Blog Outsourcing: Should You Hire A Ghost Writer?

Outsourcing has been gaining popularity over the past few years. In fact, more than 44% of business owners now say that they are more likely to outsource than they were just five years ago.  Small businesses often outsource jobs like accounting, human resources, payroll, and many more projects to stay on budget.  Actually, freeing up resources to be able to focus on core businesses is the most widely cited reason for outsourcing.   The remaining article will explore how you can outsource blog writing if you should hire a ghostwriter, and everything else you need to know about buying high-quality content.  Ready to start outsourcing?

When Should You Consider Outsourcing Blog Writing?

A company should begin blog outsourcing when they need to focus more on business-critical aspects rather than smaller projects.  Adding people to your team to do skills that are not part of your core business can not only save your business money but will also offer a wide variety of experts to choose from.  Here are a few things to consider before you should begin outsourcing: 

• If you are having trouble keeping up with your workflow
• Your employees are doing too much
• Mistakes are costing too much money
• Budgets are getting tight
• You can't find the right talent for the project
• Routine tasks are taking too much time and effort

How to Find Writers for Your Blog

When you are looking for ghostwriters for your blog, your primary goal should be to find someone who has solid writing experience.  It could be someone with a background in journalism, copywriting, blogging, etc.  When deciding on a writer, you may want to find one that has knowledge regarding your niche or industry.  However, you don't need an industry expert if your writer has excellent research skills and is able to learn a topic quickly.  Here are a few ways to find good writers:

Freelance Marketplaces 

Freelance writers can be found on websites such as FreeUp, Fiverr, and even LinkedIn. FreeUp pre-vets their freelancers so clients can have the best experience possible. One of the biggest benefits of using a freelance marketplace is that it makes it easy to connect with writers. In addition to writing, you may be able to use a freelance marketplace to find someone you can outsource other kinds of work to.

Marketing Agencies

Many marketing companies offer content writing services. These agencies can even help come up with blog topics and other content ideas that will fit your brand. For example, when you purchase content through HOTH Blogger, you can rest assured that your articles will be relevant to your niche and match your company’s voice. Did you know that websites with active blogs get a whopping 55% more organic visitors from search engines?  With that said, hiring a professional freelancer or blog writer service can be an asset to your team or project.  Outsourcing blog posts require specific content that is loaded with messages you want your target audience to see.  Here are a few tips to consider before you get started:

• Don't begin outsourcing until you have a strategy and content calendar set up
• Have a budget set aside for outsourcing 
• Have a basic understanding of content marketing
• Create a tone and brand guidelines for your writer
• Test content lengths, headlines, and CTAs

What are the Benefits of Outsourcing Blog Writing?

Blogs offer an audience a unique chance to learn knowledge related to a specific search query.  That is one reason why many business owners choose to use blogs to promote their services or products.  In fact, 64% of B2B marketers that use blogging to promote products and services are outsourcing their written content.  In addition, 88% of businesses also outsource their blogs to add credibility to their business.  Here are some benefits to outsourcing a ghostwriter: 

• Blog outsourcing allows you to find experts in content creation
• Improvisation in marketing strategy
• Can save you money

Not everyone is skilled in blog writing. For example, a lyricist may not be the best fit for an SEO content writer.  That is why it's best to either hire a freelancer that you vet yourself, or use a writing service that hires professionals to get the job done.  Prices always vary depending on your choices, but hiring a ghostwriter is always a choice if you need to outsource your content creation.  Many blog writers are aware of the latest blogging trends. They are usually aware of what information to put into your blog.  Although every website has its own objective, most blog writers can use experiences in blogging to make their content more impactful.  Realistically, outsourcing is cheaper than hiring a new employee.  According to a Deloitte survey, 62% of companies report 10% to 25% savings when they begin outsourcing. Additionally, 38% of companies reported saving as much as 40%. 

How Much Does it Cost to Outsource Blog Writing?

Research from Orbit Media suggests that on average, you can expect to pay an experienced writer for at the very least 6 hours to write a high-quality blog post of 2,000 words or more.  That's also not counting research or depth of industry topics.  The fact is, writing takes time and good writing, such as creating an optimized, purposeful, and written for both human understanding and search engines, may take even longer.  The cost of outsourcing blog writing can vary depending on the quality, word count, and complexity of the article.  On average, you can expect to pay a freelancer anywhere from $25 to $250 or more per blog post. Blogging agencies vary depending on your plan. However, you could expect to pay an agency anywhere from $35 to $135, depending on the writer's experience and the length of your chosen blog post.  Most writing services will create the following content for you:

• Blog posts
• Articles
• Videos and social media content
• Thought leadership articles
• White papers

Also, keep in mind agencies usually have in-house editors, whereas most freelancers are strictly writers.  

Things to Know Before You Outsource Blog Writing to a Ghostwriter

Now that you've decided to outsource your blog writing, you may be wondering what you should know before you begin.  Blog outsourcing is a business investment, so it is vital to have a clear path moving forward.  You need a good content strategy and it would be best to be well prepared and know what you need before you begin taking those first few steps.  To ensure that the content writing topics you will be publishing will be a hit with your core audience, here are a few things you should know:

• Scope of projects
• Content needs
• Size of your team, if you can need a full-time writer, or if you need an in-house writer
• Your brand voice and culture

Some things you should consider for your blogging strategy are:

• Define your outsourcing and blogging goals
• Plan your budget
• List your requirements for onboarding
• Choose the best outsourcing partner for you
• Assign relevant roles and responsibilities
• Establish the best channels for communication 

Additionally, using tools like SEMrush Topic Research, or Buzzsumo, you can find blog topics that are gaining traction with your target audience.

Scrutinize Writers Heavily

Finding writers isn’t a hard process, however, finding the right writer for you can be daunting. What can be hard is finding a high-quality writer.  That’s why you’ll have to sift through a lot of writers to find one that can write–without the fluff. You’ll want to scrutinize or vet your writer thoroughly.  Check for writing quality, turnaround time, and consistency. Here are a few tips for screening your ghostwriter:

• Interview them
• Read their samples
• Ask about industry specialties
• Ask about any SEO experience
• Offer a paid-test article
• Decide to hire

Write & Format For The Web

Make sure your writer knows how to write for search engine crawlers. This is very different from standard college papers or other types of writing. Using clear, plain language will help readers understand the message you’re trying to convey. More than just the language, formatting for the web is crucial. Breaking up your article into subheads, using line breaks, bullet lists, and spacing can keep attention spans higher and help skimmers find what they are looking for. Here are a few tips for writing for the web:

• Use short paragraphs
• Understand your first paragraph is the most important
• Write in an inverted pyramid style
• Headings and subheadings are used to clarify subjects
• Don't waste space with fluff

Optimize for SEO

The ghostwriter should also understand SEO. y optimizing your titles, metas, and other basic OnPage factors, you’ll boost your chances of ranking. Here are some tips for optimizing your SEO: 

• Publish relevant content
• Update pre-existing content regularly
• Metadata
• Link building
• Use alt-tags 
• Keyword research 

Pre-Format HTML & Upload

Have you ever tried to copy and paste a word document into WordPress? It’s a nightmare. Make sure your ghostwriter can format your posts in HTML so they are ready to go. Bonus points if the writer will actually upload the post for you. It would be best to make sure your ghostwriter has a basic understanding of SEO.  They need to know how search engine crawlers work, and the basic details of your website architecture.  It would also be best to use your target keywords and track your metrics after your posts are published. Track your keywords for each topic and each page, and it would be best if your ghostwriter has a basic understanding of keyword fluffing and how not to do it. 

That’s about it! 

Finding a ghostwriter can be difficult–which is why we created our own blog content service that solves all these problems. Book a call with one of our experts to discuss your needs!  Don’t forget to sign up for free and take advantage of our free SEO tools and resources.