Recent Posts
Recent Comments- anne michelle I hate working out too....
- Rochelle Anthony,It sounds like you are ...
- Anthony Lombardo Hello, my blog always seemd like it...
- jyothi how can delete default toolbar and ...
Popular Articles
About Us 2007 is when I began creating niche stores. Many kind and giving people shared their knowledge with me, making it easier to improve my sites. I have gathered much of what I've learned and put it here, on this site, as a way of giving back. It is my hope that this site will help you improve your niche stores and sites, too. ~ Rochelle
How to Use Amazon Mechanical Turk to Have Articles Written
Posted by
Rochelle in Did you know there is a very inexpensive way to have unique articles written? As low as $0.05 per article? Yep, there is! It is a service that I’ve used many times myself.
The source for this service is found at Amazon Mechanical Turk. Yes, as in Amazon.com. Read on for instructions for how you can use Amazon Mechanical Turk to have articles written for you.
Note: I started writing this some time ago, but wasn’t able to finish it due to the work I’ve had to do on my home that was flooded. I’ve been getting requests for it, so I am posting it here, even though it is incomplete. There is enough information here for you to get started. You will just need to figure out how to get around on your own, as I don’t foresee having time to finish this for at least four more months. ~ Rochelle
How to Use Amazon Mechanical Turk to have Articles Written | |
Step One | |
| If you don’t already have an account with Amazon, then you will need to create an account. If you already have an account with Amazon (such as for shopping there), then you can use this account. | |
| Sign in as a requester at Amazon Mechanical Turk: | |
 | |
| Now you will actually sign in to your account (or join, if needed). | |
| Step Two | |
| You will arrive at a page that shows you examples of different HIT templates. Go ahead and look at some of these to get an idea of how to write up your request. You can choose any of these templates to use. Some may seem irrelevant to your needs. People use this service for a wide variety of jobs, and these templates reflect that diversity. The Blank Template will be fine to use for requesting articles, and that is what I will use for these instructions. | |
| Choose the options you want for your template: | |
 | |
| |
. | |
This is as far as I got in my instructions. Normally, I would never post incomplete instructions, but I fear if I don’t post this one now, I may not ever do so.
My advice to you is to be as specific as possible when requesting work. I have had articles written at $0.05 each using this service. But, be aware, that not every request will be responded to. Also, don’t expect fabulous results, as you do get what you pay for. That being said, this is a great way to get new information that you can rewrite, if needed/wanted, for your niche stores.
Rochelle
24 Responses to “How to Use Amazon Mechanical Turk to Have Articles Written”
Leave a Reply
| ||||||
Subscribe
Wow, this is unbelievable! I think it could be helpful in getting an article layed out so I could beef it up and make it to the standards I wanted. But I can’t imagine who would want to do this amount of work for a nickel! I sure wouldn’t.
It might be worth a try since there’s not a lot to lose. And it could be worthwhile even if all you get is some of the facts & background info dug up. Interesting service!
thanks for letting us know about it Rochelle!
Thanks, Rochelle, for the tip! I too wonder, though, how on earth anyone could make any money selling articles for as little as a nickel! Even if they’re using some sort of article spinning software, that seems unreasonably cheap. But who am I to argue?
Alice – I completely agree. I’ve had over a dozen articles written for me, all at a nickel apiece. In my case, I think the people who wrote the articles did it for the love of the topic, not for the coin in the pocket.
Rochelle
Geez, I didn’t think those kind of people existed anymore!! Well, I’m definitely going to give them a shot. Like I said, even if all they do is some of the fact-finding grunt work, that’s worth at least a nickel!! Thanks for the tip and the recommendation.
Not too long ago I looked into Mechanical Turk as a possible way to make some money. I decided I wouldn’t work for those low rates, but I could see that someone starting out would do that in order to build up credibility. Or because, as was mentioned, s/he loves the subject. And I agree – if someone wants to do it, why not give them a shot?
OT, I like the new look of this blog. And hope that the flood repair isn’t causing you to lose your sanity completely Rochelle. I always look forward to your posts and recommend this site to fellow BANS travelers. It’s on my Blogroll.
This is amazing! I have recently found some other writing services that I thought were cheap at $5-$6 per article. Even if the quality is not the best there are many uses for this type of content. Thanks for the heads-up.
Sallie – My sanity is hanging on by a thread, thanks to the flood… We got back in to our house about four weeks ago, but we still have at least four or five months of work still to be done. Right now, I’m psyching myself up for painting trim around the door frames.
However, I’ve worked myself so hard that I’ve been sick with bronchitis (again, as I was sick with it in December, too). The medication I’m taking makes me seriously nauseous for this first hour or so after taking it. I’m waiting for that to pass right now so I can begin. Of course, I’m sick because I’m trying to do too much around the house at once. And, the worst of that is that I wasn’t able to do anything last week, because I was sick, so now I feel extreme pressure to make up for what I couldn’t do last week.
Sigh… I so wish I could simply focus my efforts on niche stores again, instead of on the house.
Rochelle
Rochelle,
Where do you add all that detailed description/instructions? When I tried using a similar set (I just edited what you have above), I get an error message saying I can only have 255 characters for my description. But I think for articles its important to have all that other stuff…just need to be able to put it somewhere in the work request.
Alice
Duh – never mind! I was in the template, and not the actual job request, so that’s why I got the error.
I just requested two articles, but decided to splurge and offered $0.25 apiece. LOL! I just couldn’t bring myself to offer a nickel.
How to interested parties contact me? How long did it take to get someone to respond? This could be so cool if it really works!
Alice
I’m a bit disappointed that this is only available for people living in the US.
Does anybody know a work-round?
Alice – Glad you figured it out. I’ve been away from this stuff for so long that I wouldn’t have known the answer.
People don’t contact you. If interested, they will complete your task. You will then be able to approve or deny the task. If you approve it, they get paid. If you decline it, they don’t. Personally, I approved everyone who completed my tasks, regardless of quality. I couldn’t see stiffing someone a nickel over shoddy work.
Mick – I was unaware of that (probably because I live in the US). Sorry to hear it is restricted to US residents…
Rochelle
Hi Rochelle
This is something I have not heard of before, completely new to me. You are right you do get what you pay for but that aside it gives you some content which you can work from which would save time for sure.
Thanks
Ben
This is infomration that was a total surprise to me. Makes your blog “value added” and worthwhile for learning new things.
BTW, I like the new look of your site!
Rochelle,
Great find! I’ve had Amazon shopping and affiliate accounts and have never heard of this service.
Also, a very clear description template that can be of immediate use to me and other readers who have no experience with this service.
I know the price is low but I will still be interested to see how much re-writing is needed. What is your take on this? Have you had to basically rewrite articles you’ve gotten?
Jeff
PS-Very nice new look to this blog. I’ll definitely check into the Elegant themes service. At least one of my blogs needs a whole new look.
Jeff,
It’s hard to say how much re-writing you may need to do. For the set of articles I had done through Amazon Turk, I needed to do very little re-writing. In my case, I had asked for articles on a topic that was pretty easy for people to write about, and, I think, the writers were passionate about.
As to Elegant Themes, I’m totally impressed with them! I’ve been changing some of my other blogs to the Elegant Themes themes, and the changes have been striking and dramatic. They are completely worth the cost of membership. Heck, I really think just ONE theme would be worth the price of membership!
Rochelle
I’ve had mixed success with Amazon Turk. I got one good article that just needed some minor fixing. Then I requested about 11 very short blurbs on specific topics, 100-150 words each, and listed the 3 points I wanted in each one. About 4 of them got done, and only one was usable. The others were either lifted completely from other websites (scraped) as I run everything thru Copyscape, or they didn’t include the 3 points I wanted. About 4 never got selected by anyone.
The one article that was good was longer, about 300-400 words, so maybe it’s better to not ask for very short bits. I’m not sure if I’ll try it again – it takes too long to set up the requests given the quantity and quality of the reponses IMO.
@Alice
So, I think what I’m hearing is it’s probably NOT a good idea to request a lot of articles at one time. Still, I’ve got to give them a try. Thanks for the timely info as I have a number or sites that need steady supplies of content I no longer have the time to write myself.
@Rochelle
The Elegant themes are awesome! I don’t know if the cookie is set but I’ll make sure to use your link when I buy this week.
Jeff
Jeff,
Re: Requesting articles – I don’t know if it really matters how many you request at any given time. I’ve requested as many as 20 at once. I didn’t get them all, but I got most of them. It probably depends on whether one person does them all (and either does a great or a crappy job on them), or multiple people answer your requests.
Re: Elegant Themes purchase from my link – Much appreciated : )
Rochelle
Rochelle,
Have you used CyberHub for articles?
Jeff
Jeff,
Never heard of it.
Rochelle
I just wrote an article for Amazon Turk, and I’m sitting here contemplating if I should submit it or not.
I love what I’ve wrote, and I hate to think that my “great” (at least to me
article will be credited to someone else.
How do the copyrights work with Amazon Turk? Am I selling the copyrights or am I just authorizing the buyer to use my work?
Dom,
As I understand it, you are giving away your rights to the article if you submit it. If it is as good as you think, keep it for yourself and submit it to an article directory (assuming you have a blog related to the article).
Rochelle
As a requester on amazon mechanical turk, I find it disturbing that anyone would exploit the talents of another for as little as .05 cents. The fact that a person would even work for that wage shows just how utterly desperate he is. How unfortunate that an American would take advantage of the poverty of another to save a few dollars while he makes a comfortable living.
Workers on AMT don’t do it for “fun,” as many would like to believe in order to justify their unethical behavior. Statistics show plainly that the majority of AMT workers have succumbed to our fractured economy and have little choice but to whore out their services for 1% of what they are worth. Shame on those of you who think that this practice of paying sweat shop wages to any human being, whether from here or abroad is acceptable or even palatable.
Stevie,
Kindly provide proof to back up your claims that the majority of AMT workers “whore out their services for 1% of what they are worth.”
Amazon Turk is a portal where people can willingly go to earn money. Potential workers there have the freedom to accept, or not accept, any job that they may qualify for. If they find something of interest, they can choose to do that job.
Job requesters can pay whatever they are willing, but if too low, may find that there are no workers and they will have to adjust their offerings higher. I don’t see where anyone is being “taken advantage of” with AMT.
Rochelle