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I have too many WordPress websites to provide content for them all and I outsource some of the work to specialized article writers on Elance.  You can go there to expand your staff beyond just you and outsource a job that you would usually perform.

Unfortunately when I first started creating WordPress websites from scratch I wasted a lot of money on unnecessary mistakes. It is not always easy to judge how well a person will do a job from half way across the world. There is no face to face contact with some contractors, although I like to try and achieve this through Skpe. I have writers in the USA, the UK, and even Europe.

5 tips for hiring the right person on Elance.com

1 ** Be clear about what you want

If you are vague with your job description then what ever you haven’t mentioned, usually happens. It is almost your fault for not finding the right person on Elance.com. You need to be precise and take time writing your listing.

2 **Set a price range

Set a price range of what you want to pay because otherwise you are wasting both your time and the writers time when they put in a proposal. You do not want extravagant quotes coming in.

3 **Set you job job criteria

Set you job job criteria and be strict and stick to it. If you are upfront with the rules now, hopefully you will flush out the people that do not suit you. If they get freaked out when they see your criteria that’s good. You only want the right person for the job.

4 **Delivery for the job

Tell people exactly when you expect delivery because people can get very slack when working unsupervised. Just remember that the people applying for this job are from other parts of the world and have different work ethics. What you think is normal and courteous, may not be in their country.

5**Escrow

When hiring the right person on Elance.com always use Escrow which allows Elance to hold your funds until you are ready to release them. Do not release the funds before the job has been completed.

A friend of mine released $200 accidentally before receiving any work and the writer mysteriously disappeared from the face of the earth, along with the money. He used Escrow but his inexperience led him to push the RELEASE FUNDS button. If the writer had not supplied the work and the funds were still in Escrow they would have been returned to him. Elance is great that way.

Example job listing – hiring the right person on Elance.com

I need many articles but this job is for 25 to see how we work together. I am a serious buyer and will continue to give you work providing you adhere to these guidelines:

—–Criteria—–

*** You must be able to write in good flowing English.

*** You need to engage the reader and make them feel like you are talking directly to them.

*** You must deliver articles on time, as per schedule.

*** All articles are to be on the same Word 2003 doc. We do not accept word 2007. (This is so my VA can open them.)

*** The file name must be labeled clearly. Eg. Niche_yourname_1-10 and Niche_yourname_10-20

*** Each article on the Word document must have its own title.

*** All articles need to be 500 words in length. They should also contain subheadings and sometimes bullet points.

*** All articles will be checked through Copyscape so make sure you are providing 100% original content. No PLR content.

*** While writing an article you must wear red underwear. (Just checking if you are paying attention)

*** You relinquish all authorship of articles.

*** You must provide the same high standard throughout the whole project. If your output does not match your sample work then we will have to cancel our job.

—–Subjects—–

1. Subject one

2. Subject two

3. Subject three

—–Samples—–

See the attached sample and then choose a topic from above and write your own sample article to send to me. I will not accept previously written articles. I want you to choose from the subjects above.

—–Pricing—–

I am on a budget as I buy 100’s of articles a week on a variety of niches. For this project I want to pay $4 for 500 words, however depending on the quality of your sample, this price may increase.

I will not accept any bids higher than $100. Please do not waste your time if you cannot fit to our budget.

If your asking “WOW, did she even get any responses to this job advert?” Well the answer is yes! I had about 5 applicants and I actually chose 2. That’s how good they were.

Update: Since this post was published I have hired many more people to write for me. Hiring the right person on Elance.com or any other job website gets easier with experience. Also the key is to keep great writers busy with your work so they have no time to work for others.. Ha Ha.

Hiring the right person on Elance.com definitely requires that you scare a few people off first.

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40 Comments

1. 

   Shelley Jane Roby

   December 19, 2012 at 7:50 pm

   One thing that missing on how to hire the right people in Elance is the skills. You also have to consider that the person you are hiring has the right skillsets to be able to perform the job.
   Shelley Jane Roby recently posted..How Beneficial To Have a Business Website

   Reply
2. 

   John Will

   December 11, 2012 at 12:46 pm

   Hi Mitz!
   It’s really a nice post.I was looking for some nice tips whcih i found here.Thanks for sharing these beautiful ideas.Thanks for sharing these tips.
   John Will recently posted..Live Cricket Streaming

   Reply
3. 

   Brenda Macalino

   December 11, 2012 at 6:54 am

   Those tips you share in here was really cool I love to read it, and you give me an Idea for this…
   Brenda Macalino recently posted..הרב לייטמן

   Reply
4. 

   Maja

   December 7, 2012 at 6:14 pm

   It is growing trend on the freelancing sites that service providers get job from one site and post this project on other freelancing site at low price. These persons are known as Freelancer Boss,
   Mitlz I appreciate your tips.
   Maja recently posted..Reasons for Short Haircuts

   Reply
5. 

   hillmart

   December 6, 2012 at 4:44 pm

   I think as a Elance freelancer worker and a client, in both the cases i think one has to keep these important points in mind. This would help both in either case in getting a job or for hiring a lancer for the job. I think these are the standards set by a elance manager. Goog post i would say.

   Reply
6. 

   sofiya

   December 4, 2012 at 7:29 am

   Great post. I am glad I went to this site, these are great ideas you suggested. I belong to a few Article, but someone I never thought or heard of. I will join some of what you suggested. Thanks.
   sofiya recently posted..Tips For Using Facebook in Your Job Search Hunt

   Reply
7. 

   Julia Spencer

   November 25, 2012 at 12:08 pm

   I have never hired anyone to work for myself, but I was working as a HR manger for some time in IT industry…and it’s not a very easy thing, I’d rather tell you. Both sides have many requirements that should be met

   Reply
8. 

   Ann

   November 24, 2012 at 1:23 pm

   SEO and Social media is a great combination, with more focus on social media these days, I feel it will only have more weight in the future.
   Ann recently posted..Bad Links – How to Tackle this Problem

   Reply
9. 

   Ann

   November 23, 2012 at 2:07 pm

   Back when I was in the semiconductor industry, we once invited a PHD scientist to our corporate office for an on-site interview/meeting. He shows up with his son in tow. He wasn’t interested but want us to interview his son instead who recently graduated from college.
   Ann recently posted..FDA’S Latest Developments on Hair Loss!!

   Reply
10. 

    christina

    November 21, 2012 at 4:35 am

    Awesome Post. I like it. It is very true that elance and Guru have been lifesavers, I have found some wonderful folks on those sites and may times we will still use them as the needs arise. Thanks for share it.
    christina recently posted..Obama support for Thai leadership

    Reply
11. 

    Marven Jen

    November 18, 2012 at 4:45 pm

    I applied this tips and found this helpful, you won’t believe I got 5 best content writer from elance for my website
    Thanks
    http://www.thezombiegames.com

    Reply
12. 

    Live Cricket

    November 18, 2012 at 12:26 pm

    Hi Mitz!
    My boss has hired a few people to write articles for our blog to help with SEO, he picked 1 good one out of 3. I want to help him write future ads to put on Elance so we can get good writers. Also I stumbled upon this article because I was looking for a good web designer to do contract work every now and then.

    Reply
13. 

    John Will

    November 18, 2012 at 12:21 pm

    Hi Mitz!
    These are Really Excellent tips on how to hire the right people for your startup company. You not only need great candidates, you also need candidates who will be able to thrive in a startup environment. Before hiring, you’ll want to explain the realities of startup life in the in person or video interview. Turnover can be costly, and you want to make sure you’re hiring passionate people who will stick with your company, not bail when the going gets tough. Thanks Mitz for share very Important tips

    Reply
14. 

    Andrei

    November 16, 2012 at 3:35 pm

    Well I have to tell that you really have to pay attention to what you are hiring these days on elance…I hired 2 writers, one from India and the other one from Pakistan to write 5 articles each, +1000 words / article. It’s been 2 weeks and I have 2 articles from one, the other didn’t deliver a thing…
    Andrei recently posted..Google ruins the excitement caused by Nexus 4

    Reply
15. 

    Javi

    November 16, 2012 at 12:28 pm

    Mitz,
    Ive been thinking of outsourcing the development of a few of my blogs to someone and I was actually looking for people on Odesk a couple of months back. This great, immensely useful post, think I’ll try my hand with Elance now. Cheers!
    Javi recently posted..Adding Images and Videos on Your Blog – A List of Best Practices to Follow

    Reply
16. 

    Aasma

    November 16, 2012 at 11:38 am

    Hi Mitz,

    I never hired anyone using Elance or Odesk. However I do use their services to find relevant work according to our services. If you could help me I need one more help from you… Can you give some examples to prepare good Elance profile so that you can get more work. I’m not looking to show fraud details, instead how to display your normal services in very effective way??
    Aasma recently posted..Online Mobile Recharge Software Developers (dofollow)

    Reply
17. 

    cutekavya

    November 16, 2012 at 6:41 am

    Thanks for sharing the information. I’ve used Elance in the past but not oDesk or webgeekph.

    Reply
18. 

    Santosh

    November 15, 2012 at 9:52 am

    Hi Mitz
    Great post.Thanks for share it.I agree with your all tips. Find the right people for your business is very essential. Of course, preparation is the vital thing, you have to make certain that you already know who will be the people available, how they do things, what they do and how your company could help their business. Lists will give you far in achieving your business strategies.
    Santosh recently posted..Most Loved Destinations Around The World During Christmas

    Reply
19. 

    Vivek

    November 15, 2012 at 9:29 am

    wow its really helpful article to know how to hire a right person on elance. I’m agree with “Set a price range” its really right & good point actually.
    Vivek recently posted..12 bad link building practices

    Reply
20. 

    Clarkmartin

    November 15, 2012 at 4:39 am

    Hi MITZ
    These are Excellent tips on how to hire the right people for your startup company. You not only need great candidates, you also need candidates who will be able to thrive in a startup environment. Before hiring, you’ll want to explain the realities of startup life in the in person or video interview. Turnover can be costly, and you want to make sure you’re hiring passionate people who will stick with your company, not bail when the going gets tough. Thanks Mitz for share very Important tips.
    Clarkmartin recently posted..CEE LO Sexual Assault Accuser Had Long History with Singer

    Reply
    • 

      Mitz

      November 15, 2012 at 4:45 am

      Yes you are right that turnover is costly. I like to see what people need and try and supply a better working environment, especially if they are great at what they do. I do not like having to find new people. I will stick with the ones I find for years if they let me??

      Reply
21. 

    Brenda Macalino

    May 16, 2012 at 12:12 am

    Hi Mitch I love to see those 5 tips you share in here it was really great and very useful..
    Brenda Macalino recently posted..שליחת SMS

    Reply
    • 

      Frank Thomas

      November 15, 2012 at 8:39 am

      The escrow part is interesting writer have nice thought about payout cash without any work deliver that’s so awful, that you cant do any single task then how you able to withdraw an amount.

      Reply
22. 

    Mark

    March 5, 2012 at 12:07 pm

    Really, really simple question for you on this, Mitz…

    By having folks release all authorship, you then take what they’ve written and spin it in your own way, add SEO “optimization tunes” and claim as your own article?

    I haven’t considered doing anything like this yet for 2 reasons: 1) I’m not making money thus far, and 2) I’m really hoping to get some “organic” guest authors – ideally that I already know. But it’s really good to know this is available and it can be made to work!!

    And Okay – I guess I gave another question as well. What’s a VA??

    Thanks!
    Mark recently posted..Tree Planting 101

    Reply
    • 

      Mitz

      November 15, 2012 at 2:10 am

      A VA is a Virtual assistant.
      I get articles from writers and rarely publish them as is. Sometimes I publish their article under their name, not mine… Other times I edit the article to my liking and publish it as mine… That takes time also but helps me save time.

      Reply
23. 

    Mark Tesa

    December 15, 2011 at 3:37 pm

    Hiring the right person highly depends on you. If you are not clear on what you want then you might just end up hiring the wrong person and it might not be his or her fault but yours. If you can conduct an interview then it can really assists you in hiring the right person.

    Reply
24. 

    gary

    August 25, 2011 at 10:04 pm

    Actually, no good writer will ever do work for money sitting in an escrow account. If the buyer dies, or gets in a car accident, or Elance goes bankrupt, all that work was a waste of time.

    Seriously, if you use the escrow account to hold funds until you get your payment, you will get garbage for a product.

    Reply
25. 

    Karl

    August 16, 2011 at 1:23 pm

    Great article! My boss has hired a few people to write articles for our blog to help with SEO, he picked 1 good one out of 3. I want to help him write future ads to put on Elance so we can get good writers. Also I stumbled upon this article because I was looking for a good web designer to do contract work every now and then. I don’t suppose you have any tips for writing elance ads for that?

    Reply
    • 

      mitz

      August 16, 2011 at 1:50 pm

      Yes I do have one great tip…Go to odesk.com and search through the job listings to get ideas for what to put…Elance does not let you see as much detail as Odesk, however I like to hire people from Elance as I like the system.

      Reply
26. 

    a cpap

    March 7, 2011 at 2:21 pm

    Ah okay. Thanks for the reply mitz. I just want some clarifications.

    Reply
27. 

    a cpap

    March 7, 2011 at 12:18 pm

    Does the provider in elance paid an annual payment for them or the membership is totally free?

    Reply
    • 

      mitz

      March 7, 2011 at 12:54 pm

      Elance gets a commission on a job. It is free to post jobs but the person doing the work needs to pay the fees. Therefore when quoting a job the person doing the job need to quote a price that includes fees.
      mitz recently posted..Clickbank affiliate products that provide recurring income (dofollow)

      Reply
28. 

    Bryan

    March 7, 2011 at 11:18 am

    My requirements for an article writer were the following: knowledge about marketing,SEO and excellent communication skills writtten.

    Reply
    • 

      mitz

      March 7, 2011 at 12:56 pm

      Once you get onto a great writer, keep them!
      mitz recently posted..How to make money online in 2011 (dofollow)

      Reply
29. 

    mystery shopping companies

    October 8, 2010 at 7:56 am

    great blog! added to my bkmarks

    Reply
30. 

    Julie Jones

    August 19, 2010 at 9:20 am

    Hey Mitz I just love your post. It’s so to the point. I will be doing everything you say. Thanks so much.

    Reply
31. 

    Best Jobs To Meet Women

    June 27, 2010 at 6:20 am

    wow, awesome blog.Thanks Again. Really Cool.

    Reply
32. 

    mitz

    May 19, 2010 at 11:20 am

    You really have to make sure you mention everything you want to get done or you will get burned…Elance.com is a great website but it can be costly if you do not know what you are doing?

    Reply
33. 

    Ward Golk

    May 12, 2010 at 1:59 am

    Thank you for this informative post on websites. It has really allowed me to understand more.

    Reply
34. 

    Jesus Birdin

    May 1, 2010 at 1:04 pm

    Hey! Just had to chime in. I truly loved this article. Keep up the great effort.

    Reply

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