The internet is driven by content. Despite the popularity of video and audio which is much easier to produce and consume online, text content is still number 1. And it looks like it will be for the foreseeable future which is a great opportunity for those of you who are gifted at writing. And if you're not, you definitely want to learn because you're leaving a lot of money on the table.
Not too long ago, we looked at two companies, BlogMutt & BKA Content which offer great opportunities for freelance writers. Today, I will be talking about a successful and reputable company offering a unique opportunity for talented copywriters.
What Is Boost Media (formerly BoostCTR)
Boost Media, founded in 2009 by David Greenbaum & Rob Lenderman is located in San Francisco, CA. Boost Media is the leading Creative Optimization Platform and has delivered more than $1 billion in optimized digital ads for more than 100 leading global brand name clients
I am sure you are familiar with those little text ads (95 characters + URL) that reside on top or side of Google and Bing search results pages. But did you know that freelance writers, working for Boost Media, wrote most of them? Well now you do. So let's see how you can get a piece of the action.
How To Become A Boost Media Ad Writer
It's totally Free to sign up and work for this company. You just go to the Boost Media website and sign in with your full name and email address, or through G+, FB, LinkedIn or Live. You must fill out a multiple page application form and complete a test. Don't worry if you fail, they will let you know the reasons you failed and gives you the opportunity to ‘study-up' and apply again. Regardless Boost Media will not accept your application right away, rather they'll inform you to expect a call back for a brief interview.
Are There Any Special Requirements?
You should be a great copywriter, and it would help to have some Adwords and/or AdCenter experience, but it is not necessary. At Boost Media, they understand that skills are transferable and provide training materials for those that need to get up-to-speed.
Once You Are A Booster, How Do You Get Work?
You'll see a page called “Contest Search,” which contains our two types of contests. Some contests are ‘Each Accepted Ad,' for which the advertiser needs to verify that the ad copy is suitable before you are awarded the prize value.
Other contests are ‘Each Winning Ad', for which first the advertiser needs to verify that the ad copy is suitable, and then the ad needs to garner the highest performance as it runs live for a minimum of 14 days before you are awarded the prize value.
What Kinds Of Ads Will You Write?
All ads will be written on Google AdWords or MS adCenter platform, with a maximum of 95 characters plus the URL. The wide spectrum of advertisers includes major online retailers, hotel chains, online platforms, pharmaceutical companies, etc. When your ads are accepted, ownership and copyrights will be transferred to the advertiser.
How Much Money Can You Earn Boost Media Writer?
Well, the company is kind of ‘hush' about this. Here is what they say on their site:
“A lot! Boost Media offers its writers the opportunity to generate a consistent and potentially a significant revenue stream while working from home. Our on-demand model allows writers to have the flexibility to choose their own hours, assume projects at their choosing, and the ability to work from any computer with access to the Internet. The potential to generate revenue can vary greatly depending on writer's experience, efficiency, quality of reported ads, writer's grade, etc.”
However, I did a little digging and can tell you this:
Each Accepted Ad Contest: You will get paid between $2 and $10 for each accepted ad
Each Winning Ad Contest: The pay here is anywhere from $20 to $45 per winning ad, in certain instances even more.
Thanks to a couple of Boost Media writers, I got some more info. Both make an average of about $500/month, working 25 – 30 hours. Not too shabby, as far as I am concerned!
Boost Media pays once every week through PayPal or direct deposit.
What Are The Boost Media Complaints?
I've got some good news for you, there aren't many complaints against Boost Media. But there are some areas of concerns that should be pointed out so you can make your own informed decision.
What's Taking So Long?
I have heard that it takes weeks, or sometimes several months, to receive a response to an application. The company explained that ‘due to seasonal slow down in work volume, additional writers are not needed'. They also promised to improve the process of informing applicants of the status of their application.
Writing Text Ads Can Be Intimidating!
The whole purpose of doing PPC and hiring someone to write the ads thats show up on google is to make a company money. So you really need to be good at getting people to click on the ads with your ad copy. Although you are an experienced copywriter, you'll soon find out that writing a great 95-character text ad is not as easy as it sounds. It's a whole different beast than writing an article so not everyone is suited for this.
They're allusive about the pay
I hate when companies like this make you hunt around to determine how much money you can make. Let's face it, time is money and you wouldn't want to waste your time with a company that isn't in your salary range. So I think it would be useful if they had a more developed writer's page that provides more details about the payment you can expect even if it's a range.
So Is Boost Media A Scam or Legit?
The company is definitely legitimate and you can make money if you are gifted at writing ad copy. I'm not sure if it's right for run of the mill writers. But if you are gifted at writing persuasive content that makes people take action, then this may be right for you.
That said I can't help but feel if you're able to write such great copy why wouldn't you apply it for yourself and make money directly from your effort. That skill set can be used to create your own blog or run PPC campaigns yourself where you're making far more money when you cut out the middle man of Boost Media. If that makes “cents” to you or you're looking for a different way to earn, I would highly recommend looking into my Top Free Work At Home Recommendation or you can also try one of my Work At Home Courses. Both are designed to help you earn money legitimately and around your own schedule. You control how much you make rather than having another company dictating what you do make. You also don't have to wait months to even get started as you may have with Boost Media. So that's something to consider.
Well that's my two cents on this company. I would love to hear what you think about it. So please post a comment down below. Your opinion is valued so don't be shy. I'll be waiting.
Thanks.
Eddy with a y
To Uri, the writer who called us “stupid people.” As a former support person at Boost, we were actually very interested in feedback, however, we received the same feedback from literally 100s of writers per day. This required us to build template email responses. So, no Uri, no one was stupid. Support personnel were just trying to do their job effectively and not hand craft the same response.
The system was not perfect but honestly the people that worked there tried advocating as best they could for writers and often times got hateful emails telling them they just wanted their money.
– former Boost support
I used to work for Boost Media a few years back. In fact, I (with 3 others) were invited to San Francisco for a celebration (plane fare & hotel paid for in advance). I felt it an honor. I would like to write for Boost again! It was fun and challenging. I wrote copy for other companies as well under my company name “Write from the Heart.” Because of certain personal circumstances in my life, I got away from writing. Still when I see inexcusable errors in copy…I cringe! Would like to help companies get their word out in a professional manner!
Think they are a lot smarter than they are. Largely clueless. Basically no training. You watch a few webinars that tell the exact same BS every week. Most of the questions are people asking when and how much they are going to get paid. As far as learning anything, you either figure it out on your own or you don’t. And if you don’t, you can get fired on your FIRST DAY with now interaction whatsoever.
Hi there!
Do you know if is there any other companies like Boost Media? I mean, most of the types of work at home companies have more than one company for applying. I was wondering if there is an option but them.
Thanks in advance!
No I’m sorry. I don’t.
What a difference a year makes! I am hired to write for Boost, but there is little work. Also, they send work back to be re-written, but the system doesn’t let you fix them, so you’re penalized because of it.
It seems your earlier commenter got in at the Golden Age of Boost Media. I did not.
What makes matter worse is that the people I deal with are stupid. They don’t answer questions and aren’t interested in constructive criticism about how terrible the site is.
It’s so bad I googled it rather than logging on, and that’s how I ended up here.
Thanks for sharing your experience! I’m sure it’s going to help some others looking into this company.
Wow, great article.
I just began writing for Boost and it’s okay. I log in once a day and if there are ads I write maybe 5 or 10, but there are not always ads, which seems crazy because I’m eligible to write in 4 languages.
My best guess is that at the rate things are going, it’ll be another $1-2k this year, which is fine because I have other sources of income.
I found your article after Googling the co (no ads tonight) and seeing on GlassDoor.com that they have gone thru several rounds of layoffs. If ad availability is any indication, the business might not be around in 2017, but they do have big clients like Marriott, Delta Airlines, and CARFAX, so who knows. Maybe I joined during a lull, missing a huge release of work.
If I made $10k I’d be pretty excited, but am not holding my breath. Perhaps I’ll be back like your other commenter to let you know.
Hey Chris,
Thanks for giving us your experience with this company. I honestly didn’t think it would survive long term. But I guess time will tell. Keep us posted.
Eddy, I thought I’d give you update. My final gross pay for the year with Boost is about $44,000. After deducting legitimate expenses – laptop, car expense, meals – I’m claiming a net income of $37,000.
Hope this helps anyone thinking of joining Boost Media. As I said before, I’ve spent many night up late working and working, because when the works come in you need to be on top of it, or miss out. One evening, a large batch of ads came in after 2 days of nothing being available. I wrote ads from 11Pm to 3Am, knocking out 200+ of them, which then led to about 50 re-write requests because my quality had dropped pretty significantly after 1:00.
In my worst month I earned $2500 (August) and in my best, $5500 (July). My worst week was $187 (just a few weeks ago) and my best was $2500 in July.
That’s amazing! Thanks for sharing your unique experience!
You wrote a thoughtful post, Eddy, and I’d like to reward it with a thoughtful response.
I’m a Boost writer and have made far more than $500 each month this year. I put in about 25 hours per week and when there is plenty of ad work I can clean up rather nicely, sometimes earning about $100 per hour. When there’s none I can spend an entire night refreshing the web page hoping something comes in.
In my opinion the most you can make is about $80,000 a year, but I won’t make near that much, partially because of my schedule, and partially because there is not that much work for me to fulfill at this time.
Challenges that arise are that some advertisers are unreasonable (rarely the case, and you can block them), you will develop RSI in your hands, and you have no control over the ad release times, nor do you receive a preference for being more productive. Also, Boost rolled out a new site that is clunky and slow. On the new site, I can earn a maximum of about $50 per hour, but, again, that’s when there are plenty of ads to write.
What I really like about Boost is that they have a great team that responds to problems quickly. And they have treated me very well. For example, an advertiser that was leaving Boost did a mass reject of 100+ of my ads, giving a copy/paste reason that didn’t even apply to the work I’d done. Whereas other sites I’ve written for have left me high and dry, Boost paid me in full. They could have paid me half, and I’d have felt they were doing the right thing, and I told them as much, but they paid me in full. Any working writer knows that this is not usual, and is a big deal.
Hey Topsy,
Thanks for sharing your experience with Boost. It sounds like you’re doing very well and got it down to a science. I appreciate you sharing some of the bad experiences as well and the great way Boost Media handled the situation. I am curious why aren’t you just writing PPC ads for yourself promoting your own business? It sounds like you’re pretty good at it and could potentially make way more outside of Boost Media.