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Web Site Content

By Marsha Gellerman

I buy domain names and build websites. It is not always easy to maintain the websites since I insist on original content. Sometimes I just don't want to write. Sometimes the articles don't come easily, or by the time I've written five articles, I'm heartily sick of the subject.

Since my goal is to always have ten pieces of content on each site, I will occasionally hire a content writer. This is not always easy. Just as you get used to having someone provide content at a reasonable price, they find another way to make money and stop writing. Or, their rates get raised to prices you're not willing to pay, or they just sort of drop out of sight.

Then there are the scam artists. They sell content that is so badly spun, that it is unusable. They sell content to you, and the same content to someone else a day later, and both buyers wind up with duplicate content penalties. Or worse, you find out they have been copying content from a book that someone's published. I even had an occasion where someone gave me a sample of content, which was copied from one of my own sites. The site that is my baby, where I painstakingly handcrafted every word presented. This is the only occasion where I actively worked to have someone banned from a Webmaster's forum.

This is why I insist on seeing samples of articles before I buy them. You can eliminate a lot of fraud simply by running a fragment of what's given to you through an Internet search in quotes, to see if the exact string has already been indexed. If the provided sample is in an image, type the words into your search bar. Sometimes, fraudulent providers send you images, thinking you won't bother to do the search.

However, from time to time, you need content crafted for a particular subject and you want to hire someone to write for you, instead of buying pre-written articles.

Right now, I order my content from a stay-at-home Mom in North Carolina. At about a penny and a half per word from a native English speaker, it's a good buy. Better yet, she has never been surprised or flustered by the topics I've asked her to write, and I’ve had her cover some very strange topics.

Content providers like this are considered "golden." They provide new articles, which will only be sold to you.

Unfortunately, I'm always looking for bargains. With the last round of content I received from a "cheap" provider I was testing, I think I'll stop looking and stick to my reliable source.

I asked the new provider for several samples of their articles and the samples read okay, not great, but okay. So, I ordered a few articles written for my subjects. Among the articles requested was bio on Sonia Sotomayor for a site I'm developing on famous Latinas, past and present. In the article I got, there was this sentence:

She is a very intelligent person and soon after the graduated the Princeton and Yale University’s she became a lawyer when she was only at the age of seventeen.

Huh?

Believe it or not, I will be able to work with the articles this person provided, using them as a broad outline to build good original articles, as soon as I can stop laughing.

The easy way to write an article is to make an outline of key points you'd like to make and then turn each point into a paragraph. The second paragraph should always include an opinion from you or something else, which "personalizes" the article and lets the reader know that you are in touch with the subject, and therefore have something to contribute to the reader.

There are differences in writing styles, depending on the type of website you are developing. I started by writing technical articles, which were as dry as the Sahara. Recently, I've been doing a lot of Web 2.0 sites, along with personal product sites. These require a total different style of writing, which is warmer, friendlier and very subjective.

I think it is time to concentrate on writing again and produce what Matt Cutts would call, "fresh, and original content." While I take his pronouncements with a grain of salt, there is something very satisfying about building a site from scratch, filled with only your personally written content.

PLEASE VISIT THE CONTRIBUTOR'S WEBSITE

JH Gellerman Web Site Design
Build and maintain unique niche web sites.
www.jhgellerman.com

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Thanks for this highly informative and thoroughly entertaining article. I'm assuming this one wasn't written by the stay-at-home mom in NC.

I actually say to myself, I feel a Q article coming on and just start writing. Sometimes I can't post what I write because it is too personal. It's the flip side of technical writing. It clears my mind, so I can write my zillionth article on why you should buy x, y or z product.

And just think, if I'd had Pattie write the Sotomayor article ***like I should have*** I wouldn't have been inspired to write about my experiences buying content.

Thank you for sharing this valuable information on content writing, Marsha.
We can't be all things and as we grow, we need more hands and brains to make our dreams come true. So far, I haven't taken this step and maybe I need to open my eyes and take my own advise!!
Keep up the good work.
Best to you.
Frederick

I've seen your site and you seem to be doing just fine!

I would include relevant, clearly written content as well. Over all an excellent, informative article on web site content and its overall importance.

I wholeheartedly agree with you.

Now that Google has made an announcement that their algorithms will focus on content richness and penalize sites with not much good and even spammy information, webmasters really need to pay attention to content. I haven't bought articles just because I'm still learning but when I do, your intel is very informative.

It's tough to produce content, day in and day out, manage websites, and find links. I wasn't kidding about finding a content producer like Pattie. She's worth every penny I pay her and then some.

When I go dry, or am dealing with a hacked website, or learning how to use new software, I don't have to worry about my content falling short.

Larry - That's true if you look at SEO as a chess game. I've seen too many long lasting MFA sites, sites which have scraped my content and ranked better, and sites which pull content from other sites and do very well.

Content is the King, which has to be protected at all times. Links, however is the Queen, with greater flexibility and the ability to protect the King.

You have to have both.

Good article. You pretty much described my problems. I'm at about 50% articles I write and 50% outsourced. I went through a lot of writers that did poor spins, blatant copies, or really didn't know English before I came across my Golden writer.

I even managed to get a programmer I send everything to that I don't want to research.

I have problems delegating work. It would make my life a lot easier to outsource. However, I use Joomla as a CMS, so I can pretty much put up any kind of site I need to, with the exception of forums - which is my next big project and a properly SEO'd video gallery, which WordPress seems to handle better.

Nice job of warning us of some of the pitfalls of "bargain" article writers. Not such a deal after all if they get you penalized or just make your sites look bad. Some of the bad articles, as you said, are useful for a laugh though.

Hi - Good for a laugh, only if you don't post them by mistake.

Well done Marsha! I found your intel very interesting. Certainly gave me food for thought.

Hi Marion -
Thank you very much. After Google's Panda update, everyone is stressing the importance of original content.

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