There are things that I wish everyone knew; certain codes that everyone followed. Here are some things that I try to follow in my life and always wish others would too:

• Get super drunk at least 3 times in your life. Ensure the total number of drunk nights you cannot remember stays in the single digits

• If you like someone, tell them; even if you know it won’t lead to anything

• Never be completely honest with anyone; not even the person you love

• Learn how to touch type

• Learn how to Google properly

• Do not accept financial aid from your parents once you start earning. A loan from the bank will come with fewer stipulations

• It is okay to pay people with beer

• It is not okay to never pick up the tab at the hotel or bar, no matter how broke you are

• Memorise at least three phone numbers in the event of an emergency

• Be fair when it comes to your relationships. Cheating is never an option

• It is NOT mandatory that you be friends with your ex; it is completely okay if you feel like killing them

• When you have drinking plans, switch off your phone’s data connection. If you can afford to, then switch off the phone itself

• Do not bring past events up during a fight. What matter is what is wrong now, and not what he or she did or said 3 weeks or 3 months ago

• Let friends go if they make you bitter

• Learn to enjoy the drink instead of the buzz

• Listen more than you talk. Never be completely silent. If nothing else, laugh

• Smile; it calms down friends and irritates foes

• You won’t always love your job. Make sure you are compensated for your dissatisfaction

• No one in HR is your friend. Ever

• Learn to ask for a higher salary, for a better appraisal, for a promotion. You will be surprised how many times all you needed to do was ask

• Being blunt will get you faster results. People eventually get over the fact that you were rude to them once

• Be courteous to your colleagues and workers, even if they annoy you

• Never be diplomatic with friends. Pick sides. You will lose a few friends, but grow closer with the rest. This is how you make friends you can call in any kind of emergency

• Allow yourself one vice

• Read more than just the headlines

• Never pour ketchup over french fries if someone is sharing them with you. Not everyone likes ketchup-soaked fries

What about you? What is one thing you wished more people did or knew?

The post If your job sucks, make sure you get paid well for it – and other life advice appeared first on Psilosophy.

Your Fury Is Futile

A number of media folks and A-listers love to live by the quote, “There is no such thing as bad publicity.”

Even bad publicity is still publicity. You are still getting your name out there. People are still talking about you. The internet is tearing itself apart for you and long opinion pieces are being written about you that will be published by blogs and print media alike.

Whether you said something racist, tried to be funny about a sensitive topic, or merely expressed an opinion that isn’t very popular, if you managed to annoy and/or anger a few vocal people, you are going to get a fair amount of limelight. The question you must ask now is, “What are you going to do with it?”

Brands are a soft target. They have the distinct disadvantage of not being human, even though they are started and managed by humans. They are faceless and terrified of public opinion, and they are always under scrutiny. So it was only inevitable that they would pay handsomely to anyone who could make the negative attention go away.

This is where the marketing industry steps in. These marvellous bastards figured out something; something that is changing the way brands handle negative public perception.

People love to outrage. Let them. Control the process instead of trying to curb it.

The internet outrages everyday. It does not really need a valid reason to do so. It tracks and virtually lynches teenage kids who drown cats with just as much fervour as it hates digital media companies which rampantly use clickbait titles.

So how does hate marketing work?

Hate relies on two human traits:

1. The need to publicly oppose an unpopular move

2. Short memory

People pounce on a topic and do not let go till they find their next target. They make fun, they abuse, they spew hate, and talk nonsense. By the time the outrage reaches it crescendo, it is near impossible to find any kind of logical progression for the entire event. Then the next outrage starts and people forget about the previous one. Just like cache memory of a computer that is ridiculously fast yet completely incapable of retaining anything beyond a simple restart of the device, the public memory too resets itself at the day’s end and little remains of the past. Now it would seem that the outrage is not only utterly useless, it is actually benefitting the enemy.

Outrage is inevitable

People need to vent out. They need this even more than they need validation, physical intimacy, or even internet. The world is a frustrating and infuriating place. Naturally people get tired of just going along with it all, and protest from time to time. From water coolers to coffee shops, people take a pause from their unfair and unhappy lives to remind each other that they are all dissatisfied.

So what marketing agencies do is give this outrage a safe outlet. Make an announcement or suffer a goof-up that gets all the ire of the general public out of the way. Something along the lines of the popular iPhone series having problems which emerge a little before Apple’s announcements of new products each year.

Or the revelation that Hillary Clinton was using personal communication devices for conducting public business, a few short months before her announcement as a Presidential candidate.

The goal is simple – generate a buzz and create public recall. People should feel like they have heard your name when someone mentions it. Bad publicity does this quite easily. Then when people remember the name but not quite the details of why the person is infamous, the PR guys get to work shifting the public perception and organising a string of events which reinforce a more positive image.

The end result of all this, is you looking like a schmuck. You spend hours, maybe even days, shouting at the top of your voice, protesting thew wrong that has been done against someone whose name you probably don’t even know. Then when you are hoarse from all the shouting and tired from all the grandstanding, you realise that you actually helped them become more popular.

All those times you and a thousand others were voicing your opinions, you were actually doing them a great favour.

I’m impressed, to be honest.

The post Welcome to the Age of Outrage Marketing appeared first on Psilosophy.

Net neutrality is serious business. So is Game of Thrones.

In the immortal (and final) words of Oberyn Martell:

Dear Indian ISPs,

As far as internet freedom is concerned,

YOU RAPED HER.

YOU MURDERED HER.

YOU KILLED HER CHILDREN!

Image made with the help of Meta-Chart

The post Net Neutrality – There Are Three Kinds Of People In This World appeared first on Psilosophy.

In a country like India, where the population overload has made resources scarce, education is the tool which tips the scale back in the favour of the poor and the downtrodden and gives them the means to earn an honest living.

He who contemplates the beauty of the earth finds resources of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.

#nature #River #rejuvenate #DoRighter #India4India #TravelDiaries #spiritual #pray #travelgram #Ganga #meditate #sunset

A post shared by Tata Capital (@tatacapital) on Mar 14, 2015 at 5:56am PDT

The city of Varanasi, one of the holiest places in the country, now faces a challenge. The city which has been a source of religious enlightenment for millions is now struggling to provide formal education to its own inhabitants. The shores of Ganga, the holiest of the holy rivers, bears witness to the youth of the city. This youth has taken up all kinds of petty trades to earn a pittance, instead of pursuing proper education which could offer them a chance at so much more.

It is not that the facilities are lacking, which lead to the disenchantment of the city’s youth from education. A lack of awareness, perhaps, or rather, a lack of interest of the grownups in these children has brought us to this point.

When the need arises, there have been those among us who have risen up to the challenge. When a need was felt to ensure that the wayward youths of the Ganga shores were given a chance to study, Ajeet Singh came up with an idea. If the students won’t come to school, the school needs to be brought to where the students are. Thus was born a school that would float and gently find itself in the midst of the students who needed guidance even they did not know it yet.

Ajeet Singh – a true Do Righter, started an innovative ‘boat school’, a haven for the children of the Ganga. India, step on board and help give it a magical transformation that will ensure a learning environment that the children truly deserve. To know more, visit: www.doright.in. #India4India #ScholarShip #Spiritual #Educate #water #Varanasi #Kashi #Travel #Travelgram #InstaTravel #DoRighter #Donate

A post shared by Tata Capital (@tatacapital) on Apr 1, 2015 at 12:08am PDT

NGO Guria is trying its best to keep the at-risk youth of Varanasi out of danger. They have been adding kids to their roster and have started making a lot of progress as well!

Now they need your help. They need to acquire more resources to continue their battle against illiteracy. Tata Capital has pitched in to help the NGO get educational toys, painting kits, stationary and a computer. They will also help NGO Guriya improve the interiors of the boat and set up a library!

Here is what you can do today to bring about a positive change. You can visit the official website for the Do Right Project, see for yourself how Ajeet Singh and NGO Guria are changing lives, and then help in any way you can.

Tell your friends, tell your social media circle. The more people you tell, the better chance you give Ajeet Singh to successfully complete this Journey of Doing Right which he has started!

——-

Note – This blog has been written as part of a campaign by Tata Capital to raise awareness about the Do Right Project

The post Bringing Education to the Holy Shores of Varanasi appeared first on Psilosophy.

Their unbounded enthusiasm for what they do, and their commitment to their startup is exemplary and something that entrepreneurs everywhere can learn a lot from. At the same time, the team behind Mera Career Guide, or MCG as we call it, is incredibly fun to be around. They really do treat each other like a family and it is a remarkable sight indeed.

I often see young students come in for their sessions with the career counsellors at MCG. More often than not, they are accompanied by their parents. The counsellor ends up spending just as much time with the parents as they do with the child. I often hear parents posing questions about career options which they simply had no idea about. Even content writing, what I do for a living, is not something that they seem to even know about. The gap in knowledge that exists here is a bit worrying.

A child is expected to look up to his or her parents for guidance, but from what I have often seen, parents also have a limited knowledge about the options that their child can explore. Little information is almost as bad as no information, or so the saying goes.

Imagine a world where you could be the best at something but never got a chance to, because you did not know that it was a viable career path.

It is an often used trope in movies and fiction that Indian parents only know about two professions: doctors and engineers. But having parents around the office on most days makes me realize that there is some truth to it.

A career is a choice. It is the result of a careful deliberation. It defines a person and deeply affects their future. So it only stands to reason that this decision should be made after careful research. If the parents are not able to offer the guidance that their child needs, I’m at least happy that they take the decision to seek help from real experts.

As long as services like MeraCareerGuide are around, I can be confident that anyone who needs help with their career related problems will find people like Surabhi and Love ready to help.

The post Bringing to life the philosophy of “My Career My Choice” appeared first on Psilosophy.

Here I was, cold wind in my hair, a huge grin on my face, surrounded by even taller mountains, part of the Himalayas. Out in the distance, stood 3 majestic mountains with ice-covered tops that positively gleamed like gold under the bright sun of mid-noon. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, still grinning, reached in my pocket, and took out a pack of Classic Mild.

A lighter appeared in front of my face, held in the hand of a friend, a lit cigarette placed delicately between her own lips. I took a drag, closed my eyes again, and told myself, “This is the best that 2014 is going to get for you.”

2014 is over, and I know now the statement was true.

I look back on my life, and see that for the better part of my adulthood, there have been a few smokes being passed around in every single significant moment of my life; the good ones as well as the bad.

I start with this story because I want to establish from the get go that I am an avid smoker, and after two dozen failed attempts to quit, I’m resigned to the fact that this little habit will accompany me for a lifetime.

I started smoking in 2005, when a single Classic Mild used to cost 5 rupees. Today I bought a Mild for 12. Life has been consistently getting harder for a smoker. I admit some of the difficulties are due to the tar blocking up our lungs, but outside influences have been just as big a culprit.

The packaging has changed and the new packs come with the image of a ghastly and black lung prominently printed on it. These images too have been revised a couple of times, becoming more grisly than they ever should have been allowed to be.

It’s a mockery, that’s what this is. Sheer profiteering in death. Raise the taxes, bring in more money for self, while making sure to condemn the end customers. Then throw these images on their packs of cigarettes to add insult to injury.

I don’t know a single person who started smoking and continued it just because they liked it. Some of us were curious, other were just trying to fit in. Now we are just resigned to the fact that there is not much that we can do about it.

Quitting smoking is really really hard. Sure, I know people who have went from 2 packs a day to none at all and stayed that way for years, but if you remember, I never said that it was impossible.

Big Tobacco is a billion dollar industry. It is so big that they are planning to sue Australia for forcing them to add these images. Cigarettes are not going anywhere. I know that, and you know that. Yet for some reason we are playing this charade where we act ignorant of this fact. Now with the introduction of those images, the government is trying to come across as someone who despises the habit and wants to put an end to it. Like actors in some Bhojpuri movie, they are doing a remarkably bad job of playing this role.

Who are they fooling with such a feeble attempt? They think that a Photoshopped image of a lung dying from some mumbo jumbo disease will scare us into quitting? Have they forgotten how this country has even gotten used to watching the news of girls dying in the hospital after her entrails were removed during the course of a brutal attack on her very being, all the while we are eating and talking and grumbling about our own mundane problems?

If we need to smoke, the government needs us to smoke just as much. If we somehow all quit at the same time, you probably don’t even have an idea how many people are going to die from a heart attack after discovery their financial losses the very next day.

Or have they already forgotten the research which proclaims that smoking and cancer are not related?

We are the essential cogs without which this ginormous industry would be brought down to its knees in mere weeks.

Just freakin’ stop with the parenting. It is a health risk that you created. I don’t want to stop. Either make it illegal or stop with the bullshit moves of taking a higher moral ground while still covered in the shit filled slime from your rolling around in the sty that you call thinking.

You need not hate us. We hate us enough for the both of us; if not now, then someday soon.

Leave me alone. Leave us smokers be. We just want to light one up when we wake up or after a decadent dinner. We just want to be left alone with our puffs of cancerous smoke on distant mountain tops.

Just stay away from my cigarettes.

Cover image courtesy Maxwell GS

The post Stay Away From My Cigarettes appeared first on Psilosophy.

Being copied is frustrating, especially when you are not even being credited for it. While professional writers are penalized for such activities, someone who is blogging casually will not generally think twice about copy pasting something verbatim, since there are little consequences.

Being plagiarized is like giving away your work without even a token of appreciation. The ubiquity of web and the lack of time and awareness often lead to contents being freely copied. More often than not, creators are not even aware that their work is being stolen. I say stolen, because this is exactly what they are doing. You worked to make something, and someone else profits from it.

The internet is a content driven platform, and it is quite natural that good content will be copied. This can be a blog post, a photograph that you clicked, or even an infographic. Anyone who creates content frequently has almost certainly experienced this. Most people will just sigh and move on, but if you are not willing to let this slide, there are a few things that you can do.

Find out whether your work is being stolen

Most people are not even aware when their work gets stolen. People do not have the time to check regularly, and frankly, the internet is too vast a place for you to keep track of everything. Depending on the kind of content, there are some service you can use to find if they are being copied without your permission.

For images: Stolen images are usually easy to discover with the right tools. Google has a powerful image search service of its own, which you can use. When you visit this link, you will see a Camera icon, which you can click to upload your image and search for copies on the internet. TinEye is a similarly powerful, and free service. You can use either, or both of them to find whether someone has been sneakily using your photographs, or graphic content.

For text: Blog posts and articles take hours to write at times, especially if you like to research a topic well before you start, or are a stickler about thorough editing. Copying them however, takes a few minutes at the most. In fact, there are many scraping and publish services that can copy your content within seconds, and do not even require the copier to lift a finger.

If you can afford it, Copyscape is a great paid tool. However, I like to do things for free whenever possible, and if so do you, then you can use a mixture of free tools to get a pretty good detection system in place. Google Alerts are free, and you can just set it up once for every time you post, and the tool will alert you whenever someone copies you. You can also paste your post to a service like SmallSEOTools, or Duplichecker to see if someone has stolen the entire post, or even parts of it.

If you do decide to opt for the free route, I recommend setting up Google Alerts, as it only takes a few minutes for each time you post a blog, but will continue to work for years (or until Google kills the service). With other services, you will have to perform a check on a weekly or monthly basis, and if you have more than a dozen posts, it will take you way too long. AngEngland has a great tutorial on how to use Google Alerts, which will help you with this process.

So your content is being copied! Now what?

So you run the tests, and get the results back. Good news, or rather, the bad news is that you are indeed being plagiarized! Take a moment to feel good that someone feels your work is good enough to steal. Do not get too happy though, for many such thieves use automatic scraping tools which copy indiscriminately.

So now what can you do about this? That depends on the website where the copied stuff exists. If it is on a social networking site like Facebook (as a status update, or a note) there is little you can do. Facebook may have strict privacy policies, but I have been unable to find a way to report copied content. Twitter at least has the option to report copied content, but they take way too long, and are lax about the process, which is a major reason why so many quotes accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers and practically no original content exist.

If on the other hand, the thief has a personal blog, or a self hosted website, you can have the content deleted, and at times the user removed as well.

Before you start the process for getting someone’s blog or website deleted, please do contact them first and inform them about your intentions. Most people will be surprised to know that copying someone else’s work is illegal, and can have serious consequences. Most people either do not know, do not care, or think that no one can do anything about it. Reach out to them through an email, their social media accounts, or even through the comment system on their blog. Inform them that the content is yours, and that you intend to take legal actions if they do not remove it. Set a deadline no greater that 3-4 weeks, and then wait for them to respond to your message.

What if they refuse to delete, or do not respond at all?

For blogging tools like WordPress, and Google’s Blogger, all you need to do is file a copyright violation complaint, and provide them with the link to your original content. ShoutMeLoud has done a pretty good work on creating a solid resource to tackle such plagiarism issues.

Many people buy a domain name and maintain their own website, but this does not mean that they can get away with plagiarism. Use a whois service to find out who is hosting their website, and directly submit a DMCA notice to them. Find out who the host of the website is by checking it at WhoIsHostingThis. The service also has a DMCA Notice Generator which you can use to quickly create a standard DMCA take down notice. Here are the direct links to the DMCA pages for some popular web hosting services:

1. Hostgator: http://www.hostgator.com/dmca

2. GoDaddy: No direct link, but you can email them at CopyrightClaims@godaddy.com

3. BlueHost: https://www.bluehost.com/copyright-claims-policy

4. DreamHost: https://www.dreamhost.com/legal/dmca/

If you are willing to spend some money, DMCA.com can take care of the take-down process for you for a sum of $99.

Google also has a much broader DMCA service, which spans all its services, including YouTube, and even the Android Play Store, and covers its search results as well. If someone has copied your work, and is ranking higher than you on Google for it, reporting it to Google will help you get the content removed, and repeat violators of copyright may even get their website unlisted. Plus, if the website makes money from stolen work using Google Adwords, the service will be disabled, and the thief will not be able to sign up for the service again.

How to prevent people from copying your work?

So you’ve submitted the DMCA notice, or alerted the blogging service about the copyrighted content, and the offending content has been removed. How to make sure this does not happen again? ProBlogger has en excellent 3 step guide to helping you out .

I hope this helps you in some small way. If I missed a service, or you know a better way to deal with this issue, do let me know in the comments.

Since this article is about stopping plagiarism, and it would be a little ironic if it got copied, you have my permission to reproduce this post on any kind of website you want, free or paid, as long as you link back to this original post. The permalink is http://psilosophy.in/what-to-do-when-your-content-gets-copied/ Please do not delete it when using this post.

Featured image courtesy: 10ch

The post What To Do When Your Content Gets Copied? appeared first on Psilosophy.

We all face tough situations in our lives and are often required to test our convictions. Make sure that you are in a position to pursue your passions, while ensuring that you succeed in your quest for transforming what you love into a successful career.

I started out my career as a network engineer for an aircraft carrier in the country. I realized in just a few months that this was not the kind of job that I could see myself doing 10, or even 5 years from now. It took some doing, but today I am pretty happy with what I have going on in my professional life. As a co-founder of one tech startup, and with a second digital marketing startup starting to take off, all of this in the past two years, I have had a fun time learning how to target growth, convert clients, and get results.

As with any line of career, it was not always easy, and even today I have good days and bad days. What I can say with the utmost honesty is that my job pays my bills, gives me a chance to learn something that I am passionate about, and also opens up a lot of exciting opportunities.

There are some things that I wish I knew when I was starting down this path. I hope talking about them now helps a few people.

1. Do not quit your day job.. yet

This is one of the biggest mistake that people make when following their passion. I too quit the networking job just a few short months after I got it. The 6 months that I had to wait before I found another opportunity were some of the most troubling days of my life. Barely a year out of college, I had no savings, and had to rely on close friends for financial support every time the odd jobs I was doing failed to cover the rent. 

Passion alone may not be enough and you need to be ready for every situation. Yes, some times a leap of faith is required, but why would you even want to put yourself in such a position when you can easily take safeguards to ensure financial security? From popular writer like William Faulkner, to the celebrated poet T S Eliot, there are numerous examples of people who followed their passions while holding a day job. I used these names, because these are the people I look up to. Writing as a career was the life I chose for myself, and I could have easily started it while I kept the network engineer job. Take my word on this. Do not give up on your financial security unless you absolutely have to.

2. Do your research first

So you know what you want to do. Great! Now what? Will you just start your dream of becoming a lawyer, or a chef? I’m sure you are prepared for any situation since you know everything about this new field! No? Then how about you take the time to find out all of this first? At the bare minimum you should know things like how people get started in the line of career that you are interested in, and what is the average salary that they make.

I started blogging as a means to attract writing clients. That was 3 years ago. The first client I got through my blog was two months ago. If only I had known how to get paid for writing, I would no doubt have done a whole lot better. I caught a lucky break and had a co-founder who is simply astonishing when it comes to business development. He was the one who found me my first half a dozen clients. It was sheer luck, and I will be the first person to admit it.

Do not make the mistake of assuming that the statistics will not apply to you. If 90% of the people in your industry get paid peanuts, there is a very good chance that you will be as well. Do not plan as if you will catch all the right breaks, and you will never be disappointed.

3. Think beyond the money, but plan for financial independence

This one is a bit obvious. Sure you want a job that satisfies you and makes you walk with a spring in your steps. We all do! But please do make sure that you know what you are walking in to.

If your plan is to become a painter and sell your work online, make sure that you have some buyers first. Money may not be your first concern, but you still want a roof over your head and a hot meal on your table. Do not make your savings a means to spend the rest of your life, it simply does not work that way unless you were a multi millionaire to begin with.

4. Try to balance your passion and your current work

Compromises can always be made, and are often a better option for many people. You do not need to quit your high paying job because you want to help people. Volunteer for charity work, and help out at the local orphanage or the old-age shelter over the weekend. Set aside money for the causes that you believe in. There is a lot that you can do even while you are working. Find out first whether you want to change a job just because you do not like your boss. Getting a new job is easier than starting an entirely different career.

5. Have a backup in place before you commit to anything

This one point cannot be stressed upon. You need to know when to quit. Ideally this should be at a point where you still haven’t completely exhausted your savings and are in a position to find a job again. Watch out for signs that you are nearing your limit, and walk away when you get there. Giving up on your dreams is heartbreaking, but you cannot let it ruin your life, You will get plenty of chances to bounce back or attack the challenge in a different way, so make sure that you are around when such an opportunity rises.

Chasing our dreams can be one of the most rewarding things ever! It can also end up ruining you. Make sure that when you take up your passion & try to turn it into a vocation, you’re ready for all that lies ahead.

Have you changed career and found a job that gave you a chance to shine? What were your experiences, and what tips would you like to give others who will walk down the same path?

The post Turn Your Passion Into A Career appeared first on Psilosophy.

The post My Outrage Brings All The Lowlifes To The Yard appeared first on Psilosophy.

Over the years, I’ve seen clients who got in touch for a single project, and just kept coming back. I now have half a dozen clients who assign tasks every other week and have been doing so for well over two years. My discussions with them are interesting at times, and range from work related chats to the latest current events.

One thing that I have invariably noticed for all my clients so far is that they are wary of working with people who claim to have writing teams. I had always assumed that they meant small companies that were just starting in the business and could take up medium-sized projects on a freelance basis. It was only later that I discovered what these people meant by “team of writers”.

Your native English writer is most likely an Indian

Let’s face it, with a population of over a billion, we Indians are everywhere! A huge part of international writing assignments get outsourced to India. A lot of it comes here with the knowledge of the client. However, a scary amount of it has the client thinking that a native English speaker is working for them, when usually it’s someone like me.

There is a huge profit margin to be made in international work. Even low paying projects pay anything from $5-50 for a single post. Convert that in Indian Rupees and a dozen posts can net you close to 40-50 K. That is not a bad payout for work that most experienced writers can do in a couple of weeks. Writers who have made the right connections command rates of $1 a word with ease. Prices go even higher if the writer works in a specific niche like fashion or technology.

This is where people who offer writing services of a “team” come in. They pick up projects from either international clients, or from established Indian content companies. They then pass it on to freelancers for less than half the price. Effectively they get paid for signing up to a lot of Facebook groups and finding content writers who are just starting out and do not have an idea where to start. Payouts can be as low as Rupees 40-50 for a 500 word article. That’s less than a dollar, for what the client is paying $5-10 for.

The awesome dude in this photo is offering “freshers” a fabulous job opportunity that will in total pay a whopping $6.5 for 8 blogs. First names redacted to afford all participants here some degree of privacy.

Now for those of you who have hired writers for various projects, some of you might think that it doesn’t affect you. After all, you are getting what you are paying for. It sucks a little that the writer isn’t getting what he rightfully deserves, but that’s hardly your fault. Such content brokers are hardly harming you in any way. In fact, they make it easier for you to find writers whenever you have some work. Right?

Not really. You are losing something that can only be understood when you work closely with the writer. The feedback and revision cycles that are essential for getting the content that you will absolutely love, suffer greatly because of these enterprising individuals with writing teams. Unless you are just looking for some SEO content that has been spun from existing articles and does not really offer anything of value, you will almost certainly have revisions when you get the first draft.

So you convey your issues to the broker, who passes them on to the writer. In most cases, the writer will have questions of his own, which you will most likely never even find out about. Why? Well, because your broker most likely did not even read what he forwarded to you. So he has no clue what the writer is talking about. Besides, he doesn’t really want to waste time that such delays will certainly cause.

In most cases he will simply try to convince the writer to work with what he has already been provided by the client. I know this because I happened to work with one such broker last year. “Google it” was her standard reply, and boy it got annoying very quickly!

Now here is the thing folks. You may be using services like Odesk, or Fiverr to find cheap writers, but even here the broker will be the person you most often end up hiring. They have the luxury of taking on multiple projects simultaneously and racking up an impressive performance score. And thanks to the low rates at which they can get an entry-level writer, even a $5 assignment will net them at least a 200% profit margin.

My advice? Try and talk to your writer. Especially during the feedback and revision phase. A writer who asks questions may require some effort on your part, but they will almost certainly make sure that you like what you get. Be very wary of people who say they have a team of writers who can work for low rates. No one who has an in-house team can afford low rates. The office space rent alone will not be covered by those rates.

If it is affordable for you, pick a company specializing in content. At least they are accountable to you, unlike brokers who can pick up and leave with minimal loss. A Copyscape passed article is great for padding up content on your blog or website, but it will never give you lasting traffic. A good blog on the other hand will net you traffic for years to come if it connects with your readers. I know this for a fact because I have a couple of posts on this blog from almost 2 years ago that still get organic as well as social media traffic.

Many writers I know rarely get credit for what they write. If you take the financial incentives away as well, you will almost certainly be left working with people who have no intention of turning content writing into a profession, and are merely transitioning between profiles. Without proper experience, and without due incentive, they will not be very motivated to provide you high quality work.

There isn’t much that you can do if the company you enlisted passes on the assignment to a freelancer (Yes, that happens. Yes, I have worked on a few such projects), but they will almost always secure a better content for you than what a broker ever can.

Say no to “writing contractors with teams” for your own good. A freelancer will gladly take up your work, and for a rate lower than what you would pay to the contractor. It is definitely a profitable deal for the both of you.

And at the risk of sounding like a broken record, For the love of god, stay away from content brokers!

Let me end this post with a shameless plug. Though I may not have a team of writers, in case you think I can be of some assistance, you can get in touch with me here. 

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