When should I start outsourcing?

06 Jul 09 8:58 pm

Outsourcing can really be started at any time and if you're struggling with writing your own articles then it would be sensible to look at outsourcing this to a place such as elance.com.

However in our experience a lot of affiliate marketers start out with a small budget (also known as bum marketing) so outsourcing is not really an option, in which case they need to earn that money from their first site before moving on and scaling their operations with outsourcing.

The other advantage of getting your own site earning first is that it gives you some good experience in what you need to do to create money-earning websites. Before you start outsourcing its really important you understand how the industry works, otherwise you can waste a lot of money on getting work done that doesnt achieve a whole lot.

07 Jul 09 3:33 pm

Two questions about outsourcing articles.

First, how personal should the article "sound"? One example: I almost completely re-wrote one of the PLR articles offered by AB as a bonus. As I re-wrote the article, I found myself injecting personal stories or examples relevant to the article content and injecting "you," you're" and "I" a lot.

After completing the re-write, the article sounded more interesting, real and friendly vs. the original article that had few personal pronouns and sounded canned.

Second outsourcing question, which may sound dumb, but worth asking. What if you're not only good at quickly writing articles but you enjoy writing articles? I'm a blogger. I write all the time.

If my goal is to set up 50 sites in 50 days, then I understand the necessity of outsourcing. However, if my goal is 5 sites in a month or two, why not write the articles myself, avoiding potential duplicate content and launching a better website?

08 Jul 09 10:58 pm

Hi Rocket,

Comes down to a personal choice in the end I reckon.

I'm similar to you in that I enjoy writing articles and did a complete rewrite from PLR's to personalise them. Usual problem tho of the time available to do so because of the hated 'dayjob'. But grinding on as I will have the satisfaction of having my first site as a truly personal creation.
However, when it's earning, I want to ramp up quickly so it will be outsourcing for me at that stage. Advantage as Jason says is that I will have set the standard that I want my articles to be at. Plus will only have to spend 5% of the time to personalise them.
Good feeling when it's all your own work, don't you think?

@Jason
Agree 100% on understanding how it works before you outsource. Otherwise how you know if the quality is good enough?

@Renato
Would be interested to find out how your writers perform. Not ready to outsource for prob 1 month yet, but would welcome your thoughts.

@Bigearner
Regardless of the points above, I would think that if English is not your first language, then outsourcing to a quality writer would be essential. It's tough enough and time consuming enough as it is without a language barrier in the way.
I would like to take on the Spanish market for a number of different niches, but have no idea of how these PLR's would sound to a natural Spanish speaker. So in addition to the normal work with the website design I would have to:
1. Get them translated first to English to read them.
2. Rewrite them in English to my standard.
3. Translate them back into Spanish again to post them.

Regards

Alastair

09 Jul 09 1:22 am

Hi Renato,

Many thanks for your information. I'll certainly store it for use in the near future.
Quality content is quality content no matter who or where it comes from. Be more than happy to give someone good money for a good product and if it saves me some in the process then it's a win win situation for both parties!

Would like to PM you nearer the time for some further guidance if that would be ok.

Thanks Again

Alastair

09 Jul 09 12:38 pm

Renato,

Echo your thoughts on helping people. That's what I like about Affilorama.

Good idea to post.

Thx Again

Alastair

10 Jul 09 12:13 pm

Avidpoet,

$225 for 15 articles? Bro I think you are over paying. Even with the elancer's who are very good writers only charge about $12 a piece. You don't need to pay $15 a piece to get top notch articles. But hey, whatever works for you man.


Regards,
Renato

11 Jul 09 12:44 am

Avidpoet,

If you are good with 400 word articles then you can definitely outsource to elance about $10 a pop. =)
I am happy with my writer on the gaming niche, she charges me a really good price of about $3.50. =)


Renato

14 Jul 09 12:36 am

I have just had 15 articles written for $150.
The quality was good.
They were written through ExclusiveArticle.com

Trevor

08 Oct 09 9:34 pm

Does anyone find it odd that the main page on exclusivearticle.com contains spelling mistakes? The one that got me was in their Step 4 about the final proof read.

I'm just saying that if you are running a business around articles you'd better make sure you copy is spot on.

Anyone else use this service and have comments on it?

Stephen

02 Mar 10 7:40 pm

I am also interested in outsourcing. And it is not that i don't like writing. It's because my english is bad. my first languages is dutch so... But as i am a beginning affiliater, i dont really want to pay the Bigprice. I see some people here get much cheaper writers than i can find.

Are there some people who knows such writers? Please PM me. Or just post it here if it is allowed!?

Thanks,
marco

23 Apr 12 12:14 pm

I guess the "con" side of outsourcing is being brave enough to risk it. If you are just new to this industry but would very interested to try, it is advised that you just pay for small projects. Elance is a great place to start. Additionally, you should also do your research before you even hire someone. One of the things you should have basic knowledge about is the pricing as well as quality of work. Like for example, in terms of assigning writing jobs, try to know the best prices first and with regards to quality, it would be safer to hire someone (in Elance or any other freelancing sites) who has clean track record of past clients and maintains good ratings.