Seven Things to Look for when Hiring an Article Writer

If you're interested in an article writing campaign, you're probably considering hiring a writer. There are plenty of places to find article copywriters, from online searches to bidding sites such as Guru.com and Elance. Here are a few things to look for when you hire a professional writer.

A library of samples. It's important that the article writer you choose has experience. There are two types of experienced article writers: those with experience in your specific subject, and those with experience in a wide range of subjects.

The first type is desirable, because they'll have an in-depth knowledge of your industry and may be able to bring their own knowledge and ideas to the table. A writer with a solid background in your industry starts with a base knowledge about your product and audience that other writers may not have. These are often the best choice if you need in-depth articles for an expert audience.

The second type is desirable because they're a whiz at research. A writer who's written-and written well-on everything from apples to zithers clearly loves to learn new things, and will dive into your project with enthusiasm. A talented generalist is usually very good at making complex topics easy to understand, and they're preferable if you need articles for a general audience.

A background in research. No matter who you hire, they'd better understand the fundamentals of online research: which sources are more trustworthy, why you need to get your information from multiple sources, and where to go if the information is hard to find.

Clear business policies. Your article writer should have a clearly stated business policy. You should know up front how much you'll pay, when you'll pay it, and when you can expect to start receiving copy. A good article writer will go over their policy so there won't be any surprises on the way.

Ethics. You don't want plagiarized copy-end of story. It's never a bad idea to run the first few articles you get from a new writer through Copyscape, just to make sure it's all original.

A native English speaker. There are plenty of low-budget article writers hailing from far-away places, but wherever they're from, they'd better be native English speakers. Even if they're quite fluent in English as a second language, they aren't likely to pick up on all the nuances of the language if they aren't native speakers. Your writing reflects on you, and if you hire a pro, you want it to be perfect.

A good track record. If you go through a bidding site, your writers should have a feedback record. This is valuable information that could alert you to any red flags. If your writer continually gets rated low for quality, response time, or any other factors, that could indicate a problem.

Even without a record on bidding sites, your writer ought to have testimonials and references available on request.

A reasonable price. You can get articles for $5 or lower on the web. You can also get them for $100 or higher. But no matter what you spend, you get what you pay for. Figure an hour for a well-written one-page article for a general audience, and figure twice that for an article on a more complex topic or for an expert audience. Then ask yourself: is this writer charging a reasonable price for the work I expect them to do? If it seems too low, it is.

A good article writer can be an enormous help to your business. Make sure you pick the right one. Try several out first, if you want-then hire the best for your long-term work. Whatever you do, take your time. Hopefully, you'll find a writer you can work with on a permanent basis.

Jennifer Williamson is an article writer who runs a successful writing business based in Philadelphia, PA.