How to Find a Content WriterWho Can Spin Your Blog Into

Gold

How to Find a Content Writer Who Can Spin YourBlog Into Gold

Writing’s really hard. Even people who do it for a living admit that. Not only do you haveto know how to string together sentences that keep people’s attention, but you have tomake some sort of blasted “point” out of the whole thing. It’s maddening!

All silliness aside, content writing and blog writing are really complex acts that can appeardeceptively simple on the surface. Structure and rhetorical knowledge can help make yourpoint clear, but you also need to be engaging. Add SEO best practices to the mix, and youhave even more issues to deal with.

How to Find a Content Writer Who Can Spin Your Blog Into Gold

How to Find a Content Writer Who Can Spin YourBlog Into Gold

Getting it right takes either a lot of practice or a lot of time spent revising. Even a businessowner who happens to be an excellent writer will need help making it all happen on adeadline.

So that’s when you turn to outside help. It can be a freelance writer or a content marketingagency, but the goal is to nd a writer (or several) who can meet your guidelines and turnthings in on time.

Locating a writer like that is exactly as hard as it sounds! Luckily, there are ve tips you canuse to make your search easier and ensure you find just the writer you’re looking for.

Always Request Samples and a Trial Draft

How to Find a Content Writer Who Can Spin Your Blog Into Gold

How to Find a Content Writer Who Can Spin YourBlog Into Gold

You can nd great writers you enjoy working with no matter where you turn as long asyou follow one simple rule: check out their writing before you commit. That meansrequesting samples of their prior work. It also means paying them to write a rst draft ofwhat you need that you may or may not ever use.

That’s right: you’re likely going to have to invest in crummy writing to nd your diamondin the rough. Ideally, you’re paying several writers at the same time to write the sameprompt or a similar one, so you can compare the talents of each person.

While it may seem like money down the drain to receive samples you won’t ever use, it’sbetter than the alternative of hiring a writer for a multi-blog project only to nd out theyaren’t a good fit.

Also, be very speci c about the types of samples you request. You may wish to see live,published blogs, since these prove that a writer’s work actually gets used. Be warned,though: many freelancers are also ghost writers. You are either going to have to take theirword for it that a sample with someone else’s byline is their work, or you will have to gothrough the e ort of contacting the client and hoping they will reveal who wrote theirblogs.

If someone sends you samples that you like but that don’t quite hit the mark, ask for morework! Far too many bloggers get passed up not because their samples weren’t good, butsimply because they couldn’t read the mind of the job o erer as to what they were lookingfor.

How to Find a Content Writer Who Can Spin Your Blog Into Gold

How to Find a Content Writer Who Can Spin YourBlog Into Gold

Avoid Typical Job Listing Sites Since You Get What YouPay For

In the business world, quality and convenience don’t typically mix. If you want to nd apatio chair at the same place you buy your kids’ breakfast cereal, you are going to have tolower your standards on how long that chair will last.

Similarly, if you go to the absolute rst place you think of when looking to nd yourcontent writer, you’re going to end up with low quality.

How to Find a Content Writer Who Can Spin Your Blog Into Gold

How to Find a Content Writer Who Can Spin YourBlog Into Gold

The biggest problem? Labor pools from non-native English speakers. They may charge justa few cents a word, but their end product will likely be riddled with broken grammar andbe all but incomprehensible. Since Google speci cally recommends that you use properspelling and grammar, having an unreadable blog likely works against your SEO andbranding goals.

So as a rule, skip Craigslist, Monster and Indeed unless you really don’t know where else toturn. De nitely don’t just Google “content writer” and hire a person or company thatranks rst. You want to know that you can get a decent level of quality, and siftingthrough the bargain bin is not a good place to find it.

Hunt Down Content Writers in the Spaces Where the ProsLurkSome of you are going to be frustrated by the above tip. “If I can’t just look for a contentwriter on Monster or Craigslist, where should I go?”

Well, our vocal and hypothetical friend, there are several specialty project-related websiteswhere you can find freelancers:

ProBlogger—ProBlogger is dedicated to writers and editors, and it also has anamazing community of professionals. Posting your listing costs money, but you’rehighly likely to get responses from mid- to high-level talent. WriterAccess—WriterAccess straddles the line between full-service referral agencieswe’ll mention below and simpler job listing sites. The site does a handy job oforganizing writers by experience and quality, however, and you do get a personalaccount manager in the upper tiers. Contently—Contently acts as a broker to nd you the perfect writing talent or teamfor your project needs. Yes, that’s as expensive as it sounds, which is why the platformis mainly aimed at enterprises with larger content budgets.

How to Find a Content Writer Who Can Spin Your Blog Into Gold

How to Find a Content Writer Who Can Spin YourBlog Into Gold

Freelance Writing Gigs—A simple, no-frills job listing site that happens to have adedicated community. Upwork—The world’s largest freelancer platform happens to be quite picky aboutletting job-takers aboard. That means you have access to a higher caliber of writers.Note that Upwork also allows agencies to apply to your project offers by default. Guru—Guru is far less choosy about who it lets on its platform, so you will end upwith applicants that may not have the rmest grasp of English. Nevertheless, theplatform makes a name for itself by having an integrated project management andpayment system.

There are dozens—if not hundreds—of other websites like these where you can postproject listings and track down decent writers. These are just the top ones you might wantto consider during your hunt.

However, you definitely don’t want to overlook your best option: getting referrals.

Ask Fellow Professionals for Referrals

How to Find a Content Writer Who Can Spin Your Blog Into Gold

How to Find a Content Writer Who Can Spin YourBlog Into Gold

Referrals are always your best source of freelance writer leads for a few reasons.

First, the best writers out there aren’t actively posting on or looking through job boards.They’re hard at work, hammering out content for their clients. But they may be persuadedto take on a larger workload if the details and the price are right.

Secondly, you can get personal testimonials from people you know and trust. Someonewho can appear like a perfect t online could turn out to be awful with deadlines or bad atfollowing instructions.

Since not every business engages in content marketing, start by asking people whether theyhave a regular SEO or blogging contract. If the answer is “yes,” follow up by seeing whatagency or writer they work with.

If their answer is “no,” then you may have to do some probing. Don’t be afraid of reachingout to a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend, though. Not every company works with contentwriters, but those who do will likely have strong opinions about who to recommend oravoid.

Track Down Popular Writers from Their Online WorkIf you have the budget for working with a top-caliber freelancer, then the place you shouldstart your search is on publication sites rather than a job board.

Start by taking a second to look back at enjoyable industry niche articles you’ve shared orread recently. Keep an eye out for pieces that get a high level of shares and don’t havecontroversial pushback from commenters. Then, simply find the writer’s byline.

How to Find a Content Writer Who Can Spin Your Blog Into Gold

How to Find a Content Writer Who Can Spin YourBlog Into Gold

Make a list of several authors using this method. Research to see if they have their ownpersonal website and whether they are accepting freelance contracts. If they are looking forwork, reach out to them with a “pitch” for your project needs. Preferably, this pitchincludes an o er, details on the level of depth the work will require and a rough timelinefor everything to be completed.

Since making a name for yourself as a professional writer these days is tough, expect somesticker shock if they reply! But if quality is really what you’re after, you can likely nd away to work long-term with someone whose reputation and published work you admire.

Work With a Reputable Content Marketing and SEOAgencyAll of the tips above pertain to nding an individual, but you also have the option ofhiring a content marketing agency to satisfy your SEO needs.

The same rules above apply: pay for samples, avoid bargain bin job listings and look forreferrals. But your search should be easier, considering marketing agencies often do adecent job at marketing themselves!

Plus, you can work with several writers at once and have the security of a guaranteedcontract. That means you aren’t left hanging if your writer leaves the project; you cansimply work with someone else in the agency. You also have access to scale, meaning youcan get a higher volume of projects accomplished at once that would normally take a singlewriter weeks.

In the end, the search for your content writer is all about nding a good t and knowingwhere to look. If you fail at first, don’t get frustrated! There are tens of thousands of writersout there who can do good work but don’t have enough of it right now.

Good luck!

How to Find a Content Writer Who Can Spin Your Blog Into Gold