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13 Comments

Ask IH: Have you outsourced content writing?

I’m considering using Upwork (or something similar) to find someone to write articles for content marketing. I’m worried about how to get decent quality rather than rehashes of e.g. Wikipedia content.

Does anyone have experience of this and can offer tips? And what’s a good balance of cost/quality?

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    The podcast with Dominic covers some content aspects, it might be worth a listen.

    I generally think the key is to experiment with people that you find. Start on a small scale. Ask them to produce something for a set fee. See how they get on.

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      Thanks Rosie. I listened to that one in the car which set my mind thinking about content marketing, but I should go back and listen to it more carefully to get more concrete ideas.

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        What I've personally found along the way with hiring people on a freelance basis is that it can be harder to begin with. It won't necessarily free you up straight away, but if you develop a way to work, have the right amount of support/processes in place, develop good relationships with them - then it can be worthwhile. I personally like to find people I genuinely get on with and who understand our niche/community too.

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          That's good advice - sounds like I need some patience. Thank you!

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    Sometimes I outsource the content writing.

    Primarily, I screen the different bids and proposals based on a writer's past works.

    One way to get them to write really good stuff, is to say that you're publishing the article under their name.

    So it's good for you, since there's more visible variety to the reader, and good for them, since they end up getting famous, and good for you because they're probably going to share the article that they wrote, and good for you, cause since the article is under their name, they're going to have to write pretty much, decently.

    The best way to outsource content writing, is to go directly to an authority on the topic. Say you're writing about realestate, then get someone who's an expert on the topic / field of work, to write an article.

    They can't write? No problem, ask a writer to do the interviews with them instead.

    As long as there's authority on a topic, that's pretty much more trustworthy to visitors, than just another copywriter.

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    We used ContentFly for a bit and I really enjoyed the service. It's slightly more expensive than hiring someone off Upwork but the turnaround was nice and I was never relying on just one person.

    Personally, I'm happy paying more for really good quality content that's SEO optimized and thought out - they follow the Skyscrapper Technique from Backlinko I believe.

    There's almost too many options, which makes it tough to pick one to test out.

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      We also tried Contenfly and were pretty pleased with the results. You're right it is a bit more expensive but I think when you're doing content to help with your SEO, it needs to be good quality.

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    I'd suggest using a content writing service. @DaniMancini runs Scribly.io, which does exactly this. I'm sure she could help you out!

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      Hi Rick. Thanks for that - another vote for Scribly! I hadn't heard of it before but am taking a look.

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        No problem! I don't have any affiliation with Scribly, but Dani is super awesome and more than worth the look. Good luck!

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    You should check out Scribly.io by fellow indie hacker @DaniMancini

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      Hi Louis. Thanks for the recommendation. I wasn't aware of Scribly but it looks like it's aimed at my kind of situation.

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        Hey @tagawa - we can deffo help you out with this :) Drop me a line on [email protected] and we can take it from there - we offer low cost trial rates so that you can give us a whirl risk free. Thanks @rickfiy
        for the mention too!

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