Outsourcing your writing is one of the most rewarding things you can do for an online business, website or blog.
It’s a no brainer.
More High Quality Information = More Visits = More Revenue.
Many entrepreneurs try once or twice, but unfortunately fail miserably at outsourcing their writing. More unfortunately, they usually blame the writer for their shortcomings!
- What goes wrong?
- More importantly, what can you do about it?
First let’s examine why outsourcing writing usually ends up in wasted effort.
Challenge 1 – Most writers don’t know how to write for the Internet.
Challenge 2 – Most entrepreneurs and small business owners don’t know how to write or its simply not the a good use of your time.
Sound familiar?
Eliminating Challenge 1 – Many writers can write well but not for the Internet.
If you just want to have articles – pieces of text that have words in it – no worries, but don’t expect anyone to actually read or engage with your website.
As the Yahoo Style Guide says,
“Text that works best on the Web is text that gets to the point fast and makes it easy for readers to pick out key information.”
Often one of the first things I do is ask my writers to pick up a copy of Yahoo Style Guide from their local library. If they can’t get it, they will appreciate it if you invest in them (and yourself) by buying them a copy. I have found this effectively eliminates challenge Number 1.
Alternately, look for pages on the internet that work well for you as a reader and use those as an example.
Eliminating Challenge 2 – Most entrepreneurs and small business owners don’t know how to write.
The good news is that you don’t have to know how to write but you do need to give guidance to your writers so that they can.
“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”
-Peter F. Drucker
Here are the guidelines to be a good manager of writers.
Tip 1 – Content Calendar
One sure-fire way to ensure the success of your business is to have a plan and to execute it effectively. If content creation is an important part of the plan, having a content calendar is as well. Your writers have bills to pay, too. Giving them a schedule to work by so they know what you need and when will not only help your business, but also ensure your rockstar writers are kept happy, engaged and paid – it’s that simple.
Tools to make and share your Content Calendar
There are several great online calendars that make keeping everyone in the loop completely painless. Update your content calendar regularly with your deadlines and expectations. Most writers work best with concrete deadlines that they can visualize. Make your life and their lives easier – and your business successful – by staying organized with one of these tools:
- Google Calendar: You can simply add information on specific dates. Google calendar will sync with mobile devices, so it’s easy to check and edit on the go. Share your additions and changes with your writers through Google+.
- WordPress Calendar: If you’re using WordPress for your website or blog, they offer an easy-to-use content calendar that makes uploading to the site even easier. Other hosts may have something similar. “The editorial calendar gives you an overview of your blog and when each post will be published. You can drag and drop to move posts, edit posts right in the calendar, and manage your entire blog.”
- Symphonical: Another Google product, Symphonical allows you to post projects and deadlines for multiple writers on a single “whiteboard.” Writers can move notes to keep you notified of production stage, you change colors of notes to mark priority, and it’s easy to connect with your writers on Google Hangout with the schedule right in front of you.
Tip 2 – Outlines
If you just want an article written based around a title you have given, don’t expect to get much back. With not much to go on, the writer will probably hand over a bunch of words potentially completely unrelated to what you wanted to say.
On the other hand, if you want an article that engages the reader, educates and entertains with distinct calls to action, you need to spend 10 minutes or so on an outline.
Here are headings I use:
- Introduction
- Body
- Conclusion
- Calls to action
– Link to articles
– Link to research
Write blurbs under each heading to put your writer on the right track. Communicate briefly what you need and maybe some ideas of where they could find the information. As mentioned in the challenges, writers can write and business owners have great ideas. Put the two together by giving the work of writing to your writers with your ideas presented to them to work with. All these elements provide a solid foundation for your writer to work from while creating content that adds serious value to your business.
Tip 3 – Outsource Smart
- Stay Involved
One of worst things you can do to hurt the relationship you are building with your writer is to make changes and hit publish without explaining why you made any final changes. Ideally you should try to educate your writer of the overall tone for your business and the goals you have for the content you produce before they start writing. If writers know where their content will be published, who the audience is, and what you as a business owner are trying to achieve, they will have a much easier and more successful time writing for you. If there is ever anything that you decide to change, let your writers know what you changed and why. Open lines of communication foster healthy and happy relationships with writers. Your writers can only supply the content you want when they know exactly what is expected and learn from doing.
- Editing
Separating editing from writing is a great way to ensure you get the desired outcomes you want from your content. I like to have an editor that is completely separate from the writers but understands what I am trying to do. Apart from having a second set of eyes, editing and writing are two very different art forms left to two different people for the best results.
Tip 4 – Think Long Term
Myth #82 – You can’t get great, quality, cheap writing.
Yes you can. oDesk and Elance have a system that enables you to outsource your work very inexpensively to up-and-coming writers. New great (and crap) writers join every day but they have a problem getting higher-paid work because they do not have a track record to show how good they are (there is a rating system). A time honored way for freelancers to get more work is to start cheap and build up their reputation. Once they have an established reputation, then they start increasing their rate.
HOWEVER – Just because you are only paying $3 for 500 words does not mean you should not treat the writer with the same care and respect you would give to a writer who charges much more. Most people online expect miracles – ironically the less they pay the bigger the miracle they expect.
Conclusion
Probably the most important factor in successfully outsourcing writing is to think about building long-term relationships. Once you find quality writers and train them to write for the Internet and, more importantly, for you, you want to keep them around. The voice you establish for your business needs to stay consistent. Good writers who produce high quality content that meets your needs can keep that voice intact, attracting more visitors and driving revenue.
Find your rockstar writers for less than you might expect on oDeskand Elance. Once you build a team of great writers, all you have to do is keep them informed and treat them well so they’ll stick with you for years to come.
Share your success and failures – What writing have you outsourced?
What other tips can you suggest?
Thanks for reading – Please leave your comments below.
Tung Tran says
Do you know that I visit your blog everyday just to see a new amazing article like this? 😀
I’ve been outsourcing content creation for over 2 years via Odesk and it’s a great experience so far.
I have one writer working with me for 2 years now. His rate is affordable and the quality if top notch.
I’ve recently known about the Yahoo Style book and from now on every new writers I recruit will receive a copy of this book :D. I also have a specific tutorial for each kind of writing job.
My tips for anyone who’s new are:
1) Set clear expectation: Tell your writers what you want: turn around time, how the article should be formated, writing style and tone, .. You cant just leave him/her with a set of keywords and expect amazing articles. No way 😀
2) Give immediately feedback: If you’ve just hired a new writer, be sure to check his/her work and give feedback.
3) Treat them nicely: Content sells so article writers are the most important people in your business so treat them nicely. Give bonus, ebooks, training materials and the most important thing: A BIG THANK YOU after any project. It’s not just about money, it’s about being nice and giving respect to those who are helping you with your weakness.
Thank Quinn for this article
Tung
cubiclefree says
Thanks the comment Tung and the email to let me know the comments were not working! I think I have this resolved now thanks to Jon.
You raise an excellent point about setting expectations. Timeframes are very important right from the get go.
“Hire Slowly – Fire Quickly” – you should respect and treat your writers well but you don’t have to be friends. I think a lot of people (In the past – myself included) worry way too much about being liked.
You don’t have to be liked to have an excellent relationship and do great things – Mutual respect and trust are what counts.
Quinn
Tung Tran says
Oh I always try to be friend with them :D… I will take your advice Quinn
cubiclefree says
Thanks for the emails guys – Seems that the comments section is not working! Please email me you comments if it does not go through….
Jon says
Quinn, it may because you are using akismet, I had to switch to antispambee plugin
cubiclefree says
AWESOME! Thanks Jon – That appears to have been the problem.
Tung Tran says
I have disabled the Akismet for years and use the Growmap Anti Spambot Plugin instead
Ti Roberts says
Outsourcing can be very helpful when it comes to effectively getting work done in a timely manner. It could even be a necessity at times, especially if you’re not skilled in what you need to get done. Thanks for sharing your tips and insights with us. I’m glad to have found your piece on bizsugar.com. I hope to see more of your content there. 🙂
Ti
Martin Lindeskog says
Quinn:
I found your site via BizSugar. I am interested to learn more about your laptop lifestyle. I recently started a new blog on travel and lifestyle design, AtlasAnd.
cubiclefree says
Thanks for the suggestion Martin! I have not really focused to much on that but you are right that would be fun. Last real job was a lonnnng time ago 🙂