Finding Writers for Guest Posting?

[ErikDster]

Having the toughest time finding writers.

I've been pretty successful building links via guest posting, but the problem is I'm writing all the articles.  It's seriously draining - and not scalable the way I'm doing.

That said - anyone have tips on how to find high quality writers?  I'm fine paying $50-$100 per article as long as it's great.

Help?

[BenRush]

What industry are you in?

Are you looking for writers to construct posts you can submit to external sites OR writers who can submit guest posts on your site?

Have you tried services like oDesk? quality can be lacking, but you could try and do a deal whereby you only pay if the post is accepted by an external site - thus no risk!

Thanks,

Ben

[Michael-Goode]

There is one website I could definitely recommend, it is called "My Blog Guest" (http://myblogguest.com/)

It is founded by Ann Smarty, who has been featured here on SEOmoz and she is also a member on here. Basically, the website offers the opportunity to look for blog guest writers as well as offering articles to other blog owners. The site is easy to use and pick up.

If you are willing to pay though you could check out sites such as oDesk (as mentioned by Ben). Do be aware though that you look at their ratings, their native language and the amount of experience they have. We once trialed on there looking for a writer, the content we received however was very very poor (although the person's ratings on oDesk were good). In the end, we settled for an in-house writer.

Best of luck!

[ErikDster]

Hi Ben.  No particular industry, I do SEO for various websites.

I haven't tried oDesk yet, but quality is super important to me.  Maybe I can find native english writers.  These guest posts will represent my clients' brands.

[ErikDster]

Definitely love My Blog Guest.  I also source guest posts via searching for blogs with Google search operators and pitching them that way.

My problem is that even though I can find lots of quality guest post opportunities, I have to write the actual post.

Any tips on hiring your writer?

[bobjones]

The perfect place to find writers is the Problogger Jobs board. I've had several great writers come from there. Another place to look is textbroker.com - you'll be paying for quality though, if that's not an issue.

[EGOL]

I found a great writer by going out and looking at blogs in my niche.  This allowed me to see the quality of the writing and the productivity of the person over time.

Also, if you need general writing you might be able to hire a person who graduated with honors from an English writing program.  I ran an ad on Craigslist - wrote the qualifications really steep - and was very surprised at the quality people who applied.

[ErikDster]

Problogger Job Board looks promising.  Thanks for the tip.

I've looked at the highest level textbroker in the past.  The quality was good in terms of grammar, but it read like a text book.  To me, blogs (and guest posts) tend to be more human and personable.

Maybe I just had a bad sample?

[ErikDster]

"I found a great writer by going out and looking at blogs in my niche.  This allowed me to see the quality of the writing and the productivity of the person over time."

It seems so obvious, yet I never thought of it.  I'm going to do this straight away.  Thanks EGOL.

[ErikDster]

Update to this - I did some searching about on oDesk and found some (what appear to be) very good US based writers in a wide variety of niches.  Pricing ranged anywhere from $20-40 per hour and upwards of $80 per hour for sales copy.

Looks promising.

[AnnSmarty]

Thanks for the kind words on MyBlogGuest, guys. We fight hard for the quality there trying to turn it into a valuable resource of awesome guest posts!