Hiring a writer may seem like an expensive proposition. It certainly WOULD be, if you wanted to hire ONE person to write all one thousand of those web pages we discussed earlier.
The focus in hiring a writer, at this stage in the game, is this: Precise, key-word targeted writing that is both...
- Informative and/or entertaining: Give the search engines and their customers (the searchers) what they want... free content that is exactly what they were looking for.
- Key-word Optimized: The writing isn't just for humans. Certainly, PEOPLE need to find the writing to be of quality. That alone is not enough, however. The writing needs to have strategically placed elements to assist the search engine bots (spiders) to assign the proper key words, and rate these key words highly enough that your website won't be number ten thousand, buried in the list of search results, and remaining un-clicked.
So then, where do we find these writers?
We'll look in a place with a rather unlikely-sounding name, Rent-a-Coder.
www.Rentacoder.com started as a place to hire programmers. Whether that programming was for full-blown desktop applications or programming on the web, this was the place to go. Over time, the categories expanded to those tasks in related fields, like web design, graphics design, and (you guessed it), writing.
Rent-a-coder employs a feedback system. If you've ever bid on an auction over at eBay, this will sound quite familiar to you. Contractors and buyers both get alloted points based on the feedback of those they have done business with in the past, and a track record of all past jobs completed is available as well. Here's how it works.
- You post your project for free. You state a maximum amount that you are willing to pay for the work to be completed, and a due date.
- People willing and able to do the work will offer a bid... how much they are willing to accept as payment to do the work They may also leave comments and questions about the project.
- You can view the history, feedback score, and resumes of any people bidding on your project.
- If one of the bidders is acceptable to you, you select them to do the work and pay the amount agreed upon right away.
- Those funds do NOT immideately become available to the bidder. Rather, they go into ESCROW. The bidder does not get paid until you approve the work.
- Once everyone is happy, you give each other a nice rating. If you were particuly happy with the work, you may in the future post a project and invite that specific person to bid, or even make the project private for that individual.
That's pretty much all you NEED to know to get started. You can jump right in and post your first project, here...
www.rentacoder.com/RentACoder/SoftwareBuyers/Help.asp
You might, however, want to read up a bit first. Here are some useful articles at the Rent-a-Coder site, to get you started on the right track, help you pick the best consultant for your writing needs, and avoid some of the common pitfalls when hiring a contractor...
- Strong Communication Sells You may not realize that your writer values constant communication as much as you do. Learn more about why that's the case and why it's crucial to your project's success, with this interesting article from Aaron.
- Trouble writing content for your web site? Hire a web content writer by Gary Antosh. How do you create web site content fast while maintaining acceptable quality? Gary Antosh solved the problem by paying people to write the articles for him by the truck-load on Rent a Coder. So far, he's bought well over 200 keyword-rich articles - and paid a mere $5 each for them! Checkout his article.
- Templates for Documenting your Project by Rent a Coder Staff. Having problems getting your project completed on time and exactly how you want it? Buyers and coders sometimes speak a different language that can be difficult for new buyers to learn. Here are some tempates that will help you minimize development time and expense and improve communicate with your coder(s) in the language that they understand.
- Making Your Project a Success at Rent A Coder by Michael Sharp (Rent a Coder Top 10 Coder). From preparing the bid request, to choosing a coder, to getting your final software delivered, Michael Sharp, a veteran of numerous bid requests on Rent a Coder, explains how to make sure its all done right.
