Hiring Ghost Writers

[Maui]

For many realtors, writing is not their forte, yet the reality remains that producing unique, relevant content on a regular basis is a key element of SEO. Although I wouldn't hire a ghost writer now, I can see why many would.

[Pacific beach Real Estate]

I've been contemplating doing this for a while. Any ideas on the best way to find someone?

I'm not a terrible writer, but I know there are plenty of people that can write a more completing, and thoughtful article than I can. As long as I can put plenty of ideas together with some info and notes and pass it off to a good writer.

[Mitch]

I don't have time to post blogs so I hired my stepson for $200 a month to post blogs about our area on 7 different blogs 3 times per week. He lived here his entire life so he knows the area better than I know it. I don't know if it's really doing anything for me, but it makes his mother (my wife) happy he gets a pay check while he is in college!

[rei.wired]

Why not try having a guest blogger instead? This is actually a win win situation for the both of you. You get new content without the hassle of writing while the guest gets an exposure.

And from what I have heard many are already doing this right now.

[Gary Halbert]

A good outsourcing site for this kind of thing is Freelancer.com. They offer a free trial for new users, so you have nothing to lose by giving it a try. Be sure you stipulate though, that you require native English speakers in your job specification, otherwise you will find you get a whole lot of bids from writers with broken English, poor grammar and worse spelling. You can see the origin of each bidder via a national flag icon, depicting their country of origin.

[MrWonton]

I'm quite happy to write my own articles, but when I'm tired (or lazy), I outsource. I've had some really good articles created for me, for a great price. I go on forums like Digital Point to hunt for good writers. Its always worth checking their previous work. I've encountered some awful writers before, but theres always good ones about if you're willing to pay a bit extra (still very cheap overall though).

[seattle realtor]

I've thought about hiring ghostwriters and you really have to be careful that it's content you're proud of. Because the writing essentially reflects you and your brand. I've hired writers before for topics or views and that seems to work well.

[joe007]

I guess it depends on what part of the RE industry you are in. Are you a Real Estate services company or news company? Guest writers or Ghost writers are probably a good route to go. I wouldn't really recommend it for a realtor running a blog though. The content needs to be compelling to your audience, a realtors audience is pretty different than a service provider or a blog/news websites audience.

Information Retrieval algorithms are very adept at picking out duplicated content (TF*IDF) and content that doesn't really mesh well, so if you do hire a ghost make sure it is someone who is reputable and isn't simply using a rewriter software to make up topics. Like Mr Wonton said you can get some decent content written for you on Digital Point, but you may want to use services like Copyscape to ensure that it is not duplicated elsewhere.

Pros
Ghost writers are easy to find, can write quickly, are reasonably priced

Cons
Ghost writers may not write in correct grammar, the content could be duplicate or repeated from other sources, the writer may not have the right knowledge to write on the topic at hand (they will have to research and get surface level knowledge), you may have to rewrite their work before publication.

The best writers for your content:
1. you
2. expert guest writer
3. experienced guest writer
4. ghost writer under your supervision
5. unsupervised ghost writer
6. spammer <no one wants this>