Hiring a writer for your blog : Should you look for quality or reliability?
There was a fantastic post on Daily Blog Tips last week entitled ‘Are You Prepared for a Blogging Emergency?‘. The irony is the post was published on a day I had a bit of a blogging emergency, not a major one but one which definately caught me off guard.
As you guys know, BloggingTips has brought in a lot of full time writers in the last month. Due to the number of people writing for the blog I have had to set times and days for bloggers to publish this posts. This isn’t too much of a hassle because of the timestamp feature on wordpress and it stops the possiblity of there being 7 posts one day and 2 the next. In general we have about 2-4 posts every day.
Being caught off guard
Last Wednesday I did not plan ahead and write any posts for the site as 3 of the Blogging Tips authors were set to post on that day. Therefore, I decided to catch up on some other things as 3 posts would be enough for the day.
Unfortunately, all 3 authors did not write a post on that day for one reason or another. I think I was perhaps unlucky to have 3 different authors not write on the day they said they will but I had not prepared for anything like that so I guess I need to take some of the blame.
Yesterday my Wednesday morning poster again forgot to post and when I emailed about it he apolgoised and said that he just didn’t have the time to write for Blogging Tips.
I have no bad feelings towards any of the writers who couldn’t post as I specifically hired people who had their own blogs and if time becomes a factor I can’t blame them for putting their own blogs first. However, the whole thing raised questions over my hiring strategy for future authors here - Should I be looking for reliability or quality?
Should you look for quality or reliability?
Obviously, when every blog owner makes the decision to hire some writers for their blog they want the writers to be of the best quality. The thing is, you can have the best writers in the world writing for you but if they don’t actually get round to blogging for your blog what’s the point in hiring them? It’s like a billionaire paying for a private jet for the weekend but the pilot doesn’t actually turn up. All he’s left with is a jet he can’t use and a pissed off girlfriend!
For example, I spoke with Lorelle Van Fossen via email about posting on Blogging Tips way back in April sometime. We both agreed on the terms but then she did not reply to my emails. 3 months later I emailed her again to ask once more if she would be interested in posting. She seemed enthusiastic about posting and even registered an author account at my request but when it came to actually writing the post she disappeared from contact. I sent another two emails to her about it but got no reply and eventually I just gave in. I think Lorelle is a fantastic writer and she’s a big part of the Wordpress community however I believe there’s only so much you can and should do as a blog owner to get a writer on board ie. there has to be some sort of interest and dedication from the writer.
In the last week I have came to the conclusion that whilst the quality of posts a writer produces is definately important, the most important factor in hiring a writer for your blog is reliability. You need to look for people who will produce good posts for you week in week out at the times you both agreed upon.
Unfortunately, it is very difficult to determine how reliable a writer is without hiring them first. Some of the bloggers who have forgot to post here or have been too busy to post appear to have a much smaller workload than other bloggers who always publish their post on time.
- If the writer has posted for some other blogs in your niche before then you could always contact the owner of those blogs and ask how reliable the writer was but I don’t believe past peformance for another blog is necessary an indication of how reliable they will be for you. I’d definately factor any feedback into my final decision for hiring for the position though.
- See how quickly they reply to your emails and how interested they seem in the position. Perhaps not a very useful way of selecting a writer but if someone is taking days to reply to an email it may be an indication they are too busy to write for you.
- Ask them about their other committments. I don’t see any harm in asking a potential writer what other commitments they have. For example, how many blogs do they currently write for, do they have a full time job? This might help paint a picture of the workload they have. Once again, some people work longer hours than others so it’s difficult to put their workload into perspective. I would be more inclined to look at how they respond to your questions ie. do they assure you they have plenty of time to write for you?
At the end of the day, the only sure fire way of determining the reliablity of a writer is to try them out and if they don’t work out you can look for a replacement. If the author will agree to it, it could be worthwhile asking if they will have a trial period before you will formally hire them but many authors won’t agree with this (and who could blame them).
Summary
Getting the right writers for your blog can be a big task. For me, reliabilty is a very important part of a writers job however you also need to look at quality and price.
If you have hired some writers yourself or if you have any tips for fellow bloggers regarding this please leave a comment 
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jblanton | September 20th, 2007 at 11:32 am #
Kevin I can see how this would be a huge challenge. Globalization has allowed us to level the playing field and converse all over the world but this just goes to show there are still challenges. It is certainly something for anyone planning to outsource tasks and responsibilities to ponder.
Really good article and couldn’t have been more timely as I get reading to start writing for BloggingTips next week.
I’ll try and not let you down.
Kevin | September 20th, 2007 at 11:36 am #
No worries Jason
The problem has not been so much authors not posting when they should, it’s more to do with them not letting me know. I don’t want to restrict authors too much as I know first hand that other things can stop you posting on time.
Mani for example couldn’t post one time in the last two weeks and emailed me to let me know. This helps me a lot because I can plan ahead for that day.
As you say, it’s all part of outsourcing. There are a lot of benefits of outsourcing your writing, design and marketing etc but sometimes it requires you to juggle a lot of things at once
All part of making money on the internet
Kris Larson | September 20th, 2007 at 11:40 am #
I think I’m prejudiced because I’m one of your writers, but I say hold out for quality AND reliability, just like with any other profession. You wouldn’t pick a plumber who showed up on time but couldn’t fix your sink properly, right? Same with writers. There are some flakes out there, but also so many great, professional writers.
Sorry you had such an upheaval. Hope it goes better next week!
Kevin | September 20th, 2007 at 11:45 am #
I’m definately still looking to hire quality howevever if my best writer was missing posts on a regular basis I would have to reconsider them working for me. Quality and price are important but it’s very important for writers to be reliable
Wallace | September 20th, 2007 at 11:50 am #
Kevin, will you fire someone?!
Kevin | September 20th, 2007 at 11:55 am #
haha I don’t really work like that…well I hope I don’t! The two authors who have been too busy to post stepped down themselves. I’d like to think I’m pretty flexible with that kind of thing but obviously if a writer was missing posts all the time I would have to re-evaulate our agreement.
Ryan | September 20th, 2007 at 3:34 pm #
Maybe part of the hiring process should be that an author has to submit 2-3 post which you’d put on hold publishing, then if for any reason they can’t post on any given week you can use one of their reserved post, therefore avoiding any problems.
Thanks for all the advice and inspiration, in the next few weeks I plan to start my own blog and it’s partly because of all the tips and discussions that go on, on this site that I feel I can do it.
Ryan
Kevin | September 20th, 2007 at 4:04 pm #
I think that’s a lot to ask a writer Ryan. I try to put myself in the other persons shoes and I personally wouldn’t write 3 original articles in advance etc.
I do think it’s a good idea though, just don’t think writers would be keen on it in practice
Ryan | September 20th, 2007 at 4:24 pm #
I think that depends on your level of commitment. If John Chow came to you and said he wanted you to become a writer for his blog but to do so he would need three articles up front, because of the expose you would gain you’d be willing to put in the extra effort. It wouldn’t even have to be thee posts, maybe just one back up post, and if they can’t put in that bit of work then maybe it would be a sign of things to come.
But then again as stated I’ve not even started blogging yet and so don’t know about the time, energy and affection that goes into writing a post, I’m still a little bit wet behind the ears!!
Sara | September 20th, 2007 at 4:45 pm #
Kevin,
The problem with business online (and blogging is certainly a business for a lot of us) is that some folks don’t take it very seriously. This becomes difficult when you are counting on someone to be professional and they’re just having fun writing some stuff online. Perhaps the best way to approach this would be to make it clear(er) that writing for Blogging Tips should be fun, but it should also be considered as serious an endeavor as any job they would accept in the “real world.”
Tell them to think of it this way: if you had a part-time job that you didn’t show up for two or three days in a row, the employer had to call you to ask why you didn’t show up and you didn’t have a damn good excuse, you’d totally be fired. I think the same should be true here. Writers here benefit not only by being paid, but also by gaining exposure for their own blogs, they shouldn’t flake out on you and if they do they should be replaced.
I think quality and reliability are just about equal in importance. If you need someone with both who would also work cheap because posting here would be a great traffic-builder, please don’t hesitate to contact me. =) You can check out my writing style at Pajama Professional. Also, feel free to edit this last paragraph out cuz it’s a bit of a shameless plug. =)
Sara
Kevin | September 20th, 2007 at 4:54 pm #
Some good points there Sara
(nothing wrong with a shameless plug every now and then!)
Michael Martine | September 20th, 2007 at 8:51 pm #
Well, I agree with the sentiment that you can have both. There are too many people for you not to get both.
Any blog should have drafts in reserve, ready to go.
Blogs Do Make Money | September 20th, 2007 at 9:27 pm #
I sincerely feel that if one decides to take up a paid blogging job, whether it’s part time or full time, responsibility and professionalism has to be a main priority. When I am hired for a job, I make sure that I deliver as reputation is important. I try not to neglect my blogs but if push comes to shove, they just have to take a backseat.
John Leschinski | September 21st, 2007 at 2:26 pm #
I agree, 3 posts up front is a little too much imo. I spend most of the week sourcing ideas and resources for an article, and then spend the better part of a day writing it. I’d love to be able to write 4 posts in a day, but I find when I’m done writing one I’m not in the mood to do 3 more before bed.