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[Note from Jeanie: Even though you may be an excellent writer, you might still consider hiring a professional freelance writer, especially if you want to engage someone who understands your article campaign or can guide you in it. Dana's article helps you to understand the elements to make a better decision. I also consider this is a very good example of effective article writing for the Internet: it's well written, solves a problem, and is about the right length for an article from a professional (it's just over 800 words; 500-800 is the optimal length). Also, the word phrases tell you that she knows what she is talking about. And, who knows, maybe she hired a freelancer to write it!?]

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Hiring a Freelancer For Your Article Campaign

By Dana Davalos

As a graphic designer, I have found the need to hire freelance writers on more than one occasion. When I'm designing an ad campaign or helping flesh out a client's website, one of the most important things to remember is that words must go with the images in order to make them make sense. I sometimes have to be reminded of this myself!

I always recommend that my clients take advantage of article marketing -- no matter what their business is about. Distributing their content (even if it's ghost-written) across the Web drives traffic to their sites, increases their sales and gives them greater name-recognition. Like me, lots of my clients don't really want to take the time to write -- not even about themselves!

Here's what I tell them about hiring a freelancer:

1. Good ghostwriters cost money. Their services aren't usually prohibitive, but like all things in life it seems you get what you pay for. You should expect to pay between $30 and $100 for a good, solid article. And when you look back and see how much that investment has increased traffic to your site, it will seem like small potatoes.
   
   
2. Inform yourself. Many freelance hub sites out there (which we'll cover shortly) provide services from writers around the globe. It can be difficult working with a writer who has learned English as a second language. If it's important to you that your content is written by a native speaker (or simply someone who has a really great grasp of English) you'll want to make it clear up front when you post your project.
   
   
3. Form a relationship. You might only have one project right now, but if you find a good ghostwriter, keep their contact information handy. You never know when your site will need updating, and odds are good that the freelancer will be thrilled that you came back for more work.
   
   
4. Hire more than one person. One really great way to get the best value out of your project, if it's big enough, is to hire two, three or even more professionals. You can have phone conferences and exchange e-mail to get the voice and tone just right, and it's nice to have a little variety in your site's content.
   
   Besides, the more writers you hire, the more articles you can distribute -- and that translates into money in your bank account.

The first thing you can do is enter a search for "hire freelance writer" or something similar using your favorite search engine (Google's mine). You'll come up with thousands of websites run by professionals selling their services. If you find one you like, and the price is right, magic can happen.

There are also some really great one-stop shops for employers looking to hook up with freelancers. Some of the ones I've used are Guru, E-Lance and craigslist.

Guru is great because it's free for employers. All you have to do is post your project and then freelance writers submit bids for each posting. Your contact information remains anonymous, and you get to see the professional's resume, reviews by other employers and any writing samples they've submitted. Guru has enlisted thousands of professionals, in the U.S. and abroad, who specialize in everything from Web design to ghost-writing science fiction novels. The employer review system is also helpful, giving you a sense of who you might be working with before you sign any contracts.

E-lance has much of the same thing going on. Employers can post their projects or invite particular professionals to bid on them for free, and then pick and choose from selected candidates based on past performance reviews. They offer professional services from graphic design to programming to article writing. They also offer a safe-payment method and a 1099 tax service that makes your life sooo much easier.

Craigslist is always a good standby to turn to for professional writing services. Simply choose the geographical area you want to search and look up "writing" under the "services" tab. You'll get a wide variety of results, from people offering tutoring and academic services locally to freelancers looking for work all over the country. There is no built-in feedback system on craigslist, so caution is advised, but you can find great local writers using this service.

The thing to remember is: Once you hire your ghostwriter and he or she begins producing content for you, you'll want to get it out there right away to as many places as possible. This is when Internet marketing really gets exciting -- when you start to see a concrete response to your content in the form of increased traffic and sales. There's a reason they say article marketing is the wave of the future. And if you've gotten to the end of this article, there's proof that it's working!

Author: Dana Davalos, graphic designer and online biz kid, shares her thoughts on internet marketing, design and life in general at Groovy Graphix. Learn more about her recommended marketing ideas at Article Marketer.

(Dana gives you permission to use this article at your web site, provided you publish the article as presented, with no changes, including hyperlinks. Please be certain to remove the "Note from Jeanie" above the article title.)

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