Buying Articles VS Writing Your Own

31 replies
What's the pro's and con's? Anyone have success when buying articles? Do other bloggers do this? Just gimme the what's what on that. I'm a writer but was curious as to how people do with bought articles. Thanks in advance fellow Warriors!


-hogeyman
#articles #buying #writing
  • Profile picture of the author Synnuh
    Depends where the content is going.

    If it's for PBNs, iWriter 4-star. (hand written stuff)

    If it's for FCS, 3-star. (manually spun content, accept it)

    If it's for GSA, 2-star. (ESL writers, still works.)

    For everything else I write it.

    You'll spend more time and end up frustrated if you try to get other writers to have your vision with the content on your site. Or you'll pay through the nose for it.
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    • Profile picture of the author nmwf
      Originally Posted by Synnuh View Post

      Depends where the content is going.

      If it's for PBNs, iWriter 4-star. (hand written stuff)

      If it's for FCS, 3-star. (manually spun content, accept it)

      If it's for GSA, 2-star. (ESL writers, still works.)

      For everything else I write it.

      You'll spend more time and end up frustrated if you try to get other writers to have your vision with the content on your site. Or you'll pay through the nose for it.
      Say, can you share whether you're successful using that strategy? Particularly in SEO/SEM?
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  • Profile picture of the author Robert999
    Originally Posted by hogeyman3 View Post

    What's the pro's and con's? Anyone have success when buying articles? Do other bloggers do this? Just gimme the what's what on that. I'm a writer but was curious as to how people do with bought articles. Thanks in advance fellow Warriors!


    -hogeyman
    I think if you know about the stuff then you should write articles yourself. Otherwise hire some professional writer to do research and write unique content.
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  • Profile picture of the author equate78
    If you want really good articles your gonna pay $20+ each from my experience.
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  • Profile picture of the author incoe
    I would look for local article writers if you want something good, you rarely find someone online who can write something that is worth posting and reading right away, as they do that for the mass to the research is shallow, unless you just want a rewrite of an article.

    it's worth it writing it your self though so that you can reply comments and engage people when they comment on your article.
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  • Profile picture of the author allegandro
    Depends for what you need the article and how good you're yourself at writing.
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  • Profile picture of the author PrettyJenny
    Buying articles involves a lot of trails and errors, I have gone through a handful of crappy writers who provided me with spun quality articles in order to filter out a few good ones to work for my long-term projects (and my agency now).

    At the end of the day, the questions you should ask yourself are:
    - How much does one hour of your own work cost? If you can get equally good quality articles for less than your hourly rate -> outsource.
    - How good am I in this niche? If the articles you buy are better quality than the ones you write yourself and can attract more readers, without you having to pay through the nose -> outsource.
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    • Profile picture of the author discrat
      For some blogs that I have, I don't need Pulitzer material so I just buy 'adequate' content to put on it.


      More of my personable blogs, I will definitely write my own. No one writes my style



      - Robert Andrew
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      • Profile picture of the author hogeyman3
        Originally Posted by discrat View Post

        For some blogs that I have, I don't need Pulitzer material so I just buy 'adequate' content to put on it.


        More of my personable blogs, I will definitely write my own. No one writes my style



        - Robert Andrew
        So basically if its a personal blog, WRITE MY OWN, and if its marketing for money blog, write my own, and buy articles as well?
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        • Profile picture of the author discrat
          Originally Posted by hogeyman3 View Post

          So basically if its a personal blog, WRITE MY OWN, and if its marketing for money blog, write my own, and buy articles as well?
          Yes, I think that is a good approach ! If you have some decent writing skills there is no reason not to utilize it!
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  • Profile picture of the author Judy Turner
    I write articles for my own blogs and and do a little freelancing as well. I will sometimes outsource article writing for niches when I am looking for an expert in a particular field. When hiring someone to write for you just keep in mind you get what you pay for so if you can, ask for a sample of their work. I posted an ongoing job on oDesk and received a lot of article samples. I ended up going with someone who actually costs more than I originally wanted to spend but had the exact writing style that I was looking for.
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  • Profile picture of the author Stevie C
    A mixture of both but if you really want to scale up with a lot of content then you need to outsource. I am also a fan of good quality PLR using manual spinning and a bit of rewriting I can put together a fairly unique article in no time.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dangius
    Hello Hogeyman3,
    I suggest you could do both - write some articles yourself and some articles outsource. Both options are good, so grab the best of both worlds!
    I personally write articles myself under 1000 words and use iWriter service for larger ones. But I always edit and add my finishing touches to outsourced article before posting them.
    I hope it helps. Cheers
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    • Profile picture of the author hogeyman3
      Originally Posted by Dangius View Post

      Hello Hogeyman3,
      I suggest you could do both - write some articles yourself and some articles outsource. Both options are good, so grab the best of both worlds!
      I personally write articles myself under 1000 words and use iWriter service for larger ones. But I always edit and add my finishing touches to outsourced article before posting them.
      I hope it helps. Cheers
      Thanks Dangius! I'm gonna check out iWriter. I'm mainly focused on marketing my blog JVZoo and Clickbank offers. I started today and will write some content later this week. I have the free trial for GetResponse and have an email list set up and am in contact with a few other blogs. I hope this all goes well.
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  • Profile picture of the author icoachu
    It depends on whether you have the TIME and SPECIALIZATION to write QUALITY materials.

    The more specialized your content, the more value you bring to the table.
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  • Profile picture of the author Raydal
    All depends on whether you want to brand yourself as a writer or you just
    want content as a marketer. Brand yourself? Write your own articles.
    Marketer? Buy your articles.

    -Ray Edwards
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  • Profile picture of the author winnermarketing
    essentailly differences are:

    buying articles: saving of time

    write articles: they are FREE + you can PERSONALIZE with you own PERSONAL STYLE!
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  • Profile picture of the author zdebx
    Buying articles won't cheap, if you want decent readable content. You're looking at probably paying around $10-$15 per 500-800 words article.

    If your writing and grammar is good, better write yourself.

    On the other hand, if you just need articles for link building and the quality doesn't really matter, then by all means you can outsource at $2-3 per article and put something out there.
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  • Profile picture of the author aprilaraceli
    Originally Posted by hogeyman3 View Post

    What's the pro's and con's? Anyone have success when buying articles? Do other bloggers do this? Just gimme the what's what on that. I'm a writer but was curious as to how people do with bought articles. Thanks in advance fellow Warriors! -hogeyman
    There is no doubt about it that if one know how to write good content, he will write the content himself. On the other hand, if he does not find time to write or, does not know how to good write, then he hire someone else. Today there are many freelancing market place, you can use anyone of them. If one need article, he can hire freelancer to write the content. It is a good way. One can get easily this Article. Carry on. Best of luck.
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  • Profile picture of the author wesleywinter
    I will usually write my own articles for my sites, but I also outsource them on day's that I feel "lazy".

    If you are looking to outsource you can check out the classified section here at the Warrior Forum.

    You can find some great writers here.
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  • Profile picture of the author Houlian
    LOTS of other bloggers purchase articles. I would recommend a place like textbroker.com -- they're great for high-quality articles -- I used to write there as a four-star author, so I would know! As long as they're high quality (at least four-star rating from Textbroker), they can work very well for your own websites or for whatever purpose you need them for.

    It's really simple to get started at that site and order articles. I could have orders placed in a few hours, and the quality is almost always going to be better than what you would get from other websites like iWriter.
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  • Profile picture of the author GelidMind
    Both have their pros and cons. When it comes to paying for your own articles though the freelancer may not have your vision. You may want your articles to be written a certain way and their style may be different from yours. With this you'll have to go back and rewrite it in the way you prefer. You may save a lot of time, but who knows if they can do a job as well as you if you write it yourself.

    As far as writing for yourself it may take a little time, but it will be written in the way you like. All it takes is a bit a research and elbow grease. You could always do a bit of your own content mixed with that of others.
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    Write your own. You'll develop your own style of writing that your audience will enjoy. There is no right or wrong way to writing articles (except don't plagiarize). Outsourcing to a bunch of people overseas will piss you off real fast. Trust me. Write em yourself. Write 1 article/email/blog post a day. It will take no more than 30 minutes. And it's free for you.
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  • Profile picture of the author jeronamo
    I'm always leary of buying written articles. If you do I would make sure to see examples of their work and find out if they are skilled enough to write about the topics you are requesting. I wouldn't buy bulk PLR articles, even if in your niche as a lot of the content is not worth the money plus the time you need to spend ensuring that the fact they are saying are accurate you could have researched and written your own.
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    • Profile picture of the author heavysm
      My rule has always been:

      Buy when the niche/market is not my expertise, but lots of $$ to be made.

      or...

      Write it myself if it's a passionate subject and I can clear 1500+ words easily without much effort.

      I used to create a ton of sites on different products and markets, and I wasn't always knowledgeable about those fields. And if i know it's going to be profitable anyway, there's no reason why i shouldn't pay for some nicely written articles to go on those sites.
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  • Profile picture of the author nrb
    Depends what the articles are being used to accomplish. But, personally most of the content I put out is presell content so I prefer to do it myself. This is not to be confused with putting out a bunch of articles (or other content for that matter) with nothing but pitches in them. If you want to learn more I would suggest Paul Hancox Presell Mastery (I am not affiliated in any way).
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    The best articles I've used have been my own. I've hired people to write articles and never really gotten what I wanted in the article. By the time I put an ad, vet the writers, send them test subjects to see if they're any good, wait for them to complete the article, I could have already written the article that is exactly what I want.
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  • Profile picture of the author humbledmarket
    Banned
    Originally Posted by hogeyman3 View Post

    What's the pro's and con's? Anyone have success when buying articles? Do other bloggers do this? Just gimme the what's what on that. I'm a writer but was curious as to how people do with bought articles. Thanks in advance fellow Warriors!


    -hogeyman
    It depends on the context. I personally write a lot of our personal content although I'm hoping to find a suitable writer to do it.

    If your time is more valuable to you then it'd be worthwhile outsourcing and proof reading/editing. If it's a simple niche site I typically outsource it. If it's something on our business site or name associated then I try to write it myself.
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  • Profile picture of the author gferrand
    Most important point is: you get what you pay for. Delegating is good, if you trust who is writing the articles. If you are just doing it cause it's easier and can be cheap, I don't think you'll get very good results.
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  • Profile picture of the author skyro
    You will find that alot of bloggers mainly start off writing their own content but once their business begins to grow they tend to outsource most of the content to take some of the weight off of them to focus on other things. This here can be a very good pro for outsourcing content but the thing is finding a good writer who knows your niche that can writer for you can be a task at times.
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  • Profile picture of the author kdrinky12
    If I had any talent at all at writing I would definitely do it myself, but since I don't I use others to write for me and had good success.
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