Hiring Writers II

Writers: Do you hire a specialist or a generalist?

By Alan Eggleston, writer, editor, SEO strategist

A great mentor once told me, a good writer can write anything. At the time, I doubted him, but I came to see through experience that he was right. Although subjects and formats and often the way you carry a project out are different between jobs, all writing is essentially about communicating facts and truths. A good writer, with a little research and toil, can write anything.

Answering the question I have posed would seem simple, then: You can feel good about hiring a generalist writer for any project. Yet, I think you can make plenty of cases for hiring a specialist, too.

When You Should Hire a Specialist

A specialist writer, like a specialist in any occupation, is one who works almost entirely in one discipline: a poet, a sci-fi/fantasy writer, a Web writer, a direct mail writer, a video writer, an audio writer, a DVD or or other interactive media writer, for instance. He or she has gotten so good at the craft and is so effective at it, that he or she can concentrate on that form of writing and make a good living at it. He or she has a reputation and clients have formed a line to tap his or her services. These professionals have tapped into niches that many other writers either haven't dared to try or haven't had the opportunity to do. They have honed skills key to mastering some very difficult or very intricate art or science.

I would hire a specialist when this is the sole project I'm going to do or when it is so key to my campaign or upcoming season that to fail would cause irreparable harm to my business. Or, I would hire a specialist when I don't feel confident the generalists I usually hire can or will do the project well.

When You Should Hire a Generalist

I would hire a generalist when I have multiple projects and he or she is so talented or skilled that I feel he or she can handle multiple formats. Or, I would hire a generalist when there are multiple elements to a campaign and you want to make sure the elements and messages hang well together between them, that they sound like they're part of one campaign. For instance, you may have a multi-tiered campaign involving letters, brochures, websites, post cards, radio ads, and mall kiosks, and you want the same theme and messages to run throughout them. A generalist will bring you unity across a range of collateral.

You may also have worked with a specialist who can handle a wide range of projects. For instance, I specialize in websites, but I can also write letters, brochures, event programs, blogs, social media, DVDs, post cards, videos, audios, ads -- you name it. Such a writer should be more than happy to help you with any project, even though he markets himself in a special niche.

The thing about writing is, the more you do the more you come to realize as a writer that a good writer can write anything. The goal is always good communication.

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Hiring Writers

Writers: Hire local or outsource?

by Alan Eggleston, writer, editor, SEO stragetist

As a writer, I would write for just about anyone. And as a writer, I can write just about anything. Thus, I would hope that if you needed a writer, you would consider hiring me. However, it's really a completely different matter from your perspective.

When to Hire Locally

I always encourage clients to hire locally. In this economic client, they shouldn't feel guilty about trying to hire writers in their community -- it's good business. It's also good social policy. After all, if they were going to buy whatever you offer, wouldn't you hope they would look locally first and consider buying from you? In addition, there are thousands of writers, many of them good ones. It's very likely there are a few good ones in your area who would like to work with you.

It makes especially good sense to hire locally when you need or want to collaborate closely with the writer, or if you need or want the writer available for meetings or to be able to stop in to look at proofs or work closely with a designer or developer. Certainly, some aspects of this work can be done online, but some clients like to work face-to-face. And some work is on such tight deadlines that it is important to be available locally to stop by to pick up hard copies either as research or layouts or proofs.

My local clients are often big companies with whom I do a lot of work and with whom I meet face-to-face frequently, or small businesses that do not have the resources to deal with long-distance writers. Small businesses often benefit from coaching or mentoring in marketing or communications topics and will like the writer to be right there for them.

When to Outsource

It makes sense to outsource (or hire outside your area) when your budget is tight and you can save money doing so, or when work can be handled electronically and you don't need any face-to-face interaction. Also, it makes sense when an outside writer is either highly recommended or is a specialist in an area that you need.

I have accepted work with clients in neighboring states or some distance away because we can stay in touch by phone and e-mail, and because we can handle copy by e-mail or Google Documents. One potential client interviewed and hired outside of their area entirely online because they needed someone with a certain expertise.

A Caution About Cost

Some clients will be tempted to open jobs for bidding on a service like elance.com. That's all right for some projects. However, bid sites are often frequented by unestablished writers looking for a way to get some work to add to their resume. You will get low-bid jobs but you may also get poorly written work. If you go that route, make sure you also involve a good editor! Don't hire someone just because they bid cheaply, however. Look for quality work.

A Caution About Location

You may receive e-mails offering writers from overseas. I have seen some pretty good writing from India, but I have also seen some terrible writing from India. And I have seen some terrible writing from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. Before you hire, look at their websites and ask for samples. Don't hire anyone whose site or samples show substandard work, because very likely that's exactly what you're going to get. And be prepared for UK-standard English spellings -- words like programme (instead of program), catalogue (instead of catalog), odour (instead of odor), whilst (instead of while), etc. -- from these countries. Also keep in mind that many UK-related countries tend to write longer sentences and paragraphs than do we in the U.S., so to suit U.S. audiences you may need to do some editing. Don't overlook these!

Rewrite, At Least Revise

Content - Reuse or Rewrite?
By Alan Eggleston, writer, editor, SEO

Someone asked on Twitter about the advisability of taking posts from one blog and posting them on a new blog. Was it cheating? Was it bad for SEO?

My quick answer (140-character limit) was that you should rewrite some of it as a service to your reader, and search engines might penalize you for simply reusing the same content.

Here is my longer answer:
First, authors reuse and repurpose their content all the time. It doesn’t hurt as long as the readership is different and the information is valuable. However, you won’t gain many readers and you will gain a bad reputation if the readers you do have see that you’re simply repeating used material.

Second, search engines penalize for creating duplicate content to make it look like new. However, they realize there are times when duplicate content makes sense. The easy way to reuse existing information is to reorganize it or write down the most salient points and then rewrite the piece around those points. That all said, one or two pages of reused content isn’t going to kill you – it’s the more-you-do-it-the-more-it’s-going-to-cost-you effect you have to worry about.

Third, don’t forget the value of inbound links to your SEO effort. If you have a lot of duplicate content, other sites may not see a value to linking to your new site, whereas if you have new content they may link to both the old and the new. Simply repeating content, you may be shorting yourself an opportunity simply to save some effort or time.

The question of whether it is cheating depends on your audience and whether they were expecting something new and different. How did you set their expectations?

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Viewer Beware of the HD Scare

TV Stations Are Switching to All-Digital, Not All-HD!
by Alan Eggleston, writer and editor

I learned something interesting today and I think you might find it interesting, too. All that hoopla over changing from analog TV to digital TV on February 17, 2009? And everyone bothering to switch to High Definition TV (HDTV) as a result? Well, the switch at local television stations isn't necessarily to high definition (HD), it's to digital. There's a difference.

Our family bought an HDTV as a family Christmas present this year, and today I had it set up by the Geek Squad. Afterwards, I went into my AT&T Uverse DVR schedule to reset recordings from standard stations to HD stations and discovered that not all programs on the HD channels are in high definition! Not by a long shot.

Even more interesting, the local stations that have been broadcasting the required notice of the change to digital broadcasting don't even offer local programs in HD. The news and other locally produced programs are in standard definition! I don't know if it will change after February 17, 2009.

And the networks don't carry all-HD programs, either. For instance, ABC-TV carries Ugly Betty in standard definition, not HD.

So before you go to the expense of buying an HDTV because of the conversion to digital, give it second thought. Oh, it will be wonderful to watch high definition programs on it. But when so many programs are still in standard definition, you have to wonder in today's economy if now is the time to junk the old TV when a $40-$70 converter box and set-top antenna will get you through. And certainly, if you have cable TV or satellite TV, are you gaining much for the expense right now?

Maybe you are smarter than I am and already know "digital" doesn't automatically mean "HD." But I'm willing to bet that there are a large number of consumers out there thinking the move to an HDTV will be getting them more than it does. My Geek Squad technician tells me this is a common misconception. Viewer beware.

A Chance Encounter with the Sounds of Urban Iceburg Calving

City's Snowplow Services Break the Still on a Cold Sunday Morning
by Alan Eggleston, writer and editor

It's 4:30 on a Sunday morning and not a soul is stirring in Grand Rapids. Non except this sleepy inhabitant of the Northeast Neighborhood and his whining puppy and all the snowplow services in town.

Dogged entrepreneurial-types with plows on their pickups are clearing up a day's worth of heavy, wet lake-effect snow. In the stillness of dead quiet air, you can hear the clang of the plow hitting cold cement, the rumble of it being dragged or pushed out to the street, and the beep...beep...beep of the automated signal warning that the vehicle is backing up. Like city iceburbs calving in a sea of urban ice, it comes at you from all around, first to the west, then the south, then west again, then the northwest, suddenly to the east. The air is clear, or you might also see the glow of yellow flashes from their warning lights like an urban borealis.

I wonder if it might not have sounded something like this the night the Titanic sank to the poor souls looking for signs of life, listening to iceburgs calving nearby. Alas, no wimpers of suffering souls nor choruses of "Nearer My God to Thee" this night, just the refrain of a dog insistent on going out at the unGodly hour of 4:30 in the morning.

Writing for SEO Value Vs. Writing for the User

Click Here, Link Here, and Other Linking Terms
by Alan Eggleston, writer and editor

I had a discussion over Web copy linking terms with a client recently, and it's shown up again in a LinkedIn discussion. The question is, is it ever okay to use "click here" or "link here" or "go here" calls to action when linking the Internet user to another Web page?

The client discussion involved SEO value, and my client's theory was that Google, now responsible for about 75% of search engine traffic, gets to know how you use terms like "click here" in relation to the content you're sending the user to, and as long as it understands that "click here" is relevant to anything you're linking to, there's SEO value in it. I personally don't buy it, but he likes the idea.

In the LinkedIn discussion, the common argument was that "click here" (and by proxy, similar terms) are outdated and have no SEO value. I would probably say "quaint" and "not well thought out" and, yes, have little SEO value.

First, as a writer, you need to give significant thought to user standards. If a user sees "click here" or "link here" (and so on) often, it becomes a gut reaction to take that link whenever s/he sees it, so it can be a useful call to action in sell copy. The problem comes when it is so overused, when scanning copy users glance over it and miss it, and it has no value whatever. Most writers rightly feel these are overused and trite.

Second, such phrases don't tell the reader anything that motivates him or her to actually take the action. Where does "click here" actually lead? To an ad? To a full article? To a synopsis of the article with still another link to the full article? To a splash page? Subconsciously, you're giving the reader more clues and motivation to take your link if you provide a context to where s/he is going, such as when the link contains the title of the article or keywords or phrases about the article.

Third, even if Google allows some SEO value to such terms because you consistently use them for links, that value doesn't begin to match what you get by using phrases containing relevant keywords. So a link like "link with relevant keywords" is going to be far more valuable to you than "click here." It's also going to motivate the reader far more to take the link that leads to valuable content.

When I construct a page, I prefer to create links with SEO value. However, I sometimes also like to provide links that nudge the reader a little. So for a home page for this same client, where we use short introductory blurbs for fuller articles that then link to the full articles, I usually provide both SEO-rich links and call-to-action links like "Read the full story". It's more than the cryptic "click here." This works for a news index page, but not necessarily for home pages with lots of keyword-rich text.

Feel free to jump in with your thoughts in the Comments section...

Getting Away to a Distant Place

Taking a Journey of the Mind Through GalaxyZoo.org
by Alan Eggleston, writer and editor

Someone once asked in a LinkedIn question how writers "get away" or relax between projects.

I thought it was a good question. LinkedIn is a professional networking site, so it's a good place to share not only connections, but also ideas. I told about sitting on my screened-in porch and enjoying the quiet of nature behind our home. Or going on the Tivo/DVR and cleaning out the clutter of old programs.

One of the non-work projects I was involved with that is resurfacing is Galaxyzoo.org. It started in 2007, completed to compile its data and submit scientific papers, and is now going into beta for phase 2, and so it's become open for people like me who find it not only interesting science but also an interesting diversion from work when you need a break.

Galaxy Zoo is a collaboration between UK and US astronomers to compile classification data about galaxies through human observation of images. They originally took existing images and tried to have computers classify galaxies, but it turns out that computers aren't nearly as adept at it as humans are. So scientists opened the work to everyday people like you and me. They expected a few hundred to a few thousand volunteers, but in the end 150,000 became involved. We viewed a million galaxies.

The original project -- Galaxy Zoo 1.0 -- asked us to decide whether a galaxy was either a globular cluster or a spiral, and if it was a cluster if it spiraled clockwise or anticlockwise.

The new project -- Galaxy Zoo 2.0 -- is more complex and more challenging. We will look at shape, tightness of sprial, number of spirals, bulge density and shape, and whether there is anything "odd" about the image. It's under development and I've begun working with the beta site, and it's going to be great fun!

Why would a business writer want to spend time sorting through galaxies? It's very relaxing, challenging, entertaining, lets me enjoy my fascination with astronomy and science, and it allows me to contribute to science without devoting my career to it. And it gives me a brief break from work for as long or as short as I want.

I suppose you should be an astronomy geek to try this, and you should have a good set of eyes. But most important, you should also have curiosity and a sense of wonder at the distant universe, because these galaxies are a long way away. Come join the fun!