If you’re looking to hire a blog writer for your business, then you probably have a lot of questions. Particularly if this is your first time outsourcing your content creation, there are a few considerations that will loom larger than others.
First, there’s the question of “why?” Why do you need to hire a blog writer in the first place?
Then there’s the question of “where?” Where do you go for help? What specific blogger or content company should you choose?
And finally, there are the questions of “what?” That is to say: what will happen after you start working with your new content writers?
Before You Hire
If you’ve already done your research, you probably know that SEO-driven blogs can quadruple your traffic, and are significantly more effective than outbound marketing when it comes to conversion rates.
But for now, let’s focus on what you should expect going into the situation.
Knowing what to expect will help you prepare ahead of time, and make the most of your blog when you do bring someone else on board.
What happens after you hire a blog writer?
#1 – You Add Expertise to Your Blog
If you create your weekly posts in-house, perhaps you can save some money upfront. But the cost will likely only be deferred. You will still witness it in the form of lost opportunity: a drop in the blog’s quality and effectiveness.
Blog writers understand what it takes to write a successful blog post. They know the business of blogging, and they have experience when it comes to writing content specifically for a web-based readership.
Writing for the Internet Is Different
In general, readers on the web are not approaching your material like readers who “like to curl up with a good book.”
If your blog’s readership is reflective of the average internet user, then you’re probably going to get as many “skimmers” as “readers.”
Only about 50% of readers actually read an article from start to finish; the rest scroll through content until they find material that interests them. That might seem like a way of justifying weaker content, but in fact, the opposite is true.
Content still needs to be rich and valuable for your readership. The main difference is that clarity and labeling are both critically important. Readers need to be able to tell what an article is about quickly, or they’ll move on.
Going Mobile
The need for clarity is even more important today than it has been in the past, not just because of the readers, but because of changes in the technology.
Not everyone is looking at blog posts on a large desktop monitor. More than ever, people are reading posts on their mobile phones.
This trend is not limited to reading articles––it affects purchasing too. Earlier in 2019, a study by Smart Insights showed that consumers were now spending more time shopping on their mobile devices than they were on desktops.
Furthermore, the failure to adapt to this trend is costing some companies business. 40% of users reported leaving a website after a “bad mobile experience” and going to a competitor’s website instead.
Blog writers know how to write and format content for a web audience that is increasingly reliant on the tiny screens of mobile phones.
Your Blog Is a Long-Term Project
Going mobile is not just crucial for the success of your blog now, but for years to come.
The real power of blogs comes from their long-term benefits. As a blog grows, individual posts support one another and help increase your profile. If we look at a blog as a project stretching years into the future, we can understand why it’s necessary to account for the mobile trend.
The best blog writers are writing posts today that will still be read tomorrow.
#2 – You Get Effective SEO Research
Of course, you know that your blog needs to engage human readers. This is the most crucial thing that people overlook, because it’s so obvious that sometimes it gets taken for granted.
SEO, on the other hand, is a little trickier. It takes time, research software, and the ability to watch trends over time.
How do you know that you’re getting the most effective SEO you can get?
The Risk of Staying In-House
This is a particular pitfall for a lot of businesses that try to keep their blog purely within the confines of their own office.
If you are running a small business, it’s likely that most of the people working for you are going to have expertise in the area of your specific industry. They’re doing work that’s relevant to your market.
What usually happens is that the task of writing a blog falls to someone without a complete toolset. Many in-house blogs are not created by people with a strong writing, SEO, and web marketing background.
An in-house blogger may have one of those skills. But unless all the necessary skills are present, the blog is likely to underperform.
The Difference Effective SEO Can Make
When you hire a blog writer, you get someone who is engaging with this world every day. They can incorporate keywords into your material that will bring more traffic. They can build on successful pages.
The key here is that smart SEO can generate not only more traffic, but better traffic.
The right keywords will bring your ideal customer to your page. The right SEO can cause your conversion rates to skyrocket.
Done properly, your conversion rates can jump to over 14%, which is eight times as much as traditional outbound marketing like mailers, TV commercials, and newspaper ads.
But it’s important to note that this kind of success rarely happens without a specific strategy, and careful selection of the right content. Professional bloggers do this every day, and the difference is in the quality of the SEO they can provide.
#3 – You Get an Outside Perspective
In the vast majority of cases, a business owner will know their industry better than the blog writer they hired. We certainly hope that’s the case (otherwise, why are you running a business in that industry?)
Blog writers can learn to adapt and teach themselves the ins and outs well enough to produce content for a company blog. But at the end of the day, a business owner will have an advantage in their specific market.
So what does a blog writer add here?
What blog writers bring to the table is a unique perspective. A different voice and a different set of observations. This can put you in touch with other customers.
Sometimes an outside view can wind up being the exact thing your blog needs in order to widen your sphere of influence and catch the attention of new readers.
#4 – You Get Your Blogs On a Reliable Schedule
When you hire a blogger, or a content company, you want steady, reliable content delivered to you. This isn’t always possible when you’re producing everything in-house.
Small and mid-size businesses often find their blogs suffering at the very points when the company itself is actually doing well. If you’re having a terrifically busy month or two, it’s reasonable to assume that everyone in your office has a full workload.
The result of all that extra work is that the blog often gets pushed to the side, which can lead to a downturn in traffic and a drop in Google’s rankings.
The great thing about outsourcing here is that you don’t have to worry about your blog being forgotten as a result of the ebbs and flows of your business cycle. When you hire a blog writer, you are making a commitment to maintain the quality and the reliability of your blog, even when your own company is at its busiest.
Customers will appreciate that, and your rankings will, too.
#5 – You Get Your Time Back
This last point may be the biggest takeaway in all of this.
Your time is valuable. It should be spent running the company.
If you find yourself spending hours writing blog posts simply to “stay on schedule,” then it’s a good bet that there’s something else on your to-do list that isn’t getting the attention it deserves.
If the blog has started to feel like a chore, or a distraction, then it’s probably a sign to delegate it or outsource it.
Bloggers are efficient. A professional blog writer will be able to give you the most effective SEO content, while spending far less time than an office worker who isn’t used to creating multiple articles on a daily basis.
You’ll put less time into your blog, and you’ll get more out of it as well.
How to Hire a Blog Writer at SteadyContent
At SteadyContent, we use a company model to produce millions of words of content every month.
We have over 500 writers on our roster, which gives us a wide range of expertise and ability when it comes to creating specialized posts. Our clients are businesses in a wide variety of industries, from medicine, to technology, to landscaping, to real estate.
If you’d like to experience how our team can boost your traffic, get in touch with us! We have a special trial offer that will give you the change to try out our service at a low-risk rate.
See the difference SteadyContent can make for you!
