I'm gona take a stand by the way and tell her that she sucks (despite how nice she comes across as). I'll give her a low rating as a warning to others.

Yeah I tried outsourcing to some people who I didn't really know but that didn't end up well.

My alternative, went through some blogs from people in America and other English speaking countries and creating a team of writers with people who I knew could write quality articles.

Appreciate you sharing that with us. I'm just looking for outsourcers and this is the kind of advice I need

Last year I outsourced a bunch of work with great results. Because the previous two women were no longer available, this last month I outsourced to someone new and ended up rewriting everything. Unfortunately, I didn't check into his or her qualifications as much as I did the first time around. Lesson learned!

Samples can be deceiving. It might be a sample of their best, not usual, work. Or may have been written by someone else.

Only order one or two articles at first to test the service instead of paying for a bulk order.

Rose

I agree with you.Specially when hiring a provider or contractor then ask him or her to provide some samples related with your job.

Be warned. Some people get illegitimate ratings. They get their friends to purchase and rate ridiculously high, so yes analyzing samples is always best!

I have a different strategy. Recently I outsourced articles very cheaply and as expected the quality of some of them was not very good. What is important to me is to extract the ideas from the articles. I then re-write them in less than 30 minutes.

I had to go through 10 to find 2 good ones.

Remember, if they're sloppy with their writing the may also be sloppy with their research. This means you can rewrite the article until it sounds great but the information is incorrect. A bad article rewritten might still be a bad article.

I'm not saying this is always the case, but it is often the case.

Rose

I'm personally trying to get the word out that it is worth it to try to hire and pay a decent rate for GOOD writers! Of course I have a vested interest being that I am a GOOD writer haha, but seriously, if you are looking for good original articles, and not just garbage you have to be willing to pay more than $2 an article!

I've had similar experiences. I once had a freelancer tell me that he had someone help him to write his job bid (probably his sample, too), which is why what he sent me was nothing like his bid.

I also had a girl not disclose that she had a "team" (which I hate, always disclose). She farmed out the work and didn't even bother reading it before she sent it to me. She was offended when I told her that I could tell she hadn't written the articles.

I am very careful about who I choose now. I look for writers with multiple samples, websites of their own, etc. I also give a one-article test (paid if it doesn't suck) to make sure I'm working with someone who has represented himself honestly.

If any of the above commenters are still interested feel free to email me at prevost.kyle(at)gmail. I am a graduate of the University of Manitoba and teach English. I have a few websites I would be glad to show you. I would also be fine with a phone interview.

some lessons learned and some useful tips......

outsourcing can totally suck or it can set you free
- depends how you approach it!

I have learnt the hard way!

reviews can be total crap too - you need to get down to it and suss people out!

if you want to be successful and find really great staff
for your projects you need to have a business mindset and
approach it as seeking a solution to your problem.

work out what your needs are and what solution will work best

make sure the solution is actually going to give you the most bang for your buck!

before you look for outsourcers - get organized....

define your needs and expectations, be really specific
- it will help you work out what you are actually looking for

once you know what you want
- write an ad like you were going to put it in a newspaper

this is where you get to cut your future workload!

be specific - ask for what you want (and are prepared to pay for)
and dont entertain the idea of accepting less!

if you need tech stuff and want at least 3 years experience - say so
if you want a certain level of expertise - say so
specific experience - say so

write stuff like....

MUST have X amount of experience with....

MUST be available X amount of hours per week during this time and that time

MUST speak X level of english.....

MUST provide examples of work

MUST provide contactable references

APPLICATIONS CLOSE on... a date and time

MUST be able to communicate with me via voice on skype (biggie)

and a real goodie.....

to make sure they are answering YOUR call or needs.....

put one line at the bottom of your ad such as....

reply with 'chocolate' in your subject line

why?

because any reply that doesnt have 'chocolate' or any other
unrelated word you choose in the subject line can be instantly ditched!

surely you wouldnt want someone who either cant read?
didnt pay attention to detail? or just submitted a mass reply
to every ad there was that day!

now read through the replies....

only short list the ones that hit EVERY nail on the head
ditch the rest!

now pick the best 2 and check their references
contact them with an interview time

hook up on skype and you will be able to suss them out pretty quickly!

next if they both seem good so far...I do this.....

I give them both a trial task (paid) and deadline and I tell them there is also
someone else taking the same trial task and ask for their best effort

whoever completes the trial task to the highest standard gets given
a further trial (usually a month) before being put on the payroll permanently

this is how I have found all my current ful time and part time team members!

yes! its a little bit of mucking around but the outcome is superb!

I end up with highly qualified people who fit my requirements exactly,
can speak, read, write and communicate in proper english and who are
available for me to talk with on skype at the drop of the hat for
the start of new projects or emergencies etc

the best thing is - I have already determined that they are worth
spending time training up on other tasks and will be of benefit to my business goals

dont be afraid to be fussy!

there are so many dedicated, highly qualified and experienced people out there
- you WILL find what you need if you just focus and approach things professionally!

biggest tip of all - once you find the right peeps - treat them like gold!

have a great day!

Kym Robinson

I agree that talking on skype or msn for yourself before hiring is a great idea. Your judgement and gut is probably better than most reviews and ratings. The key for me is to keep track and start slow.

Well, the example provided was article writing. English is a very important skill when writing articles in English.

I agree with the trial article thing. I know that when I am looking for someone to write for my sites I would never start by ordering more than one article to feel out their service.

Rule of thumb I like to live by when doing outside work.

Given we've had teams of up to 50 in India, and huge teams elsewhere, we've invested alot into getting this right.

1. If you have to over explain every item, and keep asking yourself, maybe I'm just not explaining it right or need to be more detailed.

You have the wrong person

2. Be clear with your requirements and what a successful outcome looks like.

Yes you should always give good instructions and clear definitions of what you want, and software development takes on a new level of this, at the same time you shouldn't have to hold hands to get it done.

Pay more for A players and you'll make your life very easy.

Marc

When outsourcing, aside from asking them samples of articles, have with them. From there you will know how good their English and the way they create a simple sentence or a paragraph.

My tips are:

1 - Pay attention to the details of feedback left about their work. Many writers have feedback about general writing, not specifically SEO. The skills required to understand how to properly write keyword optimized articles is different to standard writing.

2 - Be extremely clear on exactly what you want. If possible grab an article that you believe to be a perfect example of how an article should be written and make sure you provide it to the writer for them to use as a template.

3 - Give a clear deadline for delivery of the work.

4 - The old adage "if you pay peanuts you end up with monkeys" is generally (although not always) true when it comes to getting good quality when outsourcing. If you are paying $1-$3 per article then you usually end up with something that sounds like "Engrish" rather than English, is a complete rip-off of someones work and will not pass Copyscape, or has keywords used incorrectly.

I never send a whole project to a new writer. I send two articles to a new writer. If it doesn't fit my needs, they never get the whole project.

I just chose one excellent writer on WF but the other one, clearly didn't pass the test.

Poor English, but the worst of it was, it's been six days and no word on my article, so I email. No response. So I leave a note in their thread.

Finally, get an email back (with no attachment) saying the work was sent to me on Sat. I have all the emails and checked spam. There was no email.

They email back and say they can't send it until Wed (even though it is allegedly done and sent on Sat). I email back and say forget it, they didn't pass the test.

They email back immediately with the two poorly written articles. lol.

The thing is, this "writer" has a lot of great reviews in their thread, so don't pay too much attention to good reviews. Test them.

Thanks for a great post.

I have had some outsourcing work done in the past and stumbled over a few issues; probably related to miscommunication from my part Yours is a good framework and I will use it for future projects.

Being fairly new at this business, before you get people to write articles for you, wouldnt it be a good idea to write quite a few for yourself.
In business before you pay somebody else to do something for you, you need to be able to do it yourself - Yes.

Great article for thos who want to hire freelancer for the first time!! Thanks to all who discussed about this issue!!

The first time I outsourced I googled and found about 10 interview questions that proved helpful to ask.

Sometimes after like 4 questions some of the canidates would say they were no longer interested lol.

This helped to weed out the bad.

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This is for those who outsource their WordPress theme customization and are serious about building a website that is optimized for usage and SEO.

I've been customizing themes since 2008 and haven't had an issue with a client yet. This how to select a designer:

1. Use a designer who does a wireframe prototype of the website you want for free and interacts with you until it's right.
2. Then the designer can give you an accurate price.
3. Use a designer that does the work on their development site in the theme you want to use, such as Thesis or Genesis.
4. When you approve the site, pay the designer and have the designer move the theme to your site and test.
5. Use a designer that will support you when things go bad.

If you're serious about creating a great website and you're willing to pay for the work, then the above steps work.

If you're a "freetard" and want everything for nothing, then keep outsourcing the way that you have been and accept the hassles, because you deserve them.

With regards to Fiverr.. you get what you pay for

I guess oDesk contractors are okay. You can just ask for sample articles first or just give a test article just to see if he/she is really qualified and can create a substantial, and at the same time, grammar-free article.

It's a great idea to get a sample if you can, but many shy away from giving out samples with the fear that the sample is all you really want, and they will never hear from you again