I need a ghost blogger to write for my blog

[SFD]

I have an ecommerce site which last year I had a blog attached to.

Over the course of the year it has had 7 very half-hearted posts added to it and is looking a little bit lacking to say the least.

I have lots of ideas and information to post about, my problem is I hate writing and when I do write it comes across as very formal and matter-of-fact.

I would like a company/person who is able to read through lots of relevant trade info, both from books/magazines and online, and then create and upload blog posts every day or every other day.

I have contacted a company called 'Write my Site' who I have seen post on these forums in the past but I'm also keen to see what else is available.

Does anyone use a service like this which they can recommend or does anyone offer a service like this?


Cheers, Ian

 

[paretowasright]

Ian,

I would look on Elance or Peopleperhour.
There are some good article writers on there.
Its sometimes better to also find someone who has the relevant industry knowledge if you want really meaningful content.

 

[QVA - Emma]

HI Ian,

You would do well to contact Nikki Pilkington, one of her specialities

I do offer a service but only for existing clients and certainly not on the scale you would require.

Good luck

Emma

 

[sigurog]

Hi Ian, I offer these types of services and do similar work for other clients. I can't put my website on here as it won't allow me, but if you type into Google J21Media then my website will come up and you can check out what I do.

On the site my phone number and email are there, so if you are interested we can talk in some more detail about exactly what you need etc.

Thanks Jon

 

[SFD]

HI Ian,

You would do well to contact Nikki Pilkington, one of her specialities

I do offer a service but only for existing clients and certainly not on the scale you would require.

Good luck

Emma

Cheers for that. Nikki's service does look good although it does seem based more around the marketing of the blog, whereas at the moment I am just trying to get a decent amount of good content on there before starting with any marketing.

 

[Annoying Donkey]

Probably should charge the ubiquitous 47 bucks for this...

Have you tried local housewives/househusbands? Budding writers are everywhere and researching for a blog is good training. They tend to be reliable and welcome the flexible work. And they tend to come cheap...

Students are another source, though in my experience they are far less reliable.

 

[robertt]

I currently pay £6 per 500 word article for this type of thing as a price guide to what is doable.

UK based content writers.

I know people who pay 4-5 for similar quality as well.

Lots of big priced stuff out there , and there is really no need to pay big rates for such piecemeal work.

 

[SFD]

I currently pay £6 per 500 word article for this type of thing as a price guide to what is doable.

UK based content writers.

I know people who pay 4-5 for similar quality as well.

Lots of big priced stuff out there , and there is really no need to pay big rates for such piecemeal work.

I've paid that kind of price before with a few different people but I just got what seemed like content for the sake of writing content - no real structure, depth or even point.

 

[robertt]

I've paid that kind of price before with a few different people but I just got what seemed like content for the sake of writing content - no real structure, depth or even point.

Same - had some right dodgy writers and some crap content.

Currently got three excellent staff writers who do it very well at that price.

As with anything in life there is not always consistancy, but it is doable

Obviously those with a higher profile are easier to find and have testimonials, and therefore can charge more

 

[CKDavid]

look in Elance.. you can hire someone who can work remotely in an affordable price

 

[QVA - Emma]

Cheers for that. Nikki's service does look good although it does seem based more around the marketing of the blog, whereas at the moment I am just trying to get a decent amount of good content on there before starting with any marketing.

Yes that is how it reads on the site - but if you follow her or know how she works, she does a lot of ghost writing for clients for their blogs and has a team in specialist areas. Worth speaking to her IMO - very prominent in SEO and Internet Marketing (i.e. nothing to hide behind) and will add value to the service where others can't.

 

[newsvend]

Hi SFD

We write news and blog content for websites across a range of industry sectors and would be happy to quote. If you make an enquiry via our website - www.newsvend.com - or PM me with your details, we'll be in touch ASAP.

 

[I, Brian]

Newsvend, do you provide a public pricing model? Just that there appear to be no pricing details on your website.

 

[Outsource My Project]

Try advertising your requirement on www .outsourcemyproject .com.

You will receive offers from freelance bloggers/content writers/journo's within a matter of hours.

 

[newsvend]

Hi I, Brian

No, we don't publish prices. It's something we have discussed internally for a long time and I know it's sometimes frustrating for people who want instant pricing details.

But we have found that over the years we really have to look at the brief before we can give a realistic idea of cost. A customer who wants short, 190-word news articles in an area where there is plenty of news is different to a customer who wants a longer researched blog, in a very narrow field, where we may also have to cross-reference products and geographic areas with internal client-held databases.

We have some general price guides and estimating rules of thumb that we are happy to share on a case-by-case basis.

 

[mobyme]

I currently pay £6 per 500 word article for this type of thing as a price guide to what is doable.

UK based content writers.

I know people who pay 4-5 for similar quality as well.

Lots of big priced stuff out there , and there is really no need to pay big rates for such piecemeal work.

That is a ridiculously low figure. All you are going to get for such a garbage rate is garbage or something scraped and rehashed from somebody else's site.

We pay 15p a word minimum and in return get original, well researched, seo'd articles which I'm proud to pass on to our clients.

 

[XeniosPPH]

It all depends what you want, really.

I'd strongly advise that if you want well researched, well written content that will appeal to your visitors and encourage them to return, as well as having seamlessly integrated key words to enhance your SEO, then you need a professional writer - NOT an untrained person just looking to earn some pennies- it'll be wasted money.

Of course this means that you won't be able to offer these professionals absolute peanuts, but freelancers do usually charge a little less than agencies, due to their lack of overheads. Basically, you get out of it what you put in!

Many thanks for recommending Peopleperhour - we do have some fantastic blog writers on there. Let us know how you get on.

Regards
Xenios

 

[Jenni M]

Personally I would avoid just going along to sites like Elance or Odesk and trying to find someone - not saying it isn't possible because it is, it will just take you a while to weed through the idiots and the useless.

You need a writer who can write and research your subject - expect to pay more than £6 per article.

 

[robertt]

That is a ridiculously low figure. All you are going to get for such a garbage rate is garbage or something scraped and rehashed from somebody else's site.

We pay 15p a word minimum and in return get original, well researched, seo'd articles which I'm proud to pass on to our clients.

So you pay £75 an article and charge more to your clients?

Thanks for telling me that the content I use is junk without even seeing it.


People are paying prices in the £5-10 per 500 words range and getting researched, UK written decent content. Fact.

It may undermine your charge out rates and kill off your mark up, or someone elses crazy pricing but it is 2010.

This arguement is much like one I had recently with someone wanting to charge me £250 for a 1000 article - quoting me the NUJ suggested rate card


The emperor is naked! Sorry.

 

[westend]

robertt, I disagree. I have bought in content on and off for my websites for 8 or 9 years now, and in general I have found that using freelancers is just not worth it. It is actually quite hard to find a freelancer who is good enough, and available cheaply enough. I have never found anyone at the rate you are talking about!

The second problem is reliability. If I want an article written and posted every day by 10 am, you never get that delivered day in day out from some individual. Using a specialist company, I know that they have a number of senior writers there familiar with my editorial requirements and I get the service I want. If the lead writer is off sick,you'd never know.

Thirdly, the company I use buys in many specialist subscription news sources, and I never got that with freelancers. When I want news content this is especially important and so is having the technical backend to sort out the less relevant news.

And also the company has its own database of images that they can draw on , and as well they have some kind of arrangement with one of the photo libraries.

btw I pay something like £20 for 200 words and for me that's great value.

 

[robertt]

Hi Westend,

Looking on the first site in your sig brought me to http://www.westendevents.co.uk/christmas-parties.html

I copyscaped that and it showed two duplicates:


The page below has 136 words matching 30% of the page,as highlighted below:
http://www.saintjudes.com/parties.html

and

The page below has 57 words matching 13% of the page, as highlighted below:
http://www.thearlingtonrooms.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=86&Itemid=106


Placing a few of the 'news' stories into copyscape shows up the original sources as well - but quotes are hard to rewrite.

http://www.westendevents.co.uk/christmas-cheer-for-mumbles-children-169070.html The page below has 121 words matching 39% of the page, as highlighted below: http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/news/Smiles-faces-Christmas-cheer-hearts/article-2750554-detail/article.htm


I pay £4 per 500 words for news re-writing btw and gives similar results.


My point is that there are good cheap writers out there, but there are many bad ones as well.

Its worth the effort to find someone decent, then treat them well

 

[SFD]

No more PMs on this please, I got sorted with a couple of recommendations

 

[debbidoo]

Hi, SFD

You mentioned that you have an e-commerce site, but you didn't say what sort of products you sell. Would you mind letting us know?

I do a fair bit of guest/ghost blogging for clients, so I would probably be able to help you. But I know Emily at Write My Site and if you're already talking to her, you're in very good hands; she's a great copywriter and her packages offer good value for money.

I'm afraid I couldn't go as low as £5 for a 500-word article - that's a shockingly low fee and I can't imagine there are many professional copywriters who could match it - but based on the volumes you're talking about, I'd be happy to talk to you about the possibility of reducing my usual rates. Just send me a PM if you'd like to chat

Debs

 

[westend]

Hi Westend,

Looking on the first site in your sig brought me to http://www.westendevents.co.uk/christmas-parties.html

I copyscaped that and it showed two duplicates:
The page below has 136 words matching 30% of the page,as highlighted below

Thanks for checking that out, but these other companies have copied us as that page has been up for a long time, so not too worried. Good to know and I will change it in any case when I get a few minutes.

Placing a few of the 'news' stories into copyscape shows up the original sources as well - but quotes are hard to rewrite

I was asked about quotes on set-up, and I agreed to leave them in as I did not want quotes to be rewritten. So long as they don't contribute over 25 percent of the article, Google seems cool about it. Our news ranks pretty well and pulls in long-tail traffic.

 

[mobyme]

So you pay £75 an article and charge more to your clients?

Thanks for telling me that the content I use is junk without even seeing it.


People are paying prices in the £5-10 per 500 words range and getting researched, UK written decent content. Fact.

It may undermine your charge out rates and kill off your mark up, or someone elses crazy pricing but it is 2010.

This arguement is much like one I had recently with someone wanting to charge me £250 for a 1000 article - quoting me the NUJ suggested rate card


The emperor is naked! Sorry.

If you are not getting junk for £6.00 per 500 words that only exacerbates the problem.

Your rates verge on slave labour and I wouldn't pay that rate even if I could; I like to sleep at night.

 

[robertt]

If you are not getting junk for £6.00 per 500 words that only exacerbates the problem.

Your rates verge on slave labour and I wouldn't pay that rate even if I could; I like to sleep at night.

I couldnt sleep at night if I was paying £70+ an article. Probably because I wouldnt be able to afford a duvet as my content bill this year would have topped £85k so far going by some rate cards on here.

How much is a 'fair' rate for 500 words to you?

I dont see how withdrawing work is more moral either.

 

[mobyme]

I couldnt sleep at night if I was paying £70+ an article. Probably because I wouldnt be able to afford a duvet as my content bill this year would have topped £85k so far going by some rate cards on here.

How much is a 'fair' rate for 500 words to you?

I dont see how withdrawing work is more moral either.

It would very much depend on how specialist the subject of the article was and how much research was needed.
We never actually stipulate how many words are to be used, only the subject. We might occasionally specify link bait which obviously we pay a lot more for.
We would normally expect to pay in the region of £75.00 for an article that was 500 words long and required reasonable research.
We only outsource material that would take too long for us to accurately research ourselves or requires an interview; all the "google and rewrite" stuff we do ourselves.

 

[Aspens Marketing and PR]

We can also help, but its about content, subject matter and making sure it is fresh and interesting and in my view you need a team to do that for clients. I would love to get £75 per 500 words but live in the real world where blogs are written daily and so we charge by the hour with add ons for keyword density writing or marketing add ons and article submission elsewhere. Happy to quote if you email or PM with the subject matter and a link to the blog.

 

[FunkyBears]

I recently wanted a rewrite for an associate in Bangladesh who is has a website development system. One quote was for a days work at approximate £350.00. I searched and found another writer who specialised in writing technical articles, UK based. I gave him a call, sent him the document and he returned it in 2 hours. He did a really excellent job and charged me £15.00!
I have writer in the Phillipines who will rewrite a 2000 word article for $15.00 and he will do an excellent job and another lady in Scotland who charges £8.00 for an original 500 word article.
I also had some horific articles writen by UK residents and companies overseas.
There are affordable solutions out there if you take time to look.

 

[SearchBlogger]

It never ceases to amaze me just how low some copywriters go when it comes to putting a value their work and time.

With Google's recent algorithm change I hope high quality content will come to the fore once more.

 

[Ydeveloper]

What does it means Ghost blogger? Very aggressive! The writing for a normal blog and a blog for ecommerce is not easy. It require good knowledge and its customer base before start to blogging. It helps to create a content, which will be crawled by search engine so fast when it goes alive.

 

[Sarah Charmley]

If your copywriting is a business and not just a hobby then you work at it and ensure that you send in a really good product. You also expect to get a fair wage for your work. I am cheaper than some because I have been working for a year, but I would not accept £6 for 500 words! How can anyone live on that in this country?