10 Reasons I didn’t buy your article

10 Reasons I didn’t buy your article

Apr 16

I recently headed over to Constant Content to shop for some articles for my sites. I was surprised by some of the things I found. If you’re having trouble selling your material, then maybe one of these is the reason why.

1. Your sample was too short. I want to see a good size chunk of the article before I buy it. I think some writers resist putting in a large sample because they’re afraid someone might “steal” their idea. If you want it to sell, you’ll need to put in a real sample.
2. And the point is? If I read the sample, and I’m still not sure where the author is going with the article, I’m not likely to gamble that it’s going to get better in the part that I can’t see.
3. Errors. If there are a lot of errors (grammar, punctuation, etc.) in the article, then I’m not likely to buy it. I don’t want to have to take the time to clean it up myself, and I wouldn’t put it up on my site in that condition.
4. Usage rights only. I’d be more likely to purchase unique or full rights than usage only. Any number of people could buy and post the same article under a usage contract, and that can lower my SEO.
5. Overpriced. I looked at one article, as an example, that was priced at $50 for usage rights. I think that’s a bit expensive. For that price, I’d expect to at least get a unique license, especially for a short blog post article.
6. Underpriced. I also looked at an article that was $1 for 1000 words. Wow. The article had been bought only twice, despite the bargain price.  I have to wonder if it’s worth even the dollar.
7. Passive voice. I’m not usually a stickler about the passive voice, but when it pops up in the first paragraph, I tend to notice. I don’t know how many articles I read that began with some variation of “Much has been discussed about…”
8. Weak introduction. If you don’t catch me on the first paragraph or so, you’ve lost me. This is more important on a site like constant content than even in your blog, where loyal readers will cut you some slack.
9. Inappropriate slang. Another example, in an article obviously intended to sound professional, the writer used the phrase, “They’re just too hung up on themselves…” While that’s perfectly okay for a casual blog post, it’s not appropriate for an article intended to sound authoritative.
10. Lack of details. One article turned out to be a list of links, with no explanation. Another turned out to be a quickie article that looked like it took all of five minutes or so to write. If I’m going to buy it, it needs to be fleshed out a bit more than that.

As I’ve mentioned here before, I write for Constant Content, and I’m happy to say I’ve sold about 75 percent of what I’ve written there. You can see my profile and articles here. I hope that these tips can help you sell more there, or wherever you’re trying to sell your content.