Hire a Professional Writer – Writing Quality Web Content
67Cheap Website Content – False Economy
One of the problems with many website owners is that they spend a lot of time and money researching keywords, building backlinks and marketing the site. Naturally, they assume that this will soon boost their site up the search engine rankings and bring success. After the expenditure on SEO, they assume that a professional writer is too expensive, so throw a couple of dollars at one of the article mills, which specialise in churning out cheap, keyword-rich ‘content.’
Sadly, all of their money is wasted as the website slowly sinks down the rankings and disappears, without leaving a ripple on surface of the internet. They frantically throw more money at the marketing, or give up and decide that the internet is a waste of time. By employing a freelance writer editor, they could have avoided this and made their internet foray into a positive experience.
Freelance Writer Editor
A Professional Writer is the Key to Marketing Success
If they spent a little time on self-assessment and attempting to understand where they went wrong, they would soon realize that they did not follow through and finish the job. The internet is exactly like a real life business and, however much money you spend upon marketing, if you sell rubbish, or your interaction with customers is poor, you will fail. This is a simple concept: Imagine owning a store, where your staff are trained to be vague, insult customers, and ignore the long queues building up as they talk amongst themselves.
A Freelance Writer Editor Writes Web Content that Informs and Engages
Ultimately, many internet entrepreneurs and businesses do exactly this every time they churn out articles littered with bad grammar and spelling mistakes. They insult customers by paying an amateur writer to throw together some web copy that rambles and meanders, without actually saying anything. Not only are you assuming that your customers are stupid, you are breaking one of the first rules of marketing, an idea that was in place long before merchants started wandering up and down the Silk Road.
“Identify a Problem: Provide a Solution.”
That is the simple truth, yet so many online businesses ignore this simple ideal. When a potential customer or client visits your site, they want you to give them an answer that allows them to decide whether to use your services. Continuing the analogy, if they were in a shop, they want the staff to tell them about the product without hearing their life story. Likewise, they want detail, not the vague landing page monstrosities breeding on the internet, complete with lots of exclamation marks, bright fonts, and absolutely nothing of substance.
A Professional Writer – A Moulder of Words
This is where a professional writer makes the difference and creates an interface, based upon respect between the business and the customer. A professional writer does not just see words as a tool for communication, vainly throwing them at the page. To a writer, language is something to be shaped, manipulated and used.
A freelance writer editor knows how to write concisely and clearly, using emotion to appeal to customers on many levels. They entertain and inform, leaving open-ended questions for the customer to answer, allowing them to arrive at their own decision, through gentle guidance rather than brute force. You are not trying to ‘Tell’ clients, you are trying to ‘Guide’ them. Hard sell is dead, and customers want control of decisions, based upon sound advice and wise counsel.
Experiment Resources – A Case Study in Professional Writing
One fine example, showing how quality wins over quantity, is the site Experiment Resources, now officially an authority scientific resource site. This high-quality site is regularly quoted in journals, texts, classrooms, and lecture halls around the world. When this site was no more than an idea, the owner decided that he wanted a high quality scientific resource site, to replace the vague information and outright misinformation common on the internet.
He decided that he wanted informative content and a professional writer, with an intimate knowledge of the academic process. Working together, from these humble beginnings, Experiment Resources is now an authority site, attracting thousands of hits every day and receiving a steady stream of emails asking for permission to use the information in lecturer’s notes and student essays.
With careful research of good keywords, allied to excellent quality writing, Experiment Resources is an example of a success story centred on a visionary entrepreneur. A series of books is underway and the site goes toe to toe with the competition, most of which have much larger budgets.
A Professional Writer is an Investment, not an Overhead
This is how employing a professional writer saves you money. Racing to the bottom, and looking for the cheapest option, is not the answer. Cheap does not equal value and, instead of looking at your professional writer as an expense, you need to break out of that paradigm and see them as an investment. Internet users are becoming sick and tired of the amount of poorly written tripe on the internet, and they are increasingly looking for compelling, rich content amongst the sea of meaningless words.
Employing a professional writer is the key to getting ahead of the competition and laying down a benchmark for quality. Instead of a poorly constructed site that potential clients take one look at and leave, a professional writer will create a website that draws customers in and causes them to think.
Professional Writer Links
My personal website can be found at: Freelance Writer Editor
An example of my work at Experiment Resources: Islamic Scholars and Biology
Experiment Resources Cited on Wikipedia: Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc
Citation at the University of Jyväskylä: Case Study Research Design
Citation at The San Ramon Valley High School: www.grochbiology.org/Statistics.ppt
Citation at the University of Hawaii: www.hawaii.edu/lis/content/syllabi/684_harada_f09.pdf
Freelance Writer Resources
Internet Article Marketing Strategy – Unleashing the True Power of Article Directories – Many businesses, as part of an internet article marketing strategy, submit batches of articles to the article directories, hoping to gain backlinks for their site. They fail to understand the true power of article directories, which can be part of an internet article marketing strategy if quality content is used to drive direct referrals and promote organic growth.
Hire a Professional Writer – Writing Quality Web Content – Quality web content is important to businesses, as the final interface between customer and business, the deal closer. If you look at the best sites, they understand that unique, high quality content is the king. As search engines change their algorithms, to filter out poor quality articles, businesses with the foresight to invest in a professional freelancer are the ones most likely to succeed.
Hiring a Freelance Writer Editor for Press Releases and Sales Letters – Press releases are an often forgotten way of generating publicity, yet are a great way of informing potential clients of new developments in a business. A high quality press release can create interest and give businesses a distinct advantage in the cut-throat world of internet advertising..
Thank you for a good advice and I would dearly do that but at the mpment I have to fight for every penny to pay my bills. My house is in danger to be lost.
Thanks, Frogdropping! Always a pleasure to be visited by HP Royalty, resplendent in green. For a few years, writers have been treated as exploitable commodities, rather than skilled professionals.
The tide is turning and self-respecting businesses realise that quality web content is essential to any marketing drive. There will always be spun crap, but times are changing.
You have picked a good time to develop your freelance writing career. Our multi-talented frog will soon be treated as a queen amongst writers, as she so surely deserves!
Thanks for the lovely comments :)
Hi Hello, hello - Sorry to hear that. I have been there and it is not a nice place to be. We send you best wishes from Greece.
Don't worry, this was not meant as a sideswipe at Hubbers - it is meant to show businesses the advantages of using a pro writer for writing good quality web copy for their websites. It is a different world than writing for adsense and affiliate marketing.
I like your work! Good luck with everything :)
You are a very busy person Sufidreamer, Wish you luck with your writing
Thanks, jayjay - Lots to do, but I love my job, so it is no problems. Thanks for the good wishes and likewise :)
Aw Sufi - you made me blush! Thankyou!
And I keep trying you know - I'm happy to freelance but I'm not writing for peanuts. I can't bring myself to write at the peanuts level, it's not in me.
I'd rather charge a fair amount and deliver a best working practice, end of.
So hire me folks. And expect quality :)
Which is exactly what you get from Mr Sufidreamer - top quality content!
No problem FD - It is all true.
It feels like banging your head against a wall but, if you keep plugging away, it will happen. You will get there.
I agree - Hire Frogdropping, Now!
Thanks for the compliment - we writers are such a vain bunch :D
sufi, I've come to do my homework, reading your hubs and learning more. I did some reading today from a book about freelancing and how to submit. this is an excellent article and love your logo! very professional, nice colors, inviting.
I can't believe the amount of junk online, especially in google searches!! sometimes I have to end up going to the second page just to get though the litter of 'ad plastered' 2 paragraph articles that say nothing! it's terrible. you have presented a very concise, well put together hub.
thank you for sharing. :D and I love the captions and pics, beautiful.
A good marketing technique,No one could ever deny you have a good quality content as a freelance writer , If I could make more through internet I'll make sure you are in my writer's list.
Thanks for commenting, Rebekah - always great to see you. Great that you are doing your homework and preparation - that is one of the keys to becoming a writer. Rather than cobble a website together myself, I used a professional, and she did a fine job.
There is a lot of junk, but it is slowly becoming better as surfers find ways to avoid it. For my work, I use Google Scholar and Google Books a lot, and they do a pretty good job!
Thanks for the kind words and let me know if you need any help :)
Thanks, sord87 - marketing is how the world turns and I have only my skills to sell! Thanks for the kind words.
All the best :)
Super Hub Sufi! You're absolutely right, when people buy cheap they usually get cheap. We need to ensure we don't devalue ourselves or our work and have a realistic idea of what we're worth. :)
*sigh* I wouldn't want to go up against you Sufi when bidding for a writing job. You'll beat me, hands down! LOL, I'm not kidding!
Trying my best not to go for the peanuts, but honestly, sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do. Hope I can follow your example someday and become a premium writer :).
Thanks for commenting and for the kind words, Emie - always great to see you. You could always look at it the other way - I would not like to go up against you for an accountancy job. You would beat me, hands down!
You are well on your way, but geography is against you, a little. Clients often assume that, just because you are Filipino, they can pay you less. That is something that I personally detest, but it sadly exists.
You will get there - of that, I have little doubt :)
Don't I know it (about the geography working against me). I joined Freelancer.com and there are lots of jobs there for Filipinos. In fact, I see some projects that state specifically that they want Filipinos. But the pay is really low (like $1 to $2 per 500 words or sometimes, even less)! After this tax season, I'll be trying out oDesk and Guru.com, promise :D.
That's exactly what I mean - I am a firm believer that somebody should be paid for their talent, not where they live. It happens on all of the freelance sites, sadly. Once you are successful, and have your own writing site, you won't have to worry about that!
Sufi, I am on the fence on this issue. Should people be paid for their talent? Well, it's nice if you can get paid. I'd love to be paid. However, I'm not discarding my talent, just because I'm not getting paid. I don't think that using your talent should be contingent on payment. That's where it gets tricky. For the time being, I'll keep my amateur status!
But it's great if one does get professional recognition. So good for you!
Hi Aya - Always good to see you!
I do actually agree with most of that. With this Hub, I am aiming at businesses who will happily spend hundreds of dollars on website designers and marketers, but think that they can find an experienced professional copywriter for five bucks an hour.
Rather than talent, I am thinking of training, experience and expertise. I love reading creative work, whether from professionals or talented amateurs. Does that mean that I would hire them to write copy or technical articles? That's the difference - the sets certainly overlap, but writing sales copy is a different skill. Being able to sculpt does not necessarily mean that you can build cabinets!
If you can do both, all the better :)
Great Hub!
As a Home-Based Freelance Writer myself, you've hit the nail on the head! I am currently working with a client (check out the Hub I published for his Real Estate Business.)
We work hard and we deliver great results. I hope that in the near future, businesses will view us as an investment, not a liability!
Great Job!
Thanks J.S. - Looks like we are on the same page. I am hopeful that the tide is turning, but the current economic climate has made everybody a little reluctant to reach into their pocket.
I will certainly check out your Hub - I like to check what other pro-writers are doing and see if there is anything that I can learn from them :)
Hmm, one of the images on this hub looks familiar. I like that scroll...it is free game, I suppose. ;)
On a better subject: Your website kicks ass...oops, I mean arse! Seriously, I like the whole professional, peaceful, oceanic vibe that is going on with that site.
http://freelance-writereditor.com
Did you design that site or did you hire a web designer. Either way, I like it! ...wishing you the best of success, as I'm sure you've definitely earned & deserve it! :)
Thanks for writing. It's a good warning to people that hire those $2 an hour copywriters. You get what you pay for (almost).
Hy Sufidreamer: This is very interesting. You hit the nail on the head about quality articles, the kind that inform and engage, as you rightly say. Those are the articles that we all aspire to writing. You make great points here. A lot of the time, its just about trying to score points and getting a rating, but do real quality articles on the web help, or do they suffer? Maybe there is something here that could be worked into the forums, perhaps? Anyway, congradulations on a great hub!
Hi Obscurely Diverse
The scroll - that was a Creative Commons search for the term 'scroll,' and the first one I came across that was Public Domain!
I hired a website designer for the site - I used to do a little, but that was in the days of html coding and Dreamweaver. Much easier to pay somebody else! I will pass on the compliments - she is very good and it turned out even better than I hoped.
Thank you and Likewise :)
Thanks, beevok - I hope that the tide is changing and people start looking for a good, rather than cheap, product!
Hi CheekyGirl - always a pleasure to see you!
You raised a couple of good points - I tried to skirt around that issue a little, because it is tricky. Firstly, I think that most of us would like to get rid of the real crap - the trash that looks like it has been put through a translator and stuffed with keywords.
On the issue of quality and quantity, I look at it in the same way that I look at the real world. A shop sends out fliers and brochures to raise awareness but, when customers visit the shop, you have to entice them to buy, with good products, a nice store and great staff.
The same online - If you want consumers to stay on your website, you need high quality copy. This requires a professional, not somebody you scraped off the freelance boards for $2 per article. A good SEO expert earns their money and attracts customers - a professional writer keeps them there.
There is plenty of room on the internet and it should soon balance itself between quality and quantity. I certainly hope so :)
Thanks for the kind words :)
You are spot on about all of this.
Through many years in corporate and technical communications, I can't tell you how often I've been called on to justify the expense of well-paid writing teams. The key to assuring the survival of a team is getting the corporate decision-maker to perceive it as an investment, not as an expense. And that's no easy feat when the "bottom line" is perceived only in numbers of dollars allocated in a budget rather than in opportunities for long-term growth.
Skilled writers allow readers to take productive action and to make decisions with efficiency. There is no better way to lose your client or customer than to allow him to feel as though he's wasted his time plowing through meaningless and disorganized words, and no better way to win him over than by giving him what he wants and needs, painlessly.
Just because nearly all of us are required to study language arts in school does not automatically make us writers. Effective writing is a skill, a discipline honed through hard work and endless practice.
There's a lot to be said on this subject, isn't there? And if I go on with more thoughts here, I'll be bordering on a rant.
Needless to say, thumbs up and so rated.
Your banner looks great.
Hi Sally's Trove
It really is amazing how undervalued writers are, especially on the freelance boards. The bean counters just don't understand the difference that a writer can make - you are spot on with your assessment.
Some people are just cheapskates, to be avoided, but others will happily pay hundreds of dollars for a website designer but begrudge paying a pro-writer a decent wage.
I hope that things are changing - I think that many of the people who thought that they would 'try their hand' at pro-writing have realised that it is bloody hard work. Without those bidding for a dollar a job, the market should equalise.
Feel free to rant anytime - I think that we share exactly the same frustrations!
Thanks for the great comment and the thumbs up!
Thanks, finsofts - I will pass that compliment on to the designer :)
We do share the same frustrations.
Here's a little anecdote...A friend of mine who is an investment broker and certified financial planner took a long flight and found herself seated next to a surgeon. As time went on, they got to conversing. He'd been tapping on his laptop and said he was trading on the market and not doing very well. She asked if he was working with a professional analyst to improve his holdings. He said no, I can do this myself. She said, well, I guess that's the same thinking as if I needed open heart surgery. I should do it myself.
True story. :)
Wow, definitely a great hub. You have hit every point right on. With so many willing to work for a penny a word it is getting harder and harder to find proper paying jobs.
kindest regards Zsuzsy
That one did make me chuckle - there are so many stories like that. I used to work in construction, and we send to spend at least half the time fixing things where people had tried to do things themselves. I'm all for saving money, but sometimes you need a little expertise.
Thanks for the laugh!
Thanks, Zsuzsy - Always a pleasure.
It is difficult to make any headway - often, it is not so much that buyers are cheap but that when they post a job, they are inundated with copy-pasted applications. Unsurprisingly, rather than wade through 50 badly written letters, they cancel the opening and look elsewhere. Makes it very difficult for the rest of us.
frogdropping 2 years ago
What a great piece of writing in itself Sufi. Absolutely on point and a true reflection of employing a top quality writer over someone that regurgitates crap for pennies an hour.
You'll know the saying ... pay peanuts, get monkeys.
It really is time for a change for anyone that writes high end freelance material. All too often, individuals are passed over in favour of someone that churns out crap.
I've no sympathy for anyone that underserves the writing community as a whole and then ends up with a pile of low-ranking garbage.
Really - top stuff and bloody well said!