29/06/2008 update: Unfortunately, many misinterpreted this post and thought I was recommending foreign writers solely because of the cheaper rates they usually offer. Just to clarify, I very rarely hire a writer who isn’t fully fluent in english. I do however, have no problems hiring a foreign writer who is an expert with real credentials in the niche I want content written.
This is the first post in the new ‘Ask Amin’ category.
This question was asked by Nick from Illeat.com (a blog which he claims to rarely update), the man behind AdGridWork .
Hey Amin
Got your contact info from nickycakes and while I was chatting with him on the phone today, he mentioned that you had a guy that you get decent quality articles from. I was curious if you’d mind sharing as I’ve burned through about a dozen writers in the past month and all have had the literacy of 12 year olds. If not, maybe point me in the area that you hired your writer at?
Thanks in advance,
Nick
Hey Nick
I outsource most of my content from elance.com - and because of elance’s system which allows you to really look into the providers background (what projects they’ve done, how much they’ve earned, the feedback they’ve received, where they’re based, what skills they have, etc), the content I end up with tends to be of a good quality, as I make sure I choose a provider that is well qualified to do the work I require.
There are a few writers I go back to if I need more content in a specific niche, but I normally don’t use the same writer to write content for more than one niche.
It may be a good idea to hire foreign content writers with expertise but relatively poor writing skills who charge much less than their western counterparts, and then get another writer that is fluent in english to make changes to the content so that it reads well. If you’re picky with the content you receive (like I am), try and find at least one good writer you can rely on to go over your content and edit it so that it reads well. If not, be prepared to either edit all the content you receive yourself, or accept it as it is.
For example, I recently posted a project on elance requesting a large amount of content on a health related niche. Out of the 10+ bids, one provider really caught my eye. The amount they wanted was roughly the same as the other bids, but they claimed to have over 9 years experience as a professional healthcare writer. So I checked their profile, went over to their feedback page, and sure enough, they had completed a large number of health related projects with consistant ratings of more than 4/5. I took the provider on for my project and I received the content by the deadline I had set. The one problem I did have with the finished content was that although the english was fine, it didn’t really feel good to read. In this case, I actually edited the content myself. I’m normally too lazy to do this all the time, so I usually just pay another writer to edit the content.
I’d like to also add that with elance you can really formalise the whole process: include business terms which must be agreed upon before the project begins and set ‘milestones’ where certain work must be sent. Elance also has an escrow system which means that the provider will not get your money until you release it to them, which you can do once you have received and reviewed all your work.
Digitalpoint is also a great place to get super cheap but (all too often) super poor content. I wouldn’t recommend outsourcing your content on forums unless the provider is clearly established or unless you simply want to use the content for SEO purposes.
Cheers,
Amin