If you have arrived at this point, you may be trying to figure out if it is the right move or not. You may also be unsure of how to find blog writers for hire. Understanding the process and benefits of outsourcing your content creation will help you make the right choice for your business.
Consider using a framework such as SMART to help with your goal-writing process. This will make communicating your expectations much easier. Additionally, ensure that the writer or writers deeply understand your goals for your blog.
Try tracking the amount of time spent each week on blog writing. Then, think about what you or your assigned team member could be doing instead. Chances are that the opportunity cost of writing your own blog exceeds the investment needed to outsource blog writing.
Consider running the samples you received on your blog. Then, use the performance metrics to evaluate each choice. This will help you to make a more data-driven choice about who to hire.
When You Should Outsource Blog Writing
It is best to commission samples rather than request them for free. First, this will mean that you can use the sample on your blog in most cases. Additionally, skilled writers are often unwilling to work for free (they don’t need to). So, by trying to pursue free samples, you may unintentionally narrow your search to writers who are more desperate for work.
Your content marketing strategy exists to do a lot more than just fill your blog with posts. Ultimately, it is intended to enhance the bottom-line performance of your business. Ideally, you should have some goals guiding your strategy. These may include increasing website traffic, generating leads, earning social shares and growing your sales.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to find someone who has worked in your exact space. Some writers are excellent at researching and understanding new brands and markets. However, it is worth asking any writer or service provider about prior experience. If they can’t give a convincing answer, it may be worth looking elsewhere.
When it comes to fiction, I'm drawn to family sagas, historical novels and coming-of-age stories that embrace themes such as LGBTQ+ issues, mental health, interculturality, immigration, identity, belonging and race.
Currently Seeking: What moves Crystal above all else is simple, open, and honest writing true to an author's wild imagination or lived experience. Anything that brings equal measures of humor, introspection, or feelings of second-hand embarrassment appeals to her. She loves both sweet meandering stories as well as more fraught and thrilling narratives in both YA and adult fiction. Perspectives that make her question the way that she or others move in the world, as well as her assumptions/opinions of societies and systems (à la Black Mirror), are also welcome in her inbox.
Currently Seeking: Margaret is actively looking for attention-grabbing voices especially #ownvoices narratives, literary fiction with teeth, historical fiction with a dash of magical realism, fresh literary and commercial suspense, spooky contemporary and fantasy YA, narratives with a deep sense of place and history, quirky and heartwarming family stories, and rom-coms full of charm and whimsy.
How do you hook an agent right away, keep them hooked, and make the most of your new publishing relationship? In this Boot Camp, “How to Find and Keep a Literary Agent,” you'll learn how to get a literary agent’s attention through a great submission, and also how to navigate the process of working successfully with an agent. You’ll also work with an agent online to review and refine your all-important query letter and the first five pages of your novel.
Pete Ford of Credo Communications
A few of my favorite contemporary writers are Carmen Maria Machado, Kristen Arnett, Hanif Abdurraqib, Helen Oyeyemi, Daniel M. Lavery, Raven Leilani, Candice Carty-Williams, Kacen Callendar, Alexander Chee, Akwaeke Emezi, and Samantha Irby.
I love sharing the weekly agent alerts, because these are the agents who are the hungriest for finding new writers and projects to represent. That said, I'm taking a week off the literary agent alerts to share this list of our 20 most recent literary agent alerts all in one post.
Currently Seeking: I am interested in acquiring adult literary fiction and nonfiction that inspect queerness, disability, race, class, and community in fresh new ways. I have a soft spot for short story collections with magical elements, and essay collections that look at identity through an interesting and specific cultural lens (motorcycles, rock climbing, pottery, you name it). Some pitches I've read and loved: a memoir of coming out as trans later in life, a case against high school football from a sociological standpoint, a collection of essays about mental health and climate change, a novel about immigrant ghosts.
"As a creator, it was so easy working with The Influence Agency. They've put me forward for a number of awesome campaigns and have given me full creative control to execute them. I can't wait to work with them in the future!"
More often than not, consumers are going to spend some time researching a product or service before making the decision to buy or pick up the phone. People who prioritize their business’s blogging efforts are 13 times more likely to see a positive ROI.
If you’re looking to boost your organic site traffic, blogging for business is widely considered to be one of the most effective strategies you can utilize. Blogging regularly is a cost-effective way to help drive more traffic to your site in addition to all your other search engine marketing efforts.
"Having blogged for 10 years and having worked with a plethora of agencies, The Influence Agency team has been one of the top agencies I've connected with. Their ability to both balance creator relations and interests, while maintaining the priorities of their brands is incredibly impressive. As a creator, the team is always supportive and responsive and truly makes developing branded content seamless! I always look forward to working with them!"
Distorted Lens -
@distorted.lens
Oftentimes, inner pages on your website don’t allow you to explore a specific service or topic related to your industry in-depth. That’s where blogging for business comes in. Having a blog section on your website lets you create an expansive catalogue full of helpful, customer-focused content that focuses on your specific market niche.
Blogging is an important part of any business’s content marketing strategy. It can help increase organic traffic to your website and boost your search engine ranking while building trust with your consumer base in order to drive sales.
Every blog post on your website is a new opportunity to generate new leads. Your website is your biggest salesperson, available to customers 24/7, and your blog is an extension of that. It should have all the information that’s needed to convert users into prospective customers.
Blogging for businesses is also a great opportunity to insert those all-important keywords that your consumers will be using in order to find the types of products or services that your business offers.
I know pricing talk can be a little controversial, so if you have thoughts, I’d love to hear them in the comments!
I recently chatted with a colleague who told me she was using a reputable company referred to her by a BIG name in our circles, and they were charging her $5,500 for four posts per month. I asked her if they were doing all the research, coming up with the topics, the strategy, promoting the posts etc. for that price…
If you can find someone who writes well, is creative, does the research, communicates your business and passion, and does it all in a timely manner for this price, may I suggest that you negotiate a contract locking in that price for the next ten years? Because chances are as soon as they figure out how in demand their services are, their prices will go up. (That’s what happened to me, anyway.)
Lacy this is such a great breakdown. It always make sense to pay for high quality work. If and when I get to the point of outsourcing, you are at the top of my list. I love your writing!
The bottom line: How to decide how much to pay.
And OK, yes, I might be a bit biased here—this is how I make my living, after all. But for our clients who put us on retainer or pre-purchase a package, our rates per post come out closer to $250–$500 per post, depending on their needs. I’ve set my prices there because it’s a price that seems advantageous to both me and my clients. We shoot for long-term relationships with our clients, and we structure our fees so that we can spend as much time and energy as we need researching and writing—without costing the clients more.
What should your budget be when you are ready to outsource some of your content creation? In other words…
She was literally making them a long video with all her thoughts, which they then turned into a blog post — that she still had to edit, post and promote. Plus she was the one coming up with all the strategy behind her content marketing efforts.
These are the people who really know what they’re doing—and they’ve got the experience and the education to back it up. Their prices will probably be around $250 and up. But for that price you will get a totally original, well researched article that’s specifically crafted for your business and your customers. It will probably be upwards of 600 words, contain organic SEO and longtail search phrases, and will come nicely formatted (with headlines, subheads, bullets, etc.) ready to plunk down into WordPress or your CMS of choice.
What should your budget be when you are ready to outsource some of your content creation? In other words…
I can’t truly judge the quality of the work being turned out by these services because I haven’t seen it first hand. (Which is also why I’m not using the names of the companies—I’m not out to stir up bad blood, here.) All I can do is draw some logical conclusions based on the facts.
Lacy this is such a great breakdown. It always make sense to pay for high quality work. If and when I get to the point of outsourcing, you are at the top of my list. I love your writing!
In short, there’s no one right answer here. Content is an investment in your business—just like anything else, from graphic design to the computers you work on or the manufacturer you use to produce your widgets. Wherever you fall on the spectrum, you will want to make sure that your investment is aligned with your business goals.
How Much Should You Pay a Blog Writer?
If you’re interested in chatting with me about how partnering with a content creator could free you up to work and play in your zone of genius, I’d love to talk with you.
Thanks, Lily! Copy tends to be one of those intangibles that people aren’t sure how to value.
Great tips! I strongly agree with the “you get what you pay for” concept and believe good writers should be well-compensated.