Who NOT to hire for your content writing needs

I’ve spent a few years as a content writer now. As with any job, it has its fun moments, as well as moments where I want to pull my hair out. Sometimes I get to write about the latest applications, upcoming businesses, and various web technologies. Other times I get stuck with writing about stainless steel pipes, and jute handbags.

Over the years, I’ve seen clients who got in touch for a single project, and just kept coming back. I now have half a dozen clients who assign tasks every other week and have been doing so for well over two years. My discussions with them are interesting at times, and range from work related chats to the latest current events.

One thing that I have invariably noticed for all my clients so far is that they are wary of working with people who claim to have writing teams. I had always assumed that they meant small companies that were just starting in the business and could take up medium-sized projects on a freelance basis. It was only later that I discovered what these people meant by “team of writers”.

Your native English writer is most likely an Indian

Let’s face it, with a population of over a billion, we Indians are everywhere! A huge part of international writing assignments get outsourced to India. A lot of it comes here with the knowledge of the client. However, a scary amount of it has the client thinking that a native English speaker is working for them, when usually it’s someone like me.

There is a huge profit margin to be made in international work. Even low paying projects pay anything from $5–50 for a single post. Convert that in Indian Rupees and a dozen posts can net you close to 40–50 K. That is not a bad payout for work that most experienced writers can do in a couple of weeks. Writers who have made the right connections command rates of $1 a word with ease. Prices go even higher if the writer works in a specific niche like fashion or technology.

This is where people who offer writing services of a “team” come in. They pick up projects from either international clients, or from established Indian content companies. They then pass it on to freelancers for less than half the price. Effectively they get paid for signing up to a lot of Facebook groups and finding content writers who are just starting out and do not have an idea where to start. Payouts can be as low as Rupees 40–50 for a 500 word article. That’s less than a dollar, for what the client is paying $5–10 for.

The awesome dude in this photo is offering “freshers” a fabulous job opportunity that will in total pay a whopping $6.5 for 8 blogs. First names redacted to afford all participants here some degree of privacy.

Now for those of you who have hired writers for various projects, some of you might think that it doesn’t affect you. After all, you are getting what you are paying for. It sucks a little that the writer isn’t getting what he rightfully deserves, but that’s hardly your fault. Such content brokers are hardly harming you in any way. In fact, they make it easier for you to find writers whenever you have some work. Right?

Not really. You are losing something that can only be understood when you work closely with the writer. The feedback and revision cycles that are essential for getting the content that you will absolutely love, suffer greatly because of these enterprising individuals with writing teams. Unless you are just looking for some SEO content that has been spun from existing articles and does not really offer anything of value, you will almost certainly have revisions when you get the first draft.

So you convey your issues to the broker, who passes them on to the writer. In most cases, the writer will have questions of his own, which you will most likely never even find out about. Why? Well, because your broker most likely did not even read what he forwarded to you. So he has no clue what the writer is talking about. Besides, he doesn’t really want to waste time that such delays will certainly cause.

In most cases he will simply try to convince the writer to work with what he has already been provided by the client. I know this because I happened to work with one such broker last year. “Google it” was her standard reply, and boy it got annoying very quickly!

Now here is the thing folks. You may be using services like Odesk, or Fiverr to find cheap writers, but even here the broker will be the person you most often end up hiring. They have the luxury of taking on multiple projects simultaneously and racking up an impressive performance score. And thanks to the low rates at which they can get an entry-level writer, even a $5 assignment will net them at least a 200% profit margin.

My advice? Try and talk to your writer. Especially during the feedback and revision phase. A writer who asks questions may require some effort on your part, but they will almost certainly make sure that you like what you get. Be very wary of people who say they have a team of writers who can work for low rates. No one who has an in-house team can afford low rates. The office space rent alone will not be covered by those rates.

If it is affordable for you, pick a company specializing in content. At least they are accountable to you, unlike brokers who can pick up and leave with minimal loss. A Copyscape passed article is great for padding up content on your blog or website, but it will never give you lasting traffic. A good blog on the other hand will net you traffic for years to come if it connects with your readers. I know this for a fact because I have a couple of posts on this blog from almost 2 years ago that still get organic as well as social media traffic.

Many writers I know rarely get credit for what they write. If you take the financial incentives away as well, you will almost certainly be left working with people who have no intention of turning content writing into a profession, and are merely transitioning between profiles. Without proper experience, and without due incentive, they will not be very motivated to provide you high quality work.

There isn’t much that you can do if the company you enlisted passes on the assignment to a freelancer (Yes, that happens. Yes, I have worked on a few such projects), but they will almost always secure a better content for you than what a broker ever can.

Say no to “writing contractors with teams” for your own good. A freelancer will gladly take up your work, and for a rate lower than what you would pay to the contractor. It is definitely a profitable deal for the both of you.

And at the risk of sounding like a broken record, For the love of god, stay away from content brokers!

Let me end this post with a shameless plug. Though I may not have a team of writers, in case you think I can be of some assistance, you can get in touch with me here.