Finding Affordable Quality Content for Your Niche Website
When it comes to the point that you have to start building the content on your site, you really have but 2 choices… Create the content yourself, or farm it out to a ghost writer. Unless you are a Pro in the niche market you chose, its likely going to be hard finding the strength to write the content yourself. In almost every case, I find it easier and much more cost effective to hire the work out to a qualified writer.
The Hurdles of Writing Your Own Content
I am no different than anyone else – writing content is one of my biggest challenges on Niche sites!
- Writing Content is Time Consuming!
If you recall, I value my time at $75/hour. Writing a 200-300 word article can take me up to an hour between researching the product and writing the actual article. When you can buy a quality article starting at $3, why bother writing it yourself?! - I May Not be Knowledgeable in the Niche Market
This is probably the biggest hurdle we face when writing content. What if we don’t know about the market? The research, as mentioned above, can take alot of time, and you may also look like a fool, when you get it wrong, hurting the credibility of your review.
Time = Money! The more time you spend on the content generation “Task”, the longer it will take for the site to reach a potential profitability!
Finding the Best Content Provider
I have literally used 25-30 different writers over the years of site development! From my kids who want to earn money, to many commercial services. Finding the right mix of affordability and quality is a challenge you WILL face if you plan to farm out some or all of your sites content!
When I started using TextBroker for my content, it actually took a while to find the right Author who wrote the content in the style I wanted! I probably went through 4-5 Authors before I settled on a man named Rob from Michigan. Now, he is probably the only Author I use! If you go into your own textbroker account, just search out the Author named “Rob”, he has hundreds of completed articles and everyone is satisfied with his work from what I can tell!
(I may regret giving you all his name now, since it may make him too busy for my stuff! )
Ordering Your Content
Setting up your Text Broker account is free… and once you have confirmed your email address, you have to fund your account. They require a minimum of $25 to fund your account and accept Paypal or any major credit card. After your account is setup, you simply create a Project, then add the content titles to that project, and send it out to Authors to be completed. The cost you pay will vary, depending on the level of quality you want to achieve.
If you use a specific Author like Rob, he will set a preferred rate for you, and all of your content will then be priced at that cost. In my case, its .02 cents per word. If you choose to send it out to ALL Authors, the price will range from .014 (1.4 cents) and up, depending on the quality level. I recommend you experiment with different quality levels on your first batch, find the author that writes to your liking and ask them for a rate, if you send them a specific batch of XX articles to write.
After you place your content order – the articles actually start rolling in within the first hour! My first batch of 25 reviews were all completed within 36 hours… and posted on the site the following day!
When they arrive, you have the coice of accepting them the way they are, or returning them to the writer for revisions. Only after you are fully satisfied with the content do you accept and pay for it!
How Much Does TextBroker Content Cost?
One of the best features of the TextBroker system, is that YOU choose what you want to pay for your content, based on the quality you want to receive! For the review pages on the Golf Putter site, I chose:
- 200-250 Word Articles (You supply the range of words you want)
- Specific Author in this case (.02 cents per word)
- 15% service fee – paid to TextBroker
So – 25 articles, averaging 220 words each, cost roughly $112.00 plus the service fee. If I was to write 25 articles myself, it would not only take a full week, the cost of my time would be MANY hundreds of dollars!
TIP – Order Your Review Content First – Use it to Build Your Guides!
I found that by ordering the reviews, or money pages, first… the rest of the site will actually build itself! How, you ask?
Once you have the 25-50 or however many “Review Pages” written, you just start creating guides! I have 4 additional guide pages ready to post now, that are nothing but a compilation of the reviews. For example: the first guide on the site is the different types of putters guide. After all the review pages are done, I will return to that page and add 2-3 “Top Choices” to each category, linked to the reviews.
Does TextBroker offer an Affiliate Program?
No! If they did offer an affiliate program, the cost of their content would naturally go up!
Great post Mark, I actually almost stopped writting my articles and reviews for my sites (bans and wp) a long time ago.. I have found that with a couple of good writers I can free up time to do other stuff. I have a friend that lost his job and with a little coaching he is one of the best writers(about anything) I have found and he still writes for me and I pay every month.(good deal for me and him)
However finding good writers was not always easy and the content varys from each one, some I had to edit and some were right on the money but, it is easier to edit some spelling and other errors than it is to create from scratch.
At first I could not afford to do hire someone on a regular basis, but with makiin some money from my sites, I now can reinvest in the future of the empire…
Hello Mark,
You indeed write from your heart. I am not a writer but, I sat for writing article for my niche yesterday. It took me almost 3.5 hours to complete one article. I agree that it is waste of time. Now your post has opened my eyes and I will sure hie someone for doing this stuff so that I can concentrate important aspects of my online business. All best, Jayant
I plan on testing out Textbroker for content and was wondering what you generally ask for in the order title and description. I tried to write my own content and it takes me hours and isn’t worth it but I want to make sure I get quality articles for my niche sites and not waste any money. Thx Juan
@ All – thanks for the comments!
@ JHarri26 –
When I request articles, I actually use the exact title of the page on the site, as the requested article title. For instance, if I wanted a review type article for : “Snapper LT100 Lawn and Garden Tractor Mower”
Title: “Snapper LT100 Lawn and Garden Tractor Mower”
Then down in the description of the content section, I would tell the Author I want:
I need a buyers guide type review for the [PLH] listed above. The content should focus on a review type article of features, benefits, and functions of the [PLH]. Please do not list a manufacturers specifications sheet in the article, but more of an explanation as to WHY you like, recommend, or dislike the [PLH]
Mark
Hi Mark
I haven’t commented on any of your blogs before but I’m an avid reader!
Anyway I am thinking about outsourcing my content too due to time constraints…
Can I just ask when you request an article do you ask them to research it as specified in the number 1 way i.e. to look at the first 30 google pages for info or do you include all key specs (such as product height etc) in your order and they just knit it together?!
Hope that makes sense! I’m too tired!
Haha
Thanks
Dave
@ Dave – Welcome in!
I don’t ask them to do any research… and provide an EXACT list of review type articles I need. At this point of your site, you should already have the 25-50 pages you are building, on paper and ready to organize into the site.
When the articles come back to me, I may choose to put in manufacturer specs, if they are needed, but more times than not, I just break the content into 2-4 paragraphs, slap in a couple H2 tags to break it into logical reading, and post it up.
Mark
Hi Mark,
I submitted a small batch of article requests to Textbroker yesterday. I didn’t request any specific author; just threw out the request for the masses to attack!
Anyway, I’ve already had several articles completed and am very pleased with the quality of the writing.
I did request a high quality level (4) and didn’t put a super short processing time.
I’m definitely going to be using them again in the future!
One question though: how does one download/save the completed article? I just copied it from the page and pasted it into my blog post? Works for me!
Caro
@ Caroline –
Sounds like another satisfied customer!
When the articles are completed, I usually save them as text files, store them into a “content” folder on my local backup of a site, then do exactly what you did and post them to the site!
Mark
@Mark -
Hi Mark
A most prompt reply sir and thanks for the welcome!
Ok, so just to clarify, if im doing a site on… err..bluegorillas, I would simply send a list of the products in the niche I have found… i.e.
1. lightbluegollilla HG384
2. darkbluegorilla G3D66
3. babybluegorilla BJ849
and so on….
Then wait for results?
Sorry if these questions seem daft, its something I have never done before!
Thanks again Mark
Dave
@ Dave –
Exactly! For instance, I am targeting a “Bike Racks” niche myself in a new build.
I am sending the list of EXACT bike racks I want “Summarized Reviews” for.
- Thule ABH245 2 Bike Roof Rack
- Thule GH345 4 Bike Rack
etc etc…
Mark
@Mark –
Hi Mark
Cheers for that!
I’m going to get right on it today and spend some hard earned cash!
Thanks again for your help and good luck with your bike rack site.
Dave
Mark,
Not to sound stupid, but what is “PLH?”
Rochelle
@ Rochelle –
When you create an order in TextBroker, you can list ALL the titles in one box, on new lines.
Ex:
Tiny Blue Widgets
Tiny Red Widgets
Tiny Orange Widgets
etc…
Then when you complete the description of how you want the articles written, instead of writing each article title over and over, you just use [PLH] (placeholder)
Ex:
I need an article about [PLH] that tells how it works, why people buy a [PLH], and who benefits the most from owning a [PLH].
The TextBroker system automatically inserts EACH title into the description field.
Ex:
I need an article about Tiny Blue Widgets that tells how it works, why people buy a Tiny Blue Widgets, and who benefits the most from owning a Tiny Blue Widgets.
(repeat for each title)
Mark
So, if I put [PLH] into my description, TB’s system will automatically replace [PLH] with whatever the title is for any given request?
Rochelle
@ Rochelle –
Correct.
The reason… Unless you choose a SPECIFIC Author, your article order (regardless of the number of titles you use) is broken into individual article orders, and sent to the “Pool” of writers.
They see ALL the different titles, with the same writing description need.
M
That’s awesome! Thanks for the clarification. I just put in my first batch of requests and already have one being written. I started with a topic that doesn’t really matter how well the results are, just so I can get a feel for this service without shelling out too much in the beginning.
This is like crack, if it were, you’d be arrested.
And – did you actually read all those reviews word for word when you got them back. I just got back 49 and it’s like reading a book.
@ Sean –
I DO read them as I approve them… and then a second time as they are posted.
I usually order 10 at first, to get a good idea of the correct writing style I want for the review, then use the same author for the rest.
Mark
Mark,
When you say you first order 10, are you ordering 10 of the same article, or 10 different articles?
Rochelle
Oh, forgot to mention – I already got back all four of my test articles (they were done within a matter of hours). One needed to go back for revision, but then the writer revised it as I wanted. Three authors responded (one woman did two) and I think I’ve found someone who really worked well within the niche I requested. Woo hoo! $4 very well spent.
Rochelle
@ Rochelle –
10 different titles, of a 25-50 article batch.
From the first 10, you will see that they most likely come from only 2-3 authors, and you can choose the one you like the most, and send them the rest, in a direct order, with instructions to write them all like the previous ones you liked.
Pretty neat to see that alot of the authors do this as part time jobs, if you look at their profiles. I’ll probably accept them as they are without going to one specific author. Although, I added some to my favorites. It was a good mix of things to read with different writing styles. Don’t want to burn a couple of people out with all my work.
Here’s a drink, I just bot you one – (owe you one). Cheers.
Mark,
When you choose an author you like, do you just assign all your remaining articles to that person, or check with him/her first?
Rochelle
Mark:
Thanks so much for this insight into outsourcing. I have read about this many times but always had reservations that it was going to be a waste of time. When I read about it in the N1WAY guide I realized that it was going to be vital if I was going to have any chance of cranking this up to the level I want. BTW, I got a laugh when I read you are doing a site on bike racks. That was on my list! Maybe I will still do it just to compare how each of our sites do. Might be kind of interesting to see if two niche sites can dominate a market! Take care.
Jay
@ Rochelle –
Before I started assigning most to one Author – I communicated with him first, just to get a timeframe and check his workload.
@ Jay –
Yeah – I blogged on my other site about the bike rack niche 6-8 months ago and bought like 6 domains at that time to build it… just never got to it!
This week – I actually regged two more, branching off the bike rack niche, to build lateral sites at the same time.
I will shoot you an email when the first one is done. I have chosen to do WordPress / phpBay instead of BANS for it. I think its going to be MUCH easier.
Mark
Mark,
Thanks for sharing the insider secrets of outsourcing articles. I have one question. If we submit these articles (received from Text Broker writers) to article directory line “ezine articles” or other directories and put the same content on our web site too, will it be duplicate content? Is it advisable? Jayant
@ Jay –
The articles you put on your sites… should not be the same as articles you may use for article marketing directories.
Of course, you can rewrite them… to make them two unique articles, but using the same one would be like getting an article FROM a directory, and posting it on your site.
M
Mark,
This is an excellent guide into outsourcing niche site content. I especially appreciate the level of detail you’ve gone into here.
I get real tired of reading other MMO bloggers who write “about” how to do something without really telling you “how” to do something.
Your attention to detail and straightforward mapping out of the steps saves all of us a LOT of time.
Thanks again,
Jeff
Mark,
I just wanted to say thank you for this information and for all of the responses you’ve delivered to the people here who have asked you questions. I am really impressed by the detail and help you provide to everyone.
I am definitely going to use TextBroker to create my BANS content. What an eye-opener that this is available. I’m grateful for the suggestion, because I’m brand new at this, and wondered how in the world I was really going to be able to create all of the necessary content pages!
As I progress, I’ll probably enlist your services for some keyword research – I’m excited to get going with this process.
Thanks again!
Dax
@ Jeff and Dax –
Thanks for the great comments! Hopefully, we can all ride the wave of success on these new sites – the test site, using 95% outsourced content has already started earning… and Im looking forward to reporting on it in the next couple weeks.
Mark
Using TextBroker has been an interesting experience. I am finding that I need to be VERY specific in what I am asking for, or else I will (and have been) getting fluff articles full of unrelated filler sentences/paragraphs. But, this is proving to be a good learning process so that I will get better results next time I ask for a batch of articles.
Rochelle
@ Rochelle –
I actually had a similar experience the first few times I used the service, and worked my way to providing the “Description” of how my articles should be written, like this:
As you write the [PLH] article, the article should answer the following questions:
What Exactly IS the [PLH]
Who Should Use the [PLH]
What are the Pros and Cons of the [PLH]
This is what got me to the author I use all the time now… as I found his writing style was the best for my needs.
Its also a GREAT way to form your review type articles.
Mark
Mark – At what point do you decline an article?
One article was nothing more than the author writing about her son, with nothing to do with the product. I sent it back for revision and specified what I wanted the article to discuss. She rewrote it, but added nothing about the item and still wrote about her son.
This is new territory for me, but I’m suspecting that she isn’t going to get this article where I want it. But, I’ll wait to hear from you before I do anything (ask for another revision or decline it).
Rochelle
@Rochelle – You are there! That’s exactly when I would decline it! But also keep in mind the description you used when requesting the article… if she wrote it within the guidelines of your description, she may just not know any better.
Also make sure you add her to your blacklist, so no future articles are available for her to author.
Mark
Mark – Yeah, I reviewed my request to see if I was fuzzy, and I possibly was (like I said previously, I am learning to be highly specific). But, I WAS very specific in my request to revise the article, and she still didn’t hit any of the points I asked for.
Thanks. I will decline the article and feel better now about doing so. Thanks, too, for the advice about blacklisting her. I hadn’t thought of that.
Mark – I just declined the article and gave my reason why. My reason for declining the article is now being reviewed by TB. Have you ever had a declined article rejected by TB and been forced to pay for it?
@Rochelle – I have never had to decline any to that extent and the authors have always worked with me to get it how I need.
That said – I have only used the revise button one or two times, and now just about 100% go to the same guy (Rob) for all articles.
Mark
hey mark, thanks for your informative information here. Im using the new guide to help build a new site and after reading your posts im thinking about outsourcing the content. One thing, the product Im selling would be hard to review unless you actually used it. Lets say guitars for example, unless you play that specific one the reviews could sound really generic. Do they give you writers with experience? Also, whats your take on reviewazon? Does this provide useful reviews? I mean, if your golf club site was set up as it is with multiple reviews from this software would that be useful or not as good as your outsourced artciles. Thanks Mark
P.S.
The edges at the bottom of your template are off with the rest of the blue color. Sorry, i have OCD with small details!!! This really makes building BANS store go slowly.
@Michael –
LOL – I am actually the same way!! I knew they were off and was just too lazy to fix them… Im surprized anyone actually noticed!!
Serious – I am EXACTLY the same way!
In ref to the reviews – reviewazon is using repurposed content, so your reviews would be the same as every other site using the same product review.
The content I get from the textbroker system is formed the way I actually want it for the site, and my assumption is that the author goes out and reads other reviews, then crafts an article based on what they learn, providing a 100% unique article for your site.
If you are going to focus on one-off items, like vintage guitars for instance, its going to be hard to sell them, let alone review them, since they are more or less one of a kind. (I manage “many” vintage guitar sites – non affiliate sites though)
One offs – even clothing – can be a challenge on specific items, and require more of a general type article.
Mark
I wish I read about text broker 4 weeks ago before I subbed out article writing on DP.
After a week of getting articles from a writer I went to check them in Google and found the writer was copying and pasting from the NY times and Time magazine then selling them to me.
I lost a considerable amount of cash. DOh! Anyone who is subcontracting article writing should always use a company with good references.
Some times we need to get burned to learn.
@Bill – I agree, Ive come to trust what Mark says so I gave text broker a try and I found them really good. I ordered a batch of 10 articles and so far have 8 back. I did submit 2 for revision and got 1 of those back with satisfactory results. I actually was pretty impressed with a couple of articles.
Then I was like, hmm, I wonder what its like to be a author so I became one and spit out two articles at people tonight. They ranked me at level 3. They have not accepted them yet but I think they were descent.
Only one things bothered me, as I was writing I kept thinking to myself…why am I writing this article for 3 dollars or whatever when I could post it on a relevant blog and possibly have sustained adsense income from it that should surely bring in atleat 3 dollars and add more content to my own relative site. hmmm……….
Thanks so much for showing exactly how to outsource content. I absolutely hate writing about stuff when I know very little about it. Must try to move forward and stop getting stuck on research! Will try Textbroker today.
thanks
I’ve just seen that over on digitalpoint you can get a $5 credit against a new account. With Mark’s permission may I place the link to it http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=1366403.
I joined Digital Point and then sent a PM saying that you (Mark) had recommended them. You never know you may get a little something from them.
Sorry – forgot to say it’s with Textbroker – doh!
@Cherie – That link is fine Cherie!!
I have no affiliation with TextBrokers, other than loving the system.
Mark
Mark -
Besides using TextBrokers for your content, do you plan to outsource any of you WP work and image sourcing once you’ve tweaked the template you have for bike racks? I know you have settled on posts rather than pages and plan to send out a how-to video etc. Are you using any webmasters for any of your sites? If yes, can you make any recommendations?
Thanks,
-Musqui
@Musqui – At this point, I do everything myself, but you have to remember, I have been a self employed web designer and webmaster for almost 15 years.
I CAn see myself outsourcing some of it at some point, but right now, I want to make sure I have the process down myself.
I do this in phases myself.
- Once I order my content, I source ALL of the images and save them to my local drive.
- Once I have all the images, I actually go into the system and build the entire site structure, including the posting of the images.
- Once I get the content back, I add the posts… and start making them active on the site.
- Once I have all the posts and then the guides active, I allow robots into the site.
In total, it is roughly a 3 day process right now… from start to finish.
I will have a detailed post about this within 1-2 days…
Mark
@Mark – Mark -
Makes a lot of sense. As a newbie also working a full time job, its quite a learning curve. I don’t mind that as long as there is an “iron clad” process to follow.
I only discovered your site about 3 weeks ago and I really appreciate the wealth of information you provide to make us all successful.
I’m really looking forward to the video and the detailed post.
Thanks,
- Musqui
@Mark –
Hi Mark,
Where do you look for images to use on your sites when you are building them?
Thanks
Mark,
One issue I have not gotten a clear consensus on regards how fast we publish our guides and reviews on our blogs. Is it okay to publish all at once, or, is it better to publish progressively (1-2 articles/reviews each day).
The reason why I am concerned is I have heard that Google gives more weight to sights grown progressively, or organically.Whereas blogs which appear overnight completely populated may be considered spammy.
Any Thoughts?
BTW, your rank spanker report you did for me saved me mega time!!!
-Ross-
Ross –
I truly don’t think it matters when you build a new site whether you start with 10 base content posts or 50 base posts. As long as your content looks complete. If you want G to see regular updates, I would say pub your posts and seed guides, then just add a new guide every few weeks.
The most affordable way to create content is when you write it yourself.
Leave your response!
Niche Guide Topics
Time & Money Spent Developing Site
- 1.5 Hrs - Initial Research
- 3 Hrs - Site Development Planning
- 4.5 Hrs - Draft Review Pages to Admin
- 2.5 Hrs - Template & Code Customization
- 4 Hrs - Finalized 24 Product Review Pages and added 11 category summary pages
- Added a home page, and Launch site!
- 3.5 Hours: Added 2 more Guides + 10 more reviews
Money Spent to Date: $186.00Niche Guide Tags
Blog Directories
Pages
Archives
Recent Comments
Most Commented
Blogroll