were to respond to a requester stating your experience, ideas, price etc, you'd probably do more to annoy than anything.

There's an exception to this though. Sometimes, a customer will ask to be contacted first for assignments. If the customer says, "Contact me for details" or something similar, then contacting them expressing an interest in their project is appropriate.

Anyhow, good luck and welcome!

[jentypist]

So when someone does fulfill their request, is the request then removed from the site so that we know it's no longer needed?

[Celeste Stewart]

We wish! Sometimes customers forget to remove them. Until they eventually go away, you just have to develop a sense of what's been going on. The best way is to check the Recently Sold section periodically each day. Even then, it's not an exact science.

[Ed]

We try to email customers to ask them if their requests are still active. Some react by taking down old requests/posting fresh ones. Others, we don't hear from.

[jentypist]

If someone is asking for 20 articles, that doesn't mean that the same one person has to deliver that, does it? I'm responding to a public request that asks for a certain number, and I want to know if they expect it from the same person, or does that not matter?

Thanks!