This process can work (from time to time) for SEO agencies that promise nothing but better rankings but it does nothing for every other metric that should be considered.

Last time I checked traffic doesn’t generate sales, conversions do.

for a number of things, like:

1) Citing specific evidence backing up my largely prideful and intuitive decision to NOT write for Demand Media (or Suite 101, or ODesk, or Hub Pages, or…sadly ad infinitum…)

2) Reminding web owners — ONCE AGAIN! — that they indeed do get what they pay for. If they’re paying next to nothing for content kicked out on a production line that pays its mediocre writers sh#t wages, then that is PRECISELY what they are gonna get: sh#t copy.

3) Putting Yahoo on Notice: Yes, shame, shame, shame on you, Yahoo. Bad juju, not good! And yes, you really should know better.

Wow, Derek – thanks for your first-hand account.

I totally understand how cheap content is big business – I do. Heck, that’s why folks hire offshore companies (with disastrous results, naturally.)

But for Yahoo – a search engine (and a company that has been near and dear to my heart since Inktomi days) to implicitly endorse the “cheap copy” mantra…well…that just bugs me. They have the opportunity to raise the bar, set standards (like they’re trying to do with their Style Guide) and really help companies.

Sad. So sad.

You cited that the pay range goes from $2 to $15 per article. That might be what they state, but I speak from experience (having over 60 articles on their site myself) that they pay as low as possible. Even articles that I painstakingly edited over and over didn’t fetch more than $9.

Their performance payments are where people find the most payout over the long term but that just makes the rush mentality even worse. Once you’re an “approved” content producer (you’ve submitted more than 3 approved articles) you’re able to publish for performance pay without your article being reviewed by editors. That means that anyone can post anything – similar to the terrible piece you found on SEO copywriting.

I don’t write for AC anymore, it’s been a long time since I’ve contributed anything but it continues to be a sweatshop for writers wanting to make money that can’t or won’t strike out on their own.

I used to argue with people about quality in the AC forums, and was frequently told that if I wanted better I should go somewhere else. So I did – self-employment :D