The Content Creation Spectrum

The inspiration for today’s post comes from a comment I received on my recent post about ghostwriters.  The reader commented on the concept of “getting what you pay for” when you hire a writing service and there is a lot of validity to that. Not all writers are created equal and it pays to invest some time to find a writer/writing service that meshes with your own quality standards, business goals AND budget.

Here is an excerpt from my reply:

I’m glad you brought this up, because it probably seems odd that as a writer, I write about (and recommend) writing services other than my own.

As a writer, I understand where you are coming from with the $5/article thing.  It takes me a long time to research and write a great article that I would be comfortable sending to a client.  I could never make it on $5 an article, because I would end up making about $2.00 an hour on my original work!

But, as an online business owner – I am happy that lower-cost options exist.  Perhaps because I have the writing skills (and enjoy writing) – I find I can transform a lower cost article from a decent ghostwriter (not all of them are “decent” – and a lot of the $5 stuff is not well written – at all) into something I can actually use.  It takes me a lot less time to do this than starting from scratch – and using a ghostwriter in some cases (rather than PLR) allows me to submit these articles to directories – which means projects for my own web sites get DONE… (because AGAIN I would NEVER do this with projects for paying customers. They hired ME – so they deserve to get my original work).

At any rate, I am finding that there is a place for everything in the world of online content – from your own work to reworked PLR content to ghostwriters to higher-end, more specialized writing firms…

The key take away from this (at least for me) is that there is an entire spectrum of options available to online business owners when it comes to obtaining content for their readers. None is any better or worse than the other – there are pluses and minuses to each, but they all have their place. Each is simply a tool that can be used to build a solid online arsenal of amazing and valuable content.

I rarely talk about my own writing business here because I really enjoy sharing what I know with the “do-it-yourself” crowd. I’m very, very grateful to my writing clients (did I say “very” enough? ) – but also really enjoy wearing a different hat throughout the day and “talking” with a different audience here.

Til Next Time,

PS What about you? What is your experience or thoughts on using different types of content creation services? How do they fit into your own Content Marketing mix? Please share your ideas by leaving a comment below!