Hire a Freelancer

Those who need to hire a freelancer can be looking for a number of things - a decent product description for a retail site, a ghost-writer for a blog to drive traffic, or a creator of informative articles that give substantive content to site visitors. There are many different sites out there that will allow someone with a job to find someone seeking to work, but the prospective employer should spend his or her money wisely and investigate the benefits of each.

What Is A Freelancer?

A freelancer is an individual who typically works on their own doing various skilled tasks for a variety of employers; writers, for the purpose of this article. Occasionally, these writers will be in a writing group, team, or collective that is linked professionally, but more often they work on their own. They take care of their own tax considerations, making them a great choice for employers who only need a few things done but don't want the hassle of filing forms. If the cumulative payments to a single freelancer reach $600 in a given year, however, the employer should request the freelancer give them a W-9 form to keep on file beyond the $600 mark.

How Do I Work With A Freelancer?

Hiring a freelancer the correct way should take a fairly routine path from discovery to project completion.

1.) The employer posts a job on a freelance for hire website, clearly defining their project, goals, time line and expectations.

2.) The employer selects a freelancer either through direct choice or by picking a winner in the bidding process that most freelancer sites offer.

3.) The employer makes initial contact with the winner, confirming they intend to do the project, and reaffirming goals and time line. Contact information, such as office phone numbers and email addresses should be shared now, in order to keep in contact throughout the project. This is the stage in the process where payment method would also be confirmed; most freelance sites have a built-in payment system, which often takes a large fee from the freelancer in return, but offers intervention services for the employer if the project goes sour. (If the freelancer is trustworthy and can provide a portfolio or references, they would generally always prefer to be paid directly through a payment site like paypal, rather than going through the freelance website. This is a judgment call the employer can make, based on how they feel about the freelancer's professionalism.)

4.) The project begins, and the freelancer should give periodic updates in accordance with the goals and time line mentioned in the original job posting.

5.) The project ends, and the freelancer submits the final project for confirmation and approval. After approval, which should be done as soon as possible by the employer, the employer is expected to pay in a timely fashion.

6.) If the employer withholds pay without a reason, or does not pay in a timely fashion, the freelancer may report the employer, or place them on an industry "blacklist" to warn other freelancers. Likewise, if the freelancer does not perform their duties, the employer may review or rate them poorly on the freelance site to warn other employers not to hire them. Generally, this does not happen in the age of email, as communication is quick and simple, and problems in the process are easily avoided through communication.

What Can I Expect To Pay For A Freelancer?

The subject of payment rates can vary wildly, depending on the freelancer. Most freelancers have a favorite task - some like descriptions, others are excellent at rewriting - and can sometimes offer a slightly lower rate on methods and subjects they are most comfortable with, for obvious reasons. In general, if you are paying less than .01 a word, expressed within the industry as 1/100, you risk getting sub-par work that may have errors in grammar, flow, and even spelling. There are many foreign copy "pools" of workers that are no better than literary sweat shops, and while they can turn out a high volume of words, very cheaply, the end results will make your business look worse, not better.

As an aside, you should, whenever possible, hire a domestic (United States Based) freelancer for copy and writing work in English. While a foreign freelancer might have a good overall grasp of the language, even certain subtle differences in phrasing will instantly tip off your customers to the fact your writer isn't American. When you are hiring an American freelancer, you can be sure that you are getting solid and fluent English work, written in the voice of a native speaker. Another important note is to look for individualized interest; if the same pat or unrelated text is pasted in every bid a freelancer makes on a website, it isn't a stretch to assume their work may also be rather generic or cut-and-paste. Select bids that make mention of your project directly, and hire freelancers that take the time to send a private message about the project to you.