Writing for humans vs writing for the web.

I subscribe to a writer's newsletter that featured an article from a "professional" writer. She was horrified that she had answered an advertisement to find out that the payment for her article would be in the less than $10 kind of payment.

She responds in outrage. She writes in essence that you wouldn't pay your auto mechanic or your plumber less than $10 to do his job, why pay her so little to perform her craft.

So, I visited her web site, where she opens with :

Welcome to the home of freelance writer [name removed to protect her identity]. I write copy for online and offline applications, including keyword/SEO articles, press releases, features, and short fiction.

Now, it just so happens that I am VERY good at writing keyword/SEO articles. If you don't believe me, click here to see a screen shot of the positioning a web site I wrote for has at google.

Yippee for me! I’m a top 10 result in almost ALL of my keywords for the web site!

(By the way, it's essential that you offer some kind of proof when you make claims like this.)

So, not to brag but I write GREAT selling copy. Copy changes I made on a client's site once increased sales four fold. (No proof because I didn't grab a screen shot of the traffic analysis. RATS!)

I write GREAT keyword copy (which is DIFFERENT than selling copy.) See my google screen shot above.

With all of that said, you do NOT want me writing short fiction for you. As a matter of fact, you do not want me writing ANY kind of fiction for you. Any fiction I would write would, from the movie "Beatlejuice" read like "stereo instructions".

My book, Beyond the Niche, was written for people just like our frustrated writer, quoted above. See, while our young writer may earnestly believe what she says inside her web site:

As my portfolio demonstrates, I have proven my skill in a number of different genres. As a talented, flexible writer, I am pleased to offer a wide variety of services.

Chances are that she is either good at SEO/keyword copy OR she is good at fiction. The thing is, if I'm looking for SEO copy, I don't want to see that my copywriter dabbles in fiction.

However, if our aspiring professional writer wanted to continue to pursue both paths, my recommendation would be that she set up two separate web sites, each focusing on her different writing styles.

Oh, and I'd recommend that she stop writing articles which appeal to other starving artist writers. I joined the newsletter to see if there was a market for MY services. However, reading the newsletter for six months now, I realize that I don't really want to write articles that speak to starving artists. I get enough "free web development" inquiries on my own.