Blogging can be a great way to market and promote your business to potential customers and most industry experts would agree that a well-written blog is a good foundation to any marketing strategy. However, doing it yourself is extremely time consuming, and many businesses will eventually look to hire a blog writer - but how do you find the right person for the job? To help you out, this post outlines the important considerations you'll need to make when you are looking for a writer and if you keep in mind these factors you should be able to find a hire a great freelance blog writer for your website in no time.
Why hire a blog writer?
Hiring a freelance blog writer for your website can be a great way to create valuable content that can inform and educate your potential customers about your product or services. It can also keep your existing customer base engaged with your brand, and help create a loyal online community or audience.
Additionally, your blog content can be used to promote your business or organization, increase your website traffic, and most importantly, it can establish your brand as a trusted, knowledgeable authority in your industry. Freelance blog writers can help you create blog posts that are well-written, on-brand, and relevant to your target audience, and as a business owner it will help free up time for you to take care of other important tasks.
If just the thought of having to write another blog post makes you do this, it’s time for you to hire a freelance blog writer to help.
To increase traffic to your website
If you are looking to increase traffic to your website, then you would benefit from hiring a freelance blog writer who knows what they are doing. The thing with having a blog is, if you aren’t able to keep it updated regularly, or if the blog post quality is subpar, it really is not going to help your business at all. In fact, it could do the complete opposite. That’s why you need to hire a freelance blog writer that you can rely on for quality content that will help you attract visitors and leads, and keep existing customers coming back for more.
To create engaging content
By hiring a blog writer you can be sure that the work produced will be high-quality, as they have experience creating engaging and informative content for the web. They understand the importance of writing content that is valuable and useful to readers, and they are experts in their field. This makes it easy for them to write quality content that will engage your readers and improve your overall content strategy so that your blog will be successful.
To save yourself time
When it comes to owning a business, time is of the essence. That's why hiring a freelance blog writer is such an efficient option. They will do all the research for you and write high quality content that will capture your readers attention, so that you don't need to spend hours writing your next blog post from scratch.
To improve your website SEO
Blog writing is one of the best ways to improve your website SEO, or search engine optimization. You want to have articles that are able to rank high on the Google search pages, and in order for this to happen, your content needs to be SEO-friendly. If you do not have previous experience with SEO writing, optimizing your blog posts will end up being both time consuming and complicated. When you hire a professional writer, they can handle all of this for you.
How to hire a blog writer
1. Do your research
When getting started, make sure you do your research. You can start by looking for blog writers on Google that have experience writing for your particular industry or niche. There are countless freelancers available to help you with your blog - but they aren’t all going to provide the same quality of work, which is why you need to choose wisely. Be careful as some opportunities out there will be scams in disguise or not even genuine listings at all. Definitely take time to be sure the listing is legit, and never blindly send someone money without doing your due diligence beforehand.
For real though, don't just take someone's word for it. Google is your friend when you are looking to hire a reliable blog writer.
2. Ask for their portfolio
Before you commit to hiring a writer, it is important to ask for some examples of their work they have done for other clients. This is a good way for you to gauge whether or not they are a good fit for the content and style of your blog.
3. Do a background check
Before you hire a writer for your blog, it is important to do a "background check" on them. By that I don't mean an actual criminal background check, but rather a check of their references and credentials. This will help you identify any red flags that could potentially lead to problems down the line.
For example, make sure that they have a good work history and that all their writing credentials are legit. You should also be on the lookout for writers with a lack of social media on platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram, as this could be an indicator of dishonesty or bad character. You can also do a web search on the writer to see if there are any negative reviews or complaints about them online. This will help you make sure that the writer is qualified, experienced, reliable and a good fit for your blog's content and tone.
4. Agree in advance on the rate and project scope
So once you have found a blog writer that fits your particular needs, and you have done your research to make sure they can provide you with a high-quality of work, then the next thing you need to do is come to a mutual agreement of the project scope and the cost. Every writer has their own preferences for how they price a project. There are a number of different ways they may do this, but some of the most common methods are to charge an hourly rate, a per word rate, or they may prefer a fixed cost for the entire project. No matter the method, you want to be sure that it is within your budget, but at the same time will be a fair rate for the value of what they are providing you. By coming to a formal agreement about this beforehand, it will also help to ensure that the writer understands your expectations and can meet them, so you don't have any misunderstandings in the future.
Ideally, you will want to seal the deal with a contract, not just a handshake.
Things to keep in mind when hiring a blog writer...
Expertise on the topic
When hiring a blog writer, it definitely can be an asset to go for someone who is an expert in the topic you want them to be writing about. This way, you will be able to get quality writing without any hitches. Furthermore, it is important to ask them specific questions about their writing experience and how they would approach your project - this will help you get a better idea of what you are getting yourself into. By doing this, you will be able to avoid any potential problems down the line and have a worry-free writing experience.
Availability
It's important to make sure the writer will be available to work to your project timelines and that they are capable of meeting your specific writing needs. If you require a lot of content to be produced and are working with a short timeline, you should mention this to the writer upfront to make sure that they will be able accommodate your request. If you require a lot of content to be produced, you may want to consider hiring more than one writer, or a team of writers, in order to get the work done on time. However, some writers are able to work within shorter time frames, but expect to pay a bit more for this service, as often there can be a rush fee for projects with a turnaround of 48 hours or less.
Pricing
Remember that in order to get high-quality content, you need to be prepared to pay for it. Good blog writers aren't cheap, so don't expect them to be. Experienced, professional writers often charge upwards of $300 per blog post - some even as much as $2000! For a frame of reference, when you work with me, my rate for a blog post starts at $399, and this price increases depending on a couple of factors, some of which include the length of the post, if you require any keyword research or SEO, and if it will require significant research or interviews.
Don’t forget that it doesn’t hurt to be upfront with the writer about your budget, in fact it is often appreciated. You are more likely to find a happy medium if you let the writer know beforehand what your budget is. Generally speaking, the price can be a bit of a negotiation - for example, the writer may be willing to cut costs by altering the scope of work so that they can still be within your budget. Just remember that a good blog writer is an investment, and hiring an experienced professional will be well worth the cost.
Technical Skills
One of the most crucial things to be sure of it that the writer you hire has the technical skills to actually do the job well. This means that their writing is clear and concise, grammatically correct, and is able to keep your audience engaged and entertained. You should be able to assess this fairly easily when you look at their portfolio, or even just by how they communicate in an email or on social media. If you still are unsure, you can always ask them to provide a (paid) sample, in order to be 100% confident about their ability to provide you with the level of quality you need.
Remember that if you are hiring someone with limited or no prior experience, it can end up causing more of a headache than simply writing the blog posts yourself. And you certainly don't want to end up having to redo or edit the work that you receive from the writer, as that will make the entire thing a complete waste of your time and money.
Personality
Even though it may seem like a writer's personality doesn't matter too much, it definitely does help if you find someone who you “jive” with, and someone who shares your same values and vision for the project. You should look for someone who's personality seems easy to get along with, and who is friendly and honest.
Ideally, you want to hire someone who is a good communicator as well, simply because you don’t want to be left wondering what is going on or when you can expect to receive the work. I always make sure to keep my clients up to date on the status of their project so that they don’t ever feel left in the dark about where things are at.
Often you will have a good idea of whether or not a writer is going to be a good fit after an initial phone call - and your first instinct is usually the right one. So if you leave the call excited, and are confident about the writer and their skills, then don’t hesitate in hiring them - good writers tend to get booked up fast!
To sum things up...
A blog is an important part of any business, and writing content for it is a crucial task. By hiring a blog writer, you can ensure that your content is high quality and well-written. If you have any questions about how this process works, you can read more here, or feel free to give me a call and I am happy to answer any questions you still have. Rest assured that by following the steps outlined in this guide, you'll be able to find a reliable blog writer who will help you create content for many years to come.
You, after hiring me.
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