To All The Article Marketers...

15 years ago

The most important thing when you deal with ghost writers is that you give them clear instructions regarding your expectations. Many ghosts also do their own article marketing and understand the importance of titles, summaries, and resource boxes. But if you don't make your objectives clear, they cannot help you much.

Keep in mind that writers work with numerous clients who each have their own criteria on what makes a good final product. For instance, some want keyword rich titles while others want to write the titles themselves. Most writers will do it either way, but you need to make everything you want crystal clear. It cuts down on frustration for both you and the writer that way.

As far as pricing goes, if you can give a ghost writer a good volume of steady work - particularly in a handful of niches - you'll get a better deal.

You need to know that you're going to have to invest some money in "test" articles before you find a writer who is a good fit for you. Try testing 3 to 5 people with 10 articles each before committing to someone long term.

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grover69

15 years ago

Never let them write the title. That is one area you must master. And feel free to change the beginning and ending to suite your needs.

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AskShawn

15 years ago

What are some good methods for "title writing"?

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Steven Wagenheim

15 years ago

If I was suddenly struck down and could no longer write my own articles,
there are only a handful of people here I would outsource my writing to,
though I am sure most of these people don't do this kind of work.

The short list...

Paul Myers
Dean Shainin
Tim Gorman
Allan Graves
Bev Clement (think she does)

If anybody else is a crack article writer, I either have forgotten who they
are (senility is slowly creeping in) or I didn't know in the first place.

My opinion, and granted, this is ONLY my opinion, is that if you're going
to base a substantial part of your business strategy on creating content
to generate traffic, you don't want to trust that job to just any old hack.
You want somebody who...

1. You know you can trust.
2. You know writes well.
3. You know can meet deadlines.

Without all of those things, and probably others I'm forgetting, you're
looking for trouble.

I used to freelance and never had one complaint about one article I ever
wrote. The only complaints I ever got was when I told my customers that
I was getting out of the business.

Do not make this decision in haste.

As for how much to pay, there is no way to be able to give you a
definitive answer on that.

Some people who are good writers charge a nominal fee because they are
just starting out, while others do so because they're just flat out no good.

Conversely, not everybody who charges 10 cents a word and up is worth
that kind of money.

And a lot of it has to do with the purpose of your article.

If you're just banging them out to submit to directories in order to either
get direct traffic or just build backlinks, or both, and you're not sure what
kind of return you're going to get, you probably don't want to spend too
much.

Conversely, if you have a general idea of how much money each article
will bring you, then you can pay a premium if the return is worth it.

For example, one niche I used to write for brought me a minimum of one
sale for every article I wrote. So if that article was making me $25 per
sale, it would have been worth it to me to spend even $15 on a 350 word
article.

If I outsourced 500 of them, do the math. That's a nice chunk of change.

But again, only if you're THAT sure of the return per article.

Having said all that, I'm glad that I don't have to outsource my writing.

There are not a lot of people who I trust to handle it.

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PrettyJenny

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim

If I was suddenly struck down and could no longer write my own articles,
there are only a handful of people here I would outsource my writing to,
though I am sure most of these people don't do this kind of work.

The short list...

Paul Myers
Dean Shainin
Tim Gorman
Allan Graves
Bev Clement (think she does)

If anybody else is a crack article writer, I either have forgotten who they
are (senility is slowly creeping in) or I didn't know in the first place.

My opinion, and granted, this is ONLY my opinion, is that if you're going
to base a substantial part of your business strategy on creating content
to generate traffic, you don't want to trust that job to just any old hack.
You want somebody who...

1. You know you can trust.
2. You know writes well.
3. You know can meet deadlines.

Without all of those things, and probably others I'm forgetting, you're
looking for trouble.

I used to freelance and never had one complaint about one article I ever
wrote. The only complaints I ever got was when I told my customers that
I was getting out of the business.

Do not make this decision in haste.

As for how much to pay, there is no way to be able to give you a
definitive answer on that.

Some people who are good writers charge a nominal fee because they are
just starting out, while others do so because they're just flat out no good.

Conversely, not everybody who charges 10 cents a word and up is worth
that kind of money.

And a lot of it has to do with the purpose of your article.

If you're just banging them out to submit to directories in order to either
get direct traffic or just build backlinks, or both, and you're not sure what
kind of return you're going to get, you probably don't want to spend too
much.

Conversely, if you have a general idea of how much money each article
will bring you, then you can pay a premium if the return is worth it.

For example, one niche I used to write for brought me a minimum of one
sale for every article I wrote. So if that article was making me $25 per
sale, it would have been worth it to me to spend even $15 on a 350 word
article.

If I outsourced 500 of them, do the math. That's a nice chunk of change.

But again, only if you're THAT sure of the return per article.

Having said all that, I'm glad that I don't have to outsource my writing.

There are not a lot of people who I trust to handle it.

Thanks Steven for a very detailed guide on article outsourcing. This is a very tempting concept for me. I have never outsourced my articles to any body. But maybe I will soon start to do that. Cannot believed I have writtem hundreds of articles by myself

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Anthony Tilley 15 years ago

Originally Posted by AskShawn

What are some good methods for "title writing"?

Thanks

I google'd "article title tips" for you and number 1 is ezine articles.

ezinearticles.com/?7-Tips-For-Successful-Article-Marketing
Titles&id=1264796

I don't have 15 submissions so can't enter it as a link so just copy and paste.

Hope it helps.
- Thanks
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- airbusbarkley 15 years ago
  
  I recently outsourced two article writing projects and it was a disaster. It was my first time outsourcing and most of it was my fault. I failed to give clear concise instructions as to exactly what I wanted. The grammar and spelling errors alone were many, not to mention the lack of content.
  
  A few things I learned: 1) no one knows the material and the approach you want to take in the article better than you. 2) I can write an article is just takes some practice 3) Outsourcing in and of itself is a skill.
  
  Not all was lost. I took bits and pieces of the articles from the freelancers and re-worked it to my own satisfaction. I think outsourcing can be a good thing, but you have to be very clear on what you want and build a relationship with a freelancer who matches your style.
  
  Thanks
  
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  Shawn
  
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Gabe77

15 years ago

I write the articles myself. And I write articles for other people as well. Usually, keywords are already provided by the clients. Or I may have to do the search myself then submit it to them before I even begin writing.

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Gunter Eibl

15 years ago

Outsourcing makes a lot of sense when you known what you want and can give the writer clear instructions. In many cases a professional writer will write articles better than you can, especially if you are new to article marketing or writing at all. This is also true for the resource box.

Beside that, it's usually a waste of your valuable time to write the articles yourself. Time that could be spent much better on other things that bring your business forward.

Also, there are situations where outsourcing is the only solution, even if you are the best and fasted writer in the world. What if you are building many Adsense or mini sites. What if you build an army of blogs. How long will it take to get all the content together for these sites? You then will need even more content when you start promoting these sites. It's impossible to write all that yourself.

Gunter

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petevamp

15 years ago

Originally Posted by vuedoolor

Do you outsource your article writing?

Since the titles, article summaries, and resource box are crucial to getting a high CTR for conversions do you create them yourselves or do you trust your writers to do the content, titles, summaries, and resource box all for you?

If you were to outsource your writing what is the range that you're willing to pay per 300 words article?

The last articles I submitted to my ghost writer I simply gave them the basic punch line then let them build the entire article as they seen fit. This gave them an understanding of what I need and also gave them the ability to work as they seen fit. Yet I have also gave them just the title which worked out rather well.

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Anthony Tilley

15 years ago

I write my own articles, but time can sometimes be short so I think when I do eventually trust someone else to write for me I would do the title, summaries etc initally to point the writer in the right direction. I would however ask them to submit them too with the article, then I would decide if theirs was better than mine (which if they are good quality writers probably will be!!!)

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cubaguy

15 years ago

Outsourcing to Philippines best option in my opinion, great English and low cost.. I like odesk.com

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Barry Walls 15 years ago

The problem, as Steve alluded to, is that most "article marketers" won't make a return for the cost of good writing. As bum marketers, balancing the quality and the return is a balance which few achieve in a profitable way, though I believe Steve is an exception. Still, he writes himself. Theres a big clue right there.

The result of the average math is that bum marketers try to get articles on the cheap...$2 or less. The quality of these articles is generally poor and the editing and rewriting effort is difficult to justify by the returns achieved.
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bannor32

15 years ago

If you can find a talented writer who specializes in EZA submission then they will likely be pretty good at writing intros, summaries and resource boxes. Obviously, not all talented writers have experience with EZA, and vice versa. Find a writer that meets both criteria and establish a long term, mutually beneficial business relationship.

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edman

15 years ago

Before I outsource any article to anyone, I have to have written a couple on that topic myself, and the articles will all have a certain theme or style to them.

For example I may decide the articles will all be in a story form which will eventually lead to a moral in the end.

Once I've established that, I can then translate my request to a writer.

I also do the research and give them the topics I want them to write on and the exact style

As a result I end up paying like 50, even up to 150 for an article depending on the style and length

For more basic review style articles I can get them done for like 2-3$ per $350 words article and I have my in house team insert the specs to make it up to about 450 or so

Against my better judgment, I got one lady in WSO from USA to write some articles for me, very short 180 words articles only, but they were in a specific style. I gave her many examples and explanations to understand the structure, she was confident that she could do it... I asked 3 times , she said yes... The result was a mess

she also started giving me excuses of blackouts in the state she was in because of winds etc...

I then said np, just give me what you have and I'll walk away

Originally Posted by vuedoolor

Do you outsource your article writing?

Since the titles, article summaries, and resource box are crucial to getting a high CTR for conversions do you create them yourselves or do you trust your writers to do the content, titles, summaries, and resource box all for you?

If you were to outsource your writing what is the range that you're willing to pay per 300 words article?

Thanks

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monopuff

15 years ago

I think there's a danger zone when you talk about the $2-$3 price range, if you find someone that works for you hang on to them..

There are a lot of college students and native English speakers that will gladly write articles for a spare income.

I'll usually order an article or two as a test, give them a subject and a keyword. At worst I have an article that I have to tweak, at best it works out.

Thanks

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esh

15 years ago

I'd write my first 250 articles myself and then parlay the profits into outsourcing service such as Need an Article -- Automated Article System!.

Hope it helps.

Best,
Esh

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1 reply

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rohesiarain 15 years ago

I lean toward writing my own material. I currently write my own material however, Esh has a very good idea. Any profits should be set aside for this purpose if this is your intention. I am particular about certain things which is why I prefer to do my own work.

All the best,

Lina
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maxyip84

15 years ago

article marketing is the free way for you to start your internet marketing career. So, my suggestion is try to write the articles first before you outsource to others to write for u... by writing yourself the article, you will familiar with how on earth the whole internet marketing is all about...

hope this help...

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Igor Kheifets

15 years ago

I write my own articles.
It usually takes me no more than 5-7 minutes
to write a keyword targeted article.
And I also use an article submission service
which allows me to submit each article in under
a minute time...

Igor

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abelacts

15 years ago

I ask the writer to come up with interesting title for the article. If it's good, I will use it. Otherwise, I will change it to my liking (based on keyword phrase that I want, of course).

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willyboy104

15 years ago

I used to pay someone else to rewrite my content however then I found an easier way of doing it myself which did the trick for what I wanted the content for, its free too

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elaine drennan

15 years ago

Hi Vuedoolor!

Like everything else in the Internet Marketing business I feel that it is best to start by learning how to write an article yourself. It's not difficult but there are things you need to understand eg how to use keywords effectively.

If you start out by outsourcing your article writing you will always feel a bit out of control. Ezine Articles are the best but they are fussy. Having an article accepted by them will give you a great confidence boost! And by educating yourself you'll know better how to recognise a good article writer when the time comes that you do have to outsource.

Hope this helps!

Elaine

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CJontheweb

15 years ago

People generally only pay about $5 per 300 word article in my opinion.

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