To compete in this digital world, your business needs a lot of content. Not just a website, but also social media posts, blogs, email campaigns, and more. The volume of content that needs to be created can be overwhelming for any business, especially when you have tons of other important tasks on your plate.
Luckily, writing is fairly simple to outsource. You find a writer, assign them a few tasks, and then they write them. Right? Not so much.
Here are some of the best practices for outsourcing content writing for your business, especially in the wellness space.
How to successfully outsource content writing services
You might think you don’t need to outsource writing because you are a decent writer. But, being a writer myself, I am 100% aware of how much writing can suck. The empty page stares at you, challenging you with its incessantly blinking cursor as your mind goes completely blank.
Or you write the same first sentence over and over again, then delete it because it’s just not good enough. This process can drain hours from your day and zap your motivation and productivity.
But, you know that regularly creating high-quality content involves at least some writing. This is the cornerstone of connecting with your customers and making a sale.
You have to be producing content, but you likely will need to find some support.
You can hire someone to write for you. This person can take over the burden of writing the content, while you focus on the stuff you enjoy instead.
Here’s how to get started with outsourcing your content writing:
1. Understand the purpose of the content.
Many clients think they just need to create content and don’t really have a plan or purpose for the content. This means they spend a ton to crank out lots of content, with very few results.
Behind quality content is a strategic plan. This plan should include market research, determination of your ideal customer, SEO research, and mapping of the customer journey. Without these pieces in place, your content will likely fall flat or not have any significant ROI. (If you are looking for someone to help walk you through this process, this is what we do, learn more here!)
2. Get clear on what you need.
Before looking for a writer, make a list of everything you want them to work on. Is it blog posts? Emails? Social media? Content and copywriters specialize in different formats.
While you may find someone who can do multiple types of writing, the most skilled writers focus on only a handful of services, then become experts. Or you can consider working with an agency that has a team of writers who have different types of expertise.
3. Know your budget.
How much do you want to spend on content per month? Have a general idea of your budget. If you know what you want to spend, it will be easier to find a writer to meet your needs.
But, be realistic. Research writer rates ahead of time. Clearvoice published a survey about freelance writing rates in 2017. This can give you a place to start (but also keep in mind inflation since then).
According to the survey, most professional-level freelance writers earn between $.25-$1 per word. Expert writers are $1 and up per word.
The survey says that most quality blog posts are between 800-2200 words. This means you can expect to pay $200-$2200 for a post depending on the length and expertise of the writer.
4. Do your research.
The next step is to look for a good writer. You can start by asking colleagues for a referral, doing a Google search, or hitting up a site like Upwork. Keep in mind that it is most effective to find a writer yourself via Google or a referral.
If you decide to find someone on Upwork, I do not recommend posting a job on the platform. You will have to sort through thousands of unqualified applicants before finding your diamond in the rough. Instead, consider reaching out to a handful of qualified writers on the platform who have good reviews. This will save you time and effort.
5. Ask questions.
Once you have narrowed down the pool of potential writers, next you want to interview a few. I created this post for the types of questions you want to ask before hiring someone. A few must-ask questions when hiring to outsource content writing include:
- Who is responsible for coming up with topics?
- Is the content SEO-optimized? Who comes up with the right keywords?
- Do you have any experience or expertise in my niche?
- How do you charge? What are the payment terms?
- What is your general turnaround time?
- How do edits work? How many do you offer?
- What other writing services do you offer?
- Can I repurpose this content for other channels?
Asking lots of questions ahead of time will help you get an understanding of how the content writer works and how they can help you. Once you have found an ideal writer, you can finally outsource your content writing to an expert and take this important task off your plate.
Successful content outsourcing for health and wellness brands
Health is a “special” category for search engines. Quality content is of utmost importance in this niche. Not only because it’s a crowded niche, but search engines pay particular attention to content that can impact someone’s health.
In order to make it to page 1, health-related content must be high quality and written or reviewed by an expert. If you want organic search traffic, there is no other option in the health space than to hire or partner with a subject matter expert.
In the past, we have written for several clients who were great at building businesses, but did not have the expertise in food and nutrition needed to create high-quality nutrition content writing to go along with their amazing products. They tried for a while to write the content themselves or maybe have someone in the marketing department do it, but for some reason, it fell flat. With the help of our team not only were we able to put a strategy in place, the content finally started ranking! Success!
If you are publishing health content, you must work with an expert on your particular topic. It will save you time for that expert to write the article you need, then for you to try to research the topic and write it yourself. Not to mention, it increases your brand credibility with customers and search engines when you have an expert nutrition writer on board.
Ready to outsource content writing?
Why sit through another afternoon staring at a blank screen if you hate it? Find a freelance writer or content agency to help you and get that time back so you can dedicate it to important, money-making tasks for your business or blog. When you work with experts in content creation and wellness, your content efforts are much more successful.
Ready to outsource writing services? Or looking for some direction in your content strategy? My team is ready to help! Get in touch today!
