Here is the scenario: You have several sites that need quality on-site content as well as content for link building and syndication, maybe as much as 5-10 articles per day. You have a limited operating budget for outsourcing, limited time to manage outsourced writers, and you have to maintain a certain level of quality or risk jeopardizing your link building program. Sound familiar?

Generating a steady supply of quality content is an important part of any Internet marketer’s workflow. Once you have more than a few sites in your online empire you will inevitably rely on freelancers to carry the load. But how do you find reliable writers that will do the job? Well, finding and hiring quality writers does not have to be hard or time consuming. In this post I will give you a few best practices that, if done correctly and consistently, will ensure that you have a team of dependable and cost-effective freelance writers in no time.

Who Cares About Quality?

Why should you care about the quality of your content? It’s the links that matter, right?

Google has stated publicly that it does not directly use spelling and grammar to determine site ranking, but they have also included spelling and grammar as factors that determine site quality. This is a bit of a contradiction but it is a pretty safe bet that if you want your links and sites to be future proof against any Panda-like algo changes, then you should be setting the bar pretty high when it comes to the quality of your content.

How to Build a Dream Team of Writers

There are several excellent resources for finding freelance writers. Textbroker.com offers an excellent service and they provide a variety of tools to manage your writers and build writing teams. Textbroker also pre-qualifies writers based on their writing ability and has a tiered rate structure based on the level of proficiency. Rates range from just over $0.01 a word to nearly $0.07.

If you are on a tighter budget, then freelancer, elance, or odesk, are all great networks where you can post freelance jobs on a bid basis. These services also offer various grammar tests that freelance writers can take in order to receive an additional badge or certification on their profile. Be sure you only consider writers that have passed minimum English testing or certification. These sites also allow you to view the previous projects and feedback associated with a particular candidate. All of this information can help you to narrow down the list pretty quickly. Expect to incur fees that go to the freelance sites for use of their services or for escrow.

SEO and Internet marketing forums are also a great place to find writers offering their services. You do not have the structured feedback system offered on freelance sites, but forum members are usually quick to express their opinions on any services offered.

Methods for Vetting Writers

No matter what method you initially use to find candidates, you will need to vet each writer yourself and make sure they are capable of writing content with a minimum of grammar, spelling, or typographical errors. A little time spent up front in the vetting process can save you an exponential amount of trouble down the road.

Writing Samples – probably not the best since writing samples can be easily plagiarized.

Test Articles – slightly better since you can assign the prospect a very specific topic closely associated with your project or site and see how they do.

References & Feedback - If you are using one of the freelance sites, let someone else give the newbies a chance, only choose writers with a history of positive feedback. If hiring from a forum or some other channel, ask for references from at least three previous employers.

Grammar Test – this is something that you should do no matter what other vetting methods you have used. Take the time to develop your own unique grammar test and have your candidates complete it before they start work on your project. You can follow our simple instructions to create your own grammar test using Google Docs.

Once you have a team of vetted writers, you can then start assigning projects. Start small at first since you will still need to review their submissions personally in the beginning. Never just fire and forget. Even the best vetting cannot insure that a writer will hit the ground running. Be an active coach in the beginning and be sure to give constructive criticism when needed. Once consistency has been established, then you can spot check random posts from each writer.

By following the above best practices, you will soon have a virtual dream team of quality writers with a minimum of cost and effort on your part.