I wanted to share with everyone my experiences with hiring writers. I write the bulk of my own material, because I’m a writer and I enjoy it. But there are a lot of people out there who do not like to write at all. There are many people, in fact, who hate writing.

But if you have an online business or a website, searchable written content is necessary.  Words are the lifeblood of internet commerce.

Well, there’s good news for you. There are a lot of people willing and eager to write for you. They’re just waiting for you to drop them an email telling them what you need.

Well, that sounds a little easier than it actually is.

You’re probably wondering how you know who is a legitimate writer and how you can make sure you don’t get ripped off or get duplicate content.

I have tried to find writers in three places: freelanceswitch.com, Digital Point Forum, and Craigslist.

First point of advice. Don’t use Craigslist. It’s a hassle. There’s too much to sift through if you put a post there and hope for a good writer to respond. CL may not be a bad website, but there are better places to go to find internet copywriters and content writers.

Digital Point Forum is one of these places. You can find people who charge fair rates and do good work. But you don’t have to take their word for it. Everyone who participates on the site, by either writing content or paying for content, gets rated on a system called iTrader.

You can read reviews of writers from the people who have worked with them. Needless to say, you notice patterns. Furthermore, Digital Point is very strict and kicks out spammers and other dubious people very efficiently. I have had great success working with several writers I found on this site.

FreelanceSwitch is a website all about the freelance lifestyle. It is a resource for professional freelance writers, web designers, graphic designers, and copywriters. There is a job board at the site where you can post a job notice. You don’t have to pay for this, you just have to sign up for an account, which is very simple.

The writers looking for jobs pay $7 a month to have access to the job board, so there is a reverse situation here than on Craigslist. These writers are serious enough about finding freelance writing jobs that they pay for the opportunity to find them. This means you may be able to find higher-quality or more professional writers.

Beware, if you put up a post on this job board you will get some resumes sent to you. This was a new thing for me when I started. People from FreelanceSwitch may expect higher rates of pay than writers on Digital Point, but this isn’t always the case.

Another place to look is Elance, where writers, programmers, and graphic artists set up accounts and bid on projects.  I have very little experience with this website, but I plan to explore it a little more and work with a few writers from the site.  I have heard good things about this community, which also has ratings and ranking systems for its members.  I’ll let you know about my experience with this site.

I hope this helps those of you looking for good quality written content for your websites, blogs, or online business.