Content creation is a vital part of any digital marketing strategy. Producing good quality content for your website will help to improve SEO and drive traffic to your site. Providing consumers with informative and engaging content is also an excellent way to build trust with customers, which is incredibly important for all businesses.
Some companies handle their content creation in-house, but there are issues there. You may have employees with an in-depth knowledge of the industry and your specific products, but that does not mean that they can necessarily create great content or have the time to do so. Good content requires an experienced writer that can take that information and present it in a way that is engaging to the consumer, and that is a different skill entirely.
It is for this reason that outsourcing content writers is often the best option. In the majority of cases, it is more cost-effective as well. If you hire a full-time content creation team, you need office space and computer equipment for them. But when you outsource, you do not need to deal with that overhead.
Outsourcing also gives you access to a wider pool of writers because you are not limited by geographical location. You can use writers from around the globe, which means that you can spend some time finding the very best people for the job, which will have a big positive impact on the quality of the content on your website.
However, there are some downsides to outsourcing content writers. You are putting a lot of trust in people that you have never met, and you cannot always guarantee quality. If you do not select writers carefully, you may end up paying for low quality content and, depending on how you source writers, you may not have any protection if projects are not delivered at all.
If you are considering outsourcing content writers, it’s vital that you know how to source the most experienced freelancers so you can ensure quality at all times. The following tips will help you to do that.
Where To Find Outsourced Writers
The rise of freelance and remote working means that there are a lot of different places to source content writers online. There are some great sites like Freelancer or Upwork where businesses can post the details of their project and freelancers can bid on it.
Their bid will include the price that they charge for the job, and also some details on their areas of expertise and the projects that they have completed in the past. Alongside this, you will find reviews from previous customers, and each writer will have a star rating based on the quality of the work, and their ability to meet deadlines.
There are also some specific writers sites like Problogger and Freelance Writing Gigs that specialize in content creation and other writing jobs. This is usually the best place to find the most experienced writers, but they are likely to be more expensive.
As well as freelancing websites, you should consider content creation agencies. They will have a pool of regular writers that have been vetted properly. You can ensure fast delivery and quality, but you have less freedom when it comes to pricing because you will usually be charged a set rate regardless of which writer completes the job. If you are looking for technical articles, it may be best to find a specific freelancer with experience in that area.
Check Reviews
If you are using freelancing websites, the first thing you should look at when the bids come in is the reviews. If a writer is rated poorly because they are unreliable or they don’t produce good quality content, you can disregard them right away. Some writers will have a relatively low rating because they are new to the site, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the quality will be bad. They will often charge a lower price because they are trying to build up their rating, so it is worth exploring their profile a bit more to see what experience they have.
If you want to ensure that you get the best quality, it is usually best to go for the writers with the highest rating. You will pay more for your content, but you can be sure that the quality will be good and the projects will be delivered on time.
Explore Work History
Once you have used the reviews and ratings to trim the list down, you need to explore the work history of the writers a bit further. A writer may have lots of great reviews on projects that they have completed for fashion brands, for example, but that is not helpful to you if you want content about a construction company. The ratings can give you some insight into the quality of the work, but it is important that you find writers with good experience in your field. Consider the writing style that you want as well because if you are looking for formal, technical content, you don’t want to go with a writer that specializes in conversational blog articles.
If you are looking for writers to produce technical content, you should look for any previous experience in research techniques. Writers with an academic background, for example, are far better suited to technical content than writers that deal with entertainment or lifestyle articles.
One of the major benefits of going with a content creation agency when outsourcing content writers is that they will have a large team with a wide range of expertise. They will be able to match your projects with a writer that has good experience with that specific type of content.
Pay A Fair Rate
The freelance world is competitive and there are a lot of content writers out there. It won’t be difficult to find somebody that will create content for a very low price. Marketing managers sometimes make the mistake of thinking that it doesn’t matter if they go for the cheaper option because they will still benefit as long as they have a regular posting schedule and the keywords are in the right place. That is true to an extent, and low quality content will still improve your SEO and drive some traffic to your site. But if you want to benefit from content marketing in other ways, like increasing engagement on your social media pages, for example, you need to focus on quality.
When outsourcing content writers, you get what you pay for. If you pay $10 for an article, you will find plenty of people willing to write it, but the quality will not be very good. It’s important to remember that your content is an extension of your brand, and poor quality content reflects badly on you. Be prepared to pay a higher rate and you will find the most experienced writers.
Credit Your Outsourced Writers
A lot of businesses are looking for people to act as ghostwriters and when the content goes live on the website, the original writer will not be credited. Most content writers don’t have an issue with this, but crediting them can help you to improve the quality of their work. If their name and photograph are attached to the article, their reputation is at stake as well, which means that they will take more care over the work.
Build Long Lasting Relationships
If you follow this advice, you can’t go too far wrong when outsourcing content writers. Once you have found writers that you work well with, it’s important that you focus on building long lasting relationships. When you work with the same writers, they will get to know more about your products and your business and the quality of their work will improve.
Outsourcing content writers is the most cost effective way for your business to build an effective content marketing strategy. But it is important that you take your time when selecting writers to work with so you can always ensure quality and reliability.
