How to Outsource Blog Writing, and 8 Reasons Why You Should
Everyone loves a good blog, from niche recipes to book reviews, personal anecdotes to handy guides (hey, that’s us!). Good blogs make for a fun and personable read — and, when they’re updated regularly, that engagement can be kept for a long time. So, how exactly does this all fit into your business?
Well, a lot of businesses use blogs to connect with or update their clients and customers. They can draw attention to your brand and services, help build your company image, keep your customers sweet, and even elevate you in the eyes of the internet tour guides (or the search engine algorithms, as they’re more commonly known).
But it’s a lot of work to keep high-quality blog content flowing regularly, and that can be a massive energy drain if you’re trying to handle it all yourself. That’s why many businesses decide to shelve the writer’s block and outsource blog writing to the people who know how to do it best — blog writing professionals.
Why is it a good idea to outsource blog writing?
Your blog content contributes to how people in the world perceive your business, so it’s understandable if the thought of handing it over to someone else makes you a bit jittery.
But remember: just because you outsource blog writing to someone else, that doesn’t mean you lose control! You’ll still be steering the ship, it’s just that you’ll be steering from a more comfortable — and hopefully more productive — position.
Ultimately, your new writers will still be taking your lead and waiting on your sign-off, so you get the final say on if everything is right for your company and your customers.
Outsourcing helps keep your blog a smart, efficient marketing arm of your company, rather than just another cumbersome addition to the weekly to-do list. But if that still hasn’t convinced you, then here are some of the biggest reasons you might want to enlist the help of skilled writing professionals.
1. Expertise in a topic isn’t the same as expertise in writing
Being able to communicate clearly, concisely, and in an engaging way is a skill all of its own. Writing is a complex art, requiring a talent for language and decades of professional practice. Although you might be an expert in your field, you may have a hard time reaching the full potential of your business without also being an expert in writing.
Thankfully, those masterful wordsmiths are out there, and they’ll be more than happy to work with you.
Top writers understand how to make complex ideas sing in simple phrases. They know how to write for your target audience in a way that won’t just make sense, but also connect with them in a memorable way. They understand the nuances of tone, the subtleties of voice, and how to build a company’s image, line by carefully-crafted line.
2. Writers can also be experts in your topic or industry
“But surely if I outsource blog writing to any old writer, they aren’t going to understand the technical details of my business or product!” You (might) exclaim. “Even if I give them the information, they’re writers at the end of the day, right? Not chefs, engineers, sheep farming experts, or floatation tank therapy gurus!”
Well, not so fast! Many of the best content writers also have specialist knowledge in certain areas or types of products, including niche ones that might surprise you. A top writing agency can draw upon a wealth of contacts and industry professionals. They’ll be able to harness many different writers, all well-versed in different spheres of business.
A good agency will know how to use the talent and expertise they have to build a crack team of content creators that not only understand words, but also your company and the landscape that surrounds it.
3. Good blog writing takes time and effort
Thorough research, careful phrasing, attention to finer details, thoughtful editing, and proper proofreading; like much of what’s good in life, good writing takes time, sweat, and (occasionally) tears. You probably have a limited supply of these things.
Professional writers invest their time into making sure words are doing what they’re supposed to. Instead of trying to cram writing into their schedule as an afterthought, your blog is their bread and butter; it’s their career, their focus, their passion, and their source of income.
Get them to invest their time in the words that matter to you, and you’ll have more space to focus on other aspects of your business.
4. Effective blogs need regular and reliable content
You want your blog to yield stronger branding, higher sales, better search engine results, and, most importantly, happy customers. But if you want all of that, your content needs to be regular and engaging.
Keeping a reliable publishing schedule can be nigh-on impossible on your own, even if you’ve got a spare hour every now and again. But outsource blog writing to dedicated professionals, and the schedule takes care of itself. Your blog will be their normal work week, so you can sleep easy knowing you don’t have to come up with another 2,000 words before the weekend.
5. Professional blog writers understand SEO
Ah, the search engine algorithm — mysterious, powerful, and very difficult to read. Professional content writers might not programme the algorithms themselves, but they have a good idea of how they work, and how to produce quality content that’ll lift you higher in the search engine results. If you want more traffic and more customers, then that’s a very important tool to have in your toolbox.
But good SEO is more complex than people think, and it means more than just adding a few keywords here and there. Top writing agencies know how to boost SEO effectively, and will be able to employ this knowledge to ensure your blog posts have the best possible chance of being discovered and enjoyed.
It’s all about slotting keywords in naturally and comfortably, and this is one of those finicky details that is usually best left to a professional.
6. Writers understand marketing and how to connect with audiences
You don’t have to think of your writing team as being of a different species to your marketing department. There’s actually more overlap than you might realise!
Good writers understand marketing. They know how to speak to customers in the most effective language. They understand how to project an image or product in a way that resonates with your audience. They can shape phrases that build loyalty amongst existing clientele, whilst bringing new people on board at the same time.
See? Plenty of overlap!
7. Outsourcing can help broaden your blog’s perspective
Industry-specific blogs are particularly prone to becoming repetitive and unenthusiastic if the same in-house staff member is being forced to come up with a new idea every week.
When you outsource blog writing to a professional, it can help ensure that the blog stays original and varied. Having an external team produce articles for your business can help bring some new perspectives and voices to the content you’re putting out there for readers.
You may even find that new ways of seeing, thinking, and writing filter out into your wider organisation. Bringing new voices to the table can have an energising’ ripple effect’ that’s felt across your organisation!
8. It could reduce your overall marketing costs
It’s easy to assume that you’ll be spending a lot more money if you choose to outsource blog writing for your business. However, that’s not always the case, particularly if you look beyond the initial investment.
If you’re diverting the energy of full-time employees to producing regular, top-quality blog content, you may find that you’re not really playing to your in-house strengths, and that you’re wasting time and money overall.
But if you outsource blog writing to an external team of word wizards, you’re freeing up your in-house employees to focus on the tasks that their training and talents have prepared them for. Don’t make the mistake of diverting your team’s energy towards a blog project that can be more efficiently and economically handled by blog experts!
How can you outsource blog writing effectively?
If you’ve decided that outsourcing your blog writing is the way to go, then here are a few pointers to help ensure that the content you publish truly works for you — and the readers it’s made for.
Decide whether you want to work with a writer or agency
Once you’ve decided you’re going to outsource your blog writing, you can shop around and find an independent freelance writer capable of producing quality content for you. This arrangement works well for some small businesses, and you may find that commissioning a single person, at first glance, appears cheaper than opting for an agency.
The potential downside of relying on just one writer is that you’re leaving your blog content — and blog success — in the hands of a single person. As talented and as dedicated as freelance writers can be, you won’t necessarily be drawing upon the breadth of experience and editing capacity that a top agency can provide.
You also miss out on the security that comes with having a team assigned to the job. An agency can ensure that content is created on time and published to a schedule, even if individual writers fall sick, change projects, or take a holiday.
That’s not to say that an agency will mix-and-match writers at random, though! Professional writers know that familiarity with a client and their material is crucial when it comes to perfecting an individual company’s content and style.
Proofreading and editing also work best when they’re a collaboration between individuals with specific skill sets, rather than the same one person re-reading their own work. A good agency will have more than one person working to ensure that each piece of content hits the mark.
Don’t be fooled by price alone
There’s a huge spread when it comes to prices quoted for blog content. The internet has made content creation an international market, with individuals from markedly different economies and regions able to pitch for the same work at wildly varying rates. We’re not going to lie, content can come cheap — sometimes too cheap.
The growth of AI writing software has only made it easier to churn out poor but plentiful content at a dizzying rate, and then sell it on for what feels like pennies. But ask a machine to write a thoughtful, playful, sensitive piece on the demographics of your dating app, and you’ll soon find out why it’s best to trust talented humans with your blog.
Quality content is harder to come by, and should cost more than the cheapest rates on the market. That’s because good writing is nearly always the product of trained, experienced, and dedicated professionals working collaboratively with one another and the client. They’ve taken the time to perfect their craft, and they take care to make sure they’re producing quality work.
It’s not as easy as Googling a few key terms and stringing sentences together until the word count is met, or polishing off something that an AI bot has spewed forth. If you opt for the cheapest content on the market, don’t be surprised to find prose that’s hastily researched, robotic, sloppily phrased, and riddled with errors.
Consider hiring writers who have knowledge or experience in your industry
Good writers often know more than just how to turn out a tidy phrase. When speaking with an agency about how your project will be handled, see if they’re able to bring writers on board who have some familiarity with your particular industry. The best writing professionals are also excellent researchers — you don’t need rocket scientists to write about rockets, but some pre-existing connection with the subject matter can go a long way.
If you choose to outsource blog writing to an agency, then chances are it’s because you trust them to handle things professionally. Good writing agencies know how to position their writers and use their connections to ensure the people writing for you really know what they’re talking about. That’s all part of the service.
Provide a detailed brief and consider a custom style guide
A good brief won’t just tell a team of writers the headlines and topics of articles you want, or the length and frequency of content you need published. Detailed briefs will also give an idea of your brand image, your company’s vision, the tone and register you want your content to be delivered in, the overall aims for your blog, your target audiences, and anything else you think will help guide writers to produce content that speaks the way you want it to.
A custom style guide is also worth considering (whether you want to outsource blog writing or not), particularly if different writers are likely to be working on your blog over a longer period. A style guide can help ensure consistency across content relating to details both big and small — anything from the use of headings and specialist vocabulary to spelling variants, brand names, slang, and preferred punctuation.
Think about confidentiality
Sometimes you may need to share sensitive information with writers if they’re to be given everything they need to produce great work. This could be related to product releases, confidential company information, or any details about your enterprise that you wouldn’t want to be shared with competitors.
Make sure that any sensitive information shared is protected by confidentiality agreements and that writers know when information is for ‘company eyes only’.
Collaborate and build a strong working relationship over time
It’s up to you how directly or indirectly you want to be involved in content creation once you outsource blog writing to someone else. The important thing is to recognise that the longer you collaborate with your writing team, the better they will become at producing the sharpest content possible for your brand.
Even great writers need a bit of time to truly soak up a business’ identity and adopt the perfect voice when writing for you and your readers. Especially in the early stages, this often involves suggestions, edits, and a gradual honing of content — it can’t always happen overnight.
Be patient, constructively critical, and cooperative, and trust in your writers and the journey they’ve joined you on!
Where do you go from here?
To outsource blog writing is to ensure that original content continues to be produced on time, on point, and to full effect — without the associated stress, time, and effort that can go into keeping a blog healthy and well-stocked. Professional writers understand how to craft meaningful articles that truly resonate with readers and customers — not to mention search engine algorithms — rather than just filling space. What’s more, by leaving the words to a professional agency, you free up yourself and your in-house team to focus on other things, or maybe just to kick back and enjoy a bit of well-earnt breathing room!
At ZippyLingo, we understand that language is a human thing. We love meeting new people, getting involved in interesting projects, and creating properly-researched, up-to-speed, engaging blogs for companies who’ve decided to bring some professional attention to this vital arm of their business. We’re able to draw upon a broad and talented team of writers, marketing experts, and content specialists to meet any of your business blogging needs.
