Tips for Hiring a Content Writer!

Introduction:

Suppose I’m hiring a freelance writer for an eBook, white paper, special report, blog post, social post, or email. In that case, I want a writer who understands professional services or business consulting. The business model in particular, and the specific buyer persona that the content is for—perhaps the COO of a mid-market manufacturing company in the U.S.  

Aligning Business Needs with Content Writing Expertise

So, once those couple of things line up, you’ll be in the right direction. Today, I want to share with you some tips about hiring the perfect content writer. At least the right kind of content writer for your particular needs: traffic generation, lead generation, sales cycle acceleration, and conveying helpful, educational content for your particular business.

My Professional Journey in Content Writing

I started writing professionally as a freelance writer way back in 1997. When it was still a novelty to have an article placed on a website. I think the early incarnation allowed a reader to comment, but I couldn’t comment back in real time. I had to write the comment up in the managing editor and then go and post it.

Early Experiences in Hiring Freelance Writers

So there were early signs of blogging. And I started hiring my first freelance writers for other publications on behalf of internal needs starting around 2002. So I want to share with you what I have learned over the years for the criteria that I am looking for first and foremost. I’m looking for someone who has experience writing at the intersection of my business model and my target buyer persona.

Matching Writers with Your Business and Audience

If I can get those two things right, if they’ve done writing for a kind of business similar to mine, and they have some knowledge of the kind of buyer persona that I want to attract with this piece of short-form or long-form content, that’s a really good step in the right direction. So suppose I’m hiring a freelance writer for an ebook or a white paper, a special report, a blog post, or social post, or an email.

Key Factors to Consider in Choosing a Freelance Writer

In that case, I want a writer who would understand professional services or business consulting, the business model in particular, and the specific buyer persona that the content is for. Perhaps the COO of a mid-market manufacturing company in the U.S. And get those couple of things lined up, you’ll be in the right direction.

How Much Should You Pay a Freelance Writer?

The other question I get a lot is what should determine on a relative basis how much you pay that particular writer, how much you pay that particular freelance blog or a content writer? Well, when a freelance writer has a good grasp on the basics of inbound marketing, in other words, they understand that you’re trying to use this particular content asset for a particular purpose.

Understanding Inbound Marketing and SEO Basics

In many cases, it’s either for traffic generation lead generation, or sales cycle acceleration. So they have a good grasp on the basics of on-page SEO and know what’s tactful versus tacky. But a little bit is okay, but way too much is stepping over to the robot web-spam kind of land. They should have a good grasp of what a call to action, what a CTA is.

Grasping the Purpose of Content Writing

So they understand the purpose of the writing. They should understand what internal external anchor text is all about. When you have a freelance writer who has a grasp of those basics, that’ll definitely save you some time on the editing. If the writer has strong social proof and has strong reviews from relevant clients, that certainly lowers your risk.

Tools to Ensure Quality Content

A lot of freelance writers used to use, and still, to a certain degree, services like Copyscape or maybe Grammarly’s plagiarism feature checking. So make sure that what they send you is original content that can be super-helpful. But again, these are all factors that increase what I’m willing to pay for a particular freelance writer.

Final Tips on Hiring the Right Freelance Writer

So those are some of my tips on hiring a great freelance writer who’s a good fit for your particular needs. Pay attention to the experience that they have with your business model and your target buyer persona that they’ll be writing for. And then understand how much of a grasp they have on the basics of inbound marketing, like what the content is being used for, and perhaps what their experience and track record look like for a particular business like yours.