Should You Operate on the Commodity Sites Like Upwork? The Answer from a Direct Response Copywriter. Email archive April 2017 1.

From the Desk of Scott Martin. Direct response copywriter, Aspen, Colorado.

Should You Bid on the "Commodity" Sites?

First, I have an admission. I haven’t spent any time on the commodity sites in the past six years. In fact, someone had to tell me that elance no longer exists and has since become Upwork.

Does Fiverr even exist? I hope not. And if you’re one of the copywriters on this total disaster of a website, then leave there now.

What’s happening here is the commoditization of copywriting. People who need copy visit the sites I just mentioned and look for the lowest price. You know the drill. But they get awful work and wonder why it doesn't convert.

The upside is there are thousands of people looking for copy. The downside? You can write a ton of copy for the price of a sandwich … and not much of a sandwich at that. A cheese sandwich, perhaps, but not a turkey and bacon sandwich.

I used to bid on work on elance and I got a few gigs but the work was “one and done” and usually for people working from a kitchen table, trying to build some type of Internet business. All this nonsense can, and should be, avoided.

Many copywriters use Upwork and the commodity sites to build a portfolio. There’s an easier way to build that portfolio and I’ll reveal this in the next email.

I will also discuss the other places find work.

Scott Martin Direct Response Copywriter