We're hoping for your opinion. We need to get a couple dozen articles written for our sites. We've gathered the following list of companies and we were wondering which one(s) you would recommend if any? We've had bad experiences with offshore author’s English grammar. http://www.justarticles.com/ http://www.articleauthors.net/ http://contentgurus.net/ http://www.keywordcafe.com/ http://www.webmasterlabor.com/
Personally, I'd recommend working directly with a writer to ensure you're receiving the kind of content you want. Article companies can be great if you're buying in bulk, but you aren't necessarily sure who they're outsourcing their work too. By hiring an individual writer who you know writes well (either by viewing samples they've written or giving them a trial run,) you're relatively guaranteed high quality content, and are able to speak directly with them throughout the duration of the project.
I just want to say that I agree with Denise, for a number of reasons. And the one I am going to mention is that I have hired her to write for our site, and after her first post I'm already impressed with her work. Read the post for yourself, and you will see what the results of paying for quality content are. Great turnaround, and excellent rates. I'd highly recommend her.
I would have to agree, especially for DP members. If you have work that needs done, a simple post in the Content or Services section will be swamped with responses, and you can easily choose the writer that best fits your needs/budget.
Some individual writers posting here in this section don't even bother to answer a PM query .. perhaps because they are not interested in the subject (?). But that seems a bit amateurish, IMO. In any event, ask to see articles on a similar subject by the writer who will be doing your articles. Read them carefully. Promos for article sites or posts about writing should not be seen as examples of what your article will be like. Many of these promotional pieces are carefully massaged and tweeked .. while your articles may not have the same care.
Old_expat makes valid points. As I mentioned, you can ask to see samples by the writer or give them an article to write on a topic you're interested in purchasing content about. This way, you're getting an accurate picture of their skills.
Thank you all for your valuable advice. We've recently hired an Indian company but we're unhappy with the results as their grammar is questionable. It's very obvious that English is not their first language. We want to build our company on quality not quantity. That being said we all have budgetary constraints that limit our expenses. The other issue is our niche is quite unique and it’s very unlikely that anyone would have writing examples. Does anyone have good or bad experiences with the companies listed above?
You can find many freelance writers here in DP (I'm also one among them). So the question is why you are looking for some other companies when we are here for your service? What is your opinion RTBanfield ?
U must hire http://www.articleauthors.net/ ...i have tested lots of writers and companies but Jeeplaw (DP member http://www.articleauthors.net/ ) is one of the best so far. I go for quality and don't mind paying him 3 times more than others. He has already written tons of article for us. Well Now choice is yours
I would have to agree with you. In my opinion, it is much more effective to work with a writer on a personal basis than through a web site which randomly assigns your project to one of a couple hundred writers.
I have hired a good freelance writer who wrote a couple of nice articles for me. I agree with everyone that it is the best way to go. These companies that you mentioned will probably charge you an arm and a leg.
Mayanetwork, there's no definitive answer I can give you for that. You will find many writers on DP or elsewhere who charge various rates, from less than one cent a word to .35 cents a word or more. Freelance writing is a real job like any other, and writers deserve to be compensated for their time, effort and talent with liveable wages. Personally, I believe that purchasing quality work requires a certain wage to get professional writers to take a client seriously. Those clients who refuse to pay decent wages may be unhappy with the quality of the work they receive.
The problem with writing companies is that you are paying someone else who built the company and he or she is assigning the work to someone else that he or she feels is good for the job. This person who started the company will then take a cut of the three to four or whatever cents a word he or she charged, and pay their employee only about half of that. From my viewpoint, this poses several POSSIBLE problems to quality. Bottom line is that there are plenty of good writers here who will put a great effort into their work if they are paid what they are worth. It won't cost more then a company, for most of us, and the experience will be more personalized then with a big company with thousands of dollars in orders. If you are going to work with a company, I would make sure that they allow you to look through their worker's portfolios and hand-pick your writer and that they guarentee their work or at least let you see how one or two articles are going before they commit you to a huge order. I would also ensure that the writer who is doing your work has provided you with reliable means to contact him or her. As a freelance writer I have no problem redoing and modifying my work until it is what the customer needs, and if I was ever to become a consumer I would demand the same. Anyways, that whole waste-of-time post was basically saying that I wouldn't go with a writing company unless they meet high standards. There is no reason to settle for less when you are paying hard-earned money for work you need.
Thank you again for your input and please don't misunderstand me. This is not about being "cheap" or anything related. It's simply about our company's article/content budget simply does not permit us to spend $15-$20 per article. As a former freelance web designer I have intimate knowledge and experience about everything you are referring to and I couldn’t agree more. But now that I’m on the “other side†I understand more the costs involved in growing an online business. Article writing and content creation is just “one piece of the puzzleâ€. The other issue I think we’ll find is that our niche is really “nicheâ€. I would be very surprised to find a writer who has any experience with it. So do we then enquire about the closest related topic? Could all of the freelance writers who read this thread please PM me with their rates per word, thanks!
As I was saying to DeniseJ, we're looking to hire someone on a regular monthly basis. We have 15+ sites on 15+ subject that all require content. We have a monthly budget in mind to start out and then we would build from that. Do you think a monthly budget is the best way or a per article/word basis? My thought are the per article/word basis guarantees results but as a former freelancer I know who much I liked a "regular" thing. What are your thoughts?
I have another question as well. Being English Canadian and as our visitors/customers are all "Western" (North America, Europe) should we only consider writers who are from an English speaking countries like the States, Canada or UK? Or have you found the English grammar is acceptable for offshore/international writers?
Mayanetwork, I replied to your PM and am highly interested in the type of content you are looking for. As far as rates are concerned, I believe it's a matter of a writer's personal preference. Some writers enjoy being paid an hourly rate. Others charge by the word, and still others take a set amount of money per week or month for their services. I don't think there's any right or wrong way to do this, provided the writer is being paid a wage that is acceptable to him/her.
I have to give my input to this thread as well. I am an owner of one of these companies, and yes, I do take a percentage of each article my writers produce as it wouldn't be profitable for either my efforts to market my brand nor my own writers who need steady income to produce said content. One of the good things about how I built my business is that I did it slowly. I took a small team of writers, and built it into a large team of writers. Team being the keyword. I know the writing styles, likes, dislikes and professional backgrounds of my writers so that I can best pair up an article request to a client's request. And yes, we give free revisions on all our work. From a 250 word article, to a 50,000 word ebook. You DO get what you pay for. A benefit of using a well established, reputable company like my own is that you get a variety of professional writers who can attack many kinds of subjects, from many different angles because of first hand experiences or educational background. Many of my writers are offline newspaper editors, magazine contributors, and published authors in hardcover and paperback. The bottom line is that the freelance world is cuthroat business with offshore firms driving down the costs for everyone. Regardless of who you choose to write your content, establish some sort of relationship before you purchase and get samples as was suggested previously. Ask about the author's background and whether they're writing from a research standpoint or first hand experience. And always ask for revisions before purchasing, so that you end up getting with exactly what you wanted when you ordered. Just be clear at the time you order what you want content-wise. Addressing the "offshore english grammar" issue, I have found faulty grammar with some offshore writers. Then again, there are some reallllly crappy American writers as well. Professional writers who write for a living in many different venues would probably be your best bet. These writers understand stylized grammar and can adjust accordingly to any point of view that they are asked to write from. I've got some U.S writers on staff who can do perfect U.K stylized writing. Most of my U.K writers cannot do U.S stylized writing surprisingly. It all depends on the individual skillset of the writer. Offshore writers may disagree with me, but I've gone through 100's of applications to join my team and I've found offshore writers to be either extremely formalized in their writing, or they present their writing in a comma-laden paragraph set that although is english, it clearly tells the reader that english grammar wasn't a strong skillset for that writer. Now, I'm not saying ALL offshore writers are like this, as I have a few on board with me, but by and large their writing skills pale in comparison to my offline/online professional writers.
Jeeplaw, I will definetly support you on this point. I have been screening writers lately to help me with my work load, and I have received a HUGE amount of samples/requests from offshore writers for work. However, out of an inbox full of samples, I have only chosen two to actually work with. I'm in no way trying to discriminate against writers outside the US, but from my experience, I can safely say that the majority is lacking in natural English writing abilities. Most of the samples I have receieved are equivalent to that of an extremely rough draft, and the amount of time that it takes to edit and proofread them is much more than the majority of US writers I've screened. Therefore, although most of them work for extremely low rates, you are still better off paying a quality writer more and spending less time editing and revising.