Outsourcing Copywriting Services – The Pros And Cons.
By Miguel Alvarez
Outsourcing has become a big deal in the copywriting business especially since the advent of SEO copywriting. SEO copywriting often entails the writing of twenty or more articles (even hundreds of articles) about one particular subject. If you are busy running your ecommerce business this means that you might have to outsource this material to a freelance copywriting service.
The main sources of freelance copywriting services on the web are elance.com and guru.com. These sites operate like auction sites. You post the project and the freelancers bid for the privilege of working with you. Most writers that specialized in search engine optimized content have conglomerated on these sites at one time or another.
There are also companies that provide outsourcing from companies like India. Many of these companies have their own site on the web. They are also a strong presence on guru.com and elance.com where they are able to underbid North American and European copywriters by bidding for jobs at pennies on the dollar.
Outsourcing your copywritten material to India is a very viable solution as long as you don’t care that your articles may be written by somebody for whom English is a second language. Whether you choose a North American or Indian provider is probably largely dependent on the purpose of your articles. If they are more meant to be search engine spider food, then outsourcing them to India is probably okay. However, if you feel that the language barrier could be a problem and you are more interested in the subtle crafting of your material so that your SEO articles are reading in what advertising copywriters call a “naturalized” fashion then you are probably better off to hire someone who is more local.
There is no debating that copywriting services come in all shapes and sizes. Even copywriting rates can differ from writer to writer. There is very little in the way of a standard rate especially when you are dealing with clients through the Internet. To ensure you don’t get taken for a ride, find out if the copywriter is charging by page or by the hour. Make your expectations clear on how many revisions of the material the writer will provide for you if the material does not live up to its expectations.
If you intend to outsource your project, be prepared in advance to prepare a contract that outlines all of your requirements, what rights you expect to acquire for the price and a deadline. Take the guesswork by outlining every step of the process in your content. It is a good idea to have this contract ready, particularly if you have large project to outsource and think that you need to hire a number of writers to complete it. Having a contract ready also just makes good business sense, particularly when it comes to what rights you are buying for a piece.
The quickest way to get an idea of going rates is to look at various websites. Most copywriters simply advertise their going rates for services. However if you are thinking of outsourcing to a foreign country make sure that the services that are required are explained in detail.
Before you hire an outsourced copywriter it is also perfectly acceptable to ask them for references. The ideal writer for you is also the one that can provide you samples that are similar to your own requirements. Most experienced copywriters have hundreds if not thousands of samples that they can dig up off their computer and send you as examples of previous work. A sure sign of a rookie is if they don’t have any samples of copywriting at all to send you. He or she may be all too willing to describe what they are willing to do for you for a low balled price but may not have the concrete experience to back it up.
Perhaps the best way to plan outsourcing your copywriting is to decide what part of the copywriting process that you are personally good at and then outsource the rest. For instance, you might be great at putting together keywords for search engine optimization yet on the other hand have great difficulty writing in a reader-friendly tone. Some people even hire outsourcers just to do the research for their articles and then rewrite them themselves. In fact, it is not uncommon for many individuals to outsource articles to an Indian outsourcer and then correct the grammar and plagiarism later.
The problem with paying too low for search engine optimized services is plagiarism. If you were paid two dollars per 1000 word article, what your temptation be? If you suspect that the material you are being submitted from an outsourced copywriting service is plagiarized, you will then also have to find the time or hire someone to go through the articles and type in various sentences from the articles to find out if the material pops up somewhere else on the Internet. Your option in that case is to hire a professional to rewrite the stolen paragraphs.
One of the big advantages of outsourcing your copywriting to another country is of course, price. A good example of this is the Canadian writer who provides the same service in the same language as an American or British writer but can provide the material at one third of the cost because of exchange rates.
As with procuring any other business-to-business services you are well advised to do a bit of research and comparison-shopping before you outsource your advertising and marketing copy to any copywriting service.
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