Chances are while your have been building your blog, website or link building purposes there has come a point where you wanted to outsource some of your writing on the cheap.
Even though it’s simple to outsource your writing I am going to give you 5 easy steps to make sure you’re outsourced writing is of your quality standards.
I do a lot of outsourcing through Iwriter, especially on reviews because they are cheap and effective for what I want to do.
I recommend them as a good place to start if you’ve never done it.
Step #1. Be Exact In Your Directions
When you want someone to write for you, the more direction you can give them the better. I had to learn this through trial and error and there were some days I literally wanted to ram my face through the wall…until I put myself in the writer’s shoes.
A writer only knows what information you give them. So if you only tell them a certain set of keywords to write about, they’ll have no clue what exactly you want.
This means that they’ll use their discretion to write something based on the keywords that you my not care for.
If you’re using Iwriter, they make it easy by allowing you to add instructions in a special resource box.
Use this resource to give them an angle of how they should approach the article.
I’ve even given them a link to some resources if I want them to be focused on something in particular.
Also, when you find a good writer you really like, who is used to following your instructions, use them over and over again.
Step #2. Know Your Keywords
Do a little bit of research beforehand so that way you understand the keywords. The writer is going to do the work, but, if you fail to know the subject, how can you know if they are doing a good job or not? If all else fails take a small trip over to www.wikipedia.com if needed and do some skimming on your subject.
Step #3. Tweak The Writing
When you get the writing back from the writer proofread it and tweak it with your own style! Don’t just slap what they give you up onto your site as that is a recipe for disaster.
Make sure the terminology matches your niche and sounds like it should before adding it to your website.
Let me give you an example of how I used this this morning. I ordered a rather large 1000 word article from someone at Iwriter.
When I got it back the writing was good but the writer had a few oddly structured sentences in the writing. Likewise a couple of the terms they used within the article were not terms that would make sense for the particular audience I was sharing this with.
So I spent 15 minutes proofreading and then tweaking the article accordingly.
Step #4. Dress It Up
Like tweaking, you’re going to want to add images, charts or even video to it. If you do not want to use your videos or don’t have any use Youtube .
I’ve mentioned this several times in the past but by adding images you bring the post to life and make the content more shareable (free links and traffic!). Plus, you can toss it up on your own Pinterest account this way as well.
Step #5. Add To The Writing
Not exactly tweaking it here but similar. Often times when a writer sends me back something and it sounds really good I think of something else I can add to it to make it better. What this allows me to do is add my own voice and make the writing more in-depth.
As you know the more you answer someone’s question in your writing or give them the more details the better it is for you, them and the search engines.
I love using table press to add my own charts to make my content really stand out; it’s also free. You don’t need to use tables or charts to make i stand out, but it sure dresses a post up nicely and works great on comparison examples and reviews.
Giving your readers more of what they want is a great way to increase conversions as we discussed a few days ago. Of course, if the writer covered everything thoroughly then you can skip this step. A writer who does great work like that is also keeper!
By the way here are some additional places to outsource your writing needs:
upwork: Like Elance but you can often find people who specialize in niches.
Iwriter: I have ordered almost 150 articles here now.
One final note on outsourcing your writing. Never outsource your main #1 passionate niche.
I.E. I would never outsource anything about blogging or marketing. The reason? It’d never meet my standards and it probably wouldn’t help my audience.
Basically, if it needs just your voice and you are a darn good expert on the subject, don’t outsource it.
Do you have any tips to share on getting great outsourced writing? Have you just started outsources? Haven’t outsourced any of your work yet? Share below….