There's not enough info to tell you anything meaningful.
Whether you hire them from Upwork or somewhere else, you have to vet them.



If you hire them from Upwork and keep them as freelancers, you don't need to bother with the employment laws of wherever you are. The other way makes you an employer and you have to deal with the laws governing employing people in your area.



What do you mean, depending on how the articles perform?


Are you looking for writers who know SEO or are you looking for copywriters?


Why 2 writers? Why not just one?

If you want the articles to get attention - you need to choose the subjects and the keyword phrases to use....YOU know what audience you want to attract. I am assuming you are looking for content writers - but writing for SEO is part of that. On specific team issues - you would need to know any copyright or trademark restrictions so you could pass that on to the writers.

I advise those who are not accustomed to hiring freelancers to hire 2-4 people and order 5-10 articles from each. It gives you a variety of writing styles - but also allows you to choose 1-2 that seem to produce the best articles or continue to use all of the writers if the work meets your standards.

I'd suggest hiring through freelance sites - choose by star ratings and reviews rather than looking for cheap. Also some good writers that advertise on this forum in the 'for hire' section.

Consider going the Freelance route. First off you would not have to deal with payroll taxes. Second you can chose from a wide range of writers. Start looking at Upwork or Textbroker to see which provide a more suitable writer. Also look at the writers here on the forum or run a Classified ad.


You have a nice budget to start. Why not begin looking for a NFL writer now? The 2021 Season begins September 9. You may strike gold early and have one of the articles bring you sales. March seems a far ways off even the NBA starts Pre Season on October 3

I have hired easily over 500 freelancers for all sorts of things from writing to design to programming and more. And finding good writers is easily the most difficult.

I don't think you're looking for content in the traditional sense that most users here do - in terms of writing SEO content, building links and hoping you can build up traffic over time.

You're looking for writers that are your target audience (NFL fans, NBA fans, etc). That know the subject, are passionate and can crank out articles. None of the sports websites I follow have better than average writers. But it's readable, understandable and most importantly continuously updates.

If that's what you're looking for then I would forgo traditional freelance sites and find people who have their own small blogs or are active on Twitter (or social media) and preferably have a following in the sports world. There are thousands of people who have small blogs for different sports and/or teams and even more that talk sports all day on Twitter.

Your biggest obstacle is going to how you syndicate the content whether through Google News or some other syndicate(s). Until you figure that out, you can write and post articles all day long and most of them won't produce much, if anything.

Hi, check out Content Wish. I have been really happy with their content writing (consistent quality).

Heya, I've worked as a journalist so I think I may have something to add here about the performance of your future articles. This is just as important as finding the right people to write them. The biggest hurdle that news sites face is developing unique story ideas. I've seen editors approach the need for unique content from several angles. One site, that performs moderately well, takes trending tweets posted on social media that haven't yet been covered by other sites (essential), then works it into a story. That gets the job done, but the results aren't that impressive.

The best-performing independent news sites share original opinions and analyses written by expert journalists. A very successful site that does this is ccn.com (not a typo). ALL of that site's content is expertly written opinion pieces or op-eds and Google loves the site because of it. It's the hardest form of content to scale but that's what it takes in order to offer something different.

So my advice is to think about how you are going to attract the best talent and come up with the most unique ideas for your articles. Hiring randoms from Upwork is unlikely to work. You might have more success finding established journalists through sites like Muckrack and offering a better deal than just a flat rate per word. It's not usual for these journalists to earn a percentage of ad revenue if their articles take off.

Best of luck to you. I've seen countless news sites fail over the years because the editors couldn't find the right talent and or drive enough traffic for it to be worth the effort.

2 of 3 things happen here -- an' I am eliminatin' #1 for your own benefit.

1) It don't mattah what you do; your initiative is guaranteed to bomb from the outset.

(I assoom my role as Motivayshcwaan Queen for the next part, even though #1 rules out evrythin' that follows if'n it happens to be troo.)

2) Your writah knows more'n you do 'bout what you offah, so if'n you get any way successful, they will turn slipstream into cowgirl an' ride your ripped platform like a star.

* Ulp *

* Only one hoptschwaahn left. *

An' it is this ...

Any hire contract means what's yours is in a way stoopider biggah part than you think THEIRS also.

Your drunk psychopath taxi drivah will always precede you into the Hudson.

So tip the odds in your favor by hirin' smart an' rewardin' in kind.

Transmutation ain't no exact science, but it breaches all kindsa boundaries most singularly focussed non-writers can mebbe tap.

That is why we meet up once in a while to craft insurmountably benevolent incendiaries.

You gaht the big deal you can't say.

I gaht the say stuffs for most anythin' worth my time.

The more experter than Moi you are, the more you non-usurpable.

All you gotta do is tell me what it is you can't frickin' say!

Prolly I will run with that till I know bettah.

So mebbe play fair bcs the odds're stacked against you when you speechless, less'n you SWEET.

Just to clarify something here.. i keep reading the concern of payroll... Even with AB-5 in California... in more than most cases "Freelance writers" would be considered "Independent contractors" and then the only "Payroll" you would be doing is filling out a 1099 at the end of the year... which is for you, the business owner a tax benefit.

If I had to find someone to write on a specific topic for any amount of time, I would start with contacting local high schools and speaking to the "newspaper" teacher, and see if there might be any kids that would be fit the bill and be interested.

If that doesnt work I would approach local community colleges that have journalism programs and again approach those teachers to get leads towards students that may fit your needs.

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