HitTail works simply by capturing what keywords are driving visitors to your website and then using it’s algorithm it gives you a list of keywords topics for content creation. The list of topics are based on what keywords it’s algorithm feels have enough search volume but also based on current traffic your new content topics will likely rank highly for.

The benefit for web masters is that this data is proprietary and you are getting insights into content ideas that your competitors will never have access to.  In a world where exclusivity and unique content wins the hearts and clicks of users you can easily scale up your content marketing activities with a platform like Hittail.

One click to Order Content

Hittail has expanded it’s product features and now if you like a suggestion you can quickly click the “order” button to order a custom 400 word article based on that keyword.  They advise it will be a 2-3 day turn around and for $19  that’s fairly decent value considering the ease of ordering.  There are some further details you need to provide such as article title, article category, what is the goal of the article, a comment box for topic clarification and if you want to publish the post under your own name.

The best feature I see if the goal field which gives the writer a guide on what purpose you are having the article written for.  The options are informational, product reviews, encouraging reader action, or establish the post as an authority on the topic.

Integration with Basecamp

Just a few days ago HitTail announced a new feature that allows integration with project management platform Basecamp. The feature reduces the manual effort of keeping HitTail content to-do lists synchronised with Basecamp.  This looks like the first of many steps to increase the efficiency of HitTail as a content marketing platform.

Since HitTail has just launched an “Integrations” page you can expect far more platforms will be coming soon which would likely include a few SEO or Social platforms.

Get Started with a 21 day Trial

You can get started with their platform fairly quickly and easily and I recommend trialling the HitTail “pro” package as it gives you all the advanced functions and 10,000 unique visitors should be enough for most blogs initially.  You can also use it across a number of your websites as they offer unlimited domains to be setup and tracked independently within your master account.

While there is always the saying that you get what you pay for but careful research and using reputatible supplies you can still provide quality and unique content and keep your budget under control on eLance. If you try and get the content for as little as possible don’t expect to receive a perfectly published piece of content if you make some concessions you will find some really great writers and providers are willing to build long term business relationships so you may have to slightly raise your budget to match their proposed price.

Filter by eLance Provider Categories

• Web & Programming
• Writing & Translation
• Design & Multimedia
• Admin Support
• Sales & Marketing
• Finance & Management
• Engineering & Manufacturing
• Legal

eLance is one of the largest platforms

Being the biggest has the advantage is that they can also benefit from economies of scales as at anytime on eLance  there are over 424,000 providers waiting to pitch for your business.  Most of these providers are easily filtered down to weed out the cheap and useless to find the perfect qualified provider. You can filter eLance providers by the following options:

• Business vs Individuals
• Tested Skills/Accreditations
• Group Associations
• Location – City,State,Country
• Feedback – 3 stars, 4 stars, 5 stars
• Past Reviews - At least 5,10 or 15 over past 12 months
• Hourly rate - up to US$20, $30,$40,$50,$75,$100,$150,$200, over $200 per hour

Post your Job to eLance
It’s a fairly simple 3 step process to find workers to complete your job or tasks online with over 40,000 new jobs posted every month. I usually recommend making your task private only so it’s not indexible by Google/Bing and you don’t encourage the stream of unqualified and time wasting proposal responses.  You are best to be as specific and detailed as possible and to get a better quality proposal try and provide some past examples or samples of content you expect them to produce.

• Name your job
• Describe your task
• Add supporting attachments (not required)
• Job is fixed price or hourly
• Select category and sub category
• Request and specific skills or group associations
• Privacy Options – Public (more proposals) vs Private (invite only)
• Add Job Details: preferred location, start date

Reviewing your proposals

If you have done the invite only proposal you already have a fairly good idea on their experience and expertise in the area you have requested content/articles produced, but they will often supply specific articles they have written that are similar to your Job or industry in the past that you can view.  You then view their proposed price and can message them back with questions or revise your original job to match your budget or time frame proposed.

eLance reduced chance of fraud

As you can prepay for your task and the money is held in escrow until you receive all the content/articles and are satisfied with the product and it’s released to the contractor, there is no need to risk transferring money via EFT or Paypal and no need to supply your credit card details via email.  You use the secure eLance platform to manage payments and can easily manage what financial accounts are used when making payments on Elance but you can also view or download your eLance transaction history easily.

Manage your Article/Content Projects
It’s easy to quickly view contractors that you have employed on current projects, or those who are still working, and also view any previous projects that have been completed. Most of your project management is done via the WorkRoom where you are able to view message threads with the contractor, see any recent files uploaded or added to the project but also view status reports and milestones for the project. You can also maintain a level of privacy with your contractors when managing the project from within the WorkRoom.

Downsides of eLance

Unlike some other platforms there is no editorial staff checking all authors linguistic qualities or via CopyScape to confirm it’s original and you are not getting sub-standard content ripped and spun from someone else’s website.  The other minor issue is that there is no automated tool that confirms the word count of any articles provided match your job request, but you can easily do a quick count in Microsoft Word and request the contractor re-submit the content in line with your guidelines.

eLance WorkRoom Work View
If you are working on a larger or more complex project and want to be able to track their progress it is possible for your contractor to submit hours to your WorkView Tracker. The WorkView adds a higher level of accountability for your projects when you are not working in the same office or even in the same country. Some companies and clients are always interested in maintaining control and platforms like eLance stand out because they offer this with WorkView.

What’s Next for you?
Now that you have the WordTracker eBooks to guide on content you should be creating go out and submit a proposal on eLance and get a writer working on it today!