Notes About Business

What do presidents, candidates for political office, political debaters and Internet Marketers have in common? Writers. They all need original content.

The political leader engages a speech writer; the webmaster outsources to a freelance article writer. Both entities are ghostwriters who receive no credit for his work. The speaker or webmaster receives all the glory.

Ghost/speech writers have been hired by our political leaders for 100’s of years. It has been reported that Alexander Hamilton was the speech writer for George Washington. If that is factual, then Alexander Hamilton is probably the most famous ghostwriter of all times.

A ghost writer is a writer who works for compensation and upon completion of the project releases all rights to the body of work. Virtually all public figures use ghostwriters to write their memoirs, correspondence and speeches. Many webmasters have discovered the benefits of using ghostwriters to write their articles, especially those who don’t have the time or talent to keep their web site updated with fresh, custom content.

We will explore and explain the process of hiring a ghostwriter to write those original articles for your website. Following are a few points to help with the process:

Be prepared. Do not talk with a ghostwriter without knowing what you want. Do you require technical data? Will the articles demand in-depth research? How many words do you want? What subject matter do you wish the article to express?

Don’t tell the ghostwriter to “write me an article on obesity” - a subject that has numerous subtopics and methods. If you don’t understand what you require I can promise you the ghostwriter will not satisfy you, no matter how much they charge or how seasoned they are. They are writers, not wizards.

Be professional. If you need to hire a freelance writer but you are clueless as to how much they charge or how they work you could end up losing your shirt. Hop over to Google and search for “custom articles”, “freelance writers” and “ghost writers” and see what they are charging.

Some will post their rates on the Internet. When you find what the “going rate” for ghostwritten articles is you can develop your budget for the expense. Or, after the research you may determine you can’t afford a ghostwriter.

Ask for a quotation. Many times web sites will post their fees so you can easily determine what the project will cost. At other times you may need to ask for a quotation.

Or, perhaps you are posting on one of the freelance websites such as elance.com or getafreelaner.com. As indicated in Item #1 - Be Prepared. Cover the following points in your query or posting: a) article length (words) b) article Topics c) deadline for the finished work d) your budget for article writing, and e) the method of payment. 

Be Very Specific. What do you want? Whether you believe it or not there is a difference in “content articles” for your visitors to read and “keyword articles” written to improve your SEO (search engine optimization).

Maybe you want both. If so, does the ghostwriter have skill in creating people-pleasing content that will also delight the search engines and boost your search engine position?

Always keep your bottom line in view. Never overpay for your articles. Keep good record books of income vs. expenditures and remember that the reason you are engaging a ghostwriter to write those original articles for your website is to increase the traffic, hence the net profit, to your website.