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What to Look for When Outsourcing your Writing

by Benjamin Ehinger
22 replies
I have had many questions from different members about what they should be looking for when it comes to outsourcing content. This includes blog posts, webpage content, articles, ebooks, press releases, sales letters, and other types of content. Below are a few things you should consider before you hire a writer:

1. Do they Speak English (or the language you need your work in) Fluently?

If your writer is not proficient in the English language you will not be happy with your content. Mistakes are not hard to find in content from a source not fluent in the English language. This type of content may be cheaper, but it is much lower in quality.

2. Specialty

Some writers are perfect for one subject or another, but are just not all that good at writing about other subjects. Make sure you get a writer that specializes in the subject you need writing about.

3. Search Engine Optimization

It is nearly pointless to get writing for your website or blog done if it is not optimized properly for the search engines. This is a skill many writers don't have, but the good ones do have. You want to make sure the writer you hire is able to use your keyword phrases properly throughout your content.

4. Type of Content

You may not want to hire an article writer to handle your press releases, ebooks, sales letter, or other types of writing. These are all a bit different and just because a writer can provide you with good articles does not mean they can write other types of content.

5. Avoid Writers that Outsource your work

It makes no sense to use a writer with a "team". This is not a good idea and usually when a writer advertises having a "team" it means they are going to send your work to someone else and make a profit off of you. It is better to choose a writers you know will be actually writing your content.

If you use these five tips you will be able to choose a better writer for your content. This can help you grow your blog or website much faster. Remember, Google now rewards high quality content over low quality and SEO is a vital part of writing.

Hope this helps answer some of the outsourcing questions out there!

Benjamin Ehinger
#article marketing #hire a writer #outsorcing #outsource #writing
  • Profile picture of the author silverfern
    Some great points. Particularly the speaking English fluently -this is so important and will affect the quality of what you get!

    It is also important to know what you want before you go out & ask for it.

    There is no point going to a copywriter and telling them you want some copy written -that is like walking into the grocery store and telling them you want food.

    - What kind of copy do you need (article, website content, seo etc..)?
    - What is the subject matter?
    - How long does it need to be?
    - Who is it for?
    etc...

    If you can go to an outsourcer with a clear brief and they know the "Who, What, Why, Where, When, How's" you will get a much better result
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    • Profile picture of the author Benjamin Ehinger
      Originally Posted by silverfern View Post

      Some great points. Particularly the speaking English fluently -this is so important and will affect the quality of what you get!

      It is also important to know what you want before you go out & ask for it.

      There is no point going to a copywriter and telling them you want some copy written -that is like walking into the grocery store and telling them you want food.

      - What kind of copy do you need (article, website content, seo etc..)?
      - What is the subject matter?
      - How long does it need to be?
      - Who is it for?
      etc...

      If you can go to an outsourcer with a clear brief and they know the "Who, What, Why, Where, When, How's" you will get a much better result

      GREAT add to the tips above. You are absolutely right and the more information a writer can get from a client the better they can match the content to what the client is looking for.

      Benjamin Ehinger
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  • Profile picture of the author Benjamin Ehinger
    Originally Posted by Ken_Caudill View Post

    Yeah, it really does help if your writer knows English.

    I love this place.
    It is surprising how many think they do, but really don't. At least once a week I get someone that tried to outsource writing to another writer that claimed to have a strong understanding of English, but didn't.

    Benjamin Ehinger
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    • Profile picture of the author Benjamin Ehinger
      Originally Posted by Ken_Caudill View Post

      How would you know?
      Uhhhh, cause I am a writer and one of the things I have done many times is clean up the crap that other writers produce. The major thing I see is broken English that doesn't even make sense.

      Benjamin Ehinger
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  • Profile picture of the author brik2500
    Definitely makes a bunch of sense Benjamin...I got tired of outsourcing my writing when I would get trash....then I decided to learn for myself to

    get something new under my belt.....and it has made all of the difference.

    I now, thoroughly understand all the nature of my projects...and can execute with surgical precision.
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  • Profile picture of the author AmandaT
    I highly suggest going back and forth in communication with your writer to make sure they are the right fit. Give them an idea of what you are looking for and ask if they will accept the job and then give them more details. Ask if they have any questions. The more clear you are on what you want, the more likely you will get exactly what you are looking for!

    Always look at samples. If you are hiring on WF, take a look at their posts as well since many people don't edit their posts like they would an article and it will be easier to figure out if their English is as good as in samples. If you aren't sure, you can always request a Skype call to discuss the project, which gives you a chance to hear how well they speak English.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Filsaime
    I'd like to know how much do you pay your outsourced writers. Do you any have retention issues? If so, what did you do about it?
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    • Profile picture of the author Benjamin Ehinger
      Originally Posted by Mark Filsaime View Post

      I'd like to know how much do you pay your outsourced writers. Do you any have retention issues? If so, what did you do about it?
      Being on the other end, as a writer, many of my clients have told me they have issues with retention. I hear it constantly, "finding and keeping good writers is hard". One of my major clients, whom I have worked with for the past 6 months, has fired 4 other writers in that time and tested over 10.

      Retention is certainly an issue and if you find a good writer do whatever you can to keep them.

      It can cost anywhere from about $0.69 per 100 words up to $10.00 per 100 words. It all depends on what type of writing you need, whether it is of the highest quality or not, what country the writer lives in, how well they can write in English, and the experience they have.

      A top quality writer will charge around $3 to $5 per 100 words for articles, blog posts, and content. This type of writer can use proper search engine optimization and will actually research the subject thoroughly.

      If you are after ebooks, reports, sales letters, or press releases it will cost you more and this can vary from project to project.

      The key with anything you outsource is quality and it does not come cheap.

      Benjamin Ehinger
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  • Profile picture of the author Julie McElroy
    As a freelance writer who mostly stopped writing for the Internet marketing world because of the low-paying wages, I would like to add that ultimately, you get what you pay for. Google is catching on to spun content, poor quality writing, and yes, non-native English writing. There is a difference in speaking English and understanding the language. This can even vary across English speaking countries. Australian and British English are different than American English.

    You really have to ask yourself, what are the goals of your website. If you are writing for search engines, you will probably never gain any real traction. You have to write for people - interesting, humorous, and helpful. Look at any high visibility site, like Copyblogger, ProBlogger, Mashable, etc. I am pretty sure they did not hire someone to write for $20 an article. It all depends on your goals and why you are outsourcing.
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    • Profile picture of the author Benjamin Ehinger
      Originally Posted by AmandaT View Post

      I highly suggest going back and forth in communication with your writer to make sure they are the right fit. Give them an idea of what you are looking for and ask if they will accept the job and then give them more details. Ask if they have any questions. The more clear you are on what you want, the more likely you will get exactly what you are looking for!

      Always look at samples. If you are hiring on WF, take a look at their posts as well since many people don't edit their posts like they would an article and it will be easier to figure out if their English is as good as in samples. If you aren't sure, you can always request a Skype call to discuss the project, which gives you a chance to hear how well they speak English.
      Communication is one of the most important parts of any type of outsourcing. Skype calls or even a regular phone call are a great way to make sure you are getting what you pay for. I think I may even add both my skype and my phone number to my ad now that you mention it.

      Originally Posted by Julie McElroy View Post

      As a freelance writer who mostly stopped writing for the Internet marketing world because of the low-paying wages, I would like to add that ultimately, you get what you pay for. Google is catching on to spun content, poor quality writing, and yes, non-native English writing. There is a difference in speaking English and understanding the language. This can even vary across English speaking countries. Australian and British English are different than American English.

      You really have to ask yourself, what are the goals of your website. If you are writing for search engines, you will probably never gain any real traction. You have to write for people - interesting, humorous, and helpful. Look at any high visibility site, like Copyblogger, ProBlogger, Mashable, etc. I am pretty sure they did not hire someone to write for $20 an article. It all depends on your goals and why you are outsourcing.
      You are absolutely correct about the different types of English. I find it important to write for the human reader, but also include enough SEO to make the post/page rank well on the search engines at the same time.

      Benjamin Ehinger
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  • Profile picture of the author AmandaT
    Benjamin explained the average prices of writing in the IM world very well.

    I have hired writers for several of my websites since I get busy writing for clients and also like to have a variety of writing styles on my authority sites.

    I have gotten some great articles for $7.50-$10 from college students or people new to writing. These writers usually don't stick around for long. Many of them also don't know much about writing for SEO as well as content, which is fine for me, but not for those using their articles for SEO power.

    I have also paid for several articles that were $30+ that were amazingly good, though I normally only pay that much for amazon review type articles.

    What I would suggest when hiring a writer is to think about what good content is worth to you and exactly what level of content you need, then always give your writer a small test project, 5 or less articles, to test their quality and turnaround time before hiring them anymore. When you give this test, do not mention the possibility of later work because they are more likely to put more effort into that set than they normally do. This can leave you very disappointed in the future.

    When you find a great writer, work hard to keep them! Hiring new writers takes time that could be better spent doing other things. I would rather pay $15-20 per article from a reliable writer than $10 per article and have to hire a new writer every time.
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    • Profile picture of the author Benjamin Ehinger
      Originally Posted by AmandaT View Post

      Benjamin explained the average prices of writing in the IM world very well.

      I have hired writers for several of my websites since I get busy writing for clients and also like to have a variety of writing styles on my authority sites.

      I have gotten some great articles for $7.50-$10 from college students or people new to writing. These writers usually don't stick around for long. Many of them also don't know much about writing for SEO as well as content, which is fine for me, but not for those using their articles for SEO power.

      I have also paid for several articles that were $30+ that were amazingly good, though I normally only pay that much for amazon review type articles.

      What I would suggest when hiring a writer is to think about what good content is worth to you and exactly what level of content you need, then always give your writer a small test project, 5 or less articles, to test their quality and turnaround time before hiring them anymore. When you give this test, do not mention the possibility of later work because they are more likely to put more effort into that set than they normally do. This can leave you very disappointed in the future.

      When you find a great writer, work hard to keep them! Hiring new writers takes time that could be better spent doing other things. I would rather pay $15-20 per article from a reliable writer than $10 per article and have to hire a new writer every time.
      It is very true and I do the same thing. Since I write full time to pay the bills I don't have as much time to write for my own sites. Plus having more than one style on a blog can be helpful like Amanda said. I outsource a good amount of writing for my own blogs and she is right about replacing writers. It takes time to find a good one and it also costs money to go through not so good ones.

      As stated before......you get what you pay for with anything you outsource.

      Benjamin Ehinger
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  • Profile picture of the author YasirYar
    The most important point is the fifth one; avoiding writers that outsource your work.

    The freelance market is flooded with workers from low-wage countries and it seems like everybody in the world is trying to be a writer, and it can be really difficult to select a good worker.

    It all boils down to the fact that you get what you pay for... If you are paying $1/500 then you should not expect "Sidney Sheldon" quality. If you want good quality work then you should be willing to pay at least $1-$4/100 words.
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  • Profile picture of the author sal64
    When they don't show their location or state that they are "native" English writers, I run as fast as I can.
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    • Profile picture of the author Marine0302
      I tried more than a few non-U.S. based writers and the best of them still were not able to produce articles that were 100% ready to be posted to my sites or blogs. Some were incredibly inept with the English language, and still others were adequate in a "conversational" aspect, but not in writing, which translates into content that I could not post as delivered.

      I have had great success with this vendor:

      Need An Article Writing Service

      I built a membership website and had 250 articles written by writers found on this site. I had to try out about a dozen or so writers in order to identify the really good from the adequate/poor. Once I found a group of 5 writers (all female, by the way), I was able to get many articles written quickly.

      The costs are listed on the site and while articles cost more than writing done by foreign writers, but the difference is that once I settled in with a set team of writers, I did not have to do any editing to the finished product, which was a huge time saver for me.

      I am not associated with this vendor in any way other than being a satisfied customer. The link pasted above is NOT an affiliate link.

      Someone pointed me toward need-an-artice about 18 months ago and I wish I'd known about them way before that. I figured that perhaps some here might also be in need of their services.

      Good luck to all!
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      • Profile picture of the author Don Luis
        Banned
        I don't understand why some people shy away from "non-native English" writers when there are "non-native English" writers who can write better than their native English counterparts.
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        • Profile picture of the author Benjamin Ehinger
          Originally Posted by YasirYar View Post

          The most important point is the fifth one; avoiding writers that outsource your work.

          The freelance market is flooded with workers from low-wage countries and it seems like everybody in the world is trying to be a writer, and it can be really difficult to select a good worker.

          It all boils down to the fact that you get what you pay for... If you are paying $1/500 then you should not expect "Sidney Sheldon" quality. If you want good quality work then you should be willing to pay at least $1-$4/100 words.
          I completely agree and you should expect to pay closer to the $3 or $4 per 100 word range if you really want good writing.

          Originally Posted by sal64 View Post

          When they don't show their location or state that they are "native" English writers, I run as fast as I can.
          Yep. I recently added my phone number and skype to my website and warrior for hire ad. I think this may help when it comes to questions about whether I am from the US or not. Plus a true business will accept more than just email for communication.

          Originally Posted by Racquel_McFarlane07 View Post

          There are lots of good writers available but not everyone is willing to pay for good content. I contacted a website owner who was looking for writers and he was only interested in paying a few dollars for an article.

          A well researched, SEO optimized article that is 100% original, should command a decent price. Its not slave labor after all.

          Anywhoo, if anyone is in need of an excellent writer, you can reach me at racquelmcfarlane(at)gmail.com
          You are absolutely right. If you think about it, a good post with proper SEO will make the webmaster quite a bit more over time than what they will pay for the article. Even a 500 word article that costs $20, if done properly, will produce more than that over the time it is on the web.

          Originally Posted by Don Luis View Post

          I don't understand why some people shy away from "non-native English" writers when there are "non-native English" writers who can write better than their native English counterparts.
          This point I disagree with. Sure there are some "non-native English" writers that are good at putting together 500 to 1,000 words, but the quality still is not the same as someone speaks English as their first language. The real point here is good "non-native English" writers are few and far between.

          Benjamin Ehinger
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