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Welcome to the Compose.ly
Everything you need to know to create great content with Compose.ly.
What's All This?
What's All This?
We're so glad to have you as part of our freelance community. On this page, we've compiled info about our most frequently asked questions and things even we know can be a little tricky for writers new to our platform. You'll find the table of contents below, with sections we've laid out to explain each major aspect of working on our platform — from keeping your account information updated to drafting projects to handling revisions.
Once you've had a chance to read through, you'll need to take the short quiz to confirm your orientation completion. After we get your answers, we'll start matching you up with clients, and you should start seeing projects to choose from within the next few days.
In the meanwhile, browse our other resources here in the Learning Center to get ready to hit the ground running!
Section 1: Updating and Maintaining Your Account
Section 1: Updating and Maintaining Your Account
Get matched. Get paid. Get support.
Learn how to update your profile with your expertise, interests, and availability, so we can match you with the right projects.
Get Matched: Build your profile
Get Matched: Build your profile
Click My Account and Personal Data to update your information.
Add a short, third-person bio to help us know what projects to send you. We use the information on your profile page in two main ways. Our Community Manager references your experience, expertise, and preferences when adding you to client teams, and some of our clients choose to run the content you create with your byline. (Most only publish writer names — we know, editors are often co-creators! — but a few are interested in crediting editors, as well.) We’ve created a resource about Crafting a Strong Bio to help you understand how to create a great profile that will highlight your expertise, encourage readers and clients to trust your content, and help you grow your online presence and credibility as a writer, editor, or subject-matter expert in your niche. Here's an example:
Franny Finance is a financial expert specializing in debt management and retirement planning. She holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Purdue University and earned her CFP from the American College of Financial Services, and she works as a financial advisor at Northwestern Mutual. Her published articles appear in Forbes, Yahoo! Money, and Money.com. In addition to finance, Franny has significant experience writing on legal and marketing-related topics.
Check out this resource on Choosing Your Profile Photo for more tips!
We also encourage you to update the Additional Info section of your profile. This is the place to share the extra stuff that didn't make the cut for your official bio but might still be helpful in getting you matched with projects in your area of interest. Feel free to include any of your unique interests such as bird watching, pickleball, or even cage diving with sharks! You never know when we'll get a client wanting to cover those exact topics.
Update your bandwidth (approximately how many words you plan to write each week) so we know how much work to send you. We won't hold you to it, but it helps us plan. Please update this regularly as your availability changes.
You can also set your email notification preferences. Do you prefer to receive immediate email notifications about available projects you can claim, or would you rather get a daily roundup? Choose what fits your working style best.
Get Paid: Link your PayPal account
Get Paid: Link your PayPal account
Connect your PayPal account under My Account and Billing Info. In order to link your PayPal and Compose.ly accounts, you'll need to make sure that the name and email provided are the same on both accounts. This name does not need to match your Compose.ly profile — just the PayPal account where you'd like your payments to go.
Your balance is paid bi-monthly, on the 9th and the 24th of the month. All projects marked complete by the client from the 1st of the month through the 15th will be paid out on the 24th and all projects marked complete on the 16th through the end of the month will be paid out on the 9th of the following month.
For example, on February 9th, you'll receive payment for all projects completed from January 15th to January 31st. Then you'll be paid on February 24th for all projects completed from February 1st to February 15th.
You can review the status of your projects under the My Projects tab — filter by Completed. Under your My Account tab, you can review your payment records in Payment History and Pending Payments.
Payment is processed after the client marks the project as completed. If the client takes no action, projects auto-complete in 7 days.
Get Support: Project communication
Get Support: Project communication
Ideally, the project guidelines will include everything you'll need to write a great piece of content. If you have questions, we're here to help.
For Managed Service Projects, the Compose.ly team manages all communication with the client. You can direct your questions straight to us through the Compose.ly Bot chat feature in the lower-left corner of your project dashboard. A member of our community support team will work on getting you the answers you need to complete the project. Support messages are generally handled between 9am and 5pm EST. Please do your best to get your questions in by the end of the support day, to avoid missing deadlines. The majority of projects will be Managed Service.
For Self-Service Projects, you can contact the client directly using the message box within the project. You can use this to ask for a word count adjustment, additional time, or clarification on project guidelines. Please keep in mind that you are chatting directly with a client in this situation, so remember to be extra professional and kind! If you have any concerns while working directly with a client, you're welcome to reach out to our team through the Compose.ly Bot, but know that we won't have any extra insights into the project like we will with Managed Service projects.
Please keep in mind that our support team will get back to you as soon as we're able, so no need to worry that we've ghosted you if you don't hear back right away! If you haven't received an answer to your question and the deadline is looming, please don't submit the project. Just hold onto it, even if that means the project going overdue, and wait to hear from our team. We'll remove any late penalties on your account once we're back in office and can get your question answered.
See it in action.
See it in action.
Here's a quick video that shows how to update your profile.
Section 2: Claiming and Crafting Projects
Section 2: Claiming and Crafting Projects
Get claiming. Get curious. Get crafting.
Learn how to claim projects, navigate project guidelines, and start writing.
Get Claiming: Only write the projects you want to
Get Claiming: Only write the projects you want to
Unlike during the trial phase, you are not required (or expected!) to claim every project in your Find Projects tab, only the ones you’d like to take on and will be able to complete.
You'll start with a limit of 5,000 words you can claim at a time. After you've successfully completed several projects with good ratings (more on that below!), we'll raise the limit so you can claim more freely.
You’ll find available projects under the Find Projects tab. If you've set your account to send you email notifications about new projects, you can also access this tab through the link provided in the email.
If you're not seeing enough available projects on your account, reach out to the Community Manager through the Compose.ly Bot to request being added to more writing teams. Projects sometimes get claimed pretty quickly so be patient and keep an eye out for those available project emails!
If you see a project you’re interested in, click the Available button to get more information. Double-check the word count, payment, and deadline, and read the description thoroughly to make sure the project is a good fit for you, your writing interests, and your schedule.
If it looks good, click the Claim This Project button, and then click Okay to confirm. The project is all yours!
Get Curious: Navigate project guidelines/brand profiles
Get Curious: Navigate project guidelines/brand profiles
You'll find the projects you claimed under the My Projects tab. Click one to open your project and start drafting.
First things first: Review the guidelines.
The number one concern from clients who request revisions is that the writer didn't follow the guidelines closely enough. The second most common concern is that the writer has misunderstood the client's business service/product or brand voice.
Ask yourself: Who is this client?
Watch for links or attachments in the project guidelines that offer more insight into the client's preferences. Some clients will also have their own style/branding guide — and in many cases, Compose.ly will have an in-house guide that's tailored specifically to that client. These guides may include tips on a client's preferred style, tone, sourcing, formatting, CTAs, and more. Reading all available materials can help you anticipate the kind of feedback a client might give, thus helping you avoid revisions (or at least making them much easier).
Ask questions: Are there any important details missing?
Perform a preliminary review of all guidelines once you've claimed the project. This will help you determine any important questions to ask right away. If you're left wondering anything, reach out to our support team through the Compose.ly Bot.
The sooner you ask questions, the sooner we can get you answers. Avoid saving questions for the last minute. Our team isn't online in the evenings, so we won't be available to answer last-minute questions before a deadline.
If you're writing a Self Service project, you'll be able to ask your question directly to the client through the message box. Take time to craft a message to your client. Ask questions that help clarify what the client wants (and doesn't want!) to include in the piece. A quick note can save you the time and trouble of creating a first draft the client can't use.
Get it together: Organize your research and ideas.
As you read through the guidelines, take note of any preferred headings the client's provided, and collect the keywords they want included. Then, consider your own ideas for the project, the research you've found relating to your client and their competitors, and related high-ranking content related to the topic.
Quick tip: Search "People Also Ask" questions
Try Googling the main keyword and see what "People Also Ask" questions Google suggests. You won't always want to answer these (Google isn't perfect!), but it can give you some good, quick insights into what questions people have related to your topic. Answering as many as you can gives the reader more valuable info and makes for a much more satisfying reading experience.
Get Crafting: Write the project
Get Crafting: Write the project
Once you've reviewed the guidelines, finished your preliminary research, and organized your ideas, it's time to start writing!
Ask yourself: What does the reader want?
As a content writer, your job is to find the delicate balance between what the client wants to communicate and what their target audience is looking to learn. Most of our content is SEO-focused, which means we're trying to get clients' content to show up first on Google and other search engines. Your mission: To write the article people are hoping to read without replicating other articles that are already out there. Aim to make yours significantly better than the competition by asking yourself:
How will your piece stand out from all the others?
Are your ideas innovative, fresh, and interesting?
How does your approach differ from what's already out there?
Double-check your work.
After drafting, take a moment to re-review the project guidelines to confirm what you've produced aligns with what you think the client was asking for and what you think the reader will be looking for. It's all too easy to craft a great piece of content that doesn't match the guidelines, so check yourself as you go, and review to decrease the possibility of having to revise substantially.
What about images?
Many clients will ask for images to be included in the project. All images should be sourced from the Compose.ly Image Library on the platform unless explicitly requested otherwise by the client. Check out the Image Sourcing Standard Process in the Documentation section of this site for more details.
A note on word count:
Aim to craft a piece that closely matches the client's requested word count. We have a small buffer: you may submit projects up to 10% over word count. The pay rate is based on the requested word count, so it won't increase if you come in a little over. If you're working on a project with a word count that doesn't feel realistic, send us a message as soon as possible. Keep in mind that some clients won't approve word count adjustments, so do your best to work within the requested parameters.
Got questions?
You can always reach out to our support team through the Compose.ly Bot in the bottom left corner of your screen. We're generally available from 9am to 5pm EST, so try to get your questions in before we're off for the day! If you don't hear back, just hang onto the project until we're back in office and can answer your question.
While you'll have a message box to correspond with the editor on the project, please note that editors aren't assigned until after you've turned in a draft, so they won't be active in the chat until after you've submitted. You can leave a note there for your editor to see once they claim the project if you need to give them a heads up about anything project-related. Most editors are freelancers who will have only the same info about each project that writers do.
Pro Tip: You don’t have to draft your projects on the platform — although we recommend it! If you’d prefer to use Google Docs or Word instead, that's OK, but you'll still need to paste your draft into the platform in order to submit, and you'll want to pay careful attention to formatting.
See it in action.
See it in action.
Here’s a quick video that explains how to claim projects.
Section 3: Submitting and Deadlines
Section 3: Submitting and Deadlines
Get it in on deadline. Get extensions. Don't get a strike.
Read on to learn more about submitting your final draft and what to do if you have questions or are worried you may be running behind on a deadline.
Get It In on Deadline: Submitting projects
Get It In on Deadline: Submitting projects
Read over your work when you're done. Reading aloud can help you catch phrases that sound unnatural or repetitive, but even reading in your head can help you catch awkward instances or unintended sentence fragments and typos.
Submit publish-ready content.
Content should be ready to publish when you submit it. Self service projects will go straight to the client, and the client wants something that's ready to go. Managed service projects will continue forward to an editor, but editors shouldn't have to do too much heavy lifting. Always take a few moments to proofread your work.
Quick tip: Use Grammarly
No one's perfect, and there's no shame in using tools that help you get closer to perfection. We suggest installing Grammarly — a free tool — to help avoid simple writing mistakes. (Sure, typos happen to everyone, but they don't look good on anyone.) Remember, though, that the use of AI in any form is against our policies and could mean us closing your account permanently. Be careful of this with tools like Grammarly or Hemmingway, which now offer AI assistants.
When you submit your draft, be sure there's no remaining:
Notes for the [client / editor]
Lorem Ipsum text
Unresolved comments
If you need to, use the message box to communicate with your editor. Remember that the majority of your editors are freelancers like yourself, though, so they receive the exact same project guidelines and won’t have any extra info. If you need additional direction outside of the guidelines, use the Composely Bot to message our support team.
Check the final content title.
Make sure the final content title is in the purple bar, the Suggested Title field. If you like the one the client supplied or they make clear they'd like to use it, use that. If you have a better idea (or if the provided title has any errors in it), tweak what's in the title field. Double-check that you haven't also included the title in the body of the project as an H1. The client will get a project with a double title at the top, and that just looks weird.
When you feel confident your draft is ready to make your reader's day, click Submit. For Managed Service projects, an editor will work through and finalize the piece for the client. If they need, the editor can request a revision from you. You'll receive an email notification, and you'll have 24 hours to address their notes.
Get Extensions: Requesting more time
Get Extensions: Requesting more time
We know life can be hectic, and sometimes you may need a little more time on a project. Writers can earn extension request credits by submitting projects on time. You must submit 15,000 words on time in order to earn one extension request credit. These requests, if granted, will allow you one extra business day to work on a project.
To request an extension, select a project, and then click the Need more time? feature at the top right of the project page underneath the due date. From there you will see how many extension requests you have remaining and will be asked to explain your reason for the request.
Depending on client deadlines, we may not always be able to grant an extension request. If we can't extend your deadline, we'll let you know, and you can decide if you're able to meet the original deadline or would like to have the project reassigned.
You can see the client's deadline next to yours on the project page. It's good to take this into consideration when asking for an extension. Remember that the editor will still need a full day to work on the project before submitting to the client, and they may ask for a revision from you, so the more buffer time you can allow, the better.
All extension requests must be submitted before 5 pm EST on the day the project is due. You will not be able to request an extension after that time.
If you'd like to request project reassignment or a multiple-day extension, please reach out to our team through the Compose.ly bot. Keep in mind that requesting reassignment on the day the project is due with result in a strike on your account. More on that in the next section...
Don't Get a Strike: Late project penalties
Don't Get a Strike: Late project penalties
So you've missed a deadline — what now? Compose.ly has a strike system in place for overdue projects. Miss a deadline, get a strike. The strike timeline is as follows:
Strike 1 = warning, no suspension
Strike 2 = warning, no suspension
Strike 3 = warning, no suspension
Strike 4 = 7-day suspension from claiming new projects
Strike 5 = 14-day suspension from claiming new projects
Strike 6 = 30-day suspension from claiming new projects
Strike 7 = permanent restriction from Compose.ly
If you feel you've wrongfully received a strike, please reach out to our team through the Compose.ly Bot, and we'll review your concern during the next business day. This may happen if you are waiting on a client's answer to a question, for example.
Strikes also expire after a year, so as long as you receive three or fewer strikes per year, you'll never receive a suspension.
When you miss a deadline, the project will be re-assigned — but not immediately. Projects are reassigned 16 hours after the deadline has lapsed. This way, if you've just run out of time but still wish to complete a project, you can continue working and maintain payment for that project. You will, however, still receive a strike.
Remember: The best way to avoid a strike is to review the project as soon as you've claimed it and ask any questions you might have within one business day. This will ensure we have ample time to get you the answers you need and to adjust the deadline accordingly if necessary.
Section 4: Tackling Revisions
Section 4: Tackling Revisions
Get it back. Get it updated. Get it in (again).
Editors can request revisions, and so can clients. The process for each is a little different — and we'll admit it's not the most intuitive. Read on to learn how to tackle a revision with ease.
Get It Back: Receiving a revision request
Get It Back: Receiving a revision request
Editor-requested revisions
Most of our editors are freelancers, just like you, and many of them have been working on these clients for quite some time. Receiving a revision request from an editor should be no cause for alarm. They happen fairly regularly, and it's just the editor looking out to try to minimize the chances a client will need to request one further down the line. When you receive a revision request from an editor, it'll come right back to you in the platform with the editor's comments. Work through addressing each point the editor raised, and click Resolve on each comment to clear them out. You'll still see them in the archived comments column on the right, and so will editors, so that when you click Submit again, the editor can double-check that each was addressed.
If you have questions about any of the editor's requests, you can message them directly in the project chat.
Client-requested revisions
When you submit a draft of a project to a client, the project will remain open for seven days for the client to review. If the client hasn't requested a revision within five business days, the project will autocomplete, and its status will change from Draft Submitted to Complete. Occasionally, a completed project will reopen. Some of our clients are reviewing a lot of content each month, and they may need a little extra time. It's not common, but it may happen, especially if you're working on some of our larger clients' projects.
There are two ways for clients to request revisions. Some request directly through the platform, similar to editors, while others send a Google Doc with revisions.
If the client is using a Google Doc, you'll receive a revision request in the platform with only one comment, left by one of our Client Success Managers on the client's behalf. That comment will explain how to move forward, and it'll include a link to the Google Doc where you'll be able to see revision comments from the client. That'll be your new working draft instead of what's in the platform. When you're done working in the Google Doc, you'll paste your final version back to the platform and submit it to the editor.
If the client sends their requests directly through the platform, you'll see comments linking to the text, similar to when an editor requests revisions. In this case, you can revise right there in the platform before submitting to your editor for a final review.
Get It Updated: Making your changes
Get It Updated: Making your changes
If you're working in a Google Doc, you can do your revising right in the Doc — no need to use "Suggesting Mode." Unlike revisions within the platform, do not resolve the client's comments after you've addressed them. Instead, leave them for your editor to review and double-check, so they can understand what changes the client was looking to see.
If a client’s comment asks you to delete the text they’ve commented on, you should definitely cut it, but that'll also delete the comment — meaning the editor won’t be able to understand why you’ve deleted it. Instead, do turn on "Suggesting Mode" any time you need to delete text with a comment attached to it. This will preserve the client’s instruction while also making the edit easy for your editor to review. You will need to accept your own suggestions before copying and pasting the project back to the platform, but this way the editor will still be able to review your changes in the Doc's comment history.
Quick Tip: Know your way around Google Docs
When you’re working with Google Docs in revisions, a couple of useful functionalities to know about are “comment history” and “version history.” Use comment history if you've accidentally resolved a comment you didn't mean to and need to see what the client said. Use version history to see different drafts, including what the client changed and what you added; editors find this especially helpful so they can focus their review on new or heavily revised sections.
If you're working within the platform, you will click resolve on any client comments once you've addressed them. Your editor will still be able to see them in the Archived Comments section.
Asking Questions
If you have a question on a revision, do not reply to the client's comments in the Google Doc. They won't always see them, or they might see them immediately and hop into the file again — and no one likes to write under live observation! Instead, use the Compose.ly Bot to send a question over to our support team. We'll sync up with the client and get you the answer you need.
Get It In (Again): Submitting revised drafts
Get It In (Again): Submitting revised drafts
After you've worked through the client's comments and you feel the new draft has fully addressed their concerns and is ready to be published, you're ready to pass it along to the editor. If you're working in a Google Doc, copy your new version from the Doc, head back over to the project in the platform, paste your finalized version over the existing copy, click Resolve on the Client Success Manager's comment, and then click to Submit your draft to the editor. If you're working in the platform, make sure all comments are resolved and click Submit. And that's that!
Quick Tip: Need more revision time?
We know it can be tricky to plan for a one-day turnaround without knowing when a revision could come through. If a revision comes in while you're on vacation, have several other projects due that day, or if it's just extensive and may take a bit more time to perfect, reach out through the Compose.ly Bot and let us know you'll need a little extra time. We grant these requests as often as possible, depending on client deadlines.
Section 5: Expectations, Honor Code, and Performance
Section 5: Expectations, Honor Code, and Performance
Get compliant. Get feedback. Get training.
Learn more about Compose.ly's expectations, how to meet them, and how you'll know how things are going — including where we've noticed you excel and where you can continue to grow your skills!
Get Compliant: Review our Plagiarism Policy
Get Compliant: Review our Plagiarism Policy
At Compose.ly, we pride ourselves on always delivering original work written from the ground up — not plagiarized, copied, outsourced, or replicated in any manner. Clients hire us to produce original work, readers online expect and deserve to encounter unique text within different articles on similar topics, and Google penalizes sites that publish duplicated content, hurting SEO.
Writers active on Compose.ly agree to follow our Plagiarism Policy. Please take a moment to re-review.
To ensure we detect plagiarism before it reaches the client, we run every single project through an exhaustive plagiarism checker to ensure that the content is truly 100% original. We’ve enhanced our built-in plagiarism checker to flag projects with partially or entirely copy-pasted sentences and paragraphs. If you borrow any content from another source without proper quotations and citations — even if you modify it — our platform will know.
Our in-house team manually reviews each project the platform flags for plagiarism. If we determine your work constitutes plagiarism, we will suspend your account and end your working relationship with Compose.ly.
Occasionally, clients will request that you “rewrite” or “refresh” an existing piece of their content. In these cases, submitting work that closely mirrors the original may trigger the plagiarism checker by mistake. If this happens, please reach out through the Compose.ly Bot and we can bypass the plagiarism check.
A note on outsourcing:
Submitting work that isn't yours is considered plagiarism — and that includes outsourcing. As you know, Compose.ly writers go through a vigorous trial process before being admitted to our core community. You've passed a high bar to join us, and we need to maintain it by making sure outside writers aren't submitting through your account. Be sure not to share your account login info with anyone, and never submit work you didn't produce yourself. Any writer found to be outsourcing work will be immediately banned from the platform.
The fine print.
When you created your Compose.ly account to apply to join our community, you agreed to the following terms. Please be sure you've read them carefully and are able and willing to comply. (We're not trying to be tricky — it's just solid freelancer smarts to read the fine print on every contract!)
Get Feedback: Project ratings
Get Feedback: Project ratings
After an editor reviews your submitted draft, they'll rate your work a scale from one to five stars. Unless the project earned a perfect five stars and the editor has flagged "no issues," they'll also share written feedback and a few feedback flags indicating issues they things noticed throughout the piece.
While this feedback is specific to each project and may not always reflect overall trends in your work, do take a few moments to look at the feedback to see what you can learn. Both our in-house editors and freelance editors are very well-versed in our clients' expectations, and we're all on the same team here working to minimize the amount of rework necessary and maximize the number of five-star projects clients will love.
We get it — a low project score can be tough to receive. But a lower project score can be a great opportunity for you to review the feedback from your editor and use that guidance on future projects. It's okay if you receive a lower score on a project once in a while, though we hope it's a rare occurrence. We don't penalize your account for low scores unless it's a trend. As writers and editors, we're always learning and improving our skills.
Take a moment to check out this project rating rubric (complete with example content!) our editors work from to better understand editors' rating decisions.
Get Training: Ongoing performance reviews
Get Training: Ongoing performance reviews
While receiving a lower project rating is not too concerning on its own, our team continually tracks writer performance, and consistently poor work can result in your account being closed. We try to provide as much helpful feedback and guidance as possible before it comes to that, but we reserve the right to close your account based on performance concerns at any time.
One last hoop...
Thanks for reading all that! Now, let's check that you have everything you need to succeed on the Compose.ly platform. Complete the quick form below to confirm your orientation completion and fully activate your account. We'll start sending projects your way!
Got more questions? Need to talk anything through? Schedule an orientation call with our Community Manager!
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