What turns you off when hiring a writer?

Hi, it bugs me when they don't have any clear prices on their site.

I realise this is probably an unpopular statement, as many writers don't seem to like discussing their rates publicly, but I also want to be honest. If your site asks me to submit information in order to get a quote, then I would probably move on to the next site, due to the added barrier. Sometimes I am just throwing a few ideas around and, at that stage, have no interest in discussing my plans with anyone/getting quotes.

Of course, if I was at a different juncture, and/or was already interested in you as a writer, then it wouldn't be a problem at all. But (in my mind at least) for casual, drive-past traffic it is a turnoff.

I will be interested to hear what others think?

I don't think adding that you can do keyword-rich content is tacky at all. I'm sure there are alot of clients that want to know if you know about SEO/keywords/marketing/etc or are a writer who doesn't know about all that IM stuff.

I think you should just list what kind of content you can do, and then you can say that you can work with the client on whatever needs they have. State clearly that the more info you get from the client regarding what they are looking for, the better your delivered content will be.

Their profound inability to write.

EXCUSES.

"Sorry, for the delay in getting back to you, Ive been really busy"
"Sorry, I wont be able to get those articles to you as promised, my dog died"
"There's been a terrible flood here, so I've had no internet connection"
"My husbands got terminal dandruff, I wont be able to finish this project, sorry"

In the 3 years Ive been hiring Ive heard them ALL.

Right from heart attacks, to natural disasters and computers apparenly blowing up.

If you arent prompt and efficient, FORGET IT.

Get a job instead.

Poor writing style. Quoting for work. No samples.

I had a writer that I hired from here...(I wont disclose any names)

I was informed that work was behind due to ongoing unexpected delays, which I accepted as this happens to all of us. No big deal.

What I didnt appreciate though, was realising that the person I hired was ACTIVELY POSTING ON THE FORUM! For DAYS on end!

I wasnt impressed, and certainly wont be hiring that person again, let me tell you.

Some people just dont think.

They don't/barely speak English.

-Chris

It turns me off when a writer doesn't deliver what he/she promises. I think that's the biggest disappointment in hiring a writer.

I want to see the prices right out front
I do want to see that you can write with the right amount of keyword density
I want to see samples that are actually representative of your writing
I want to see the turnaround times and actually get the articles within that time

In the long run, those aren't clients you want to attract.

I would take it out and leave it out, myself. You have fair more to gain than to lose, that way. One "better client" is worth 10 or 20 "article directory level" clients.

You don't need clients who are going to use your articles primarily for SEO, because they'll pay only $5/$10 for an article. In that market there are more article writers than clients. And there's a reason for that: the clients don't survive and keep returning: if they imagine that article marketing is "a method of SEO", then their own businesses typically aren't going to survive for the long term. So they keep disappearing on you, and you're constantly advertising/promoting to replace them. You need to aim at better clients than that, right from the start. Your business is only as good as your clients. Just my perspective ...

Definitely bad grammar. I hired someone on Odesk once, and her articles were so bad I couldn't actually use them. I felt so bad for her, I still paid her for the job, but decided not to use her again after that.

This is a great thread..As a writer myself and someone who outsources larger writing projects to other writer's I gotta say:

1. Plagiarism
2. Run on sentences
3. No clear thought or expressed idea coming through in their writing

Ask the writer or the employee to make a test article on a subject, and check out the quality of it, it's as simple as that.

Bad grammar and missed deadlines.

I think the biggest turn off is lack of mentioning of time needed to complete a project. Specify how much time you take per article so that the employer does not have to ask too many questions. I think there is nothing wrong with having too much information on your website (provided it is written in a clear and grammatically correct manner) as opposed to having too little information and causing potential trouble.

Sorry, I forgot to mention you should put out a lot of writing samples. That way they'll be able to see your articles are not weird combinations of keywords, rather they are properly written SEO friendly articles. Good luck!

Flowery magazine-type, third-person writing. hate it. Can't use it.

I have never hired writers being a writer myself, however, usually, people asking me to write for them all have had some bad experiences with writers they have hired in the past… such as the person stopped responding, the quality of the articles has decreased, etc…

I think that the clearer you are about your service, such as, price, keywords density, delivery time frame, contract, etc… the better it is. On the other end, too many minus details might confuse your potential customers rather than helping them. Such secondary details can be discussed once the potential customer shows interest in hiring you.

at first i take a look at their offers. in most of the cases you can short out the bad writers. the people who can't write an attractive offer which can't attract me, can't write my content
Actually i hire people to write articles for my link building projects. so i don't care about the quality. i just take care about the uniqueness and size and of course the $$$!!!

Something that turns me off is if they don't have at least a few real testimonials and actual examples of what they've written. This basically let's me know right away if they have the type of writing skills I am looking for.

Also, if they don't offer free revisions.

When they send me copyrighted material and ask me to rewrite it.

When they ask for a "free sample".

When they offer to pay me a lower rate now, and IF they like it, to pay me more for future writing.

Oh...wait...it said "hiring" not "being".



Just saying that it's a two-way street.

All the best,
Michael

Besides grammatical and spelling errors there isn't much I don't want to see. Like many people have said here, the most important things to show is pricing (within reason), turn around time on work and available examples of work. Things like pricing a turn around time is all relative though depending on the work and your current work load.

One thing I will advice you against though (And this is a true story --- happened to me) is if you should get work you cannot complete and you send it to someone else to do and it come back poorly written... don't tell the person you are working for that someone "broke into" your email account, did the work for you and then sent it back as an excuse. To this day I still tell people about that and it makes them laugh. LOL

I'd add your keyword writing as an option.

To be honest, by the time someone gets to your site they are probably coming from another page where they were "presold", at least to a point.

Other than a really ugly site, it would be hard to come up with "turn offs", other than a writer telling me about SEO.

Instead, focus on what will convince me to hire you:
Honest
Dependable/trustworthy
Affordable

Your sales and presales pages will only get you this far. If you want to be rehired, in addition to the points I made above, I want to LEARN something from your articles. Something. Anything. Come up with at least one thing it's unlikely I already know.

The 1st post and many of the follow-up posts do a great job of illustrating the difference between writing content and writing copy.

I think a lot of clients assume that if a person can write, then they can write anything. So, at the very least, I would want a writer's website to tell me what kinds of writing they do (or maybe even won't do).

If a writer claims they can write "anything", and they do not have a team of writers, then I would personally question the validity of that statement.

All the best,
Michael

Consistency.
I love writing and do it for my career and it has caused me to become quite picky. Some people I have hired to help alleviate my workload write a great article one week and a terrible one the next week.
It almost drives me as nuts as their/there/they're and your/you're errors!

For anyone thats interested, heres my HIRING PROCESS.

Be mindful that I only apply this when Im looking to hire someone long term. This isnt a method you'll want to implement if you're only after a few articles.

I am a writer but I do not write everything so sometimes I hire writers and what I can't stand above all is plagiarism, or keyword stuffing or bad grammar. In short I can't stand 'writers' who can't write! If I have one advice for writers? It is to communicate. Don't go silent on your client it hurts your credibility.

I hired a writer once that sent me an email stating...

"Sorry, I can't do anymore, I've got writers block"

WRITERS BLOCK!!!!

The biggest turn off is a sales page with poor grammar and terrible spelling.

Believe it or not, I recently saw a sales thread here on WF offering writing services. There were 4 spelling mistakes on it.

This shows that either the person can't spell, or don't proof read their work.

When your ideas and rough draft work turn out to be better than their finished products

1. DELIVERY TIME - I really hate it, sometime I wait for 2+ weeks until I get my articles -.-

2. Quality of the article - Both grammar and interesting writting

3. SEO of an article

Is a bit difficult to read and actually understand the contents of something if it has serious spellings and grammatical mistakes. It therefore an issue that can lead to lose of a client.

There are so many opinions in here, and I feel like I've just got to chime in and add mine

I think a big part of the problem that people have with hiring writers is that they expect filet mignon at hamburger prices. If I walk into the most glamorous restaurant in town, I know I'm going to get a staff that's going to cater to my every desire and a meal that's going to be nothing short of exquisite. However, if I walk into McDonalds, I may or may not get the pickles removed from my burger like I asked, my fries may have too much salt on them, and my burger may have sat around for an hour before someone reheated it and tossed it in my order bag. But, really, what did I expect? I paid $5 for a value meal... a far cry from the $50 steak I ordered at the fancy place.

It's the same with writers. For the most part, you can't expect to log onto odesk, elance, or the sort and find the quality you're looking for - because the truly talented writers aren't wasting their time there (and, yes, I know there are exceptions, but for the most part, it's true).

John's right - a talented writer who's got the smarts to create/grow their own professional writing business is going to be offended when a potential client wants "samples" written for free or wants to conduct a grammar test before placing an order. And, Ramone_Johnny, I think you're awesome, but I didn't have to jump through nearly as many hoops to get into college or get my first job in TV as you put your writers through! :p

So, what should clients expect from professional writers?

Content that's chock full of facts, interesting to read, has some personality injected to it, and delivered in a timely manner. Professionals don't need to be prodded to work, or told to submit daily status updates, or jump through hoops, or threatened with non-payment. If they're good, they pride themselves on a job well done.... and, really, at the end of the day, isn't that what you're all looking for???