Pros And Cons To Outsourcing Your Writing

A content writer can write an average of 125 articles monthly with an average article length of 500 words, according to a survey conducted on more than 250 freelance writers.

Nowadays, the internet is saturated with content from different e-commerce websites, including yours.  You’re competing with several established businesses in the market, so you need to have a strong marketing strategy to stand out from the rest. One of the effective strategies is to produce top-quality, relevant, well-optimized, and high-converting web content. As a business owner, it's rigorous to run and manage all things at once, especially if you’re a sole proprietor. You’ll definitely need help with different matters such as marketing, human resource, management, etc. when you conduct your business.

So, your options may include hiring in-house writers or getting a third party to do the job for you. Either way, some advantages and disadvantages need to be considered. But if you want to go for the latter, below are the pros and cons of outsourcing writing for your business.

Pros

Outsourcing writing services for your online content can help your business thrive by:

1. Saving Your Time

Writing content takes a huge amount of time as it isn't as easy as it seems. It takes time to do the research and the actual writing, more so the editing process. Hiring an agency to do the research, content writing, and editing tasks will save you a big amount of time and give you a guarantee that the work is being handled well by a professional. Outsourcing writers, instead of doing the task yourself, will give you more time to focus on managing your business and its success. Plus, you won’t have to go through the work of training newly hired in-house writers.

2. Give You a Flexible Team of Writers

Flexibility in writing comes in handy as the writer can work on different genres, topics, or contents. Versatile writers have a wide range of skills, ideas, and perspectives. They can follow the set of standards you give and adjust to varying requirements accordingly. They can write interesting and reliable pieces professionally and creatively, building up your content marketing business strategy.

It will be easier for you to outsource freelance writers since there are tons of them, there are agencies and services like a ghost writing company, which offer professional writing services at affordable rates. When you hire freelance writers, you'll also have access to a wide range of talented writers.

You don't have to worry about training them as they're already proficient in writing, which is a big plus for your business. Furthermore, these professionals are committed to their passion and improving their writing skills in order to produce more compelling and engaging stories.

3. Saving You Money

Another reason why you should outsource writing services for your business is that it’s far cheaper than hiring an in-house writer.

Whether you hire them as a project-based or full-time freelancer, you never have to worry about offering employee benefits to them, such as costly insurance policy nor renting a bigger office space to accommodate them at work.

The best part here is that you won't be paying your writers with a fixed salary, you’ll only be paying on a per project basis, depending on the scope of work and the task’s level of difficulty.

Cons

Despite having significant advantages, outsourcing your writing also has disadvantages too. These include the following:

1. Lack of Inside Knowledge of the Brand 

No one knows the brand wholeheartedly more than you do. In business, creating top-quality content is knowing the voice of your brand. Several freelance writers are skilled in plenty of general industry niches. However, it takes a special niche to amplify a brand that will generate leads through content creation.

Writers definitely take time to study your brand's voice and use this knowledge to effectively reach out to your customers. Although agencies can definitely do this, it may take some time before they truly understand the vision and goals of the brand.

2. Communication Can Be Difficult 

The internet is making everyone closer together through social media and video conferencing tools. However, face-to-face interaction is still easier than communicating with people over the internet.

If you hired a freelancer from a different time zone, there are two issues that you should know when communicating with them through the internet: schedule and internet access. Either you or the writer needs to adjust to the other’s time zone so that your schedule would fit each other’s. Since everyone doesn't have a good internet connection, you can expect that interruptions might happen during your regular meetings.

3. Intellectual Property and Privacy May Get Compromised 

There’s a need to pay extra attention to intellectual property and privacy matters every time you need services outside your management. It becomes a problem if you outsource remote writers from a different country that has different laws from yours.

It becomes tricky when you have to deal with writers who commit plagiarism or have concerns over breaching top-secret information. It's better to purchase software that does plagiarism checks to cut the risk of committing intellectual property theft or have a thorough screening of your potential remote writers so you won't compromise your business privacy.

4. Possible Delays in Delivery Time 

There’s a general rule in outsourcing and that’s called the 4x rule. It means that it'll be four times longer for a freelancer to finish a writing project. There are factors that might make the delivery time longer, such as communication lags, inaccuracies, and internet connection problems, among others.

However, this isn’t true in almost all cases because this can only occur when processes aren’t running smoothly or when a new software is being used. You should consider following the 4x rule if these cases occur. When processes are executed properly, everyone becomes more organized and well-adjusted to any changes and article deliveries will have an improvement.

The Decision Is Yours to Make

It really depends on how heavy your workload is as the business owner. Your knowledge about content writing must fit your brand's voice and identity. If you’re sure that you can juggle both being a proprietor and a writer for your brand, then hiring a remote writer would be unnecessary. However, if writing isn’t your cup of tea, outsourcing can make your brand stand out and be as competitive as those businesses that generate leads and customers effectively. The pros and cons mentioned above will guide you in deciding whether to outsource or not.

20 Easy Ways to Improve Your Writing Skills

Writing skills are important both in school and in the business world. Unfortunately, not everyone is born a great writer.

Thankfully, anyone can learn how to write better. Nevertheless, you have to be determined and patient when working on improving your writing skills.

This article shares 20 easy ways to improve your writing skills.

Even if you’re a gifted writer, you also need to improve your writing skills regularly to survive the ever-changing writing world.

So, here are practical steps toward becoming a great writer.

Make Writing Your Daily Habit

There is no better way to improve your writing skills than practicing, and when it comes to practice, you need to write every day.

Don’t mind about what you’re writing; just write what comes to your mind.

Once you make writing your daily habit, you will be able to understand the flaws and how to overcome them, so just write when you feel like writing and when you don’t feel like.

Read What You’re Writing About

If you want to become a great novelist, read as many novels as you can. The same applies if you want to improve your report writing skills.

When you read what you’re writing about, you will be able to understand how other people are doing it, how they are using certain words, and the way they are presenting their ideas.

Outline Before Writing

What sets apart the best writers from the mediocre ones is how they present their points.

Before you start writing, create a good outline so you know the major points to address to make your piece of writing top-notch and well-organized.

Creating an outline is especially important when it comes to writing complex pieces. So, always create an outline of your work.

Keep Your Writing Simple

The best writers aren’t those who use complicated words in their pieces of writing. Besides, using complex words when writing may end up making it difficult for you to communicate your message to your target readers.

Aim to make it easy for your readers to understand your message, so keep things as simple and straightforward as possible.

Cut the Fluff 

Fluff includes words and phrases you use repeatedly when writing, yet they don’t add any meaning. In other words, these are words that even when removed, your message can be understood by your readers.

Well, of course, some fluff may be colorful or may even be meaningful; however, sometimes they make your writing look cluttered. 

Use Simple Sentences

If you can, use one sentence in each paragraph of your writing. But to avoid too many white spaces in your pieces of writing, try to use at least two to three sentences in each paragraph. This is especially important for business writing. People have short attention spans. No one reads everything; they scan. So, if you write blocks of content, no one will read.

Besides, short sentences and paragraphs are easy on the eyes and the brain.

Use Editing Tools 

The internet is awash with online editing tools, free and premium. Grammarly, ProWritingAid, Hemingway editor, just to mention a few, are some well-known editing tools to use to improve your writing skills.

Of course, you need to proofread your writing yourself but having an editing tool without you could make your writing top-notch.

Edit Once Done Writing

Some people can edit as they write but to improve your writing skills, it’s better to write first, then edit later.

Writing and editing at the same time can suppress creativity. Focus on writing first then polish your piece once done. You may also ask someone to edit for you.

Support Your Claims

Back up your writing with concrete evidence. This is especially important when it comes to schoolwork writing. In fact, it helps to avoid plagiarism.

When you make an assertion, make sure you support it with evidence. This will make people trust that you know what you’re writing, so they can decide whether to accept your claim or not.

Avoid Clichés

A cliché is a word, phrase, or saying that people have used to the extent that it doesn’t have any impact on your writing.

In a nutshell, they don’t leave a good impression on your reader, so you need to avoid them to make your writing stand out.

Choose a Good Writing Location

Does your creativity ooze when writing in the dining room? Does writing in the bedroom give you endless ideas?

Just choose a good writing location where your creativity doesn’t suffer when writing.

Join Writing Workshops

Another better way to improve your writing skills is to get feedback on your writing. Join local or online writing groups where you can talk with other people and read their work to improve your writing skills.

Feedback whether positive or negative could help you tweak your writing accordingly.

Write Distraction-Free

Distractions can kill the flow of ideas. Keep off distractors when writing. If you can, switch off your mobile phone, TV, and any other potential distractor so you can focus on writing.

Put Yourself in Your Audiences Perspective 

Put on your readers’ shoes when writing. This helps to keep your writing suited to your readers.

For instance, if you’re writing a business proposal to obtain funding, understand your target readers. Think about their level of education and many other factors so you can tailor your writing accordingly.

Use Better Verbs

Verbs are simply words that show actions. Using better verbs in place of plain words like have, was, etc. could grab your readers’ attention and make them interested to keep reading your piece of writing.

Vary Your Sentence Structure

Short sentences are sweet on the eyes but sometimes they can make the meaning incomplete. On the other hand, long sentences can drive the point home fully, but they are boring to read.

To make your writing stand out, mix long and short sentences.

Write in the Active Voice

Writing in the active voice helps to make your writing conventional.

Good writing is when you write ‘the car hit the bumps several times before it veered off the road’ instead of ‘the bumps were hit by the car several times before it veered off the road.

Of course, it’s good to mix a passive and active voice but you should always limit your use of the passive voice when writing.

Read Your Work Aloud

You can still spot errors in your writing by reading by heart but reading it out aloud could help to spot the hidden errors. It also helps you to get the tone of your writing from the readers’ angle.

Transcribe Your Conversation

If possible, record yourself while having a conversation with other people then try transcribing the whole or a couple of minutes of the conversation.

Once done transcribing, try to edit your writing, removing filler words until your writing is conversational.

Read, Read, Read

Yes, you heard that right. To improve your writing skills, you have to be an avid reader. Read when free or when traveling, and read before you sleep or before you head to work. Just read magazines, novels, newspapers, online articles, or everything readable. As you continue practicing writing, you will establish your writing tone.

It’s That Easy

Have you read anything complicated in our list of ways to improve your writing skills?

It’s easy to become a great writer but you have to be committed, determined, patient, and consistent in all the steps shared above.

Good luck!

Author Bio

Charles Syensson is a freelance writer and blogger. Charles’ most favorite topics are education, marketing, self-growth, and social media. Excellent adaptability of skills to reach diverse audiences.

7 Novel Writing Tips For Beginners by Melissa Cartew

The fact that you are thinking about having your novel is remarkable. You already have a story in mind; you just need to put it down on paper.

Having a beautifully written book boils down to creativity, hard work and dedication. Getting to write 1000 words is not enough. Learning how to sieve through the massive word count and only remain with a small portion is what counts.

You would rather have 200 words of great content that hundreds of pages of boring material. Your writing skills might be impeccable, but without proper guidance on writing tips, your novel might not see the light of day.

Photo Credit: https://s16815.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/iStock-157735020-170828.jpg

With these 7 tips, you can learn how to write a novel and transform your imagination into beautiful, profound literature.

1. Have a structure

You need to have a guide that will help you structure your story. Whatever story you have in mind, it needs to have a smooth flow. Otherwise, you will end up with a messed up book with twisted ideas and confusing sections.

Break your content into chapters. Each section needs a proper outline. This allows you to create a transition from the beginning, middle and ending.

2. Create a schedule

The more you practice on your skill, the better you become. Eventually, you need to create time when you sit down and write your book.

Photo Credit: https://blog.rescuetime.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/photo-1506485338023-6ce5f36692df-1000x486.jpeg

Find what time best works for you. It can be early in the morning before you start your day, or late at night before you sleep.

3. Have a word count limit

The excitement to have your own book might have you writing a couple of pages a day. Since you start and this is your first novel, you will ultimately start finding the task exhausting.

You have to know how to pace yourself. Remember, the whole point is to have an interesting book. Set a small word count you can easily achieve daily. It is all about consistency.

4. Read books

You already know a few brilliant authors with amazing books. They inspire you to improve your skill. Read your favorite authors for inspiration.

Learn how to use phrases that take your readers on an emotional roller coaster. The more you read, the better your imagination and writing skills.

Photo Credit: https://af-production.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/images/76458/original/books.jpg

5. Settle on a niche

What do you love reading? What niche interests you the most? Focus your story on that. Instead of writing content that you think people will like, write what you would love to read.

Every niche can be an interesting read if presented properly. If you want to confirm that, read this essay sample on mrs dubose to kill a mockingbird. This should give a new perspective on how to draft any story into a compelling piece.

Remember, you are not writing for yourself. You are presenting your story to thousands of people who love the same niche as you. Since you already know what gets your heart pumping, get your pen or laptop and transform it into words.

6. Make your characters relatable

Your characters are the foundation of your story. You need to make them compelling and relatable. Give them an edge or a vulnerability. Whatever it is they are going through has to resonate well with your readers.

If you have a hero in your story, focus on their human element and less on their macho power. Failure is an important factor to include in your book. Your characters need to experience failure at some point. Otherwise, you will have a novel that tries to sell perfection to the wrong crowd.

7. Have a journal

Jot down any ideas you have about your book before you forget. You might not have your laptop with you all the time, which is why you need a journal.

Conclusion

You need to develop the consistency to write often. Some famous authors spent years writing their first novel. Do not be in a rush to complete your story. Take time to develop your material by making your characters interesting and relatable.

Put in the effort to wow your readers with stunning literature. If you feel comfortable writing one page a day, stick to that, but see it through.

Use these novel writing tips to create literary indulgence. With practice, you can transform your story into gorgeous content that will feed the soul of your readers.

When stuck, take a break; maybe have a cup of tea or coffee. Keep at it. Do not quit.

Melissa Cartew

A passionate writer tries to explore the life adventures. Melissa is a perfect example of passion and ingenuity. She is a dedicated soul who strives to help people to find a joy in life. She has an enormous bookshelf at home, and that’s why she has plenty of books at home.

Four Tips for Getting Your Writing Published Online

✏ Don’t Ruin Your Name Before You’ve Got One

Everyone wants to make a name for themselves, but what they don’t realize is that there are two ways to do it. If you’ve had work published previously, that can play a big part in getting something new featured online. On the other hand, if you don’t have a ton of experience under your belt, it’s best to be patient. Make sure that each piece you send out is the absolute best that it can be (that usually means sitting on it for a while and doing a handful of drafts). If you’re over-eager and send out something that has typos, or worse yet, isn’t well-developed, you run the risk of blacklisting yourself. Just like editors are likely to remember the names of writer’s they’ve loved, they’re also likely to remember (and avoid) those who have sent them bad work in the past. Many online publications also have a limit to how often you can submit. That means if you send something subpar out to that review you’ve had your eye on and get passed over, you might not get a  chance to redeem yourself for another six months. So, be patient, craft your best work, and don’t let your first reputation be a bad one.

✏ Try. Everyday.

I’m not saying that you should be cranking out stories round the clock and submitting to anywhere that will have you as soon as you meet the required word count (see above). As Phyllis Whitney said, “ good stories are not written, they are rewritten”. Good work takes revision and that’s a skill you should be honing everyday. Even if you’re not quite ready to submit, keep showing up and putting in the effort every day.

BUT (there’s always a but), once you’ve got something that’s in good shape, send those babies out! Every. Day. Many places which publish online accept simultaneous submissions. They usually just ask that you email them as soon as possible if your work is accepted elsewhere—no biggie. So sow your seeds far and wide, because you never know which one will take root. We’ve all got our eye on  a certain publication that we hope will publish our work, but it isn’t our job to tailor the work to fit their needs and keep rapping on the door until they open up. It’s our job to write. Submitting (or revising) your work is all you have control over and in the end, it’s usually what has the biggest impact on your results.

✏ Stalk Around.

You heard me, get on someone’s trail and start creeping around. When I was in a writing course, I once looked up my professor online and found his resume. I wanted to know how he got from where I was, a writing student with no experience, to a professor with a full page of publications. His resume included his school, work experience, and also a list of short stories he’d written that had been published over the years. I started reading some of the stories and checking out the places they were published. Once I had written something of my own, I started submitting to those same places that published his early work. It didn’t yield any immediate results but eventually, the first short story that I ever got published was by one of the online magazine’s I’d heard of through his resume. I never would have known about that place otherwise. So dig into every nook and cranny because you never know what can happen. The real benefit of following in the footsteps of someone you know and admire is that, if you have similar tastes or writing styles, it’s more likely that you’ll be able to submit to the same places because you already know the type of work they accept (more on that below).

✏ Know Your Audience.

Do you write short stories? Blog posts? Novellas? Are they Narrative Nonfiction? Historical fantasy? Sci-fi erotica? The answers to these questions is going to have a huge impact on who is interested in publishing your work. Sometimes this is going to be obvious, but often times it’s a lot more nuanced and publications will cover a wide, but specific, range of material. For instance, I know a website which welcomes any genre so long as it is a “feel good story”. Similarly, I’ve held off from submitting to others who I know value a more ambiguous style of short fiction than what I write. That’s not to say that certain places will never publish your work if you write a certain way, but it does mean that you have to tailor your submissions to each individual piece. Don’t cast your pearls to pigs—send your writing to those who will be most receptive to it. By blindly sending your work to every place you see, you (a) risk creating a bad name for yourself with those editors and (b) you waste their time, as well as your own. One fantastic tool for finding the right audience is Submittable, which allows you to search for publications based on tags which fit your work.

Tips on Writing a Successful Story by Emily Watts

Whenever it comes to writing, grabbing the reader’s attention always comes as a primary task to complete a story to enjoy a stunning success in masses. Indeed, a truly striking novel or a narration cannot be written overnight, just like a perfect picture or a photograph cannot be made with only one shot performed.

One should say it’s become normal for a narrator to apply the most effective story writing tips these days in order to impress his/her readers with the diversity of description methods. And it’s also become popular to share these techniques with the public to boost the talents and passion of newcomers to writing. Following the tips described below, you will become able to produce excellent literary pieces and the task to write my essay will never be a problem for you again.

Go Beyond a Dull Description

Naturally, every story you write presupposes adding many descriptions, either short or extended. But, surely, it doesn’t mean that listing an event after event is the only acceptable way of composing a narration. If you ask the opinion of a professional writer, he/she will answer that feelings and emotions should go hand in hand with actions. As we all know, thoughts always precede words and actions and, therefore, they require a thorough disclosure as well.

Pay Close Attention to Dialogues

Joe Bunting in his post recommends keeping the maximum focus on dialogues, for those are the means of making a story sound vivid and alive. The secret of writing a perfect dialogue lies in knowing the intimate sides of your characters. Every character comes with a unique voice and totally unmatched mindset.

But when you make them speak in a story don’t go in lust with the slang or excessive humor. A good narrator can easily balance between ‘what’s suited’ and ‘what’s not.’ The writing tips we provide primarily exist to help you develop this particular kind of feeling.

Show More, Tell Less

What makes a talented writer distinct from an amateur is that the former speaks directly to readers’ imagination creating plenty of bright pictures to describe a given event. When something extraordinary happens a professional narrator attempts to:

• Play the best part in front of a reader

• Pick the most suitable words and phrases to deliver the message

• Pose himself as a hidden witness of an event

• Makes readers engaged in the course of events and forces them to feel the same way the story’s characters do

Make Them Laugh and Make Them Cry

Do you remember how you used to laugh at the funny moments some of your favorite authors described in their books? Already feel the grin appear on your face? That’s how it works: well-placed humor is a recipe for a story’s future success.

Same goes for drama; if you feel that a bit of tear won’t hurt a reader badly, but will help you write better instead, use this technique to your advantage. Compassion forms the desire to deeply examine the character’s inner turmoil. Once you’ve made your readers feel that way, consider you’ve reached the top of the art of writing.

Never Underestimate Your Target Audience

As the practice shows, people who read usually have higher IQ compared to the rest of individuals and demonstrate higher disposition to think objectively and analyze a situation. The story writing tips you follow in your practice should base on this major concept – respect your readers and bring them what they desire most.

To do so, free your vocabulary, avoid sounding too crabbed. Your strivings to stay pompous can actually play a huge disservice in establishing normal writer-reader relationships. So here’s one last piece of writing advice for you: be true, be you!

Conclusion

Concluding the things that are written above, writing is always a challenge and is always an option to resort to when one needs to share the acquired experience. The words one chooses and the things he/she emphasizes are, surely, the choices everyone makes for himself/herself. But in order to know which words suit best and what events are more worthy of describing than others a narrator needs to undergo some minor training course called literary practice. And for this practice to give better results he/she is supposed to thoroughly follow the good writing tips we’ve mentioned in our article.

About Emily Watts

Emily Watts is a backpacking enthusiast. She managed to backpack across Australia in a few short weeks. She came back to her hometown of Albany, where she shares her experiences with the locals, on top of helping out at the local homeless shelter. Emily has her own website Elizabethan authors, where she writes about authors and their works.

How To Get Your Freelance Writing Career Going by Rachel Summers

Freelancing is everywhere – you read about it on your way to work, your friend I a freelancer, it's on the news. You have probably thought about it more than you are willing to admit. You may have all of the components of a successful freelance writer – you are talented, you work hard, you love being at home – but you can't start writing for a living because you are not sure how.

Many people struggle with this – they would love to try but from the outside it all seems so complicated. Some of them may have even tried, they`ve looked for clients but came up with nothing and that is where their short freelancing career halted.

If you are one of those people, or you are just beginning and you could still improve the way you do things, here are some useful tips for you.

1. Create Your Writer Website. This will be your business card – you should display your photo, your name, who you are and what you do, why you are the best freelancer for them and links to other pages on your website where clients could find useful information on you.

This way, clients can find you easily. On your website you can store all your information about pricing, your style of writing, why the clients should pick you etc. The link to your website is easy to share – the client can never lose your information, you don't have to explain things to the new clients, just send them the link, a satisfied client can share this link with his friends – all of these things are a good reason to create a website.

2. Pick your niche. Once you have a website, you'll need to figure out what to write about. For this you can use your past experiences – your previous job or something you are very knowledgeable about. Choosing a niche can help you be a better writer – you'll become an expert in your own area – and this can bring you clients that are willing to pay more for your expertise.

Figure out your style too – and if you need help with this there are plenty of free tools online like Let's Go And Learn and Write My Australia

If you are not sure what your niche would be, don't fret – you can also write in a lot of different niches for a while to figure out what suits you.

3. Create samples. Having samples on your website will make your success that much higher – clients like to know your style before they hire you.

You can use old samples of your writing or create something new – all of these should represent your writing in the best light possible. Show that you are the best in your field – no matter what other things your website says, your writing will show them everything they need to know.

Make sure that all of these samples are grammar and spelling error free. To achieve this with ease, you could use some of the free tools available online like Australian Reviewer and Copy Blogger.

4. Start pitching. You can apply at job boards, start cold pitching or start writing paid guest posts.

One of the job boards you can apply to, if you are still not confident enough to look for clients on your own is Student Writing Services

The best way to go about this is to write personalized emails to your clients – take the time to look at the company, see what they are looking for and adjust your email to suit them. If you send 50 proposals daily but none of them are personalized, you may get a job but in most cases – and with the highest paying jobs – you'll just end up on the pile of freelancers who sent a similar generic pitch.

' Sending generic pitches to clients will get you nowhere. Take the time to construct the perfect proposal – your potential client will be able to tell and they will love that you paid attention to their needs. This way you are a lot more likely to get good, high paying jobs. ' says Anne Mitchel, a professional writer at UK Services Reviews

5. Market your own services. You created a business of your talent and love of writing – market it. Share your services on social media or on boards and websites where they might get noticed by a prospective client.

If you are not sure how to market yourself you should get some help – useful websites can be found Top Canadian Writers and similar tool was praised by Huffington post.

This way, the clients will have a chance of finding you. Marketing yourself will take time but it will most definitely pay off.

When starting your freelancing career the best thing that you can do for yourself is to believe in your own worth. You should know that there is someone out there who would appreciate and pay for your work – find a way to that client and never settle for gigs that you don't enjoy doing.

Rachel Summers is a social media manager and she has been doing this for seven years – she worked for various companies including Elite Assignment Help, a leading custom writing service. In her free time Rachel helps start-ups and small businesses by offering her expert advice on social media strategies. You can see more of her articles and tips on her blog.