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15 Comments

💀Fiverr is killing me...here's what's going on

Hey IH Fam! 👋

I'm one of the co-founders here at Sturppy.com

Our software helps founders around the world to create investor ready financial models and forecasts without the headaches of Excel.

We have a big focus on education given that most founders don't come from a finance background. In line with this goal, we've built a startup finance dictionary.

The goal:

Outsource some of the content creation/writing work to freelancers

The issue:

Fiverr stinks...we've bid 3 sample projects and the quality has not been up to par

The Ask:

Does anyone have any advice/leads on where I could find better writers? Ideally this person has knowledge of startups, finance, and has strong written English skills

Any advice/tips/tricks for how you've been able to tackle this with your own startup/indie project is welcomed!

Best,

  1. 7

    For $20-$50 you are not going to get quality content - so it's not surprising that you were disappointed with the result. At this rate they'll usually do some basic research to write something and it will be same-same content. Just regurgitated.

    I found one of the best processes to speed up content and maintain a high quality is to have a writer interview you about a subject matter or whatever. Ask you questions and record it.

    Then, have the writer transcribe the video and create the article based on that transcription. That way it's your knowledge, but without the process pain of actually writing it.

    1. 1

      Oooo - I really like that process! I appreciate that!

  2. 3

    I think that one of the reasons some of these platforms have turned into a lake of fishes of all kinds is that many "gurus" tell people that they don't need skills to start, so it becomes saturated and makes qualified people hard to find, which hurts clients that want to pay for quality and freelancers that want clients that would value their services.

    I think you might have a better chance on Upwork.

    I also really liked the idea of @quinnzeda

    Another thing that you could do is also, first make a list of all the questions that people would have regarding to your solution and make videos answering those. Then turn those videos into blog posts, that way you can also attract people that are more likely to watch videos that read blogs.
    But if you don't want to be on camera, you can just do an audio recording and then use different visuals to support the audio.

    1. 1

      I think that's a pretty accurate insight with regards to the quality of these platforms.

      And 100% on the move to video - I have experience doing YT videos and have started the process of building out some instructional content both to be housed on YT and our site. In my opinion video/YT is one of the strongest acquisition channels when done right.

      While I do YT videos, looking for a writer to build out/expand upon blog posts and our financial startup dictionary :)

      1. 2

        Definitely, if you already have some videos, then you can maybe tell the writers to reformat the audio of them into blog posts. (You can download all the autogenerated subtitles and send them as a text if you don't have a script).

        1. 2

          Smart - big fan of re-using content in multiple ways/channels

  3. 2

    I found good content writers on Fiverr but it was a time consuming and expensive process. The ratings are bullshit because if you have a dispute with a writer they don't let you rate them so everyone's review is inflated.

    I had multiple writers straight up copy and paste posts from other sites and submit it as their own writing. When I disputed the payment because they plagiarized their work, I was unable to give them a negative review!

    You have to either sort through the garbage on fiverr/upwork or recruit good writers on other platforms. You get what you pay for in the content world.

    1. 1

      Amen x1000. Any other platforms you've had success with?

  4. 2

    Fiverr is pretty low end, get what you pay for (although in some cases it can get pretty expensive).

    I'd post in a finance related subReddit as well. And go to more quality freelancer platforms (Upwork, Toptal etc.)

    Were the samples paid? If not, that might be a reason for the low quality. I'd ask for a similar piece someone wrote and make my mind up based on that.

    1. 1

      Appreciate your input/feedback!

      I like the idea of posting in some subs - also agree that we should give upwork and some other platforms a shot.

      They were paid, in the range of $20-$50 for a 1,000 word article - the quality and knowledge of the subject mater were both just shotty lol. Good idea on asking for example pieces.

  5. 1

    I've used a UK based copywriter for my SaaS product website, very happy with the results. I can share his details if you're interested.

    1. 1

      That would be awesome - if you want to shoot me a note at [email protected] or a twitter DM at @jj_ladaga on Twitter with the contact info, that would be awesome!

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          Johns helping Johns - I love it. Appreciate the intro! Just saw it came through and will respond shortly. Cheers!

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