As a small business owner, venturing into the freelance industry may be something you have considered.
Whether you need someone to run your blog and bring more traffic to your site or you are looking for someone to create SEO-optimized content for your website, a freelance writer can help you achieve your business goals.
With millions of freelancers in the United States, it can be difficult to choose a qualified candidate. And with so many choices at your fingertips, how do you make the right decision?
Read below to learn how to hire a freelance writer for your business and give your content production a significant boost.
What is a Freelance Writer?
A freelance writer is an independent contractor who has made the decision to pursue a career in writing as their own boss. A freelance writer is not a full-time employee for a company.
Freelance writers typically offer their writing services to a wide assortment of clients and produce content in a variety of genres.
Some freelance writers will specialize in certain types of writing work, such as web content, or in certain niches, such as health and wellness.
Why Hire Freelance Writers for Your Business?
There are many reasons why you and your business could benefit from hiring a freelance writer. These writers can work with you by the project or for the long-term.
When it comes to using full-time employees, freelance writers have several advantages.
Save Money
For instance, it can be cheaper to hire a freelance writer for the occasional project here and there, as opposed to hiring a part or full-time employee.
Further, because this is what the freelance writer does for a living, the work produced is likely to be of a much higher quality.
Apart from the wages you pay, you will also save money on taxes.
Since a freelancer is an independent contract worker, you won’t have to pay federal taxes, Social Security, benefits, and the like.
Save Time
When you hire a freelance writer, you will set the details of the assignment, the expected standards, and the deadlines (possibly broken up into milestones). Then, they will do the work.
While you will need to set aside some time for any questions the freelancer may have, you will save a considerable amount of time by not having to do the work yourself.
Get Someone Better Than You
In many cases, the reason you need to hire a freelance writer is simply because you lack the skills necessary to perform the job.
Sure, you’re able to talk and write well, but when it comes to telling a story and being 100 percent on top of your grammar, you are lacking.
A freelance writer will have the skills and experience to provide a creative and compelling piece of content, while also focusing on SEO best practices to bring more traffic to your website.
When Should You Hire a Freelance Writer?
There are benefits to hiring a freelance writer at any stage of your business.
However, there may be instances when you should look into hiring a freelancer writer sooner rather than later.
- You don’t have the time to create quality content on a regular basis.
- You can’t come up with any ideas for engaging articles.
- You lack the time to perform the necessary research for ideas and compelling content.
- You are unable to create content in a way that your audience engages with and understands.
- You don’t enjoy producing content.
- You want to save time and money.
5 Tips for Hiring Freelance Writers
There are several things to take into consideration when searching for and hiring a quality freelance writer. Here are five tips to help you as you begin your search.
1. Analyze Qualifications
No two freelance writers are the same. Each will bring their own set of skills and expertise to the table.
To ensure your writing project is successful from the get-go, you need to look for qualifications in a freelance writer that match your needs.
Ideally, the freelance writer you choose to work with should have a strong grasp of the English language and be able to write professionally and authoritatively about the topic at hand.
Further, if you need content written for your website, you want to look for a writer who has previously written web content and has SEO experience.
Keep in mind that most freelance writers do not hold a creative writing or journalism degree. When it comes to hiring a freelance writer, expertise is often held to a higher standard than educational background.
One of the best ways to analyze a writer’s qualifications is to request samples of their work.
This will allow you to get a sense of their tone of voice and writing style, while also ensuring they’re able to meet the needs of your writing assignments.
2. Request Recommendations
If you want to increase your chances of getting a good freelance writer to work with, consider speaking to your friends, colleagues, and professional connections.
More people are using freelance writers to complete writing tasks, so there is a good chance that someone in your circle has hired a freelance writer.
If they have had a good experience with a writer, they may be willing to recommend their services to you.
3. Establish a Communication Plan
Regardless of whether you are hiring a local freelance writer or a freelance writer who lives across the country, a communication plan must be developed that works for both you and the freelance writer.
You need to be able to contact your freelance writer to receive progress updates, discuss new ideas, and send revision requests.
At the same time, your freelance writer needs to reach you if they have any questions regarding the assignment.
In your communication plan, it should be decided how you will contact one another. This may be by email, phone, Skype, or something else entirely.
If you’re working with a freelance writer through a platform like WriterAccess, you can send direct messages to your writer on the website.
You may want to consider a platform like Slack that will help you reach your freelance writer (and vice versa) while keeping your projects organized.
4. Create an Onboarding Process
Your freelance writer may not be a full-time employee for your business, but this doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t ensure they are familiar with your business as a whole.
Create an onboarding process for your freelance writers so they can learn more about your company and what you do.
This doesn’t have to be as elaborate as it is for your full-time employees, but it is important they have a good grasp of your company culture and have access to the information needed to complete their assigned tasks.
This type of onboarding process is even more important if your freelancer is creating content about your products or services.
If this is the case, make sure they have access to a company style guide, a list of FAQs, product videos, persona profiles, etc.
5. Define Costs
When defining the pay for your freelance writer, it is important to keep in mind that you will essentially get what you pay for.
So, to ensure you receive quality work, you will want to provide reasonable pay.
Reasonable pay rates will not only attract the right kind of writer, but they will be more motivated to produce quality content that matches or exceeds your objectives.
You can pay by the word or by the project, but make sure it is stated upfront.
Try to find some middle ground as you define the costs for your project. A rate set too low will turn good writers away, but a rate set too high can have a negative impact on your bottom line.
How to Find a Writer Online
When it comes to finding a freelance writer online, it is not that much different than finding a full-time employee.
There are dedicated job boards and gig boards that allow you to post jobs for freelancers to respond to.
You can also promote your work through social media, such as LinkedIn. Just make sure you are willing to sift through a lot of resumes to find a qualified candidate.
If you would prefer to avoid the time it takes to examine resumes, there are also freelance writing platforms that have already taken the time to vet freelancers, such as WriterAccess, allowing you to post jobs for relevant candidates to pick up.
On platforms like WriterAccess, there are thousands of writers looking for work.
These writers are at various levels in their careers, and when they sign up, they are assigned a star rating. This allows you to work with writers based on their level of experience, writing abilities, and requested rate of pay.
Wrap Up
Regardless of whether you are looking to hire a freelance writer for regular assignments or a specific project, it is a very cost-effective way to ensure your business receives well-written and high-quality content.
To assist you in this endeavor, there’s WriterAccess: a content creation platform designed to streamline your content production process, combining the efficiency of AI-powered tools with the creativity of human writers.
Why not give it a try today? Sign up now for WriterAccess and get 14 days of free access to our network of expert writers. Discover for yourself what great content can do for your business!
