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Question for those that outsource writing

by katied772
13 replies
I started as a writer so have done most of my articles for my sites myself. I find it hard to let go but am finding it difficult to keep up with the content creation in addition to all other things necessary to build and maintain a good site. I've hired out a couple articles and have gotten everything from dreadful to quite good. The problem is that they are never in the exact format I use for my sites. I like content with good sub-headings and opening and summary paragraphs. I also do a lot of bullet points because I feel this breaks up the paragraphs as well as gives the reader some quick attention grabbers if they are scanners. When out-sourcing, is it standard to ask the writer to do the article in this way or should I just take the content and arrange it to my standard when building the page?
Thanks.
#outsource #question #writing
  • Profile picture of the author Rose Anderson
    If you explain exactly what you need, a good writer should be able to provide the article in the correct format. It's actually much easier when clients are clear in their expectations.
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  • Profile picture of the author JasonWestwick
    You could receive the content and structure it in the way you want it, but that is just additional work you are creating with yourself.

    Find a writer that you know produces good quality content and simply instruct them on how you would like the content to be structured, so long as they receive a good amount of work from you then they should have no problem in meeting your requests.
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  • Profile picture of the author Christian Little
    Originally Posted by katied772 View Post

    I like content with good sub-headings and opening and summary paragraphs. I also do a lot of bullet points because I feel this breaks up the paragraphs as well as gives the reader some quick attention grabbers if they are scanners. When out-sourcing, is it standard to ask the writer to do the article in this way or should I just take the content and arrange it to my standard when building the page?
    Are you actually telling that to your content writer? If not then that's where your problem is. Unless your writer is telepathic they can only go on what you've told them.
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    • Profile picture of the author katied772
      Originally Posted by Christian Little View Post

      Are you actually telling that to your content writer? If not then that's where your problem is. Unless your writer is telepathic they can only go on what you've told them.
      Most of it, no. I'm not complaining that they don't do it, just not sure if it is standard practice to request this.
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Originally Posted by katied772 View Post

        I'm not complaining that they don't do it, just not sure if it is standard practice to request this.
        Ignore "standard practice".

        You're a paying customer in a custom-made market. You get to specify what you want to buy. If the writer doesn't wish to provide that service, there are plenty of others who will.
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      • Profile picture of the author netlexis
        Originally Posted by katied772 View Post

        Most of it, no. I'm not complaining that they don't do it, just not sure if it is standard practice to request this.
        You're paying for the writing, so you should get what you want. Just make sure your writers have all the info they need to write to your standard. Also, give them something to look at. If not from your site, then another site that has a similar style.
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  • Profile picture of the author Christian Little
    Well most article writers will give you 5-6 paragraphs of solid text unless you give them some kind of guideline to work with. And even then, you usually need to be pretty specific.

    I.e.:

    -The article should be 500 words with 5 paragraphs
    -After the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th article there should be a bullet list of 3-5 points
    -After the 3rd paragpah there should be a sub heading that uses the keyword of the article

    Without any kind of guidance you'll basically just get a wall of text from your writers because everybody has different expectations.
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    • Profile picture of the author katied772
      Originally Posted by Christian Little View Post

      Well most article writers will give you 5-6 paragraphs of solid text unless you give them some kind of guideline to work with. And even then, you usually need to be pretty specific.

      I.e.:

      -The article should be 500 words with 5 paragraphs
      -After the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th article there should be a bullet list of 3-5 points
      -After the 3rd paragpah there should be a sub heading that uses the keyword of the article

      Without any kind of guidance you'll basically just get a wall of text from your writers because everybody has different expectations.
      Should I expect an upcharge for this?
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      • Profile picture of the author Christian Little
        Originally Posted by katied772 View Post

        Should I expect an upcharge for this?
        No, but remember that you are paying by the word. So if your subheading and bullet points add words to the final count it will cost more. So if you are really set on a bullet list in addition to the 500 words, then yes it will cost you a few pennies more.

        But if you plan to include the bullet list in the 500 word count, then not it shouldn't.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris The Traffic Blogger
    I found another blog who was doing ok and gave him a trial run for a week. He did great and my audience loved him. He's been writing for my gaming site for months now and I pay him with adsense earnings on the site.

    Works great to incentivise him to do better.
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  • Profile picture of the author BeeJay
    Definitely ask for this if its what you want.

    I am sure my experience with outsourcing is just like everyone elses, I've seen good and bad, but with the good ones they have never had any problem formatting the articles in the way that I've asked. Most have been really accomodating.

    I'll even go so far as to ask them to start an anecdote, statistic, or question, if I think it will draw the reader into that particular topic, and tell them exactly what I want the article to touch on. I know, it's almost writing it myself huh...except that it takes me a minute to do the summary and would probably take me ten or fifteen times that long to actually bang it out.

    I think (but don't presume to speak on behalf of) some writers are happy enough to be given the direction.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Thompson
    Originally Posted by katied772 View Post

    I started as a writer so have done most of my articles for my sites myself. I find it hard to let go but am finding it difficult to keep up with the content creation in addition to all other things necessary to build and maintain a good site. I've hired out a couple articles and have gotten everything from dreadful to quite good. The problem is that they are never in the exact format I use for my sites. I like content with good sub-headings and opening and summary paragraphs. I also do a lot of bullet points because I feel this breaks up the paragraphs as well as gives the reader some quick attention grabbers if they are scanners. When out-sourcing, is it standard to ask the writer to do the article in this way or should I just take the content and arrange it to my standard when building the page?
    Thanks.
    If you can afford to hire a full time writer from somewhere such as the Philippines, you can actually get GOOD writers for $400-500 per month full time.

    Then you can train them to write according to your style, to do research on topics you want researched, and to upload the articles directly to your website for your final editing (if you want to do that).

    This is exactly what I'm doing right now for my main website. I have a writer going through a list of 80 keywords and she is doing the research and uploading to WP for me in draft. I then go in and put my final spin on each article to make it my own.

    It's a good strategy.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kecia
    Most writers charge by word counts, so as long as what you are requesting isn't too difficult or time consuming, then most will not try to charge you more for the formatting that you want. Be as specific as possible in your instructions to your writer. You will find that more often than not they will alter their writing styles in order to keep clients happy.
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