Outsourcing Content Writing? Here’s What to Look for in a Writer

Content writing is only a small part of a company’s overall content marketing strategy, but it’s an important one. Finding the right content writer for your content takes time. Still, the process, no matter how long it takes, is worth your undivided attention.

While there are plenty of content writers out there, they each have their own skillsets. Thoroughly interviewing content writers is a must if you want to find someone who’s the right fit for your project.

Before hiring someone to develop content for your content marketing plan, they should meet the following criteria at a minimum.

Experience in content writing alone isn’t enough

Not every content writer is the right fit for the content you’re looking to produce. Having experience in content marketing alone isn’t enough. Content marketers come from a variety of industries. For instance, some content writers create content for technology companies. In contrast, others develop content marketing strategies for various other fields (e.g., manufacturing, hospitality, financial, etc.) When interviewing content writers for your projects, assess their backgrounds and analyze their strengths and weaknesses; otherwise, you may end up being disappointed with the content they produce for you. Finding the right content writers for your project certainly takes time.

What about SEO?

Writing content with SEO in mind is a skill. By taking an SEO-driven approach to your content, you increase the likelihood of improving your visibility in search engines. In other words, when you published SEO-driven content, customers are more than likely going to find you instead of one of your competitor’s. Not all content writers are familiar with SEO best practices. Find one with a track record of optimizing content for SEO. Ensure they’ve monitored performance in the past and can prove they’ve increased web traffic and customer engagement significantly for prior employers.

Evaluate research skills

There’s more to content writing than just writing. If done correctly, the majority of a content writer’s time is spent on research. Writing is usually the easy part for content writers. Figuring out how to express ideas clearly after conducting thorough research is typically a bit more complicated. Even for the experienced content writer, it takes time to outline thoughts and ideas and communicate them effectively to various audiences precisely and concisely. Hiring a content writer with a journalism background is often one of your best options, as journalists are usually familiar with vetting information quickly and producing content under tight deadlines.

Finding the right content writer to produce content for your company’s blog or elsewhere isn’t easy. You may end up going through several in the beginning, but once you know what you’re looking for in a content writer, your search should become a lot easier.