So is it something you add to your resume? How will these bigger future transcription jobs know you have experience and is there a way to skip ahead to bigger money. How much do you currently earn if not $1 an hour since you've been doing this a while?
When you say "Article Writing", what exactly do you mean? I know there are a lot of different ways in which Freelancers can approach article writing. What is your approach?
Yeah, you can put that in your credentials, usually the more established trans companies/bigger freelancer groups require you pass some sort of credentials, then you complete their own tests and formats. Also, you can search for individual clients, like students, researchers or professors who would want something done in bulk and long term. You bid for the job and when successful, you are still required to give a free sample so they can gauge your quality. I usually do the bidding through websites like Odesk, Elance, etc. These days I can charge at around $3.5 per 6 minute or $35 us dollars per audio hour. There's a woman I saw who charges 5$ per 6 minutes at Fyver. When I take subcontracts, it usually hovers around 2.5 $ per 6 minutes. Keep in mind, I'm living outside the US so there will always be a significant difference in my own rates. Like if I could charge $3.5 per 6 minutes, I'm sure a person living in the USA would necessarily need to charge at around 3 or 5 times than that to earn decently. It depends, if it's SEO, you would outmostly have to follow a certain set of rules and formatting because the article would have to adhere to SEO, so that it appears in the search engine as prioritized as possible. As in they are really particular about the number of words you put, the grammar you use, like if the client said, "Put 'Houston Rockets merchandise, apparel' 10 times on the article." You would have to find a way to insert that sentence even if it means making the article less coherent. Personally these days, I don't do much of SEO anymore, unless it's really lucrative, I feel my "creative" juices kinda bog down when i do it consistently. So I guess it depends on your preference, if you like a more traditional writing experience where you have more freedom and identity, I believe it's best to write more on the blog side of freelancing.
I remember before on ODesk, there was this job where have you to compile "Black Booty HD Videos" with a budget of $2k I was almost tempted to grab the job. :grin:
Keep in mind "audio hour" is different from "per hour" In transcription when you say audio hour, it's like "I can do one or two audio hours in a span of eight hours." So you're not getting paid by the hour, but you get paid by the audio hours you complete.
If you're type exceptionally fast and have really accurate hearing, I think that's possible. I usually average 1 or 2 hours a day. The quality of the audio, number of speakers, accent, diction, etc., affects your speed a lot.
Like I said, I live outside the USA, but I get paid in dollars, I change it to my currency, then the difference in cost of living pretty much takes care of the rest.
