Hiring a Writer: Pros and Cons
So, I know that for many of you, writing content is a problem, particularly because it is so time-consuming.
And of course, finding a good keyword, plus research, plus finding images all add up.
The very thought of writing the recommended figure of 2 to 3 posts may fill you with stress and anxiety.
(I know we all say 2 to 3 posts, particularly when advising newbies, but realistically you should write as much content as you can, as often as you can.
If you want to write 10 posts in 5 days, go for it!)
So, the thought of hiring a writer will inevitably cross your mind at some point.
But what are the pros and cons, and what should you expect from your writer?
Pros and Cons
The pros are pretty obvious - all the hard work is done for you and you can concentrate on marketing, keyword research, social media, etc.
But there are some cons.
And some of them are based on unrealistic expectations.
The important things to remember are that you need to give your writer the keyword, and an in-depth brief on the content and style you need.
Simply saying "write me a post on how to train a puppy" will end up with a poor result.
What style do you want - conversational or informal?
Do you want it written in the first person?
(I did this or I did that)
Do you want subheaders, and if so, how many?
American, UK, Australian or Canadian English?
Once you have the finished article, and you have checked it for errors and made sure there is no copied content, it's going to rank highly, right?
After all, it's been written by a professional, what could go wrong?
No, not necessarily.
Remember, the writer uses the keyword you give them.
So, if it's a poor keyword, that's not their problem.
They will write the post anyway, even if they know it won't rank highly.
The writer will just do as they are asked.
And if you are hiring a low to a mid-priced writer, they may not even understand SEO or how to rank a post.
As with anything, you get what you pay for.
How Much to Pay
So, let's discuss prices.
And just to add, these are my observations, everybody has different experiences.
If you are lucky enough to find a really good writer at a low price, then keep hold of them!.
A low-end writer will charge as little as $5 per 1000 words, but as you can imagine, it will undoubtedly be poor quality.
It may contain errors that need correcting, incorrect facts, copied content, and will generally not be engaging enough for your readers.
Anything under $40 is considered to be a lower-priced writer.
But obviously, the nearer you get to $40, the better the quality.
A mid-priced writer will be between $40 and $70 per 1000 words.
This level of skill should ensure that no content is copied and pasted, it shouldn't contain any grammar or spelling errors.
The content will be properly formatted, a genuine pleasure to read, their thoughts will be well organized and the article will flow nicely.
They may or may not understand SEO, be sure to read their profile.
The highest quality writers will charge over $70 per 1000 words, and the sky's the limit.
They will bring a high level of expertise with very in-depth content and will know how to optimize for SEO.
They may be specialists in a specific subject.
They will bring new angles and insights, even to a topic that has been covered thousands of times.
Do you hire writers?
(Disclaimer - yes, I am a professional writer, but I do not offer my services to WA members)
Recent Comments
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Yes Diane I have considered hiring a writer since I am not the best on grammar myself but ended up not doing it yet because I takes some work as well and I would not feel it is my own work and because I want to keep my costs as low as possible.
But in the future I may try it out.
Diane, I have considered the option of hiring a writer; however, since I consider myself still new to this arena, I want to learn as much as possible through hands-on.
At $70 per 1K words cold be a waste for a newbie. but if you have the funds, by all means, do you. I cannot justify it at this stage of the game. Besides, a pro writer may not build an audience any faster.
Canty
I have been working with a writer for over a year now and have been delighted with the quality and cost of his work. So I can recommend paying a writer.
It saves me a lot of time and as he is excellent in SEO I am learning something from him all the time.
Plus we have a great working relationship and work as a team, we've become great friends and treat each other with respect.
A win all around if you can afford it.
Lily
Hey Lily,
Can I ask you a question?
Where did you find your writer?
Thanks!
Zach "The Prosperous View"
Hi Zach,
I was fortunate enough to find a writer here at WA and that allowed me to see the quality of his work before discussing my plans.
It's Israel17, you can look him up here and check out his tutorials, he's awesome.
I'm sure that he would be willing to chat with you if you PM him, he's very approachable. It will all depend on how much you want to do and if he can fit you in.
Wishing you well.
Lily
Hi - officially we are not allowed to offer paid services to other members. You may wish to remove this comment and PM Zach instead, so as not to get anybody in trouble. I have personally turned down dozens of requests to write for others.
You either invest your time or your money when you start a blog.
Hiring writers has been a crapshoot for me.
I have tried many different methods, including Fiverr, Upwork, and content factories like TextBroker, Jerry's training method here at WA, you name it.
Some have been okay. Others were just plain awful. I have tried paying cheap writers and paid a lot more for supposedly much better writers.
One thing I have yet to try is professional writing job boards like ProBlogger.
My niche is pretty nichey so I think that contributes to the lack of success I have had.
For now, I will keep on writing my content.
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I had posts that didn't make sense grammatically, had words missing and were done from a US perspective rather than a UK as asked.
It was depressing because each one took so much work to put right and I still had to add graphics. I could have written 2 posts in the time it took to go through and correct the mistakes in each one.
Some were so bad for one site I just could not even post them.
It's still ongoing and I cannot bring myself to even look at them. Perhaps I was meant to just add graphics without reading through but that's not me.
I even found affiliate links that were obviously not meant to benefit me.
Would I do it again? NO! It was obviously farmed out to someone who worked cheaply while taking my much higher money.