Should you write all the content for your money-making websites? Or can you outsource the writing?

Yes and no.  But mainly, yes.

Let’s start with the yes.

Yes, you should write your own content rather than outsource it to someone else. Why? Because one of the key elements of your website will be the authenticity of your voice.

Readers will notice whether you have written your content yourself. They will feel your expertise and enthusiasm. They will sense that you want your content to be helpful.

If you outsource your content to someone else, maybe a content-creation service operating out of India or Eastern Europe, the language might be grammatically correct, and it may contain the right information, but your personal touch will be missing.

I’m not saying that your average reader will look at one of your pages and declare, “He outsourced that page!” But after reading a few pages many readers will intuitively recognize the absence of voice and personality. They’ll find the facts, but they won’t find you.

In my own experience, it is essential to write your own content if you want to engage your readers.

But...

You don’t have to write every page on your site. CoffeeDetective.com has about 700 pages. 0 pages were written through outsourcing. About 400 were written by me, over a three year period. And about 300 were written, wholly or in part, by my readers.

Your own writing is authentic, and so is that of your readers. Reader-generated content is just as valuable as your own content. Not only does it add value to your site, but it also adds breadth, because your readers will touch on topics you hadn’t thought to mention.

Remember, people will choose your site not because it has more information than some big media site, but because it is written in the voice of an individual, an expert next door.

To retain that advantage over big media, you need to honor that difference and avoid outsourcing. Keep it personal.

For more information on this, check out my program, How to Write Your own Money-Making Websites.

Comments

[Christopher "The Doc" Loch]

This is so true.

I have a client/partner who has a very distinctive voice in his writing... which is exactly why people love him.

When we tried to outsource to one of those cheap-o article marketing farms the articles we got back were devoid of any voice whatsoever.

In the time it took him to add a voice we decided he could just write something from scratch.