Are content marketing and content writing a passing fad, a cool way of saying SEO without the stigma? Or, is content and copywriting a service that has proven to be the bedrock of successful enterprise since mankind drew on caves walls?
Around Mallee Blue Media, Content is King. We hire our own content writing services out to small business all over the world. We also hire content writers to help us get the work done as well.
No, content marketing is not the new SEO. It’s not a quick path to small business success online.
Content marketing and those who make it happen – the content writers – are a part of a long-term strategy to dominate the search engines, engage site visitors and retain loyal customers.
We asked a few of our friends to tell us why they thought Hiring a Content Writer was a good idea for a small to medium business on the internet. Here is what they said.
Professional Copywriters and Content Writers. What do they Do?
A content writer can write organically on their field of expertise. The outcome is largely a function of personality. The academic writes like an academic. The Mum with three kids writes very readable and enjoyable pieces about her area of knowledge.
The function of a professional copywriter is a little different. A Copywriter with a talent in your niche helps because the content has context, a compelling tone and clear intent: Namely to convert the reader.
A Copywriter is a good choice for many businesses, as Marketing Expert Sunita Biddu notes,
“It’s a good idea because not only do you save your time for doing other higher priority chores, the content is usually produced quicker and at a higher standard. It can also improve conversion since the pro copywriter would write focused and experiential content which connects with a user emotionally. People do not buy products. They buy emotions.”
If the content connects with the reader, the job is done.
“A Good content writer”, says Alex Yong, a reporter at Small Bix Trends, “has a solid amount of SEO knowledge. If you need to increase the visibility of a growing site, then it’s a good idea to hire content writers who understand Keyword research, citation sources, image usage rights, is sensitive to Google Penguin and can incorporate a call to action in natural language.”
A pro writer knows how and where to place naturally occurring keywords and citations without looking stuffed. They don’t find it hard to optimise a copy for search engines.
Hiring a good writer is a sensible decision for small businesses, and especially for blogging, by giving you a fresh perspective on good content opportunities, writing and even publishing.
A Content Writer Can Broaden your Audience
A paid content writer or writing service is more likely to have contacts and sharing tribes or teams who will repost your content. That alone – the networking they can do on your behalf – is a good reason in and of itself to hire a content writer.
There should be a strategy from the headline all the way through the content. The content must be useful and entertaining. As Aakash Chopra writes,
“Most of us are business people, not journalists, and individuals who write compelling content day in and day out can do that better than most of us can ever hope to.”
Compelling content is also the key to getting quality links back to your site. So its a bad idea not to be part of the content generation process. You need to provide accurate facts and be part of the story you have handed over to your content writer.
Hiring a content writer that can entertain you and your readers with your own information are what makes great content that is reposted reread and shared.
Great Content also creates conversions when it is re-posted on high-value news, entertainment & lifestyle sites and blogs your website climbs in search rankings.
For every high-value link back to your great content will increase your sales and search rankings over time. One great link today translates to additional sales next summer.
A Good Content Writer can Increase Site Rankings and Conversions With Well Written Content
If you have fulfilling, entertaining or convincing content, the chances of a visitor staying on the page longer, bookmarking, linking to or sharing out your content, or picking up the phone to call you, all increases. All these things lead to increased rankings and conversions.
As mentioned above, hiring a content writer is great for your SEO. It puts more words on your site. The more words you have, the greater the chance you’ll be eligible to rank.
Most people can write. Few write well. Good content fulfils a need. It’s entertaining, informative, solves problems and it’s convincing. This is the attitude of Donna Duncan and the good people over at Be Seen on Top.
A Content Writer can Lift your Reputation and Your Social Media Engagement
In addition to protecting your reputation and search engine visibility, an ongoing stream of new and interesting content can help you attract attention through social media and help forge relationships with customers.
David Leonhardt runs THGM Writing Services. He has seen many times the embarrassing writing that comes from entrepreneurs trying to write their own web text or from hiring offshore. David says, “It’s your reputation on the line; make sure your website is well-written.”
Your goals will determine what is written. A professional writer will apply words to increase conversions, to address specific target markets – whatever your needs are. One size does not fit all, and how your message is worded can make a big difference to its success.
If search engine visibility is important to your website, make sure the article or blog post writer you hire understands the principles of writing for search engines, use of keywords, semantic search and – most importantly – doesn’t overdo the whole keyword mess (the text still has to focus first and foremost on the reader).
If you are lucky, you’ll find a writer who also knows how to promote your site content in places like Google Plus, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. This is something that David does for his client blogs because good quality promotion is as important as good quality writing.
A Good Content Writer Creates Long-Term Value
Anna Fox, who runs Hire Bloggers says, “The Ghost writing concept is getting old. People love people and well-recognized authors. I don’t think you need an influencer, but you need an expert who would write high-quality, useful editorial articles for your website signing them with their real names.”
Some of the reasons Anna gives are:
- You associate yourself with an expert author in your niche (and thus build up trust signals)
- You help in bringing up a newly recognised name in your industry that will forever be remembered for starting their career with your site
- You build up a high-quality database of editorial content that will rank well (because it deserves that).
Some of the reasons people say no to hiring a content writer is the cost. They imagine content as an expense and not an investment. They also imagine that it’s going to mean twenty posts a week.
Both of these issues need to be thought through. Most small businesses don’t need anything more than one good quality post a week. Some only need one good quality post written a month.
If your content writer knows how to capture an audience with your product or service and knows how to increase user engagement, traffic and brand reputation, then their service should be seen in a substantial investment in the future of your online business.
Think about it. Everything the Content Writer puts on your site becomes your property and, if done well, can provide traffic, reputation authority and revenue for many years into the future.
See a subject we haven’t covered? Contact Us and let us know what you would like us to write about.
Hey, maybe you could write it for us!
There is no doubt that not every one is a writer, and at times businesses may be doing more harm than good when it comes to writing content.
For example, a big mistake is, trying to sell rather than wisely promote.
A professional writer, can usually grasp any type of business pretty quickly, even if they don’t know the “specific” ins and outs of the business, and create content that will build the business and attract the right customers or clients.
Excellent post.
Hello !
This is really a great post, You are right about hiring a content writer and the benefits it brings along. Many would not understand the proficiency of hiring one. Like you made clear in the post earlier about them having a network that could repost the content.
We are consuming about 100 articles a day from different levels of writers (for SEO, guest posting, putting on our own blogs and highly researched product review articles).
Few insights as a client –
1. When we pay per word, there is certain lack of accountability in the content and more often would seem like the words were put together just for the sake of meeting the content word count.
2. When we pay per article, we sometimes feel like the content could have been explained a bit better but since it was per article project it was cut short. .
After dealing with the confusion for few months here is what we came up with –
Pay per article, where the price depends on the range of words.
Lets say from 750-1000 words $XX , from 1000-1500 words XX and so on.
This way, the writer doesn’t stuff words and have room for putting only the words needed while still getting fairly paid for the effort and the quality is maintained for the sake of long-term relationships and bulk work.