You want to have a good relationship with the content writers you choose. You also want to be able to attract and keep good content writers to make your job easier. Both of you need to understand each other and work together well. Whether you need legal writing services, Web content or tweets, you can easily annoy your writer if you:
Go Insane With Your Directions
The directions you give for the work you’re commissioning should cover what you need, but it should not be as long as the work itself. If you hire through content companies and have 400-word directions for a blog post, expect it to go unwritten. Here’s something that many clients don’t understand: Reading the directions is part of the work. If the directions for one assignment are super long and convoluted, you can go to the next available article that has a three-sentence description and write that one instead.
Don’t Pay for What You Are Asking
If you are asking for something complicated, something that will take a lot of time or something that requires a great deal of experience, you need to be willing to pay for it. You know all of those marketing websites where people post about how cheap their writers are and how much work they get for a few bucks apiece? Yeah. Those. The most impressive work those people ever do is to post on those marketing sites. Their businesses go nowhere. The content they get just isn’t good enough to make an impression with anyone. If you lowball, you are insulting good writers, and they will refuse the work.
Have Ridiculous Expectations
I once saw a client ask for an article about some commonplace topic. Fine. They demanded that it get one of the top three results in Google searches for that keyword. Not fine. No one article will put your site on the map. No page of anything will wave a magic wand and create top Google spots, an instantly higher conversion rate (I’ve also seen that request) or fame and fortune for you. Good content can do a lot for you, but much of what you need from your site will come from your own marketing. The best you can do when it comes to content is to get a talented and experienced writer who will create interesting, informative copy. The rest is up to you.
Assume That All Writers Are the Same
This is a biggie. Many low-tier marketers look at the cost of each page of content and nothing more. They assume that anyone who can put English words together is a writer, so the only thing differentiating them is the cost. I’ve had potential clients tell me that they could get the same work from someone in the Philippines for a 10th of the price. And yes, he could get work elsewhere for that cheap. Would it be the same work? Um, no. I have a coat hanger, and I can charge you a 10th of what your plumber does. Want to hire me? Didn’t think so.
Your writer isn’t disposable. If you found a good one who is willing to write for you, hang on and don’t let go. Because the truth is, I can replace a client faster than he can replace me.
Lizz S is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.
