Hiring a writer

[Tonearm]

I'd like to hire one or more writers to write original stuff on certain topics. I'm not really sure where to start. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

- Grant

[mcguffin]

Tonearm,

It all depends on your needs, resources, and timeframe:

Needs

Do you need writers who already have expertise in these topics?

Do the writers need to have their own original ideas?

Do you need people who can take your original ideas and express them clearly through writing?

Resources

Are you looking for full-time professsional writers, semi-professionals, or amateurs?

Are you willing to pay by the piece, by the word, or by the hour?

Are you looking for contractors, employees, or volunteers?

Timeframe

How soon do you need people to start writing?

When do you need the work completed?

There have been many threads that talk about how much writing is worth, but really that value depends on your needs and the document's importance to you.

It's hard to make any sort of recommendation on how to find writers when your scenario is so vague.

You might be looking for amateurs and volunteers to write fan reviews of widgets, but you might also need to hire writers into Widget Megacorp.

If you can help clarify (even broadly) your situation, that'll help folks here be able to offer some good recommendations.

[arrowman]

Your question is a bit vague. What seems to be the problem?

[Tonearm]

Hi mcguffin & arrowman,

Basically, I've developed what I think is a good website template that does well in the search engines. I'd like to hire one or more writers to create original content for one or more sites (domain names really). I will make money with AdSense ads on those sites.

What I'd like to be able to do is specify a topic and have a certain amount of original stuff written on that topic. Maybe 1000 words. Including links in the writing would be great.

Paying by the word makes the most sense to me. I will do some research on going rates.

- Grant

[edited by: rogerd at 1:41 pm (utc) on Feb. 28, 2005]

[rogerd]

There have been lots of discussions of this topic - one of the most popular suggestions is to use college students, who may have decent writing ability but lower compensation expectations.

Writing web copy that will work for search engines has some different requirements than typical article writing and news reporting.
So, if you find a good one, hang onto that person.

[VegasRook]

College students can be a good source when price is your motivating factor. What is your main priority with the article: SEO or writing?

SEO: Copy reads well but since the focus is not on writing, it is not something you, as a reader, would be thrilled to read. The SE's will love this piece.

Writing: Focus is on crafting a well written piece with some SEO peppered in. Readers will delight in reading this piece and the SE's will be "ok" with it.

What are your topics?

[Content Writer]

Not sure this is what Grant is looking for, but I thought I should mention that it's also possible to have content that both the robots and the humans love to read...together. Engaging copy richly infused with keywords can be done. It requires more time and talent to produce, but it's out there, and it's good.

[VegasRook]

Engaging copy richly infused with keywords can be done. It requires more time and talent to produce, but it's out there, and it's good.

Yes and that is the reason to pay the money for a good writer. :D

[KevinC]

try a job board like guru or elance - good place to start.

[arrowman]

Tonearm, I do what you do. I'm still not sure what you're asking. All I can say is: Yo! Go ahead and do it.

[Tonearm]

Are there any good online tutorials for SEO writing? I have a couple employees and I'd like to see how they do. It would be slick to fill any downtime they might have with SEO writing.

I'd also like to hire someone with experience and see how they do in comparison. I've gotten a few offers via WW stickymail. What would be the best way to take one of these writers up on their offer? Just don't want to get burned.

- Grant

[Goniff]

A good way to know what a writer does is to ask for published samples.

You can check the samples for keyword saturation and examine the skill with which the keywords are embedded in the text.

[playingthegame]

Elance and Guru are great resources where interested parties will bid for the job. Not only is the cost very reasonable but you can also check out other works they have done to see the quality you can expect before accepting a bid.

Give it a go :-)

[teaperson]

You could also try craigslist, which has a writing/editing category in its job listings.