If your business has a blog, it’s important to keep it fresh with new content. But if you’re busy promoting your products or services, you might not have enough time to write informative articles for your site. You may be tempted to hire a blog writer instead.

Outsourcing content creation is a popular and efficient strategy. Once you establish your requirements and budget, you’ll be able to decide whether to hire a freelancer or reach out to a content marketing agency. Then you can educate them about your needs, and set up a schedule to ensure that you have new articles published on a consistent basis.

In this post, we’ll discuss the benefits of outsourcing your blog posts. Then we’ll show you how to hire a blog writer for your business site. Let’s get started!

The Benefits of Outsourcing Your Blog Posts

Outsourcing your blog posts can offer several advantages over writing them internally. First, it can save you a lot of time.

Producing high-quality and informative articles involves a lot of work. You’ll likely need to conduct research, then create an outline, write up the post, source images and links, edit the text, and optimize the content for search engines.

If you’re not a prolific writer, or you have limited knowledge of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), you might end up with a poorly written and/or optimized post – even after spending hours working on it. If the content does turn out well, you’ll have sunk a lot of effort into it, which might be better applied to other aspects of your business.

When you outsource your content creation to experts, you can expect top results and save time on your end. This enables you to focus on what you do best (such as marketing or developing new products), while leaving the writing to professionals who are particularly skilled at that task.

Of course, you could employ a writer rather than contracting out or writing the posts yourself. However, this might not always be a feasible solution.

For example, if you only want to publish a few posts per week, your in-house writer will likely end up with a lot of time on their hands. A full-time salary might not justify the amount of work they put in.

When you hire a blog writer, you only pay them for the work they produce. Typically, writers and content agencies charge per word or per hour. This arrangement will make more financial sense for most businesses, unless you produce unusually high volumes of articles.

How To Hire a Blog Writer for Your Business Website (In 5 Steps)

Now, let’s look at how to hire a blog writer to produce content for your website. It’s vital to take your time with this task and consider your options carefully, so you end up with a final product that suits your audience and drives conversions.

Step 1: Define Your Requirements

First, you’ll want to think about the type of content you’d like to publish. This will help you understand what criteria to look for when hiring a writer.

For example, if you have a web hosting business, you’ll want to hire someone with experience writing for commercial websites. If you sell software like WordPress plugins and want to publish how-to guides on your blog, you’ll need a writer with some degree of technical knowledge.

It’s also a good idea to consider the style and format of your posts. For instance, if you’re looking for long, in-depth posts that cite the latest studies and data, you might require a more experienced writer.

On the other hand, if you want to publish simple tutorials or beginner-friendly content, you won’t need to find someone with extensive knowledge in your industry. For example, a lifestyle blogger might still be able to produce easy-to-follow articles on starting a website or choosing a web host.

Step 2: Set a Budget

Next, you’ll want to establish a budget. This will be influenced by the requirements and criteria discussed in the previous section.

If you’re looking for an experienced technical writer, you’ll need to have a more generous budget. Those professionals will likely charge a lot more than someone with fewer years of experience or less specialized knowledge.

However, you’ll still want to set a maximum budget for your articles, to make sure your blog isn’t costing you more than it adds to your business. It’s important to think about length and volume at this stage as well.

How many articles do you want to publish on your blog per week or month, and about how long would you like them to be? The answers to these questions will help you make sense of freelancer and agency rates, and determine the most affordable solution.

Also keep in mind that some professionals may charge extra for add-ons like images, SEO, and editing. Therefore, you’ll need to decide which of these ‘extras’ you want, and find out how that will impact the final cost.

Step 3: Decide Where To Source Your Content

Once you know what content you need and how much you’re willing to pay for it, you’re ready to start browsing the available options. Your two main choices will be to hire an individual freelancer, or contract the services of a content writing agency.

Freelancers typically produce content for multiple clients, and manage everything on their own. This means they’ll take care of the entire article for you, from the outline stage to the final edit and SEO.

However, this also means that the turnaround time might be longer. A freelancer might not be able to produce a well-written and highly-researched article in just a couple of days, especially if they take on several projects at the same time.

Additionally, working with a freelancer can be an unreliable solution. Since they manage their own schedule, the freelancer can simply turn down an assignment when they’re on vacation or too busy with other clients (or even without giving a reason). This could leave you scrambling for a new writer who can publish an article in time for your big launch or sale. That new writer also won’t be familiar with your target audience and preferences.

Alternately, a content agency will have an entire team of writers, editors, and SEO specialists, who can produce quality articles on various topics. For instance, at WordCandy our writers specialize in WordPress and other tech-related topics, such as development, design, web hosting, marketing, and optimization.

Since an agency has more people available, they should be able to commit to a set schedule. For example, if you require five posts per month, you can expect receive your content on the agreed dates. You don’t have to worry about one individual falling ill, taking vacation, or simply stopping contact. There will also be multiple eyes on each piece of content, ensuring its quality.

For many businesses, a content agency offers all the benefits of working with a freelancer, while reducing or eliminating most of the associated drawbacks. Just make sure to select an agency that is willing to listen to your needs and produce content tailored to your audience and requirements, to avoid generic or ‘boilerplate’ posts.

4. Request Information and Samples

Once you find a few freelancers or agencies that you like, you’ll want to reach out to them and request some information. This provider will be creating content that represents you to your audience, so it’s important to vet your options carefully.

The questions you ask will depend partly on your needs, but you’ll likely want to know:

• The cost for content, and whether that cost varies based on volume, turnaround times, your requirements, etc.
• Exactly what is (and is not) included in the content service, and if there are any add-on charges
• What the process looks like from start to finish, and what you’re expected to provide
• Whether you can request that specific guidelines are followed (for example, a preferred tone, desired link usage, specific image sizes, etc.)
• How your posts will be optimized for search engines
• Whether posts are thoroughly edited and proofread
• What turnaround times you can expect
• How communication will be handled
• How revisions are handled if you’re unhappy with any element of a submitted post

It’s also vital to review samples of previous posts the freelancer or agency has written. This will help you determine if they are the best fit for the type of content you have in mind, and give you a sense for the quality of the finished product. We wouldn’t advise working with any content provider that cannot offer samples, preferably published under their own name.

5. Agree To a Schedule and Finalize the Details

Once you’ve decided what content provider you’d like to try, it’s time to agree to the details. This includes making sure they understand all of your requirements, communicating your preferred word count, and confirming the price. If you have an internal content style guide or any brand materials , you’ll want to send that over at this stage too.

Now is also the time to settle on a schedule. Blogs tend to perform best when you publish consistently. Your budget will guide how frequently you can publish, but it’s optimal to determine a set schedule upfront, whether that’s twice per month or once per day. Communicate this to your chosen content provider, and make sure they can keep up without any interruptions.

It’s best to get all of this information in writing if possible. Laying out the details over email is preferable to a call, so both sides can reference them if needed. Especially if you’re working with a freelancer, you may even want to draw up a contract. You can find templates online that will simplify this task.

Finally, remember that this kind of arrangement isn’t permanent. If one content provider isn’t working out for you, it’s always possible to look elsewhere.

At the same time, having an ongoing relationship with your content provider is beneficial. The more they learn about you and your blog, the better their work for you will be. So if you’re still not sure who to choose, we recommend testing out your top two or three options by sending each an initial trial post, and comparing the results.

Conclusion

For many businesses, outsourcing content creation makes more sense than writing articles in-house. It can save you both time and money. What’s more, when you have professional blog writers and SEO specialists producing well-researched and optimized content, you can rest assured knowing that you’re publishing quality content.

To recap, here are five essential steps to follow when hiring a blog writer:

1. Define your requirements, including the type of content you want to publish.
2. Set a budget, based on your resources and your desired posting frequency.
3. Choose between hiring a freelancer or a content agency.
4. Request information such as quotes, turnaround times, and writing samples.
5. Agree to a schedule and finalize the details in writing.

If you need high-quality blog posts, we can help! At WordCandy, our expert writers and editors create traffic-driving articles on a wide range of topics.

Plus, we can maintain whatever posting frequency you prefer, and we’ll create posts designed specifically for your target audience and needs. Get in touch today!

Featured image: Vlada Karpovich.

The post How To Hire a Blog Writer for Your Business Website (In 5 Steps) appeared first on WordCandy.

It can be difficult to consistently produce high-quality blog posts that engage visitors and rank high in search results. You might consider hiring a freelance blog writer to do most or all of the work instead. But is this the best option for your business?

There are plenty of ways to outsource content creation for your blog. While a freelance writer may be a good fit for certain websites, you might prefer to produce blog content in-house. Alternately, if you want to grow a thriving blog and leverage outside expertise, a content agency can offer a higher level of service than a freelancer.

In this post, we’ll help you decide whether you should hire a freelance blog writer. We’ll consider the alternatives as well, and share some useful tips to get you started. Let’s jump right in!

Why You Might Consider Hiring a Freelance Blog Writer

A blog can be an invaluable resource for your online business. It can help you establish authority, grow an audience, and even generate conversions. However, an effective blog also takes a lot of time and effort to cultivate.

If you want to free up time and benefit from years of professional experience, you might consider hiring a freelance blog writer instead. Freelancers typically work on a contractual basis, and create content based on your requirements.

More specifically, businesses and individuals tend to use freelancers for particular projects (as opposed to ongoing tasks). You can reach out to experienced freelancers on platforms like Fiverr and Upwork:

Each freelancer will typically display a rate range. They’ll offer a more specific quote once you provide the details of your project. Hiring a freelance writer tends to be a cost-effective option. After all, you don’t need to offer any benefits, provide office space, or deal with other overhead costs.

You’ll find hundreds of professionals on freelance platforms. This means you have a good chance of finding a person with skills and experience that meet the needs of your blog.

Of course, you don’t have to stick with just one freelance blog writer. If you want to increase your content output, you can hire multiple freelancers simultaneously. Just keep in mind that it may be difficult to ensure consistency of quality and style when working this way.

The Drawbacks of Hiring a Freelance Blog Writer

There are definitely benefits to hiring a freelance blog writer, but you’ll want to consider the downsides as well. For instance, the accuracy of their work may be solid, but the content can lack ‘heart’ and real authority.

Naturally, a freelancer with no knowledge of your industry can still conduct thorough research to inform their content. But at the end of the day, it’s just a job for them.

If you want to publish thought-leading articles or passion projects, a freelancer probably isn’t the way to go. Plus, it can be difficult for a freelancer to capture your brand’s voice and values.

Additionally, since freelancers can be very busy catering to multiple clients, it isn’t uncommon for writers to cut corners using AI content generators. This can create issues with accuracy and plagiarism, while the resulting content may also lack creativity and flair.

It’s also important to note that most freelancers are incentivized to work quickly. The faster they complete your articles, the more work they can take on. This doesn’t necessarily mean they will rush. However, they may not take the time to ensure that each post is as good as it possibly can be.

Finally, it’s not always possible to verify how educated or experienced a writer is. An ad or profile may list “10 years of experience”. However, you don’t know how many projects that freelancer has worked on or what their writing is like (unless they provide samples). For example, a freelancer may under-research posts or fail to properly optimize content for search engines.

A freelance blog writer can be a good option if you’re looking for a quick and affordable way to create one-off articles. However, if you want to preserve your brand reputation, it may be better to focus on comprehensive tutorials or expert opinion pieces. This content can be more helpful to your audience, yet is more challenging to create using freelancers.

3 Alternatives To Hiring a Freelance Blog Writer

If you don’t want to hire a freelancer blog writer, there are other options to consider. Let’s take a closer look at three of the best ways to get quality blog content.

1. Create Your Blog Content In-House

One of the most straightforward ways to create blog content is to hire (or train) employees so you have an internal writing team as part of your staff. This way, you’ll have total control over the writing process.

This also helps to ensure that the content reflects your brand voice, as it’s produced by employees who understand the values and mission of your business. Moreover, with a dedicated team of writers, you won’t encounter any of the delays involved in hiring a freelancer (such as back-and-fourth messaging and revision requests).

On the other hand, creating content in-house is often only feasible for businesses with a sizable budget. In the beginning, you may simply require one writer, depending on the size of your business and your content goals.

But if you ever want to increase your output, you may need to hire multiple employees. Naturally, this includes costs like salaries and other benefits, as well as investments in training, resources, new technologies, and more.

All things considered, an in-house team works best if you value your brand image and voice, and require writers who are very knowledgeable about your niche and products/services. It’s also a great way to set up a regular posting schedule and publish a steady stream of content. However, it’s only a viable option for businesses that have the budget to onboard new team members, and the content requirements to keep them busy.

2. Invite Guest Contributors To Write for Your Blog

Guest posts involve partnering with external writers (usually from other blogs or websites) who write content to be published on your blog. Although you can pay guest writers for their posts, you’ll find that some contributors are happy to work for free, as it allows them to build a portfolio and get their work seen by more people.

That means this is a potential low-cost way to source new content for your blog. It also enables you to diversify your current content, and appeal to new audiences.

For example, guest contributors can come up with their own ideas for posts. You can benefit from the different types of expertise and perspectives they bring. This can also make it easier to target keywords that you haven’t focused on yet.

However, guest contributors are looking for maximum exposure and are likely to be attracted to websites with a very large audience. Therefore, this may not be the best option if you’re a relatively new blog with very little web traffic.

In addition, most guest writers aren’t open to long-term contracts. This means that guest posts generally work best as a way to fill out your content schedule. Just keep in mind that you’ll likely need to edit guest posts internally, in order to ensure consistent quality and style.

3. Hire an Agency To Handle Your Content Needs

If none of the options above sound right for your blog, you can also consider hiring a content agency. This can be an effective way to secure high-quality, well-researched, and SEO-optimized content.

Content agencies are made up of professional writers and editors who specialize in digital content. Some agencies also have SEO experts and account managers, which means you’ll be working with a team rather than a single individual.

An established agency provides you with access to writers who are thoroughly vetted and trained. They should have a high level of expertise, and an ability to research and write about a diverse range of topics.

Working with an agency offers many of the same benefits you’ll get from employing a freelancer. Since you’re working with a team, however, you don’t need to worry about relying on an individual who may take time off or become too busy with other clients. There will also be multiple eyes on your content, which is a great way to ensure top quality.

Of course, this approach can involve a few of the same drawbacks as working with a freelancer.. For instance, giving up some control over the content creation process means that blog posts may not align with your brand voice and messaging. Additionally, it’s very important to choose the right agency for your blog, to avoid receiving low-quality content that fails to resonate with your audience.

That’s why it’s best to approach a highly-experienced agency like WordCandy. Here at WordCandy, we create all kinds of content including blog posts, web copy, and user documentation. We can produce posts based on your briefs or outlines. Alternatively, our writers can generate headlines and topic ideas for your approval, on many different topics.

Our writing service includes internal and external links, SEO optimization, images and screenshots, and a thorough editing process. Most importantly, we’ll write for your target audience and in accordance with your preferred style. This means you get all the benefits of working with a freelancer or creating content in-house, with none of the resulting drawbacks.

Tips for Hiring the Right Writers for Your Blog

Whether you decide to employ a freelancer, guest post contributors, an agency, or some combination, it’s important to choose who you work with carefully. By implementing a few best practices, you can make connections with experienced professionals who can create quality content for your target audience.

Here are some key tips to keep in mind:

• Define your needs. You’ll want to make sure you know exactly what kind of content you’re looking to post on your blog (including target audience, preferred topics, word counts, etc.). This helps you identify the right writers and set clear expectations from the start.
• Carefully review portfolios. To get a feel for a writer or agency, it’s important to take a look at their existing portfolio of work. This will give you a preview of the quality level you can expect. Plus, it lets you know what topics the writer(s) are experienced in.
• Set up a trial period. If you’re nervous about committing for the long term, you can ask the writer or agency to produce an initial trial article or two. Then you can evaluate the writer’s skills and compatibility with your blog. You might even test a few different writers and/or agencies this way, before settling on the best fit.
• Negotiate rates and ask for details. Although agencies may have set rates for certain types of work, you may also be able to negotiate a price that better fits your budget. It’s also important to be very clear about payment schedules, deadlines, and other terms/conditions.

Hiring writers can help you grow your blog and free up time to concentrate on other areas of your business. However, it’s important to take the time and effort to find the right writer (or team) to trust with your content.

Conclusion

If you don’t have the best writing skills, or you’re short on resources, it can be a good idea to outsource your blog content to professionals. This way, you can benefit from the skills and experience of seasoned writers.

A freelance blog writer can be an affordable solution for short-term work. If you have the budget, you might want to hire an in-house team to produce content that aligns with your brand. Or if you’re looking for the best of both worlds, you can partner with a content agency. This provides the expertise of freelancers alongside the reliability of a dedicated team.

At WordCandy, you can retain as little or as much control as you’d like over the content creation process. Plus, all the content we create is optimized for search engines and customized to your exact needs (and the needs of your readers). Contact us today to get started!

Image credit: Andrew Neel.

The post Should You Hire a Freelance Blog Writer? appeared first on WordCandy.

A blog is a great way to attract more visitors to your website without using paid advertising methods. Plus, it’s the ideal platform to engage with your audience and drive traffic towards your products or services. However, if you don’t have any blogging expertise or you’re new to WordPress, you might not know where to start.

Fortunately, it’s relatively easy to start a WordPress blog for your business. Once you’ve chosen a specific niche, you can determine a realistic posting schedule. Then you can write your blog posts yourself, or outsource the task to professionals.

In this post, we’ll discuss the benefits of starting a blog for businesses. Then we’ll guide you through five simple steps to get started. Let’s jump right in!

Why It’s Smart To Start a WordPress Blog for Your Business

Even if you already have a website for your business, it’s a great idea to start a WordPress blog to bring more attention to your products or services. For example, you can create content that naturally incorporates your business through product reviews, round-ups, and how-to tutorials.

Then you can place links to your business homepage, or point readers towards a specific landing page where they can find more information about your products/services. This is primarily a great way to drive sales, but you can also place affiliate links in your blog content to earn commissions.

On top of this, you might want to start a WordPress blog to build a loyal audience, creating more natural opportunities to interact with followers. For example, you can engage with readers in the comments section. Plus, if you promote your articles on social media, readers can easily like, comment, and share them.

This can help you develop more meaningful relationships with your customers. As such, you can build brand loyalty, which can improve conversions and sales.

Finally, a blog can make your website more discoverable on search results pages. You can find relevant terms using keyword research tools. Then you can populate these terms within your article to gain higher search rankings and get more traffic.

How To Start a WordPress Blog (5 Steps)

Now that you know why it’s a good idea to start a WordPress blog, here are five steps to help guide you through the process.

1. Choose a Blog Niche

The first step is to choose a blog niche. This will help you create content that targets a specific group of people. As a result, it can be easier to improve engagement with your posts and differentiate yourself from other blogs in the same industry.

For example, if you choose to start a blog in a very popular niche like health and fitness, it can be difficult to make your content stand out. This is especially true if there are already lots of authoritative, well-established blogs available.

However, you can choose a more specific niche within the broader topic that serves a narrower audience. For example, you could create posts that help beginners get into weightlifting. Alternately, you might help parents stay fit while juggling family responsibilities.

Although this may seem like it cuts down on your potential audience, it can result in a more loyal following since your content will be harder to find elsewhere. As such, it’s great if you eventually want to monetize your website through affiliate marketing or memberships.

2. Define a Posting Schedule

Now that you’ve selected a blog niche, you’re ready to decide on a posting schedule. This way, readers know when to expect new content on your website. Plus, this enables you to plan and prepare for posts well ahead of time.

However, it’s important to set a posting schedule that’s realistic. With that in mind, it can be best to start off by posting less frequently. This way, you can see what you’re capable of, while avoiding overcommitting and disappointing readers.

For instance, you might initially aim for one post per week. Then, if you feel you’re able to do more (while maintaining your standards for quality), you can increase your output accordingly.

Alternatively, if you focus on a hyper-specific topic, you may realize it’s a little more difficult to come up with multiple post ideas per week. In that case, you can just stick to your original weekly schedule.

Additionally, when it comes to posting your articles, it’s best to stick to the same day and time each week to ensure consistency. You might even want to create a content calendar to keep track of upcoming posts and deadlines. There are lots of calendar tools available like Google Calendar and Asana to help you organize your content.

3. Generate Blog Topics

The next step in starting a WordPress blog is to generate some blog topics and ideas to write about. You’ll want to start by thinking about your own skills and expertise. For instance, what would have been helpful to know at the start of your career? What mistakes did you make?

If you want to start a WordPress blog for entrepreneurs, you might help readers secure the right funding for their projects. Or if you operate in a particularly competitive field, you can help readers find their first job in the sector.

Another way to come up with topics for your blog is to discover relevant keywords within your niche. To do this, you can use a free tool like Google Keyword Planner.

This enables you to find terms and phrases that real users search for to find content like yours online. Then you can create blog posts around these keywords, and incorporate them within your content to gain higher search rankings.

Additionally, it can be a good idea to take a look at existing blogs within your niche. While you never want to plagiarize your competitors, you might get inspiration from their content, and then build upon it. For instance, you could offer a more in-depth explanation or explore a topic from a different angle.

4. Write Your First Blog Post

After you’ve decided on some blog topics, you’re ready to write your first post. First, it’s a good idea to return to your preferred keyword planner to identify some top terms associated with your topic.

For example, if you’re writing a blog post about investing for beginners, you’ll find that keywords like “day trading for beginners” and “best trading platform for beginners” are popular:

You can incorporate these terms within the body of your post. You can also include them in your blog post title, headings, meta description, and permalink, in order to make your post more visible in the search engine results.

You’ll also need to choose a strong title that will make readers want to read the rest of your article. Meanwhile, to make your content more engaging, it’s a good idea to include high-quality images to break up the text.

If writing doesn’t come naturally to you, or you don’t have the time, you can always outsource this task to professionals. While you can find lots of freelance writers on sites like Fiverr, those professionals tend to offer more generalized services. If you want to ensure that you’re getting top-quality, specialized content, you can also hire a content agency.

This can be a little more expensive, but you can determine the exact amount of posts you’ll require each month, and specify your preferences when it comes to word count, style, and formatting. Plus, your blog posts will be in the hands of experts, who know how to create quality content that brings in views.

For instance, here at WordCandy we provide comprehensive blog writing services for online businesses. We create top-tier content for WordPress plugin and theme developers, hosting providers, affiliate marketing and podcasting businesses, and more. We also offer various pricing options, so you can get content that’s right for your target audience and fits your budget.

5. Promote Your WordPress Blog

Once you have your first few blog posts ready, you’ll need to set up your blog and start publishing that content. There are a lot of options available, but we recommend WordPress. It’s a powerful yet beginner-friendly platform that makes it easy to create any type of blog you want. Setting up a WordPress blog takes a bit of time, but there are lots of tutorials out there to help you get started.

Once that’s done, it’s time to promote your blog and drive traffic to your pages. This is especially important if you plan to monetize your blog, since more visitors leads to more conversions and sales.

As we’ve already discussed, SEO is a free and effective way to attract more readers to your website. However, you can also implement other strategies.

For example, social media is an ideal platform to draw attention to your content. All you have to do is create a short post to introduce your article. Then include a link to your WordPress site, along with a quality image to accompany it.

Additionally, you can send your blog post directly to your subscribers’ inboxes. To do this, you’ll need to display a prominent subscription form on your website, and connect it to a popular email marketing service. Then you can cultivate a loyal audience by delivering your best content via email.

Another way to get more people to read your blog posts is to reach out to relevant groups and communities. You might use LinkedIn or Facebook Groups to find people who are interested in a certain topic. Alternately, you can post a link to your blog post in forums like Reddit and Quora.

If you have the budget, you might want to invest in paid advertising. This enables you to boost your posts so they reach more people. This can be a more expensive method, but there are budget-friendly starter options such as Google Ads.

Last but not least, don’t get discouraged if your blog doesn’t take off right away. It can take time to gain momentum in search engines and build a following. Just keep publishing regular, high-quality content and sharing the word about it – blogging is a field where persistence pays off over time.

Conclusion

If you want to engage with your target audience and build authority in your niche, it’s a great idea to start a WordPress blog. If you run an online business, a dedicated blog also enables you to feature your products/services naturally, and establish brand loyalty through meaningful interactions.

To recap, here are five steps to start a WordPress blog:

1. Choose a blog niche.
2. Define a posting schedule.
3. Generate blog topics.
4. Write your first blog post.
5. Promote your WordPress blog.

If writing doesn’t come naturally to you, or if your time is better spent on other aspects of your business, we can help! At WordCandy, we create authoritative  and high-quality blog content designed specifically for your needs. Plus, we’ll include relevant internal/external links, images, SEO optimization, and more. Contact us today to get started!

Image credit: Burst.

The post How To Start a WordPress Blog (In 5 Steps) appeared first on WordCandy.