Article writing services are anything but a dime a dozen because ultimately, you get what you pay for. However, this doesn't mean that there aren't thousands or even tens of thousands of companies and individuals offering their "expertise" as professional writers. Unfortunately, the internet allows people who are less than professional to pose as anything they want to be - often at the expense of an unwitting business owner. But because of the fiercely competitive nature of the writing industry, it can be difficult to discern who will consistently deliver finely crafted content. Understanding the three types of article writing services can help you make an informed decision about who to do business with.

The Three Types of Article Writing Services

1.) Freelance Article Writing Service

Freelance writers are generally inexpensive and some provide very high quality work. However, the truly great freelance writers out there are difficult to nail down for a project, and the rest provide substandard work. This makes navigating this particular field rather difficult. And let's face it: many writers are flaky. Missed deadlines, lack of communication and abandonment of projects are common in the freelance writing industry.

Freelance writers generally write from home. Or wherever they want - that's one of the primary benefits of the job. But this means that a 17 year old kid living in his parent's basement can put up a nice website and some decent copy and pose as a professional. Others could be non-native English speakers operating from some third world country. Still others could be former English professors.

How do you tell the difference?

You don't; not without personal experience or the referral of someone who has worked with the writer previously.

The point is that even the best freelance writers can be flaky, so the only way to distinguish between types is through consistency. If you find a writer that is fairly priced (never less than $0.05 per word) and delivers on time without fail, then you've found a freelancer worth keeping.

2.) Consultancy Writing Service

Some consultants are excellent at bringing together the right talent with the right client. For businesses or individuals that don't know the industry, this can be ideal. However, the work of some article writing services needs to be edited for style, tone, or other issues that don't involve grammar or spelling. (If your writer of any type returns work with grammar or spelling issues, they are NOT a professional.) This means that the time spent between all factions on the project significantly increases: The writer submits to the consultant, the consultant submits to you, you request edits to the consultant, the consultant requests the changes of the writer, the writer makes the changes and gives them back to the consultant, who gives them to you again for review. All this for one edit.

Consequently, the convenience that a consultant provides is sometimes offset by the frustration of going through a middleman for work that you could easily contract yourself.

3.) Dedicated

A dedicated article writing service is exactly what the name implies: a company or individual that is solely in the business of providing professional articles. Dedicated article writing services have a multi-level staff that includes editors, writers, journalists, fact checkers and - in some cases - attorneys. This allows a number of benefits, the most significant of these being that the writer you hire won't be the same person conducting the final editing of his/her own work - a big no-no in the industry.

Additionally, when you call or email a dedicated article writing company with a revision request, editing request or simply to check the status of your project, you can be assured of a swift response from the editor who is handling your work. Communication between writers, editors and clients is fundamental to developing an individualized writing plan that incorporates your personal style, flair, marketing intents and target demographic. This level of communication can only be obtained by working with a dedicated article writing service.