Suggestions for Hiring Content Writers

[OverByte]

Hello,

I'm looking to hire a content writer for a website I'm releasing soon and was wondering if any members here had suggestions on sites other than the usual freelancing websites (ie upwork, writersaccess.com) which act as a middle man. I'd prefer to work directly with the freelancer and avoid the middle man if possible.

For instance, I previously hired illustrators from the job boards at deviant art forums and was curious if there was anything similar (ie forums where freelance writers hangout with job boards).

Appreciate all suggestions, even if just feedback from hiring on the freelance sites.

If anyone has any tips about hiring a content writer that would be great as well. First time hiring a content writer and I'm sure others are in this situation.

Thanks

 

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[Omni]

Go on upwork and ask for samples, then vet and audition those that hit your criteria. This middleman excuse is a bad one. Deal with cost cutting later

 

[Hostile17]

Depends on your budget, topic, and how much effort you want to put into hiring.

If your budget allows for something like $20+ per article, best to look at mid-tier blogs (not the most popular or widely read ones) that publish content on the subject, find posts you like, and see who wrote them. Look up the writer and see if they're freelancing. With this route, usually you can find the right person in 1-3 tries. Plus, you've already pre-vetted their work since you've seen online samples. It helps to find people working in cities (or countries) with low cost of living so you can find someone in the $20-$50 range.

If you're looking to do something similar to outsourcing (hiring skilled workers in a developing country at around $10-$20 per article), then you can go look up Facebook or LinkedIn groups and post an ad there (Ex. look up something like "freelance writers Philippines"). The downside is that you'll probably be flooded with applications and you need to look at samples to see if their language and topic skills are a fit for what you're looking for. Applications can be as many as 20-60 writers, depending on the group you're posting in. Some things you can do to get through these applications quickly:

• Use a submissions form (like Google Forms). Apart from collecting the applications in one place, you can ward off the non-technical people who can't even figure out how to load or submit a form, or don't have a fast enough internet subscription to load a form (there are quite a few of these).
• In your application form ask "What do you like most about writing about (your topic)?" and "What are some of your challenges about writing about (your topic)?" This can tell you how well they know the topic and how self-aware they are with their strengths and weaknesses. You want someone to be upfront with you if they're having a problem.
• Ask for links of samples, not attachments. This goes even for newbie writers, since you don't want to consider those who haven't even done the diligence of publishing their own articles on LinkedIn or Medium or their own blog. You want someone who takes initiative and is serious about providing writing services.
• Write a really good ad that attracts mid to top tier talent and scares off the newbies. Mention things like strict deadlines, email updates on their progress (depends on the content and frequency you need), X years of experience, some editorial/proofreading experience, etc.

This is just based on my own experience when I was running a content marketing agency for a couple of years, I'm sure there are other ways of doing it.

I've never tried this, but you can also do a quick search on LinkedIn, since you can do detailed searches by job title and narrow down by location, language, how connected they are to you, and other keywords.

Hope this helps.

Hello,

I'm looking to hire a content writer for a website I'm releasing soon and was wondering if any members here had suggestions on sites other than the usual freelancing websites (ie upwork, writersaccess.com) which act as a middle man. I'd prefer to work directly with the freelancer and avoid the middle man if possible.

For instance, I previously hired illustrators from the job boards at deviant art forums and was curious if there was anything similar (ie forums where freelance writers hangout with job boards).

Appreciate all suggestions, even if just feedback from hiring on the freelance sites.

If anyone has any tips about hiring a content writer that would be great as well. First time hiring a content writer and I'm sure others are in this situation.

Thanks

 

[ssr]

Hello,

I'm looking to hire a content writer for a website I'm releasing soon and was wondering if any members here had suggestions on sites other than the usual freelancing websites (ie upwork, writersaccess.com) which act as a middle man. I'd prefer to work directly with the freelancer and avoid the middle man if possible.

For instance, I previously hired illustrators from the job boards at deviant art forums and was curious if there was anything similar (ie forums where freelance writers hangout with job boards).

Appreciate all suggestions, even if just feedback from hiring on the freelance sites.

If anyone has any tips about hiring a content writer that would be great as well. First time hiring a content writer and I'm sure others are in this situation.

Thanks

There're a lot of actual freelancers on Upwork who're not middlemen. Like dozens and dozens. You can search, filter and go through some profiles - first thing to do would be to request a sample for like $5 so that you do not over commit and you can pick like 4-5 people to prepare a sample for you.

Once the sample is done, you'll have a good clue of a good fit for like 20-25$.

 

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