Adapted from ©iStock.com/oddech
As I was buying our weekly groceries last week, it struck me (again) how much writers vary.
You see, I always buy a bunch of bananas during our weekly shopping trip. In fact, the store I go to really only offers two different kinds of bananas: organic and non-organic. (Once in a great while, they also offer plantains.)
Bananas are pretty much the same wherever you get them. But that’s certainly not the case with web content.
It doesn’t matter where you buy your bunch of bananas. No matter where you go, as long as you buy the same type of banana, they will taste pretty much the same (as long as they’re not spoiled). It’s okay to base your banana-purchasing decisions on price.
In this post, I’ll list some of the characteristics you should look for in a web content writer.
A lot of prospective freelance writing clients act like purchasing web content is the same as buying bananas. They expect to be able to shop around for web content based on price and still get the best quality, but it just doesn’t work that way.
There are many variables to consider when it comes to selecting a writer to create web content for you. Here are five of them (in no particular order):
- Writer’s command of the language. How well does the writer know the language? Being able to understand a language and being able to construct well-written sentences are two different things. There is a lot of poorly written web content out there. Don’t add to that.
- Writer’s understanding of the subject matter. Does the writer understand the subject matter of the web content? If not, is he or she willing to do the research necessary to understand it? Many writers are just willing to graze the surface of complex subjects.
- Writer’s reliability. Look at the writer’s portfolio and/or LinkedIn page. Do they have testimonials from past clients? What does their previous writing look like? If the previous writing is of poor quality, it’s likely that the content created for you will also be of poor quality.
- Writer’s experience. Believe it or not, experience really does count when it comes to creating quality content. An experienced writer is more likely to meet your expectations and can handle a variety of different projects. An inexperienced writer may panic or give up.
- Writer’s understanding of the web. Writing web content is very different from other types of writing. There are many excellent writers who are not familiar with the characteristics of good web content, but who have written for other publications.
Too often when it comes to web content, you get what you pay for. The lowest price is not always the best deal.
If you purchase web content, share what you look for when you select a writer in the comments.
