Top Tips For Hiring Freelance Writers via Elance

One of the best ways to get more work done quickly is by outsourcing. Loads of people use elance to outsource their article writing.This may be because they don't have the time to write articles or posts for their blogs.

Below are some tips for you when using elance:

** Unless you are in a hurry, opt for about a 10 day bidding period. This bidding process is unlike eBay in that you can choose the winning bidder and end the auction process at anytime. The longer you show your project for, the more bids you will attract.

I have found however, that most of the bids will happen during the opening and closing hours of your auction so choosing a very long auction time can actually slow the process down for you.

** From my experience the most reliably consistent writers are native English born writers from English speaking countries such as the US, UK, Canada and Australia.

This does not mean ignore all non-English writers, some of the best writers are from the Philippines. Non-English writers can be very attractive because they often charge much less.

But when considering a non-English provider you must use all the practices you can to find out their true competence at writing in the English language.

** Always ask for sample articles from the bidders you are particularly interested in. Often the writers will already have samples they have attached to their bid description. If they refuse to submit sample work beware!

** If your project is for rewriting articles, send them a test article for them to rewrite and send back. You'd be surprised how ready many writers are keen to do this, especially if you say you ae looking for a long term working relationship.

** Always look at a providers feedback history and ratings. Do not just look at their average rating score, actually read past buyer comments. Some buyers are unfair in their ratings and pull down a providers score unnecessarily. These providers can often try extra hard to please in order to get their score back up and may be charging less than they usually do.

Also, new providers with no history usually bid VERY low to get work and ratings so they can be a real bargain. Do be careful though as some providers keep creating new accounts after abandoning one low scoring account after another.

** When choosing a 'Select Level' project you get to ask bidding providers three questions they have to answer before they can place a bid.

Ask them questions about their knowledge in the niche topic your articles are aimed at. Also ask if they have experience writing web content because writing for the web requires a very different style of writing to conventional offline writing.

** This is critical: *Never* pay anything upfront. Always make payment at the end of the project and only if you are satisfied with the work.
I've heard some terrible stories of people paying hundreds of dollars upfront and then their writer vanishes.

** US and UK based writers usually cost more but you do have far less risk with regards to quality.

That may not sound very PC, but this is a business not a hobby.

The fact of the matter is most non-English based writers are unable to match the natural tone a native English writer can achieve. As always there are exceptions to the rule but do be careful here or you may windup wasting your money and your time.

* Be as thorough as you can in your project description. This will pay off because you will be less likely to run in to problems of misunderstanding after selecting a winning bidder.

** Don't just go for the cheapest bidder, you get what you pay for. Likewise don't always go for the most expensive bidder thinking you'll get the best. Do your homework and look at past history and ask for examples of work.

I hope you've found these tips insightful. Remember if you want to find a freelance writer the best place by far to start looking is Elance:
http://www.elance.com/