Outsourcing your web content is a very tricky thing. Partly because, I believe, if you struggle to write the content yourself, then you probably are in the wrong niche to start with. However, managing a business as well as creating quality content, consistently, can be very hard to juggle and sometimes outsourcing can help relief this pressure.

Many businesses know the power of content marketing, and well researched content can help a website rank in Google, bring in additional traffic, lead to more conversions,  build an audience and level of trust that is hard to do otherwise.

I have had mixed results with outsourcing my content creation. Overall I think you get what you pay for and generally if you want a quality article (by quality I mean something a top ranking website would produce) you can expect to pay $150-200 per article.

But why hire a writer? Well, not everyone has a knack for writing and you could have all the experience in the world but if you are unable to get your words down on a page your content and message is going to suck.

Here are 4 tips for hiring your first freelance writer.

Know Where To Look

Freelancers can be hired in every corner of the world, and there are many websites that allow you to find them. Most notable are:

• Freelancer
• Elance
• Constant Content

I have hired writers from many countries and from experience I will only hire writers based in UK or US who are NATIVE speakers. While I believe a non-native speaker can do a good job at writing articles. I find you do not get that conversational feel from the words and most of the time the articles I receive read in a ‘robotic’ way. Dealing with a native speakers means less time having to proof read and edit an article which allows you to concentrate on the more important tasks.

Be Specific In Your Instructions

You will be wasting your time and the writers by not providing a detailed specification. For example instead of instructing your writer that you need a 1000 word article written on growing vegetables, instruct them that you need 1000 words written about the easiest vegetables that you can grow in your home, in a conversational, easy to read tone.

The latter description will allow the writer to spend their time researching in more detail about the specific aspect of growing vegetables in your home instead of the initial very broad topic. This will result in a well informed, well researched article.

Look At Their Previous Work

Like any freelance profession, a portfolio is a must. You should immediately ask to see the writers previous work and where it has been published. If you happen to read an article that you love be sure to take note of the author and get in contact with them. If you liked what you read theyll likely be able to do the same for you.

Ask What Extras They Provide

Some of the most common extras that writers offer are:

• Sourcing images or creating graphics to accompany the post.
• SEO optimisation.
• Social media posting.

These 4 tips should help with your selection process. Once you have selected a writer it’s best to ask them to write just 1 article first. Agree on a price and see how good the article is.

You can use my article checklist which will help you identify whether or not the article is of high quality and where it can be improved.