Freelancefolder

24 Comments

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  Scott Fillmer

  March 28th, 2008 at 6:53 am

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  Some good points made in your article. I have often looked at different requests for articles to be written and thought, well, I don’t know that much about that topic.

  I know you can write on just about anything if you know how to do your research but it is good to see someone else write about doing that.

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  James Chartrand - Men with Pens

  March 28th, 2008 at 8:36 am

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  Sorry, I’m going to have to disagree with a lot being said in this post.

  Article directory content is often written by people who have no more clue of what they’re writing about than you do. Free ebooks? Much the same. Ghostwriters are hired all the time to write up ebooks – and they may not know a damned thing about what they’re writing on.

  Article directory content can often also be churned out and spun around by switching words like “can” to “could” and “might” to “will.” Or, it could be written by someone in another country and culture who has absolutely no knowledge of the country and culture of your target market.

  Accuracy is important. Imagine you were writing on brain surgery, and you wrote “might” instead of “will” on something that could be fatal?

  There are tons of resources out there from credible authorities. Doctors, med sites, the government, associations, online university libraries and more. THESE are the resources good writers should use when researching material and content.

  Get out and learn about your topic. Writing on juggling? Learn to juggle. Writing on dogs? Visit a breeder. Make calls to authorities. Go to the library. Browse credible, reliable websites for information.

  Don’t go the cut corners route.

  Sorry for the harsh feedback, but this one just went against everything I stand for.

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  Jon Phillips

  March 28th, 2008 at 9:11 am

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  I had a feeling this post would make some people comment, of course not necessarily with positive stuff, but that’s cool (that’s why FF is a multi-author blog, different opinions and ways of doing things) :)

  Well I didn’t write that post, but there’s one particular thing I understand is that you need to practice, similar to a designer who has absolutely no idea how to do something (for me it’s Ajax, I suck, but I’m trying not to) I practice, put some time aside to learn how to do this and that, so one day when a client asks me about it I’ll feel more comfortable saying ‘yes’. Of course I’ll find some sites that suggest I try this code and do this or that, and it won’t work, but after some time I’ll get more familiar with it and I’ll know what works and what doesn’t. And if I always find stuff that doesn’t work, well I’ll do some more research, till I find the right information.

  James, I completely agree with you on the ‘browse credible, reliable websites’ part, article directories are not bad, but they’re not that great either :)

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  James Chartrand - Men with Pens

  March 28th, 2008 at 9:42 am

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  Practice makes perfect is a very valid point. I wanted to learn to juggle and I spent a whole summer with a book handy, three balls in my hand and standing outside looking like a complete idiot for hours on end while I busted my ass to be the best damned juggler on the block.

  (Make that the only damned juggler on the block.)

  Same thing goes for riding, writing or parenting – anything I do in my life involves hours of learning. And as my riding coach says, there’s always something to learn. The day we think we know it all is the day we need to start learning some more.

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  James Chartrand - Men with Pens

  March 28th, 2008 at 9:42 am

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  @ Jon – That’s the longest thing I’ve ever seen you write in a comment section.

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  Jon Phillips

  March 28th, 2008 at 9:47 am

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  hehe, that’s because you know me from freelancefolder (multi-author blog, sharing the spotlight, letting post authors reply to comments on their own posts ya know), check my old blog though: smartwealthyrich.com :)

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  Jon Phillips

  March 28th, 2008 at 9:47 am

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  And James, it’s also because 140 characters on Twitter isn’t enough hehe

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  raj dash

  March 28th, 2008 at 10:03 am

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  During my days technical writing, I would often have an assignment to write up a manual/ training guide on something I wasn’t familiar with. So I’d have to learn about the subject matter. (Sometimes I spent 2 months learning before writing a word.) Most of the time I wrote about a specific piece of software, or very occasionally mechanical process – well within my own existing experience at the time. (That is, I wouldn’t have taken a job to write about, say, chemical processes, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t do it.)

  So if you don’t know about something, you learn. In the learning process, items #2-3 could be browsed. But if you’re writing about a serious topic, ebooks and article directories would hardly be my first choices. Think like a journalist: interview people if you have to.

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  Ramkarthik

  March 28th, 2008 at 10:51 am

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  @ James
  Glad someone is there to disagree with what I say and give me some valid points. I do agree that it takes a lot to write on a specific topic. But if you HAD to write on a certain topic that you know very little about and that too in a little time, I would say that article directories are very good place.

  Gone are the days where article directories had poor stuff. EzineArticles.Com doesn’t accept articles that are of less quality and that which are hugely targeted towards search engines by stuffing lots of keywords.

  Regarding the free ebooks, there are many GOOD free ebooks available in the net. Though many free ebooks are of poor quality, if you can search the net efficiently, you can easily come up with good ebooks. Isn’t Chitika’s free ebook of good quality?

  There are good free ebooks and also good articles in the article directories. Internet marketers and article marketers have started to write articles and submit it to article directories. So the content you find there are most of the times good.

  Also I’m not actually saying that you should rewrite the articles in the article directories, but I’m just telling it is a good way to learn a subject. I have learned about affiliate marketing primarily from article directories only. So I believe there is good resource available free on the net which you can get by a little search.

  And yes, thanks for the proper feedback and just not another “Great post” :)

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  Ramkarthik

  March 28th, 2008 at 10:55 am

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  Raj,
  Thanks for making a comment. If the job you are doing is a well planned one or if it has huge expectations, surely #2 and #3 are not the right choices. But if you are working ON a small budget or FOR a small budget, #2 and #3 are good in my point of view.

  Interviewing people is a good thing to do. You can learn a lot by interviewing a person who is known a lot for that particular topic.

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  Mark Blair

  March 28th, 2008 at 11:17 am

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  I’m not sure there is a “one-size fits all strategy for quick research”. As one that loves researching and learning new things, I will say that del.icio.us bookmarks and the sources section from Wikipedia are often nice ways to start.

  I generally try to get to as “original” a sources I can find. In a time crunch I acknowledge that that isn’t doable. In those cases, I tend to look for a trustworthy source that has summarized the topic broadly as a starting point.

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  Ramkarthik

  March 28th, 2008 at 11:31 am

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  Mark,
  You have made a good point there. It is better to visit the sites that specialize the topic you are focusing on. If you want to learn about technology, you can read visit digg’s technology category. Del.icio.us and wikipedia are very good resources and trust worthy too.

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  James Chartrand - Men with Pens

  March 28th, 2008 at 2:13 pm

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  @ Ramkarthik – I’m not saying that article directories are filled with poor-quality content. Some do have some gems.

  I’m saying that they cannot be trusted for accuracy and cannot be considered as being authoritative, credible resources to learn anything – even fast and dirty learning.

  Also, mentioning that cutting corners with article directories and free ebooks is acceptable when budgets are low isn’t something I commend either. Credible resources are free. There’s no need to look elsewhere.

  Anyways, it’s clear I have strong opinions on quality over quantity – as a writer, I’m biased. No hard feelings.

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  Mary Brown

  March 28th, 2008 at 4:58 pm

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  If you know next to nothing about a particular topic, a good way to begin to familiarize yourself with it is to go to the juvenile section of your local public library and find a book on the subject written for grades 7-12. This will be an overview that will give you the maid ideas. The book may even have a bibliography, which would give you some other sources to check. The library catalog may also lead you to other books on the same subject.

  Of course eventually you’ll have to progress above this level, but it often is a good place to start.

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  Amy Lillard

  March 28th, 2008 at 9:11 pm

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  Writing about something you know nothing about is the job of a freelance writer, or any writer, as far as I’m concerned. You teach yourself, and enable your ability to teach others. There are so many trade magazines I’ve written for that are far from my areas of expertise (greenhouses? Lawn care? Green building? Done it all). But that’s the excitement of being a writer – learning about something new, and presenting that in a knowledgable way to others. The best way to do that is through interviews and in-depth research, wherever you find it (though I’m always hesitant about articles and ebooks, for reasons mentioned above). Long story short – writers should never be afraid to take something new on. It’s a learning experience, and a fun experience.

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  Deb Ng

  March 30th, 2008 at 6:31 am

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  As usual I’m late to the party, but I have to disagree with you here. I’m not totally in agreement but I do believe one can write on a general level about things one knows little about. If you’re talking about dispensing advice, I have to take issue.

  The web is filled with rehashed and rewritten content. It’s why people who don’t know any better are trying home remedies that don’t work and high school kids are turning in poorly researched papers. One person writes an article that may or may not be factually correct and other web writers rewrite it – or certain key points. Where’s the originality? And who is on staff checking the facts?

  Did you know many college students aren’t allowed to use Wikipedia, Associated Content, E-Zine articles and other content portals as sources in their papers? It’s because too many people who know nothing about a topic are writing things they have no business writing. Like James, I’m not saying there’s not some good stuff there, but there’s lots of bad or just rewritten stuff there too.

  If you’re going to write on something you know little or nothing about, one of two things can happen:

  1. You’re going to get called out by the true experts and labeled as someone who is clueless. Good for linkbait, bad for reputation.

  2. Someone is going to follow your bad advice. This may not affect you directly, but still.

  Now, if I were to tell people to research a new topic, my suggestion is the library, lexis nexis, interviewing expert sources (profnet is my favorite for sources), and reading books – not necessarily ebooks and articles. The Internet is a great tool, but not always the best for research.

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  Tom Ross

  March 30th, 2008 at 1:29 pm

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  Good post. Although, I don’t see the problem with just sticking to what you know and becoming an expert on this topic.

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  Ramkarthik

  March 31st, 2008 at 6:02 am

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  Deb,
  Firstly, thanks for making a comment.

  Secondly, I actually want to make it clear that whatever sources I have mentioned is only to go there and learn about the topic and not to write the same thing or rewrite it. I’m just pointing it as a source to know about the subject in depth.

  It is surely not good to write the same thing in the article directories as 50% of them are copied and low quality articles. Just use them to learn the topic, understand it and write it in your way and express your own views.

  With the big internet marketers entering into the article marketing field, there are certainly very good articles in the article directories from which anyone can LEARN about any subject.

  Hope I have made my point clear.

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  Lois K

  March 31st, 2008 at 9:07 am

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  I just want to let you know this article hits the nail on the head. I have been a hard copy writer for over twenty years, and you can’t limit yourself to what you are qualified for now. You have to keep qualifying yourself if you plan to keep writing long term. Being adaptable is how you stay alive

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