Forum Moderators: not2easy
your suggestions are appreciated. :)
The only somewhat feasible option you have is to let users review music for you and post their reviews. You'll likely need a strong user base for that to work though.
Saying that you can't write is pretty lame. How do you know?
If you need written material but won't write it yourself...and won't pay someone else to do it...well, I don't know what to tell you.
LOL - but true.
"I" is always uppercase, and the first letter of every sentence should be uppercase, so there are signs that writing isn't your area.
However, a broader view of resources at hand may do the trick. Many people are too insulated to realize how many people they know. If you can't afford 'something reasonable', there are larger issues than new content.
If getting past that, family members (you pay them - nothing is free!), neighbors with high school or college age kids..... Mediocrity is rampant, but there is also no shortage of very sharp, very polished, young people that can deliver quality. "music reviews" suggests the potential that hooking up with someone in this demographic is going to get someone that will quickly understand what you need and be situated to deliver.
How many words per review? College kids need money. Pay them something modest to do what they already know and like and it's almost free money for them, and an ideal person for you. Are these classical music reviews, or more contemporary? If you live anywhere near civilization, there are colleges, music schools, and both rolled into one all over the place.
The only caveats are to vet writing talent in advance and to assess honesty. Hard to imagine any teacher, TA, or professor that doesn't know somebody personally for whom they would be willing/happy to vouch integrity. (Due diligence - as with any content writer, would require me to 'search' their reviews from time to time to ensure that they haven't gotten lazy and started lifting material.)
i really just need music reviews and stuff because those are the new sections of my site that need help.
Ask your visitors to contribute reviews.
...don't copy others article but take their articles as reference & start writing reviews.It's quite simple & you can do it.
IMHO, not simple and a slippery slope. Do the work, pay someone to do the work, or 'entice' someone to do the work. Vet the work and/or resume of options two and three. Writers are typically pitifully paid. It doesn't take a lot of money to buy a lot of skill.
Now your first article is ready. Just fine tune it to make sure grammar and spellings are corrected and your point is proved in your article.
Doing this repeatedly would help you gain some writing experience which you can fine tune.
All the Best!
Writers are typically pitifully paid.
Only the cheap ones... ;-)
Only the cheap ones... ;-)
LOL - True enough. A lot of competing talent though.
I agree with those that suggest that therealgtron can probably hack something up until decisions are made. However, it was clearly stated that this person is NOT a writer. Maybe they would be surprised, maybe they would improve, very likely that they don't have time..... I applaud the OP for recognizing the limitation (whatever and whyever)! Too many DYI writers shoot themselves in the foot.
Writing well, or effectively (not necessarily the same) are skills. Just as most website owners, IMO, should not be allowed to touch their own websites, a lot of people miss out by not hiring a writer. Second and third rate work goes up, work that will be used, most likely, for a very long period of time
A writer is an investment in quality, no different than any other specialized area. I do a bit of graphic/image work, but anything really important I hire out to someone that specializes in graphics and images. We all have to pick our fights and balance an investment in quality now against the payoff of benefiting from the results for possibly years.
I'm stunned, frankly, that the opinion of those in the "Content, Writing..." forum seem so dismissive of the skills needed. Though I have commented how much talent is out there - most people do not write particularly well, are even less effective, and would benefit in the long run ($ $ $) by utilizing available services.
Many schools have a dept that are supposed to help with job placement. Contact them and tell them what is going on, they may be able to put you in contact with some people.
If you find a loyal person and you start making some money offer him/her what you can and try to build a relationship or even a partnership with them.
Students eager for experience may be the answer here.
Listen to Syzygy
The reviews on my site are not very well written, but they sure are believable.
IMO, for review sites, credibility is more important than slick writing.
1. Buy some books or take a class on how to improve your writing.
2. Spend your time on research and have a friend or family member edit what you have written. You can probably make a better living with average writing skills and really cool, unique content than the other way around.
3. If you can program, make some cool tools people will want to use.
4. Make lame lists with catchy titles.
(I'm being serious)
Tips to write your first article:
Think about the phrases that come in your mind when you select a topic to write article.
Jot down them as points.
Arrange them in correct order
Join all them using simple sentences.Now your first article is ready. Just fine tune it to make sure grammar and spellings are corrected and your point is proved in your article.
Doing this repeatedly would help you gain some writing experience which you can fine tune.
Surprised no one has picked up on this idea. Writing is a skill that can be learnt. It really can. Just as programing can be learnt.
I am not suggesting that anyone can learnt to be a great writer, but a decent one, yes!
Then run through the article on MS-Word to correct grammar and spelling mistakes!
Most products come with literature, fine print or other verbiage. Copy and paste this. I don't see any ethical reason not to do so.
It will fill out the page, but less than zero benefit to SEO to use the same canned content that every other cheap and lazy site seeks and posts.
Writing well can be learned, but not in a few days .. or a few weeks. Some of us have studied the craft for years, taken courses, practiced, and written thousands of pages ..
.. and still, too often, fail to create content that really grabs and holds a reader's attention.
As they say, "start small but think big", Google wasn't built overnight. Start writing with something you like. It will be hard at first but you'll get use to it.
I don't know if the guy who asked this question even tried to write something... maybe he can show what he wrote so that we can suggest what needs to be improved.
