odesk for article writing?

Hey drew, it's basically all comes down to who you feel the most comfortable with! That comes with asking them questions and seeing how they respond and checking out there past jobs or samples that they have. I actually have an odesk account and haven't hired anyone from there. I have however hired a few people from elance and I really like the people on there and they seem more professional to me.

Hope this is helpful and you find someone that will do the Job well for you. If you do end up checking out Elance I could give you a couple of recommendations of some writers I use! They have been great!

But anyway, good luck man! Hope I help answer you question in some way!

When looking at their ratings, try to find writers with repeat clients. This is normally a good indicator that they will stick around and do acceptable work, especially if you are looking for a long term provider.

You can also go through profiles yourself and send out invitations to people that you think would do a good job.

I wonder if you know there are lots of great writers (including myself) that are members here so maybe you should consider that option?

Myself...I wouldn't go with a single writer...but someone who manages writers...this way you can expand rapidly if you need to..they will also have editors as well to check before they send to you....

So you can post a job about you want to work with an article writing company only....you can check their personal references as well....myself...i have them do a sample....you can do a couple of paragraphs or have them do a longer one...and just pay them for their time..wont cost much...but dont just take a random sample that they give you...

Finding a good and, most importantly, consistently good writer is not easy. I have used several that were found on elancer as well as odesk. In the beginning, everything seems OK. But after maybe the second batch/project onwards, the quality usually goes down. They are either not able to keep up to the time schedule, or the quality of the content will not be as good as before.

So my opinion is that getting a good writer takes a bit of luck. You need to trial and error.

Just sharing my experiences so far with writers...

I've hired some good writers on oDesk, and I've hired some bad ones. You pretty much get what you pay for.

When I post writing jobs, I put the number of articles I require and the topic in the title so the contractors know what the topic is at a glance. If they enjoy or have experience in the topic, they will open it. For example, I'll write "Article Writer for 5 Articles About Fly Fishing".

In the description, I say I repeat the title, say how many words each article needs to be. That the article is intended for a US audience. That I will check each article for plagiarism prior to submitting any payment. And then I will list the article topics.

Once I start to receive applicants, I first read their "cover letter". If this is poorly written, I immediately eliminate them.

If the cover letter is good, I next go to the test results, especially if they are from a non-English speaking country. If they have not taken or are not in the top 20% for US English Vocabulary and US English Spelling, I immediately eliminate them.

Then, I go to feedback. If they do not have an average feedback of 4, I eliminate them. If they have no feedback, I eliminate them. Then I try to find feedback for jobs similar to mine. They may have good ratings, but if they are for something other than article writing, I'll pass.

Finally, if all looks good, I will ask them how long it generally takes them to complete similar tasks. This way I can estimate the total cost, based upon their bid. (Hourly jobs only)

Good luck!

thanks guys, what kind of money should I be looking at for a quality article? around 400-500 words?

You you see them by there previous content only.

I work as a contractor on oDesk and outsource tasks and have found that it's indispensable to get involved in the oDesk groups on LinkedIn, get to know others who work/hire through the site, and to get recommendations from them.

In addition to personal recommendations for contractors that other's have had success with for similar work I like to post my jobs as invite-only and then have my VA locate and invite workers based on my list of criteria.

You might want to get sample articles from them if you want to know their writing style. However, I encountered providers who fakes their samples because they were not the ones who really wrote the article.

Aside from feedback you can also base your decision on the interview. Basically choose the person whom you think you can work with. Someone who has sense of professionalism in his/her response.

Ryuchi

I look at their Odesk hours. Of course ratings help too. Basically, you need to try them out to decide whether they fit your needs or not. There is no other way around it. I give them one or two articles for their first assignment, and if everything works out, I gradually increase the number of articles I give them per day. Of course, you find quitters everywhere, and they might ditch when everything seems to be going fine, but that's a risk that needs taken I guess.

Simple solution is to weed out the bad applications. Then hire multiple writers for the same/similar task.

If you hire 5 writers you then pick the one who did the best work, had good communication etc.

I don't think there's any real quality on Odesk - I use it more for outsourcing redundant SEO tasks like bookmarking.

Hey there..

I am pretty new in this forum, but if you'd like I can share with you a couple of samples of my writing. I have some clients on monthly retainer and you are free to take a look at their sites and you can also call them. Some clients I have only had for 4 months and 2 I have had for more than 2 years.

Would love to connect to see IF I may be of assistance to you.

I find that with oDesk (and any other freelancing site) you really have to put in the time to weed out the bad writers. Whenever I put a job up there I get a load of very poor responses from people who obviously don't meet my requirements or who haven't even read my post the whole way through.

It comes down to being on the ball to check their response for obvious errors (e.g. if they constantly write i instead of I in their application I deny them right away), then check their samples, then check their feedback, and then get in touch with them for a small sample order (always paid) for just a couple of articles before you commit to more.

It really isn't an easy process, but it's worth taking the time over because having someone who meets your standards is crucial with any online content.

I never thought I would say it but .... you can try out 10 writers on fiverr for $50. There should be at least one winner there.

Odesk really isn't a place where you're gonna find quality. It;s more for outsourcing pita repetitive tasks, like bookmarking.

I have found better writers on Elance using the open job posting, but when I am looking for good writers on oDesk, I search for writers with certain criteria and then invite them to a job.

I look for contractors in the Writing Section that have passed one of the US English Skills tests in the top 10% (sometimes I use the harder tests - like the sentence structure test), have logged in within 15 days, have at least 4 star rating and have 5 of 5 self rated English. Sometimes I will drop in an hourly rate (even if the job is fixed price), so I don't get people too cheap, or too far out of my price range and sometimes I keyword search for the topic I am writing about. Then I choose about 100 people that meet my qualifications, and invite them to my job.

If you get declines for budget, you will find out if you are priced properly for the kind of writer you want. Once people start responding to "interview" I really do ask them some questions like an interview.

What was the best client you worked for on oDesk like? What was your favorite job so far on oDesk? Recently, I asked them to tell me about the last time they shopped, where they went and what the experience was like. Their responses tell you everything you need to know.

I had one writer tell me about her shopping trip using what was obviously a spun keyword article about Sleek makeup pallets - I did not hire her.

Have you tried some crowdsourcing services or so-called "contests"? In which you spend the same amount of money to receive multiple works from different service providers who apply for your contest, and then you choose the best work as the winner to receive the prize. (sorry for poor explanation)

I think it is a pretty good option.

Hi Drew,

What I would suggest is three things:

1) Yes, look at what other people are saying and rating them.

2) Ask them for samples of their work.

3) Start off with a small project first. Have them write 1 article to begin with, before hiring them on for a large task of an 80 page ebook.

All the best with it! Remember, sometimes it's all about trial and error.

oDesk is a very good platform for writers. It is of course very difficult to get established there. You need to have a lot of patience to get your jobs from task providers.

I just started using odesk and I really like the format. I love fiverr, but I think oDesk is better for more complex tasks. On fiverr I usually find folks not quite copying content. Sure, it'll pass copyscape, but it's not horrible original.

I just hired my first writer on oDesk. I think one good way to get to grips on those that will be potentially good hires is to ask them to implement specific things in their application. If they totally miss the questions out then you probably don't want to hire them for your site.

I am a writer who uses oDesk to look for work. I have to say that it's just as hard finding quality clients as it is finding quality writers. It's usually 50/50 whenever you take a chance with oDesk. For example, I accepted a job and I thought the requirements were simple, but at the end of the day there were way too many requirements in that job for it to be worth my time.

I have found awesome clients on there and I'm glad I have. Just keep looking and check back frequently. The search options are your friends.

On odesk you can not only look up by ratings, but by how many jobs they have done, you can look up by their english skills level. You can also use people who have taken tests to determine how good their writing and english is. It's good to read what other employers say about the workers too.

Didn't spot it in the thread.... and maybe a bit more pricey but I have had luck on People Per Hour.

Just remember.... You pay peanuts you get monkeys!

Besides rating what you can do is running a pilot program that means hire 4 or 5 writers with good feedback and star and give them the task.After they provide you the first article you can choose the best one that can meet your needs better.