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Perrin and I were able to sit down and record a podcast based on our last blog post, How to Mange Writers Effectively.
When it comes to starting and running an online business, having great content is so critical. If you are not writing the content yourself, hiring and managing writers becomes extremely important.
Because of this, Perrin and I felt like we wanted to share some of our best practices for finding, hiring, and motivating writers.
Overall, the podcast follows very closely to what we discussed in our last blog post; however, as always when Perrin and I get behind the microphone we tend to veer into other topics so I recommend you give it a listen!
One topic in particular that we covered in the podcast that was not covered in the blog post is the income potential of small “churn and burn” sites versus a larger authority site. When it comes down to it, making over $10,000 a month is extremely rare in the case of smaller churn and burn sites. What we mean is that someone working full time on smaller or quick hit affiliates sites almost never makes $10,000 a month or more with their combined portfolio. If someone does make that much, they are a huge outlier and tend to get alot of attention.
On the other hand, making $10,000 a month with a large authority site is not really a big deal. Some large online properties makes millions of dollars a year, and there are lots of publicly traded companies that are basically “authority” sites. (For example, stock ticker IACI is just a conglomerate of large online websites traded on the NASDAQ).
So, we simply discussed the mindset and goals of each business. The churn and burn approach has an upper limit of $10,000 per month…and that rarely happens. The long term online business approach has an upper limit of hundreds of millions of dollars a year and becoming publicly traded, and $10,000 a month is not considered a big deal.
Perrin and I are focusing on the larger business potential now.
Overall, the podcast focuses on managing writers and the importance of treating them well.
Listen to the Podcast
Enjoy the podcast? Please leave a rating or review on iTunes here!
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31 Comments
Conversation
It was a very pleasant listen. I know you said the topic of conversation often heads in other directions at times, but its always a smooth transition into something equally as useful to hear about as the original topic, so dont worry on that, we dont mind!
As for managing writers, it can absolutely be hard to maintain their motivation to keep productivity high when they’ve been with you for a while, and you gave me some ideas on how to keep my writers delivering the goods, so thanks man!
Thanks, Jack 🙂
Thanks Jack, glad you enjoyed the podcast!
You guys are a great source of quality information as always. Since I’ve been following along your info has helped me to move my business forward like no other. Funny thing is I emailed Perrin a week ago inquiring about what resources does he use for post images. I express to him my difficulty with creating quality content. He responded with some tips for finding images (which was great, thanks Perrin!) Next thing I know you guys create a post and now Pod Cast on finding and managing writers. You guys came through just as I was hitting a roadblock on content creation.
Thank You Sir’s
Thanks CJ!
What are you gonna do with the websites that have been hit?
Try to recover them following the steps listed here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/alright-google-you-win-ill-never-use-private-blog-networks-again/
Just download the podcast, will come back and comment.
Thanks for the information in this podcast guys. A lot of the stuff you mentioned really hit home. When I started my first website I was writing articles, reading other blogger’s articles then commenting, plus trying to conduct outreach. Long story short I burned out at the 18 month mark plus we had just celebrated the birth of our son.
A quick question if you have time – I’d like to hear a case or example of a writer you hired under contract and things didn’t work out. How do you go about firing them and compensating them?
I’m going to start looking for writers but from a devil’s advocate stand point chances are I will cycle through a couple before I find the right one.
Best advice here is to put a good hiring process in place (like the one above), so that you don’t go through so many.
If a writer’s not working out, I end the contract immediately and pay for all work that’s been done.
I just do it with a polite email.
“Hey [X],
We’re going to move forward with another writer. I’ve sent you payment for the work you’ve completed. If I missed anything, please send me an invoice.
All the best,
Perrin”
Yes, I have hired writers that didn’t work out. I still ended up paying them a good portion of what they were owed; however, at the end of the day I had to confront them and we both agreed they were not fulfilling their writing responsibilities.
Hi Spencer
I really love your articles, you inspired me to start a niche website business. However, I just read an article that leaves me perplexed.
Here it is : http://flippa.com/blog/why-micro-niche-sites-no-longer-work/
Do you agree with this?
Here’s my take on the topic: https://www.nichepursuits.com/should-i-build-large-or-small-taking-a-portfolio-approach-with-niche-sites/
Great podcast Spencer and Perrin!
I have a question in my head and i think you guys should write article about it.
“How to generate articles/posts ideas/topics”
I think most people can create 5-10 topics without problem per niche, but what about if you trying to build authority website and need to write every day 1 big article and couple small posts?
Sometimes i spent a lot of time to create title for an article to order.
This is an ongoing struggle for any site. You can generate lots of great ideas through keyword research (like using Long Tail Pro). You can also look at what your competitors are writing about by using tools like BuzzSumo, etc. Or you can take the Marcus Sheridan approach of “they ask, you answer” Here’s my podcast interview with Marcus on the topic: https://www.nichepursuits.com/podcast-13-how-to-effectively-use-content-marketing-to-grow-your-business-with-marcus-sheridan/
Yes, I am actually using Long Tail Pro, BuzzSumo and just google autosuggest.
I haven’t get a chance to listen this podcast yet. Will get my ears on it tomorrow.
Thanks for tips
To echo what Spencer said, I get almost all my ideas from these three places:
1. Long Tail Pro (my own keyword research)
2. SEM Rush (competitor keywords)
3. BuzzSumo or top competitor pages (viral & linkable content)
If you use those three sources, you should very easily be able to get 100+ keywords in virtually any niche, even if it’s on worm farms!
Thanks Spencer and Perrin!
I just had a chance to listen the podcast #13. It really helps to realize new topics for my new websites.
After i finished listening i came out with around 450 titles! 😉
While I do like the interviews in your podcast I absolutely love when you both just share your knowledge. This is another absolutely stellar episode that I need to listen to a few times with paper and pen in hand. Also, this episode got me to link over to the original blog post and study that…just thought you’d want to know that.
My favorite part – the pay the writers over time – long contracts. I wonder how you discuss this with them. I am assuming that they have to be a certain writing level and consistent on-time delivery to keep the contract in force. Do you literally do a written contract? Any chance you’d share a copy of such a contract in your blog post…just as an example that we can all work from?
Also if you’re starting out in a niche, do you start out with freelance writers. That is to say, if someone is new to online marketing and/or new in a niche, do you go ahead and invest the money up front for writers…or do you write articles yourself until the niche begins to make money or shows promise.
Thank you so much for all the great information!
Thanks, Lourdes! We really appreciate that feedback on the podcast.
Usually, no written contract is required unless the writer specifically wants one. An email outlining the scope/payment/schedule of the project and an explicit agreement from both parties is usually fine.
I have a question, hopefully i get an answer for it.
whats the best way posting content into a new launched micro-niche website?
post all articles at once? or daily posting with the rate of one or two articles everyday?
I would drip articles over time (whether one a day or every other day, etc).
great info to share thank you it was pleasure to listen
than k you so much
okay let me decide to do now !!! but i recommend you to order article from textbroker cuz they are all journalist !!! and they are all good in article writing
that’s nice thanks for sharing
Hi Guys,
I really like your new design but how can I directly download individual episodes without raping my PC with iTunes? 😀
Hey guys,
I hear Perrin talking about the difference between B+ content and A+ content, but I’m having a hard time picturing it. I’m not a writer myself but I’m trying to get in the swing of things and I want my content to be top notch.
Can you give examples of good content vs. amazing content? Maybe an example of a blog that gives out A+ content so I can see what you guys strive for in your own authority projects?
Thanks!
Wow, great podcast (so far)! I’m glad that there are writers out there who are so willing to help make excellent content- having anything more than a small site just isn’t doable with one person. 🙂