I recently purchased an article using the Crowd Content platform to find out if they were everything they claimed to be.
So, what did I find?
In short, their ordering process is easy, but their content quality is a little underwhelming.
Read my detailed Crowd Content review to find out what is great, and what is not so great about their service.
Overall Crowd Content Review
Based on my experience I've given Crowd Content 3.5 stars out of 5
Pros
Cons
Conclusion
All in all, you can get great content from Crowd Content, as long as you are willing to pay for it. I would avoid their 1 and 2 star writers as the quality is poor. If you are ordering large scale content you might want to check out their enterprise solution, or find a cheaper writing service. Their dashboard was the best part of their service. It’s easy to order and manage your content. One thing I like about Crowd Content is that you can use the same writers you have worked with before. If you find a great one, you can stick with them and build a team that you trust with your content.
Want to try our content writing service?
Get 30% off your first order with the coupon code: TRIAL
Crowd Content (3rd Party Reviews)
Trustpilot Reviews
Crowd Content reviews on Trustpilot are not very flattering (see here). Despite their average score of 3 out of 5 stars, 75% of reviewers tagged them as ‘bad’.
G2 Reviews
G2 is another great review site for software and services. I looked them up and there were only two Crowd Content reviews, both of which are pretty awful (see here).
One Crowd Content review is by a very unhappy customer. They’ve used the service a few times and said ‘there’s nothing about it that I like’. The reviewer deemed them unethical. He had credit in his account, which ‘expired’ after some time. I have to agree, this doesn’t sound right.
Apparently their content required significant editing, however, the reviewer doesn’t mention the ‘star’ quality of the writer they paid for, so we can’t say if this is accurate.
The negative feedback is mainly about poor customer service and inconsistent content quality.
Although, we don’t know what star rated writer they paid for. Reviewers felt they would rather use freelance marketplaces like Fiverr, and Upwork.
My Crowd Content Experience
Here I will go over the steps for purchasing content on the Crowd Content platform.
I'll dive into the content quality I received, and my overall impression of their content writing service.
Signing Up
Creating an account is easy, quick, and free.
One of the few good reviews I found on Crowd Content appears on the sign-up page. There are no other reviews from customers on their site which I found a little strange for such a large business.
Once I signed up, I received two emails. One from a Customer Service Manager and the other is a general welcome email. It lists all the benefits of being a Crowd Content customer, as well as the next steps.
In these emails, you have everything you need to get started.
A platform demo link that sends you to a quick YouTube video. This gives you a nice preview of what to expect in your dashboard.
They also provide a link to their ‘get started’ guide and a link to their knowledge base. As a result, I knew exactly what to do, where to go, and how to place an order.
You can even schedule a call if needed, but I don’t think that’s necessary with all this information on hand.
Pretty impressed with the streamlined onboarding process so far!
I had to fill in my account information on a typical online form that requires all my important details and contact information. Always a painful process.
The next step is to add funds. Sadly, you don’t get to see your dashboard before paying a minimum amount of $15. An aggressive strategy to ensure you buy at least some content from them.
Overall, the process is simple and well-defined which means you can start ordering content within a few minutes.
Pricing
The higher the quality of the writer, the higher your price per word.
If you choose a 1-star writer, you will get an entry-level writer at 3c per word. They guarantee 100% unique content with a quick turnaround time, but it may contain errors.
A 2-Star writer will get you a freelancer at 4c per word. They have a flexible writing style and claim to have strong knowledge of SEO. The content guarantee is that it will be 98% error-free.
3-Star writers, called ‘Professional writers’ charge 8.8c per word. A big jump from the 2-Star rate. These writers have a range of experience and can write with personality. Their work is guaranteed 100% error-free.
If you’re looking for the good stuff, hire a writer with a 4-Star rating. They charge 13.5c per word, which is a much higher rate than the lower stars. They’re professional writers with proven track records and experience.
High-quality content at scale from Crowd Content seems to come at a large price.
Creating Your Order
Their dashboard is my favourite part of the Crowd Content service. It’s well laid out, easy to navigate, and I found it simple to place my first order. Even if I hadn’t watched their video, it would still be easy to figure out.
Check it out in the video below to see for yourself.
When choosing the order type I had to choose 'open order' because I hadn’t yet worked with any writers. You can only choose a direct order and team order if you have worked with writers previously.
I didn't skip out on the advanced options section. In my opinion, this can determine whether you receive a quality article. The better your brief, the better the content.
It took only a few minutes to place my first order since I had everything prepared.
About an hour later I received a notification to let me know that my content was being written, and again when it was complete.
I have to say, it’s a much simpler and faster ordering system than other content marketplaces I’ve worked with. I also appreciate the regular updates at every stage of the article writing process.
Turnaround Time
You can receive content within 1 day, but I set the deadline at 2 days to complete my article. I’m happy to say that I had my article complete with time to spare. The writer was also very close on the word count.
Want to try our content writing service?
Get 30% off your first order with the coupon code: TRIAL
Content Quality
I gave the writer a simple topic, ‘What is Content Marketing?’. I selected a 3-Star writer and set the word count at 1000 words. Then I filled in all the required information and the advanced options, and I paid $88 for the article. Which means my content should be error-free.
Would I publish this article?
What I received was average. It lacked the insight that I would expect from someone who claims to have experience writing marketing material. It’s a hefty price to pay for a piece of content that still needs work. But, with some tweaks here and there, I would consider publishing.
Crowd Content says that their writers have to pass a rigorous application process, and only the best will be accepted. With such a large pool of writers, it’s no doubt that some average to poor writers will slip through the cracks.
What errors did I find?
I found some grammatical and spelling errors in the article that lead me to believe that some of their writers are not Native-English speakers. This was also evident in the instant chat with the writer while going over feedback for editing. I had to use Grammarly to fix a few of these errors.
After a run through Copyscape, the result was 5% plagiarised. Nothing major considering the topic is quite a popular keyword.
The article contained no external links, despite the instruction to add one or two to the article. On the other hand, it did have a link to my website as requested.
Structure of the article was good and the headings were all formatted correctly. The order of the sections made sense although a conclusion would have been a nice finish off. Although this wasn’t requested in my order.
One of the biggest things we emphasise at Contentellect is a good introduction. This introduction would not pass our standards. It fell flat and didn’t entice me to read the rest of the article. While they hit the mark with turnaround speed, the quality is not as I would expect for the price I paid.
Customer Service
While I didn’t have any reason to deal with their customer service, if we go on other reviewers’ opinions, it’s not great.
They state that you don’t have to pay for content that you don’t like, but it will still have to go through a review process. Which is fair, but could be swayed towards the writer to avoid a refund.
In my experience, a bad brief means bad content, so you have to be fair about how well you gave direction to the writer.
You have unlimited revisions. But, no one wants to go back and forth when the writer didn’t hit the mark and you’ve paid for ‘error-free content’.
Crowd Content FAQ
What is Crowd Content?
Crowd Content is a content marketplace with over 6,000 writers. They claim that all writers are Native-English speakers and mainly based in the US. Writers come from a variety of industries, so whatever your niche, they’ve got someone who can write it for you.
Their website is easy to navigate and I was able to find information on all their services quickly. It's neat and well laid out. Everything you need to know is on their home page with multiple links to their purchasing pages.
What services do Crowd Content offer?
There are two options for purchasing content, self-service or their managed service.
Self-Service
The self-service option gives you access to their entire writer network. This allows you to place orders based on the skill level of their writers at a per word rate.
Turnaround times are fast and you can get a piece of content completed in only 24 hours. They emphasise these points on their website.
They keep their team motivated with a rating system. Customers rate the writers on the content they received. As a result, the more stars writers achieve, the higher they get paid per word, and the higher Crowd Content charges for the writers content.
This sets Crowd Content apart from many of its competitors.
Enterprise Service
Their Enterprise Service offers a managed solution that works for content at scale. You need to set up a call with them to discuss your content needs and budget.
Customers are spoilt for choice on the type of content they can buy from Crowd Content. They offer blog posts, product descriptions, Facebook posts, tweets, eBooks, newsletters and more. It’s a one-stop-shop for all your content needs.
I went with their self-service platform to place my content order since it would only be once-off. But, before we jump into my thoughts on Crowd Content, lets’ see what other customers have to say.
Crowd Content Alternatives
If you liked our Crowd Content review article, you might like some of our other content writing service reviews.
See our round-up of the best blog writing services.