When the need to outsource article writing arises...

I have dabbled in outsourcing, but, even with clear and strict guidance, I've been let down so many times (regardless of the price paid). Fortunately, I do like writing, and, with some of my stringent standards, I've come to just write all my content myself...

I guess I'm doing it wrong.

While your warning may hold water with some of the writing services, all freelance writers cannot be shoved into the same mold. Many of us work very hard to ensure quality articles on each and every order. Sound advice nonetheless.

Many writers hire "teams" so that they can do more work. This is incredibly difficult to do, though - especially if you are simply delivering articles to the purchaser. I once hired a writer who gave me great work, twice - but the third batch was horrible. I told her outright that I knew she had farmed the work out to someone else. She admitted that she had not only given the work out, but had not checked the articles before delivering them to me.

I do all of my work, on my own, and stand by it 100% - whether it's unique articles or the PLR I sell. It'll take me longer to grow my business, but I won't have anyone but myself to blame for my reputation.

I don't advertise on the for hire section of this forum, but I do run a writing service where I do writing myself, and outsource some of the writing to US based writers. I also pre-screen my outsourced writers for quality before giving them assignments.

The problem isn't that these services outsource to others, it's that they outsource to people who have not been pre-screened for their ability to write quality English language copy.

The reason why you pay cheaper rates for these services, is because they outsource the writing to people in countries where they can pay them pennies on the dollar for the task. Basically, you get what you pay for.

Expect that most times, you'll have to rewrite the stuff that a lot of cheap services give you. So, that means you're paying for PLR.

American freelance writers expect to be paid much more. I mainly do writing jobs for SEO companies now, because they are willing to pay higher rates for quality writing done by US based writers.

I agree that samples can be the real thing or a front to gain your trust. The only way to know that a writing service is good is to buy an article and see if it meets your standards.

I completely agree here and that's way I hardly ever outsource work unless I absolutely have to do so.

I used to work full-time online as a freelance programmer and writer. I still outsource some of my own time to work for others, but I try to rely more on my own income from websites for the last number of years instead of just doing work for others all day long.

What I found out as a freelancer has made me not outsource work of my own now.

I do really good quality work. I always treated the projects of others as if they were my own. The problem that I ran into wasn't that people disliked my work, but it was hard to sell my time for what it was worth.

I hope nobody takes this the wrong way, but it's actually your(plural-for everyone) fault that you get bad quality work. I'll explain why...

Somewhere along the line, people outsourcing work got greedy (or maybe it's always been this way). Since they realized people would compete to get their work, they would demand more and more work for less and less money. As some point, the freelance workers had to start dishing out crappy quality work or else they would end up working for 50 cents an hour. The truly good quality freelancers would then find themselves unable to get work unless they were willing to settle for a fraction of what their time was worth. This resulted in the good workers being left with two choices: 1-Stand your ground and take much less work to still receive a decent hourly rate or 2-Join the crowd, bid low on projects and churn out the work as quickly as possible.

So, the only ultimate suggestion that I can offer is to be willing to pay a reasonable price for good quality work. Make it clear that you are willing to properly compensate someone for their time as long as they will treat it like their own work and produce a good quality product for you.

Unfortunately, the way things currently work, it is the guys that pump out crap quality work that end up being the profitable ones while the truly high quality people are put out of business because everyone is out to save a buck.

Basically if you are hiring someone to produce low quality crap articles you are wasting your money because you can easily get hundreds of spun articles much more cheaply than hiring someone in India to do it.

So if you are hiring someone, you should really only get them if it's high quality content for a high quality web site

What a great post Sandy. I think it's just a matter of time before everyone stops using these cheap services.

It is just common sense, if you pay $3 for an article there is no way that it is going to be a quality, hand written original. Wake up people !

A solo mum friend of my wife's and my neighbours daughter both write articles for me for $10ea (new zealand dollars) and they are fantastic and 100% original as well.

If there is ever a problem I simply call them and have it corrected, it's just too easy !

Unfortunately, it's actually quite common. I've had clients tell me that they were specifically looking for higher-priced, American services... who then promptly outsourced the work to "writers" who didn't even speak proper English.

While it's certainly not fair to group all writers into the same category (that would be like saying all IMers are the same shady, hyped up, sleezeball that you see pitching junk products!), but you certainly have to do your homework.

A simple conversation can answer your questions and alleviate your concerns. When I talk to clients, I tell them exactly what they can expect. I tell them exactly who will be doing their writing, and exactly what we do to maintain our high standards on each project. If a writing service isn't willing to answer your questions or discuss things with you in advance, it's not a service you should be dealing with.

Great post Sandy!

There are some terrific writers out there but unfortunately there are also some terrible ones. I have outsourced a few times and been very disappointed in the quality of the work that I haven't done it again.

One particular writer was a writer that hires a team of writers, or re-outsources the work and when I complained that the quality was terrible he said that it was one of his new writers and wouldn't use them again. He then said he would rewrite them himself for me and he did, plus gave me some extra articles. The quality was better but still not that good.

This writer advertises here on a WSO and has lots of good feedback, I really find that hard to understand how he gets so much good feedback when the articles I received were terrible, I will never use the service again. Perhaps he does have good writers and I just got the bad one.

If I ever do outsource again I will only do it to a writer that writes the articles themselves and doesn't outsource them themselves.

Or as you suggested Sandy, I usually buy PLR and rewrite them - much easier!

This warning is in order and timely, especially for persons who may be new to the forum. You cannot presume that because the provider is a member here that the quality of the work will be up to par. Make sure to search the forum for providers who have consistently positive reviews.

I agree with both Sheryl Polomka and x3xsolxdierx3x that if a provider is providing poor quality then I will call them out on it.

outsourcing is for dummies in the get an article department.

my lips are sealed? see sig

As with all things in life, you get what you pay for. I do not expect great quality out of a $3.50 cent article as I would from a 10 dollar article.

I suspect there are lots of people shelling out as little as possible and expecting professional english as a first language corporate level copy... Not really feasible.

This is something that as an outsourcing business owner has also been an issue for me.

Going through and testing/screening writers does little good if they pass it on to someone else to write.

The way I have dealt with this is by making it clear that whoever is assigned the work is the person responsible for the quality.

I NEVER pay in advance for article writing, only ebooks and other more timeconsuming stuff.

When testing new writers I give them an article to write that will not be paid for, however I make clear that the article is only used to assess their quality of work and that all rights to it remain theirs so they can sell it, post it on Suite101, etc.

That way they don't get scammed, but I also don't have to pay for work if its garbage.

The single best way to get a writer is to use someone that either you know personally, or that a colleague has used and highly recommends.

Once you find them - marry them.

Okay... maybe not 'marry' but make darn sure you look after them well so they stay with you.

I think nowadays there is little point creating crap quality articles written by non native speakers. You can easily get software to spin thousands of articles for you much cheaper than anyone can write it manually. So if you get a writer, it should be high quality writing.

I have seen a lot of "writers" if we can dare call them that on FIVerr selling their wares. The quality is to put it nice - very poor. OK so many seem to have a problem with basic English grammar. However, they are working at a rate far below the minimum wage. Basically, you get that for which you pay.