What do presidents, candidates for political office, political debaters and Internet Marketers have in common? Writers. They all need original content.

The political leader hires a speech writer; the Internet Marketer outsources to a freelance content writer. Both entities are ghostwriters who receive no recognition for his work. The speaker or internet marketer gets all the credit for the work.

Ghost (speech) writers have been utilized by our political leaders for 100’s of years. Perhaps you’ve heard that Alexander Hamilton was the speech writer for George Washington. If that is true, then Alexander Hamilton is probably the most famous ghostwriter of all times.

A ghost writer is a writer who works for compensation and upon completion of the project releases all rights to the body of work. Virtually all public figures use ghostwriters to write their memoirs, correspondence and speeches. Many webmasters have discovered the benefits of using ghostwriters to write their articles, especially those who don’t have the time or talent to keep their web site updated with fresh, custom content.

We will explore and explain the process of hiring a ghostwriter to write those original articles for your website. Following are a few points to help with the process:

Be prepared. Do not talk with a ghostwriter without being aware of what you want. Do you require technical data? Will the articles demand in-depth research? How many words do you require? What idea do you wish the article to communicate?

Don’t tell the ghostwriter to “write me an article on obesity” - a subject that has numerous subtopics and methods. If you don’t understand what you require I can promise you the ghostwriter will not satisfy you, no matter how much they charge or how seasoned they are. They are writers, not wizards.

Be professional. If you desire to employ a freelance writer but you are clueless as to how much they charge or how they work you could end up losing your shirt. Hop over to Google and look up “custom articles”, “freelance writers” and “ghost writers” to see what the going rates are.

Some will post their rates on the Internet. When you find what the “going rate” for ghostwritten articles is you can develop your budget for the expense. Or, after the research you may determine you can’t afford a ghostwriter.

Ask for an estimate. Many times internet sites will publish their rates so you can easily determine what the project will cost. At other times you may need to ask for a quotation.

Or, perhaps you are advertising on one of the freelance sites such as elance.com or getafreelaner.com. As indicated in Item #1, Be Prepared. Cover the following points in your query or posting: a) the length of the Article (i.e. how many words); b) topic (or title) for each article; c) your Deadline; d) how much you will be able to pay; and, e) how you plan to pay them (paypal, google, etc.). 

Be Very Specific. What do you want? Whether you believe it or not there is a difference in “content articles” for your visitors to read and “keyword articles” written to improve your SEO (search engine optimization).

Maybe you want both. If so, does the ghostwriter have skill in creating people-pleasing content that will also delight the search engines and boost your search engine position?

Keep your bottom line in view. Don’t overpay for your articles. Always keep accurate records of income vs. expenditures and remember that the reason you are employing a freelancer to write those unique custom articles for your website is to increase the traffic, thus the earnings, to your website.