Believe it or not, all ghostwriters are not created equally. There are some that are good, and some that are bad. Each has their own writing style. Some ghostwriters can write on any topic that you can imagine, while others only write on specific topics. Some offer one service: writing. Others offer multiple services, such as writing, compiling documents into PDFs, submitting articles, and formatting documents. When you visit a freelance site, and post a bid proposal for a ghostwriter, you will get numerous bids from which to choose. You must use caution.

Most of the freelance sites have a rating system. You want a ghostwriter that has a high number of good ratings. You do not want a ghostwriter that has bad ratings. You can work with a ghostwriter that is just starting out, and you may find that you save money this way.

Before you hire a ghostwriter, ask to see samples of their work. If they are just starting out, they may not have any samples. In this case, you need to give them a test. Ask for one article. You will need to pay for it, but paying for that one article may save you a great deal of money in the future.

Once they have submitted this article to it, read over it and see what you think. Use your article recon, or a site such as CopyScape at http://www.copyscape.com to ensure that the article is original. If you like the work, you’ve found a ghostwriter.

Next, when using a freelance site, you will need to put the money to pay for the work into escrow. That money is held until the work is complete, and you have approved it. If you are not happy with the work, the writer should have an opportunity to make corrections, and failing that, the money is returned to you.

It is important to establish a relationship with a ghostwriter – or several ghostwriters – that you can work with over long periods of time. This will help to ensure that all of your writing has a familiar tone to it. If you use numerous ghostwriters, however, your readers will notice that all of your writing does not have the same tone.

Therefore, you need to find a good ghostwriter that you communicate well with. The ghostwriter should be able to meet your deadlines, and charge prices that you can afford to pay. Again, the going rate for an article is about $10.

When you post bid proposals, you will see people that are bidding very, very low. Take a look at their profiles. You will find that they bid low for one of three reasons: Either they have bad ratings, they live in a foreign country (which means that they probably can’t produce the quality of work that you want because they don’t speak the language), or they are brand new to freelance writing.

Again, it is fine to try out a new writer, just do it on a small scale – one or two articles – to see how they do. Never assign a big job to a new writer without testing the waters first!

Communication is important. There are ghostwriters that can take a topic and run with it, with little or no further instruction. Then there are writers that want so much detail that you would save time writing the thing yourself. You may not be comfortable just giving a topic. If this is the case, give detail. Note, however, that some writers actually can’t write around your details.

Again, ghostwriters are not machines. They have their own style, and their own way of doing things. You just have to find one that has a style that you like, and does things the way that works best for you – naturally.

While ghostwriters must communicate with clients, a good way to lose a good ghostwriter is to require constant communication with them. For example, they don’t want to be called daily or emailed daily about the status of the work. Once a week for a status report is sufficient, and some won’t even do that. They are busy – writing your content!

If you do want communication at specified intervals while the work is in progress, you need to let this be known from the outset. This way, both you and your ghostwriter know what is expected of each other.

Before hiring your ghostwriter, you should also establish whether or not rewrites will be done, how many, and at what point or level of dissatisfaction that the writer will not be paid. You should also establish how the writer will be paid, if you are not using a freelance site that has a payment system in place.

The second fastest way to lose a good ghostwriter is to not pay them in a timely manner after the work has been finished, or to not pay them at all. Lawyers golf together, and then battle it out in the courtroom – after court, they are playing tennis together, having dinner together, etc.

Don’t think for one minute that ghostwriters don’t communicate with each other – they do. If you are a bad client, it’s just a matter of time before every ghostwriter in the industry knows it, and then, you won’t be able to find a ghostwriter to work for you…unless it’s a ghostwriter that you didn’t want in the first place.

Most ghostwriters already have contracts ready to go. If you require a Non-Disclosure agreement, or if you want the copyright to the work transferred, in writing, just let them know. However, you are already protected under law regarding the copyright – work done for hire belongs to the person that did the hiring, legally, once that work is paid for.

However, depending on the purpose of the articles you are writing and submitting, you will most likely need some level of copywriting knowledge in order to be successful. Remember the two triggers: Desire for Gain and Fear of Loss. These should be used in your titles, sub headlines, in the body, in the conclusion, and even in your author’s resource box.

Taking a copywriting course will be beneficial. Not only will it help you to write better articles, it will also help you in working up your other promotional materials, including the content that you use on your website.

The first rule of copywriting is to write just like you talk. This makes you seem more ‘human’ and that comes across in our writing. Rule number two is that people really hate to be sold to. They want to buy, they just don’t want you to sell. Rule number three is that people buy or take action for emotional reasons (desire for gain, fear of loss).

Copywriting really comes down to what you say, how you say it, and what emotional buttons you push while doing it. But aside from emotional triggers, there are also motivators that include: anger, annoyance, beauty, helping, boredom, confusion, confidence, curiosity, desperation, disgust, jealousy, embarrassment, fear, exhaustion, guilt, happiness, greed, laziness, insecurity, love, loneliness, lust, patriotism, passion, pleasure, hesitation, revenge, sadness, security, shyness, surprise, sympathy, vanity, and more.

Along with emotional triggers, these motivators also determine whether or not you can get someone to take the action that you want them to take. You have to hit the right trigger, and the right motivators to make it happen.

I’ve mentioned the word ‘compel’ and ‘compelling’ quite a bit. These motivators and triggers are what compel your audience to take the action that you want them to take – whether that action is signing up for your newsletter, visiting your site, or buying your product.

When writing, you really must keep your purpose in mind, but at the same time, you must give the people that you are writing for a great deal of consideration. What are their problems? What do they fear? What do they want? What makes them want what they want?

For instance, in the weight loss industry, marketers know that the people in question have a problem: being overweight. They fear either gaining more weight, or never losing the weight that they have already gained. They have additional problems, in that their weight makes it impossible to do many things. They want to lose weight. They want to lose weight for numerous reasons, including being more beautiful or sexy, being able to do the things that they can’t do while being overweight, and/or to become more healthy.

In the healthcare field, diabetics have a problem as well. There is nothing they can change to become un-diabetic, but diabetes itself has multiple problems within the main problem. For instance, they may have problems controlling their blood sugar. They may have issues when eating out. What they want is to be able to control their blood sugar levels and to eat out like anyone else.

You can’t write effective copy if you don’t know what the group you are writing for wants or needs, or what their problems and fears are. It is as simple as that, so you must consider your audience when writing – even if you are just writing articles. If you need to, make a list of problems, fears, needs, and desires associated with your audience to work from when writing.

Learning how to use motivators and triggers effectively takes practice. A good way to learn is to look at other copy, and identify the triggers and motivators. Get your favorite magazine and a highlighter. Start reading through, and highlight the motivators and triggers. When you learn to recognize them, you will be better able to create them in your own writing.

Many marketers keep swap files. These are files of really advertisements that contain top of the line copywriting. You should keep your own swap file. You can collect advertisements online and offline. You can keep a folder on your desktop, and also keep a folder in your file cabinet as well. The important thing is that you do in fact start your own swap file or files.

When you need to write copy, simply find something similar to what you are trying to do, and use it. Just be careful not to copy it word for word or anything like that – sales copy is also copyrighted. Don’t copy someone else’s work! This will not only ruin your reputation, but it’s also against the law.

There are numerous courses out there that range from free to the thousands of dollars that will teach you everything you want and need to know about copywriting. Ideally, you should start with one of the free courses, and then work your way up into the more advanced material.