I want to do some experimentation with outsourcing some article writing. Just wanted to know if anyone had any advice (based on experience).
I have outsourced my article many times. I get all the writers at the buy and sell section. Sorry to say, there are lots of crap writers there but you can also find good ones if you're lucky.
Takes a bit of trial and error with article writers here on DP, but you'll eventually find someone who is affordable, writes well, and good turnaround. Sometimes some people will appear to have good english, but there articles still don't turn out too good, so yeah.. always ask for samples, etc. and go for writers with decent iTrader.
Have a look on www.getafreelancer.com in Copywriting section. They are lots of writers there. Or you can also try Warrior Forum for article writers.
I just got 25 articles from someone here - they were awful. Although for how much I paid, I suppose that shouldn't be a surprise. It's easy to get articles that read like they were written by a computer or someone who can't speak English. It's tough and/or expensive to get quality articles.
Supper, I think you're crazy to outsource it, especially YOU - you've done so many articles that you can probably run circles around cats that claim to be good writers, as being a good writer and knowing how to influence ezine are two different monsters. Furthermore, I would be far fetched to think that assigning some keywords/phrases to a DP/WF/elance guru could ever outdo your prowess in this niche. In fact - perhaps YOU should be the one charging others to write their articles for a premium! Be careful when outsourcing, those that have a clue - would never write mass articles for cheap when they know they can milk directories themselves. If they don't know that yet, then do you really want someone that naive writing for you? I could be dead wrong and perhaps spending $100 may yield some ROI, and if it does and you can rinse/repeat the process then hey kudos and keep duplicating/finding more writers however I've been down this path and I don't trust writers as far as I can throw them. Only time I outsource is the actual sales page (which I've stopped doing now too - all in-house). From what I see mate - you have a natural knack for writing, you have a great sense of humor, sharp points, and top level wit that shouldn't be diluted imo... Best of luck either route, but that's my .02. NC.
I bought a few articles over the years and normally spent as much time correcting as I would have writing my own. I think that they are useless unless I am working anonymously; they are pointless because it is not my voice. Their best use is for brainstorming to get out of a rut or to find inspiration, which I leverage into better material unless you are on a personal talent search. If I found a great writer, I would hire them and split the profit to keep them! However, how could you keep them dumb enough to stay and be a great writer? That is, they will strike out on their own when they find this forum and realize what I did!
I'm sure I could write circles around these people, but I just can't keep writing at the pace I am or I'll shoot myself. I need to be able to reduce my workload, so I can focus on other things. I appreciate the advice though.
It is normally the problem of getting what you paid for - I have written some articles for people on DP and normal rates were $0.05 per word... which is still only a fraction of professional writing fees. Also given the fact many people receive junk articles at very low rates, I even decided to offer article rewrites for a flat rate of $10 per 500 words (which normally meant $10 per article rewrite). Even at those rates, which are higher than a lot of writers on DP forums, I would still be working for less than the national minimum wage here in the UK... it is why I don't really push my service and have turned to affiliate marketing to look at writing articles for myself. One thing I do need to look at doing is likely optimizing resource boxes to improve CTR and getting articles to rank for multiple high-volume search phrases... then I would really reap the rewards of my own work. PS. I also offer proofreading/editing services as well at a similar rate to rewrites... as proofreading some of the work from these forums is normally more work than an actual rewrite
Yes. I've had the same experience. I think this latest disaster is my last time buying articles. These are so bad they aren't even worth correcting. It's like they were crapped out by some article writing robot. In fact that's probably exactly how they were "written."