What Do Clients On Freelance Sites Need Those Articles for?

This is a question which is often on the minds of a lot of freelancers in the 'Writing & Translation' category, on freelance sites like Elance, oDesk, Freelancer, etc. wherein they really wonder as to what exactly those articles are really needed for...that too by the droves?

SEO or Search Engine Optimization

One of the major reasons for which articles are needed is because they help with SEO or Search Engine Optimization. Essentially, when these articles have relevant keywords intuitively blended into them, they allow websites to rank better on search engines for the given search terms.

So for instance, if I have a website on RC radio controlled vehicles, I might want to have articles on my website as well as my blog in which I will include search terms such as "RC Airplane" or "RC Boat" and so on, which will help my website to rank better and appear in the first few search results when users search using those same (or similar) search terms.

So SEO undoubtedly plays a major part - or a major reason for which articles are sought on these freelance sites.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Marketing has in turn proven to be a major reason for which articles are sought on these freelance sites. Typically, the SEO aspect remains sacrosanct with regard to these articles but at the same time, the emphasis on quality in this case is even higher.

After all, the endeavor with affiliate marketing goes beyond pleasing web spiders to convincing human readers to actually BUY products and services they are affiliates for. This is an end objective which is achieved with far greater success when there is high quality content backing the claims or assertions made on affiliate sites.

So affiliate marketing, combined with SEO endeavors, forms an integral part of the entire scheme of things as  far as article writing jobs on freelance sites is concerned.

Article Directories

Writing for article directories like EzineArticles or ArticlesBase also forms an integral part of article writing assignments on freelance sites. 

Once again, I would repeat that while the platform in this case is different, viz. an Article Directory, the end objective remains similar as already mentioned above, viz. SEO (largely). This in turn is achieved (especially) with the help of the back link(s) which these directories offer, within the Resource box, at the end of each article.

But besides SEO alone, these article directories - EzineArticles in particular, have an additional objective of establishing credibility. After all, when readers see a lot of articles published by you within a niche or set of niches, they perceive you as an expert of sorts within that niche.

So remember that articles published on these directories have a major 'credibility' aspect attached to them as well.

Having wondered about these aspects myself - in my initial days of freelancing, when I would churn out articles by the gazillions, applying little thought to WHAT those articles were really meant for, I gathered all my thoughts together in the video below, also featured on my freelancing specific YouTube channel. An amalgamation of all the experience and learning that I have had over the years, in article writing in particular, this video will give you a very good perspective in terms of the uses to which articles sought on freelance sites are typically deployed.

Google Panda Update, in the context of the above

Talking about article writing and the various uses to which these articles are put, it is pertinent that I touch upon Google Panda updates and their relevance to the entire article writing realm. Essentially, what has happened is that article directories like EzineArticles, Articlesbase as well as many others have significantly lost a lot of their value, post the Google Panda update.

Further, poor quality articles which do not read well, have copied content (an Internet SIN!), are structured poorly or simply do not offer value to readers ultimately rank poorly on search engines. 

Therefore, the emphasis very clearly has to be on creating TOP QUALITY content which not only draws in visitors but actually KEEPS THEM ENGAGED as well as provides REAL VALUE to them.

This would be as true for articles meant for article directories as would be for other platforms, including own website content, content for affiliate marketing (especially) and so on.

The Overlapping Nature of the Enlisted Purposes to which Articles are Deployed

Remember that a lot of the end objectives of article writing, as enlisted above, do tend to overlap. For instance, when you create articles for affiliate marketing, SEO still has to be a primary objective. The same is true for just about any other platform; even if you are looking to establish your credentials or credibility, you do want people to actually find your content with ease and would therefore want to invest on SEO.

Articles for Miscellaneous Other Purposes

Article writing assignments on freelance sites can ultimately be meant for other end objectives as well. Ones that I can think of are being printed in digital publications like online or electronic magazines (where the SEO value of your article could possibly be minimal and emphasis would almost entirely be on VERY high quality content), sales pages (maybe series of articles put together), articles made from audio/video transcripts and so on.

Have I missed any other purpose for which articles (specifically) are put to use, with regard to article writing assignments on freelance sites? Please feel free to drop in your comments below!

An Indian Can Be A "Native English Speaker" Too!

Way too often, we hear the term "native English speaker" and invariably the notion is seemingly towards nationals of countries like the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand or at the most South Africa.

So in a sense, the allusion seems towards the (presumed) "fact" that nationals of countries other than the ones mentioned above, cannot possibly be "native" to the English language.

This is really such a false notion! I cannot even imagine as to how on Earth did this presumption come along?!

After all, if I take my country, viz. India, there are millions of individuals like me who are very well versed with the English language, to an extent wherein they can read and write fluently in it, without any spelling and grammar issues. Yes, there are some idioms or phrases which a lot of Indians tend to use in a manner as though those phrases and idioms are global to the English language (which they are in fact NOT and purely an Indianized form of usage), but by and large I would say that a very large number of Indians use the English language just as well as nationals from countries I mentioned right in the beginning of this article.

Specific to freelancing, what annoys me to no end is the fact that there are bids on freelance sites which are often declined by clients purely because the freelancer in question happened to be from India, or some such perceived "non native country". This is simply outrageous as well as preposterous in my opinion. 

Nationality and nativity are really TWO DIFFERENT THINGS - and one need not necessarily be correlated to the other. This is an aspect which I had emphatically pointed out in the following video on my freelancing specific YouTube channel, which you can see below:

As you will note, this whole (outright false) assumption around nationals from countries other than the ones I mentioned right at the outset NOT being native to the English language is one which annoys me to no end - and one which I am passionate about to an extent wherein I really would like to try and change the mentality of clients around this aspect.

I want them to realize that they should not write off writers from countries like India, Pakistan among others, simply because they happen to be from these countries. India in particular has a very long "English language legacy" which has come down from the British, over a period spanning centuries.

For instance, I would like to point out that:

• Most official correspondence in India, say at a governmental or administrative level, invariably takes place in the English language.
• Students, including myself (viz. back in the day when I was a "student" in the real sense, although the learning part is of course taking place even till date, and will continue till I am alive) study and learn in the English language, almost entirely. Naturally, by the time they reach college and beyond, they are in a commanding position as far as their comprehension of and comfort with the English language is concerned.
• India has seen Booker Prize winners of the likes of Arundhati Roy, as well as a host of other prize winners in the realm of English language literature.
• The largest circulated English language daily is in fact an Indian one, The Times of India.

There are instances galore...I could simply go on and on.

Fact of the matter is that freelance websites like Elance (to a relatively lesser extent), oDesk, Freelancer, Guru, etc. see job postings with some of the most pathetic pay scales, which in turn leads to freelancers on these sites being some of the most low grade in quality. That is the reason, while it may be (perhaps is) true that English language freelance writers on these sites are not really the best quality, it does not in anyway mean that Indians as a whole are not comfortable or well versed with the English language.

If I take my own instance, if you pay me well, I will gladly work for you and provide you with the best possible quality of output, comparable with the level of output which any other freelancer in any other part of the world could provide you. If you do not pay me well, not that I will NOT provide you good quality work; just that I will work for you grudgingly, or more likely, not work with you at all...