10 Tips on How to Find a Freelance Writer
Need help finding a freelance writer for a project? There are literally tens of thousands of writers and aspiring writers who present themselves as professional freelance writers. Some are, and some aren’t. The question is – how do you know? Here are some tips about how to find the right writer for your project.
- Send the writer a contact email and carefully read the reply. Check for typos, misspellings, grammatical errors or other inconsistencies. These are always a bad sign in an initial contact with a writer. If you find any – move on.
- Get a price list. A “by-the-hour” writer will usually cost you more when all is said and done. Get a price on a project-by-project basis rather than hourly.
- Get examples of the work that the writer has produced and read them carefully – does it read easily, is engaging and is not just “fluff?” Google does not like fluff. It takes actual research to create quality written content.
- Google some section of the sample you receive and check for plagiarism. It is more common than you think.
- Ensure the freelance writer understands that he or she will not own the copyright to the work they submit to you, and it won’t be carrying their byline. Some writers object to this. You are paying for the content, so you need to own it, unless you are searching for a specific author for a project, and authorship will add credibility – that’s a different story.
- Don’t try outsourcing, as you will truly get what you pay for – writing that sounds like it came from another country.
- Check if the writer can meet the delivery date for your project. Getting the work on time can be extremely important, particularly if you have ongoing projects such as website launches.
- See if the writer is someone you can work with as a person. You are offering the work, so you should expect friendly, appreciative service. Avoid arrogant or patronizing writers as these people will not listen to you or could prove to be troublesome in other ways.
- Ensure you have the right to make changes several times before the writing project is considered done and payable, without added cost.
- For web content, make sure the writer understands the concept of optimization and organic SEO. Even if you aren’t sure what this means, the writer definitely needs to know, or you could be wasting money on content that won’t help your site rank.
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