What to do Here? - Buyers Who Butcher Your Work

[cyaxrex]

I just received this:

Andy thanks for another great article
Your ability surpasses all who have tried to write for me so far
I even gave a very large SEO firm xxxxxx.com a shot and they failed!

I’m enclosing a file so you can see their work and my lengthy revision
Please feel free to critique as you see fit!!

In short, this buyer has asked for a revision on an order. However, they, don’t want me to revise any work I have delivered. They want me to critique someone else’s.

They also go on to ask me to go to their website and go through all their content (some produced by me, some not), and revise everything now that they have edited their content themselves.

Sadly, this person has butchered content originally delivered by me and I don’t understand why.

For example, with all their articles, I tweak everything for SEO as standard and explain how to use my work:

Notes:

Your article has been tweaked with Yoast to be fully optimized for your chosen keyphrase “Manchester Roofing Contractor” when used with the above settings. Your article also scores 97% in Grammarly for readability, structure, word choices, and grammar.

For best SEO results, you should format all subheadings as H2 headings, and retain the included links.*

Now, looking at their site, they have pretty much butchered a lot of things completely needlessly. A lot of sentences just don’t make sense. This begs the question, why even hire a writer in the first place?

I’m not even sure what the scope of the revision this person is looking for is. It is like they seriously expect me to go through their site and review/edit all their content. Only three pages have been created by me and the remainder is… Well, awful.

I’m just lost…

[vickiespencer]

I just received this:

Andy thanks for another great article

Your ability surpasses all who have tried to write for me so far

I even gave a very large SEO firm xxxxxx.com a shot and they failed!

I’m enclosing a file so you can see their work and my lengthy revision

Please feel free to critique as you see fit!!

In short, this buyer has asked for a revision on an order. However, they, don’t want me to revise any work I have delivered. They want me to critique someone else’s.

They also go on to ask me to go to their website and go through all their content (some produced by me, some not), and revise everything now that they have edited their content themselves.

Sadly, this person has butchered content originally delivered by me and I don’t understand why.

For example, with all their articles, I tweak everything for SEO as standard and explain how to use my work:

Notes:

Your article has been tweaked with Yoast to be fully optimized for your chosen keyphrase “Manchester Roofing Contractor” when used with the above settings. Your article also scores 97% in Grammarly for readability, structure, word choices, and grammar.

For best SEO results, you should format all subheadings as H2 headings, and retain the included links.*

Now, looking at their site, they have pretty much butchered a lot of things completely needlessly. A lot of sentences just don’t make sense. This begs the question, why even hire a writer in the first place?

I’m not even sure what the scope of the revision this person is looking for is. It is like they seriously expect me to go through their site and review/edit all their content. Only three pages have been created by me and the remainder is… Well, awful.

I’m just lost…

I’m just lost…

So, did you turn their job down?

[cyaxrex]

I’m just lost…

So, did you turn their job down?

I can’t because this is a revision request on an order they have already placed. I delivered their work 3-days ago. (It would have just automatically completed.)

Now they have hit the revision button and requested I critique/edit another article written by someone else. - And go through their site and critique/edit several other pages.

[maitasun]

I can’t because this is a revision request on an order they have already placed. I delivered their work 3-days ago. (It would have just automatically completed.)

Now they have hit the revision button and requested I critique/edit another article written by someone else. - And go through their site and critique/edit several other pages.

Now they have hit the revision button and requested I critique/edit another article written by someone else. - And go through their site and critique/edit several other pages.

It’s obvious that, by far, that’s beyond what they’re entitled to request.

I would politely let them know, in case it is the first time they have ever asked for a revision.

[eoinfinnegan]

For editing someone else’s work (standard proofread edit) I charge $10/1000 words. To optimize the text for SEO, I charge a further $10/1000 words. From working with you, I know you know what you are doing when it comes to SEO optimization so why not charge an extra for it?

What is likely to have happened is that your well written content was run through a basic “SEO Optimization Checker” and they made the changes based on extremely basic/outdated SEO values. They then got their page to score 100% according to the Checker by butchering the text and because these things don’t check actual readability for the user they feel it’s better.

I get this kinda BS all the time from people who have a little SEO knowledge but no understanding of what SEO actually involves. You could choose to educate them and then charge fees to fix their work or tell them that this isn’t your job.
Be warned, reeducating someone who thinks they are an expert is not easy, especially if you are charging to fix their errors.

[misscrystal]

I just received this:

Andy thanks for another great article

Your ability surpasses all who have tried to write for me so far

I even gave a very large SEO firm xxxxxx.com a shot and they failed!

I’m enclosing a file so you can see their work and my lengthy revision

Please feel free to critique as you see fit!!

In short, this buyer has asked for a revision on an order. However, they, don’t want me to revise any work I have delivered. They want me to critique someone else’s.

They also go on to ask me to go to their website and go through all their content (some produced by me, some not), and revise everything now that they have edited their content themselves.

Sadly, this person has butchered content originally delivered by me and I don’t understand why.

For example, with all their articles, I tweak everything for SEO as standard and explain how to use my work:

Notes:

Your article has been tweaked with Yoast to be fully optimized for your chosen keyphrase “Manchester Roofing Contractor” when used with the above settings. Your article also scores 97% in Grammarly for readability, structure, word choices, and grammar.

For best SEO results, you should format all subheadings as H2 headings, and retain the included links.*

Now, looking at their site, they have pretty much butchered a lot of things completely needlessly. A lot of sentences just don’t make sense. This begs the question, why even hire a writer in the first place?

I’m not even sure what the scope of the revision this person is looking for is. It is like they seriously expect me to go through their site and review/edit all their content. Only three pages have been created by me and the remainder is… Well, awful.

I’m just lost…

Why not send a huge custom offer for what they are asking for? Make it big enough to be able to think about when you are ready to tear your hair out if you do have to do what they ask.

It’s their problem if they butcher what you and others write, not yours. Just charge so much it’s worth working for them. If they don’t pay it you’ve only lost a lot of aggravation.

I’m enclosing a file so you can see their work and my lengthy revision

Please feel free to critique as you see fit!!

Tell them they are asking for a new order entirely rather than a simple revision.

They surely know that but are seeing how much they can get away with apparently.

[miiila]

They want you to a) revise something that didn’t even have anything to do with what they paid you for and to b) go through their website and revise all their content which doesn’t have to do with what they ordered from you and paid for either?

Hm, either they just had a blackout and confused the revision button with the message button, in which case, tell them you can send them a custom offer for those two jobs if you want to do that, or …

“I’m enclosing a file so you can see their work and my lengthy revision
Please feel free to critique as you see fit!!”

"Looks great to me! 👍 "

[misscrystal]

They want you to a) revise something that didn’t even have anything to do with what they paid you for and to b) go through their website and revise all their content which doesn’t have to do with what they ordered from you and paid for either?

Hm, either they just had a blackout and confused the revision button with the message button, in which case, tell them you can send them a custom offer for those two jobs if you want to do that, or …

“I’m enclosing a file so you can see their work and my lengthy revision

Please feel free to critique as you see fit!!”

"Looks great to me! 👍 "

"Looks great to me! 👍 "

I love that idea! …

I would say that it’s a six hour job at least but I will discount it to only five hours at $40 an hour so I’m sending an offer for only $200.

[cyaxrex]

For editing someone else’s work (standard proofread edit) I charge $10/1000 words. To optimize the text for SEO, I charge a further $10/1000 words. From working with you, I know you know what you are doing when it comes to SEO optimization so why not charge an extra for it?

What is likely to have happened is that your well written content was run through a basic “SEO Optimization Checker” and they made the changes based on extremely basic/outdated SEO values. They then got their page to score 100% according to the Checker by butchering the text and because these things don’t check actual readability for the user they feel it’s better.

I get this kinda BS all the time from people who have a little SEO knowledge but no understanding of what SEO actually involves. You could choose to educate them and then charge fees to fix their work or tell them that this isn’t your job.

Be warned, reeducating someone who thinks they are an expert is not easy, especially if you are charging to fix their errors.

From working with you, I know you know what you are doing when it comes to SEO optimization so why not charge an extra for it?

This is part of the problem. I do charge for it and I try to explain everything clearly in deliveries. i.e after article text I include a message like the following:

SEO Settings:

Focus Keyphrase: XXXXXXXX Roofing Contractor

SEO Title: Time to Replace Your Roof? - Ask a XXXXX Roofing Contractor

Slug: Time to Replace Your Roof? - Hire a XXXXXX Roofing Contractor You Can Trust

Meta Description: XXXXXXX can connect you with the best Manchester Roofing Contractor for all your roofing needs year-round in XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.

Notes:

Your article has been tweaked with Yoast to be fully optimized for your chosen keyphrase “XXXXX Roofing Contractor” when used with the above settings. Your article also scores 97% in Grammarly for readability, structure, word choices, and grammar.

For best SEO results, you should format all subheadings as H2 headings, and retain the included links and article layout.

All anyone has to do is copy and paste content into WordPress (or whatever) as-is, and leave it at that.

Now going to the buyers’ site, I don’t even know why they are ordering from me. They changed this:

Looking for a reputable XXXXXXXXXXXXXX roofing contractor? Whether you require an urgent roof repair or help fixing roof shingles, XXXXX Roofing can help.

From minor roof leak repairs to new roof replacements, we can connect you with local contractors you can trust.

To this:

Looking for a reputable XXXXXXXXXXX roofing contractor? Whether you require an urgent roof repair or a complete roof replacement, XXXXX Roofing Services is here to help.

Our business model is built on the foundation of trust and loyalty, and this requires a relationship in which the client’s needs come first.

Yes Sir, Yes Ma’am, that exactly what we deliver. Instead of focusing on sales quotas, complete client satisfaction is what we provide.

I mean, it’s like someone just garbled a perfectly good paragraph through a universal idiot translator. - And they have changed subheadings to REMOVE keywords and add weird verbiage.

All that said, I’ve figured out the problem here.

The buyer is paying me to write articles for their site.(3 so far). However, they are also paying different cheaper Fiverr sellers AND an SEO agency that after looking at its website, is clearly outsourcing all content to cheap as chips Fiverr sellers.

It is pretty horrifying, the SEO agency has charged $80 for this:

There are a few different ways to tell that your roof is in need of repairs or a replacement. An important step would include an outside visual of your roof to look for wind damage. Or perhaps you’ve noticed shingles lying in your yard. Loose shingles that are lifting during wind events would be another sign that the integrity of your roof system is indeed compromised.

Obviously, there is more than that paragraph. However, the rest reads as poorly and none of the content is optimized for searches in any way.

It also seems like the buyer is running my work past this agency. I say this as a lot of what they are delivering seems to be partially badly spun from my own content. In this case, the buyer is putting trust in the pricey agency and everything is going to hell in a handbasket as a result.

They seem to have realized this. However, their solution is to ask me to wave some kind of (free) magic wand and make everything better.

I did write a very curt FOC-off reply. However, I deleted this and did my best to nicely point out that I can only revise content delivered by me.

Be warned, reeducating someone who thinks they are an expert is not easy, especially if you are charging to fix their errors.

I’ve already discovered this by offering a few trial SEO / content marketing strategy gigs where I create a content marketing plan, create all content, and deliver. However, every time it gets messy. I got a nobody cryptocurrency exchange to page 1 in Google. Then they suddenly asked me to work for 50% less because I was charging more than other writers on Fiverr.

The problem is that a lot of startups and individuals using Fiverr seem to think that everything is just about the word count and keyword density. They basically put no value in your skills as a writer and this annoys the hell out of me.

Why not send a huge custom offer for what they are asking for?

I might do this. However, I am waiting on the buyer’s next reply.

I sense they are in the zone where they don’t really want to be told that they have pretty much wasted $100’s on Fiverr and non-Fiverr writers, and now need all their site content reworking. It all does need reworking. However, while they are in this zone of ’I’ve already spent a lot,' they are going to see me sending a custom offer for a few hundred dollars as a malicious money grab.

They want you to a) revise something that didn’t even have anything to do with what they paid you for and to b) go through their website and revise all their content which doesn’t have to do with what they ordered from you and paid for either?

Yep. They also asked me to revise their revisions of my work. (As detailed above.) In the end, I’ve sent them a Grammaly report of the article (not written by me) that they asked me to critique. It gets a score of 48% and is self-evidently awful. They wanted a critique, they got one.

I’ve also redelivered my last article (that they asked for no revisions on), pointed out problems with their revisions of work I have delivered previously, and tried as politely as possible to clarify that they can only request revisions on content I deliver as I deliver it. Revising anyone else’s work will necessitate a new order.

Now it’s simply a case of seeing how this buyer responds.

[misscrystal]

From working with you, I know you know what you are doing when it comes to SEO optimization so why not charge an extra for it?

This is part of the problem. I do charge for it and I try to explain everything clearly in deliveries. i.e after article text I include a message like the following:

SEO Settings:

Focus Keyphrase: XXXXXXXX Roofing Contractor

SEO Title: Time to Replace Your Roof? - Ask a XXXXX Roofing Contractor

Slug: Time to Replace Your Roof? - Hire a XXXXXX Roofing Contractor You Can Trust

Meta Description: XXXXXXX can connect you with the best Manchester Roofing Contractor for all your roofing needs year-round in XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.

Notes:

Your article has been tweaked with Yoast to be fully optimized for your chosen keyphrase “XXXXX Roofing Contractor” when used with the above settings. Your article also scores 97% in Grammarly for readability, structure, word choices, and grammar.

For best SEO results, you should format all subheadings as H2 headings, and retain the included links and article layout.

All anyone has to do is copy and paste content into WordPress (or whatever) as-is, and leave it at that.

Now going to the buyers’ site, I don’t even know why they are ordering from me. They changed this:

Looking for a reputable XXXXXXXXXXXXXX roofing contractor? Whether you require an urgent roof repair or help fixing roof shingles, XXXXX Roofing can help.

From minor roof leak repairs to new roof replacements, we can connect you with local contractors you can trust.

To this:

Looking for a reputable XXXXXXXXXXX roofing contractor? Whether you require an urgent roof repair or a complete roof replacement, XXXXX Roofing Services is here to help.

Our business model is built on the foundation of trust and loyalty, and this requires a relationship in which the client’s needs come first.

Yes Sir, Yes Ma’am, that exactly what we deliver. Instead of focusing on sales quotas, complete client satisfaction is what we provide.

I mean, it’s like someone just garbled a perfectly good paragraph through a universal idiot translator. - And they have changed subheadings to REMOVE keywords and add weird verbiage.

All that said, I’ve figured out the problem here.

The buyer is paying me to write articles for their site.(3 so far). However, they are also paying different cheaper Fiverr sellers AND an SEO agency that after looking at its website, is clearly outsourcing all content to cheap as chips Fiverr sellers.

It is pretty horrifying, the SEO agency has charged $80 for this:

There are a few different ways to tell that your roof is in need of repairs or a replacement. An important step would include an outside visual of your roof to look for wind damage. Or perhaps you’ve noticed shingles lying in your yard. Loose shingles that are lifting during wind events would be another sign that the integrity of your roof system is indeed compromised.

Obviously, there is more than that paragraph. However, the rest reads as poorly and none of the content is optimized for searches in any way.

It also seems like the buyer is running my work past this agency. I say this as a lot of what they are delivering seems to be partially badly spun from my own content. In this case, the buyer is putting trust in the pricey agency and everything is going to hell in a handbasket as a result.

They seem to have realized this. However, their solution is to ask me to wave some kind of (free) magic wand and make everything better.

I did write a very curt FOC-off reply. However, I deleted this and did my best to nicely point out that I can only revise content delivered by me.

Be warned, reeducating someone who thinks they are an expert is not easy, especially if you are charging to fix their errors.

I’ve already discovered this by offering a few trial SEO / content marketing strategy gigs where I create a content marketing plan, create all content, and deliver. However, every time it gets messy. I got a nobody cryptocurrency exchange to page 1 in Google. Then they suddenly asked me to work for 50% less because I was charging more than other writers on Fiverr.

The problem is that a lot of startups and individuals using Fiverr seem to think that everything is just about the word count and keyword density. They basically put no value in your skills as a writer and this annoys the hell out of me.

Why not send a huge custom offer for what they are asking for?

I might do this. However, I am waiting on the buyer’s next reply.

I sense they are in the zone where they don’t really want to be told that they have pretty much wasted $100’s on Fiverr and non-Fiverr writers, and now need all their site content reworking. It all does need reworking. However, while they are in this zone of ’I’ve already spent a lot,' they are going to see me sending a custom offer for a few hundred dollars as a malicious money grab.

They want you to a) revise something that didn’t even have anything to do with what they paid you for and to b) go through their website and revise all their content which doesn’t have to do with what they ordered from you and paid for either?

Yep. They also asked me to revise their revisions of my work. (As detailed above.) In the end, I’ve sent them a Grammaly report of the article (not written by me) that they asked me to critique. It gets a score of 48% and is self-evidently awful. They wanted a critique, they got one.

I’ve also redelivered my last article (that they asked for no revisions on), pointed out problems with their revisions of work I have delivered previously, and tried as politely as possible to clarify that they can only request revisions on content I deliver as I deliver it. Revising anyone else’s work will necessitate a new order.

Now it’s simply a case of seeing how this buyer responds.

’I’ve already spent a lot,' they are going to see me sending a custom offer for a few hundred dollars as a malicious money grab.

Who cares, do you? You shouldn’t. They don’t care about you or your work.

They are trying to take advantage of you, as well as being bloody idiots so charge accordingly.

[miiila]

From working with you, I know you know what you are doing when it comes to SEO optimization so why not charge an extra for it?

This is part of the problem. I do charge for it and I try to explain everything clearly in deliveries. i.e after article text I include a message like the following:

SEO Settings:

Focus Keyphrase: XXXXXXXX Roofing Contractor

SEO Title: Time to Replace Your Roof? - Ask a XXXXX Roofing Contractor

Slug: Time to Replace Your Roof? - Hire a XXXXXX Roofing Contractor You Can Trust

Meta Description: XXXXXXX can connect you with the best Manchester Roofing Contractor for all your roofing needs year-round in XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.

Notes:

Your article has been tweaked with Yoast to be fully optimized for your chosen keyphrase “XXXXX Roofing Contractor” when used with the above settings. Your article also scores 97% in Grammarly for readability, structure, word choices, and grammar.

For best SEO results, you should format all subheadings as H2 headings, and retain the included links and article layout.

All anyone has to do is copy and paste content into WordPress (or whatever) as-is, and leave it at that.

Now going to the buyers’ site, I don’t even know why they are ordering from me. They changed this:

Looking for a reputable XXXXXXXXXXXXXX roofing contractor? Whether you require an urgent roof repair or help fixing roof shingles, XXXXX Roofing can help.

From minor roof leak repairs to new roof replacements, we can connect you with local contractors you can trust.

To this:

Looking for a reputable XXXXXXXXXXX roofing contractor? Whether you require an urgent roof repair or a complete roof replacement, XXXXX Roofing Services is here to help.

Our business model is built on the foundation of trust and loyalty, and this requires a relationship in which the client’s needs come first.

Yes Sir, Yes Ma’am, that exactly what we deliver. Instead of focusing on sales quotas, complete client satisfaction is what we provide.

I mean, it’s like someone just garbled a perfectly good paragraph through a universal idiot translator. - And they have changed subheadings to REMOVE keywords and add weird verbiage.

All that said, I’ve figured out the problem here.

The buyer is paying me to write articles for their site.(3 so far). However, they are also paying different cheaper Fiverr sellers AND an SEO agency that after looking at its website, is clearly outsourcing all content to cheap as chips Fiverr sellers.

It is pretty horrifying, the SEO agency has charged $80 for this:

There are a few different ways to tell that your roof is in need of repairs or a replacement. An important step would include an outside visual of your roof to look for wind damage. Or perhaps you’ve noticed shingles lying in your yard. Loose shingles that are lifting during wind events would be another sign that the integrity of your roof system is indeed compromised.

Obviously, there is more than that paragraph. However, the rest reads as poorly and none of the content is optimized for searches in any way.

It also seems like the buyer is running my work past this agency. I say this as a lot of what they are delivering seems to be partially badly spun from my own content. In this case, the buyer is putting trust in the pricey agency and everything is going to hell in a handbasket as a result.

They seem to have realized this. However, their solution is to ask me to wave some kind of (free) magic wand and make everything better.

I did write a very curt FOC-off reply. However, I deleted this and did my best to nicely point out that I can only revise content delivered by me.

Be warned, reeducating someone who thinks they are an expert is not easy, especially if you are charging to fix their errors.

I’ve already discovered this by offering a few trial SEO / content marketing strategy gigs where I create a content marketing plan, create all content, and deliver. However, every time it gets messy. I got a nobody cryptocurrency exchange to page 1 in Google. Then they suddenly asked me to work for 50% less because I was charging more than other writers on Fiverr.

The problem is that a lot of startups and individuals using Fiverr seem to think that everything is just about the word count and keyword density. They basically put no value in your skills as a writer and this annoys the hell out of me.

Why not send a huge custom offer for what they are asking for?

I might do this. However, I am waiting on the buyer’s next reply.

I sense they are in the zone where they don’t really want to be told that they have pretty much wasted $100’s on Fiverr and non-Fiverr writers, and now need all their site content reworking. It all does need reworking. However, while they are in this zone of ’I’ve already spent a lot,' they are going to see me sending a custom offer for a few hundred dollars as a malicious money grab.

They want you to a) revise something that didn’t even have anything to do with what they paid you for and to b) go through their website and revise all their content which doesn’t have to do with what they ordered from you and paid for either?

Yep. They also asked me to revise their revisions of my work. (As detailed above.) In the end, I’ve sent them a Grammaly report of the article (not written by me) that they asked me to critique. It gets a score of 48% and is self-evidently awful. They wanted a critique, they got one.

I’ve also redelivered my last article (that they asked for no revisions on), pointed out problems with their revisions of work I have delivered previously, and tried as politely as possible to clarify that they can only request revisions on content I deliver as I deliver it. Revising anyone else’s work will necessitate a new order.

Now it’s simply a case of seeing how this buyer responds.

article (not written by me) that they asked me to critique. It gets a score of 48% and is self-evidently awful. They wanted a critique, they got one.

Someone sent me a link to their English text and to the translation the other day (obviously a machine translation, or by the least talented “translator” in history). The only possible reply was “that’s not a translation that’s a catastrophe.” Sometimes, truth hurts. But it will make them stronger. And sometimes wiser. 🙂