More and more today, blogs are serving as valuable marketing tools.
With the dual purpose of reaching your audience and alerting search engine algorithms to your presence, they’ve become essential.
Yet, if your marketing team is already so busy with everything from planning to promoting, it may be difficult to factor in time for writing a 1,500-2,000 blog post several times a week or month.
Writing is a distinctive skill, requiring focus and the ability to create compelling, optimized posts to engage with your particular readers. Without these, it’s doubtful your blog is being effective.
Getting rid of or discontinuing your blog is not an option, however, so what can you do?
It may be time to seriously consider ways to outsource blog writing in a way you can trust and that will benefit your brand.
Such outsourcing can become part of your overall blog management, still leaving you in control yet relying on others with the skills to better the value of your content.
Fortunately, today you have several options available when it comes to outsourcing your blog writing tasks. Keep reading to know more!
What Does It Mean to Outsource Blog Writing?
To outsource blog writing means you partner with another entity or individual for creating content to post on your blog on a regular or short-term basis.
The dedicated writers will use their particular skills and experience to write the posts for your brand, based on your schedule.
Your role will be to provide the writer with brand guidelines to ensure consistent messaging, voice, and purpose.
In addition, you can include blog writing topics in your content marketing strategy and provide these to the writer.
Outsourcing blog writing doesn’t have to be all or nothing. You can choose to write posts yourself in addition to assigning ones to a freelance writer and also seek guest posts from others who can benefit your brand.
Reasons Your Business Should Outsource Blog Writing
While your blog is an essential part of your brand and plays a significant role in your content marketing strategy, you may be hesitant to outsource the actual blog writings.
Yet, there are distinct reasons to do so with confidence.
Gain Skilled Writers with Expertise
Whether you worry about the current quality of your blog content or need more experienced writers to help, outsourcing can be a valuable solution.
With it, you gain specialized writers with the expertise needed to write compelling content that speaks to your audience.
Even if you or your team have high-level knowledge of marketing and subject matter for your blog, writing it is a whole other matter.
You need to be able to communicate in writing what you know so that it is sharable with readers. Not everyone can do that.
Better Allocate Your Time
Often you need to juggle several marketing tasks at the same time. As such, some things can fall through the cracks and lessen your effectiveness.
When looking to see what you can outsource, you may find that blog writing is the one thing you don’t have enough time to spend on.
By outsourcing it, you can reallocate how your marketing team spends their time and focus to boost your brand’s visibility and reputation.
You not only save time then but also increase flexibility, allowing you to work on different projects or strategies without having to worry about writing that next blog post.
Essentially, outsourcing is a way to free up your time to work on other important marketing tasks.
Help Increase Conversions
Skilled blog writers offer value in ways other than just simplifying complex topics and writing flowing sentences.
With knowledge and skills in inbound marketing techniques, proper grammar and spelling, and how to organize information to make it more readable, an outsourced blog writer can increase the chances of blog readers converting.
Reduce Your Business and Marketing Costs
By outsourcing your blog writing, it allows you to pare down or eliminate your in-house writing team or services, and the required space, benefits, or other costs.
You can also reassign the staff you already have to other areas in greater need.
Take some time to weigh expenses in terms of time and money for your staff to continue writing blog posts with that of outsourcing your blog writing.
You may be surprised at the results, which will likely show you that outsourcing will cost you far less.
Of course, you’ll still need to establish a budget for outsourcing, but this should be considerably lower than having to hire full-time staff with benefits.
What Should You Consider When Outsourcing Blog Writing?
While you may be hesitant to outsource blog writing because you need it to match with your brand’s voice and purpose, you shouldn’t discount it altogether.
To help you get started, here are the things you should consider when outsourcing blog writing.
Determine Your Blog Needs
Start by understanding what your blog needs are each month.
From there, determine whether you are looking to outsource part or all of the responsibility for the writing of those posts.
Do you just need short-term help, or will you consider an ongoing relationship with one or more writers?
Delay outsourcing until you have a blogging strategy or editorial calendar in place.
Avoid Focusing on Price Alone
The reason you’re considering outsourcing is so your content is more relevant and valuable to readers. You also want it to get noticed by search engines.
Quality writing, then, not price, is where your focus needs to be.
Various options are available today in every price range. You can pay by the hour, by the project, or choose a package deal.
The cheaper prices for writers may indicate less experience and qualifications, so look for more than price alone.
Determine How You Will Educate Your Blog Writers
Once you select your outsource method, you will need to educate the blog writers about your brand, including goals, purpose, and brand voice.
Start early by setting expectations, including the type of content you expect.
The more information and direction you provide, the better your chances of receiving what you need from the writer.
For this, your blogging strategy, brand guidelines, and topic list will be essential.
Identify Preferences for Outsourcing Your Blog Writing
Options to find outsourced blog writers are more numerous today.
You can work directly with an individual freelance writer or partner with an agency or content platform for access to several diverse writers with general and specialized skills.
Decide which type of source you prefer. For example, you may want to work directly with a writer or prefer establishing an account on a reputable content platform for access to several good writers.
5 Blog Writing Outsourcing Options
You have a variety of options when it comes to outsourcing your blog writing, including the following five.
1. Agencies
Various agencies today offer writing services. These include ones specializing in digital marketing or public relations.
Several of them also limit their focus to one type of client, such as law offices or dental practices.
The writing services are usually just one part of the business, however, and they usually offer other related services such as SEO optimization, promotion, or advertising.
Agencies work through contracts, so you may be able to negotiate rates, payment options, and terms and conditions.
Your agency can offer SEO services using the advanced tools at WriterAccess.
2. Content Writing Platforms
Online content writing platforms include a diverse group of writers usually at different skill levels.
These platforms, like WriterAccess, focus on the skill of writing for various purposes, such as blog posts, web pages, white papers, product descriptions, and so forth.
They may also offer professional editing or graphic design services as well.
You set up an account and choose your level of usage, such as selecting a monthly package.
Management is your first line of communication on the platform, followed by direct communication with the individual writer or writers.
3. Gig-Based Sites
Gig-based sites, such as Fiverr and Upwork, provide you with access to writers with different expertise, skills, and experience.
These sites can be slightly different in how they function.
On Upwork, you will post a blog writing job, and interested writers on the site will respond to you with a bid for their services. You review these and select.
Fiverr, on the other hand, allows the writers to post the different types of services they provide. You, as a potential customer, will peruse these postings to find one that matches your needs.
Success can be hit or miss on these gig-based sites. Writers may be highly-skilled, just starting out, or switching from another career to full-time writing and looking to gain experience. Rates also tend to be lower on these sites.
4. Independent Freelance Writer
An independent freelance writer already has experience and is considered a self-employed contractor offering writing services directly to clients.
These writers build their businesses around their writing skills and experience and often rely on their professional reputation to win clients.
Common characteristics of independent freelance writers include:
- Ability to deliver various content types or specialize in one or more, such as blog posts, white papers, emails, or case studies.
- Can work across many industries or only concentrate on limited niches such as medical or legal.
- Maintain their own promotional website, which includes a bio, rates, reviews, contact information, and writing samples for potential clients to find.
These freelancers are highly motivated, not just to write but to meet the needs of your brand.
As for rates, independent freelancers know they can add value and are willing to charge higher prices.
5. Seek Writer Pitches Online
You can also go out and seek writer pitches on your own. A few ways to accomplish this include:
- Promote your need for blog writers on your social media feed.
- Post on job boards, such as LinkedIn’s Jobs Feature.
- Mention your search for a blog writer in online groups.
You may specify that you are seeking guest posts, a particular type of writer, or a specialized background.
This approach puts it in the writer’s court to reach out to you and pitch themselves as the right one for the job.
However, you never have to limit yourself to just one of these options.
If you find value in combining them, such as using a content writing platform along with hiring a least one independent freelance writer, then go for it. Your blog and your brand will benefit.
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Wrap Up
When it comes to the outsourcing of your blog writing, a lot is involved.
Making it as easy and efficient as possible will depend on what you need, how soon you need it, and how much you’re willing to pay.
Today there are options available that can help achieve your goals, including working with agencies, content platforms, gig-based services, and independent freelancers.
By outsourcing your blog writing, you can save time and resources, gain expertise, and even increase conversions.
Want to know more ways to convert readers into leads with your blog? Check out our blog post on this topic!
