Running a business takes a lot of time and effort. For many business owners, writing a weekly blog is just one more item on their growing to-do lists. That’s why many owners have discovered a better solution: hire blog writers to do it for them.
First off, if you’re not already producing a blog for your company website, you are missing out on a vital audience.
More and more customers are looking to the internet first when they are trying to get their questions answered, or to find a place to spend their money. Savvy companies know that creating material that answers these questions will get them additional visitors (and potential customers).
You may ask: how big a difference can one blog really make?
Blogging is important enough that marketing firms focus on it. According to a recent HubSpot study, 53% of marketers consider blogging to be their top marketing priority. And companies that blog regularly receive 97% more links to their websites.
In addition, blogs that focus on SEO leads continue to have a close rate of around 14.6%, while traditional outbound marketing is languishing at 1.7%. For converting audience to customers, there isn’t any comparison.
Web content remains an effective and low-cost method of generating leads and business.
Now the question becomes: do you write the blog yourself, or find someone to do it for you?
The Need to Stay Current
Even if you recognize the value of optimized content, you may ask why you should turn the actual writing portion over to somebody else.
There are a few reasons to hire blog writers.
First off, you save time.
Acknowledging a blog’s usefulness doesn’t solve your time management challenges. You still have a lot of other things to do when running your company, and you may find that it’s difficult to produce a professional blog at a regular rate, especially when things get busy.
You may also find that the blog isn’t getting you the results you’re hoping for.
Having a dedicated content writing company that specializes in SEO strategy can get your blog noticed. On top of that, there’s another advantage that not everyone considers.
While the need for quality content has not changed, the style of that content has evolved.
Hire Blog Writers to Stay Ahead of the Curve
Writing a blog in 2019 isn’t the same challenge as it used to be in 2014, or 2010, or 2002.
Business owners who tackle blog writing entirely on their own will have to research SEO strategies and familiarize themselves with trends.
Then, after six months or a year, when the internet landscape inevitably changes, they must learn all over again.
When you hire blog writers, you not only solve the problem of keeping your blog up to date in terms of posting frequency, you also make sure that your blog stays current with the latest trends.
Over time, this represents a ton of time saved.
Not only do you save the time writing the blog, but you also let someone else stay current with the strategies necessary to keep it effective.
5 Significant SEO Trends of 2019
What are some considerations that blog writers need to take into account?
#1: User Intent
Most people are familiar with “user experience” or “customer experience,” which is the goal of creating the best possible encounter for anyone visiting or using a site.
The basic idea is to put yourself in your customer’s shoes, and to imagine what their experience will be.
“User intent” goes one step further. Instead of simply asking “what will it be like when the customer gets here?”, User Intent seeks to determine what brought the customer there, to begin with.
Instead of putting yourself in the customer’s shoes at the point of arrival, you’re asking what causes them to search for you in the first place.
By creating blog posts that anticipate user’s unsolved problems or unanswered questions, your blog becomes a solution for the user, potentially in the form of sales as well as information.
Optimizing the site for these questions is a big part of SEO in 2019, and it only looks to become more important in 2020.
#2 Pairing Quality Content With User Intent
Of course, if a user comes to your site to find the answer to a question, they are only going to stick around if they find a clear and engaging answer.
Quality content is never going to go out of style. If your content is formatted to be a response to a user query, it needs to be well-written. That way, it can quickly bridge the gap between the user’s question and your point of sale.
Answer the customer’s question, and then provide the ideal solution through your business.
As we move into 2020, quality content is becoming even more crucial for business blogs. Google’s archiving software has become more sophisticated and is becoming more adept at recognizing pages that are all SEO and zero substance.
#3 Optimizing for New Technologies
Another of the things we’ve seen lately is how search engines have adapted to new technologies such as smartphones.
These days, 60% of Google searches take place on mobile devices (and that number is rising). As we forge ahead, roughly two of every three visitors to a website will see it through a small mobile screen as opposed to a large monitor.
Clunky, complicated information will be much more difficult to digest than simple and direct content.
Devices such as Amazon’s Echo and Alexa are seeing a surge in popularity and are accounting for higher shares of searches. Blog information isn’t only being accessed via Google, but through Amazon and Apple as well.
Mobile optimization is more critical than ever for commercial sites. It’s not enough to have a site that looks good on a desktop or laptop screen. Whether it’s a home site or a company blog, it has to be accessible and readable on a smartphone browser.
#4 On-Page Search Engine Optimization
Although a lot has changed in the last few years, this is one fact that has stayed consistently true. Having relevant on-page content, like the kind one finds on a blog or on the home site itself, is still the preferred method of search engine optimization.
If you have the right content, people will find your site.
This means that the actual text in your blog or on your site is still crucial. It is this specific text that helps Google archive your website and classify it properly.
When you hire blog writers who are adept at using targeted keywords and phrases to catch the attention of Google, you raise your profile in the rankings. In 2019, this remains as true as ever.
#5 Featured Snippets
When you use Google Search, one feature you may notice is a small box with the title “People also ask” at the header. This box aims at answering people’s most common questions as quickly as possible.
For instance, if you google the phrase “featured snippet,” the box appears with these top questions listed:
“What is a featured snippet?”
“How do you become a featured snippet?”
“Why are featured snippets important?”
Under each of these questions is a link to a website: this is the coveted “featured snippet” position. These are the websites that Google considers to give a quality answer to the user’s question.
So why is this important? As you can probably guess, these sites can gain significant traffic because of being highlighted in this space.
Users know they can get a speedy reply and don’t have to waste a lot of time scrolling. They can click and get an answer, and the sites with the best answers reap the benefits.
2020 and Beyond
Maintaining a professional blog is a long-term process. Blogs aren’t going away any time soon, and (if you plan on having your business stick around for the long haul too), it helps to think about it as a marathon and not a sprint.
The best results come over time, as the cumulative mass of a blog begins to snowball.
And this is where it can be a real asset to hire blog writers.
Over the next several years, blogging styles are going to change in response to new technology and evolving user habits. Blog writers can help keep your blog tuned into those changes, so that it never falls behind––in substance or in style.
How to Hire Blog Writers at SteadyContent
At SteadyContent, we’ve been producing high-quality blog posts for our clients since 2010.
Our 550 writers create millions of words a year, and our team of SEO researchers helps businesses stay ahead of the curve.
We produce both long and short-form blog posts, with varying levels of frequency, depending on your needs. Additionally, we currently have an introductory package that lets first-time clients try our posts for a significant discount.
If you’re looking to get a blog started (or to inject life into a blog that needs a boost), we’d love to hear from you!