It won’t be an overstatement to say content runs the world. Whatever industry you’re in, having a content strategy will only help you in customer acquisition.
Whether you want to acquire new customers, engage existing ones, or showcase how you’re better than your competitors, you can achieve it all with content.
Does that mean you need to be a content writer to run your business? Not at all.
The answer to all content needs is outsourcing content writing. Of all the content marketing services businesses outsource, content writing accounts for 37%. It shows that outsourcing content writing brings the desired results.
So, here’s a complete guide on how to outsource content writing and the best practices for onboarding only the best content partners.
Step-By-Step Guide on How To Outsource Content Writing
Determine Your Project Scope: Ask Why You Need Content Writing Service
Before you interview content writers or content agencies, ask yourself these questions:
- Why does your business need to create content? What’s the main goal?
For example: if you’re a new blog, you’d want to publish bottom-of-the-funnel posts that can get ranked fast and generate revenue. You’ll need a writer experienced with BOFU content that brings in leads.
- Is it a one-off project or a continuous process?
For example, Are you rebranding your blog and need a one-off strategy project to outline the rebranding, or do you want a retainer until you’ve achieved the long-term goal?
- What is the scope? Where will this content be published?
For example: If the project involves a blog, you need a content writer. But if it involves managing social media accounts, you need a copywriter with social media marketing skills.
- How much time can you give for the project completion?
For example: Do you have the scope to provide the writer with some buffer time to understand your project, or is it urgent? Usually, writers who invest more time get better results.
- What kind of content do you want to create?
For example: Awareness content, Converting content, Email copy, Website copy, blog posts, eBooks, etc.
- What kind of budget are you prepared to give this project?
Here’s a resource to help you understand how freelancers charge. Ashley R. Cummings surveyed 344 freelance writers to understand the trends in freelance writing rates.
- SEO requirement
You need to use SEO techniques to rank your content on search engines. You need to look into who will handle your SEO. Do you already have an SEO team, or are you looking for an SEO content writer?
SEO content writers usually charge more because they offer way more value than writers who don’t do SEO. You need to consider this before finalizing your budget.
- Subject Matter Expertise
Does your content need to have a deep level of subject matter expertise? Some niches, such as finance, medicine, health, etc. can’t do without writers who understand the topics in depth.
If that’s the case, you need a writer with subject matter expertise.
| Suggested reading: Understand how to use EEAT to incorporate subject matter expertise in content
- Additional Content Needs
Do you have in-house designers, or do you need help creating additional content such as visuals, infographics, videos, etc.?
Hiring agencies who offer all these services together makes more sense in this case.
One of the biggest problems in any industry is poor job descriptions. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, you won’t be able to onboard the right person for the job.
After you have answered all these questions, create a detailed job description that highlights:
- What do you need help with?
- What’s in it for the onboarded person/agency?
- What compensation will you offer?
There’s more to understanding your project scope:
Now, you’ll have removed the biggest challenge in your way: poor content quality. You’ve taken the first step to hiring the right person by understanding your requirements.
Decide Who You Want To Approach (Freelancers Vs Agency)
There are two main options when it comes to outsourcing. Here’s how to decide whether you need a freelancer or an agency.
What Does a Freelancer Bring to the Table
Freelancers work individually and usually operate as solopreneurs (running and marketing their business on their own).
The primary advantage of collaborating with freelancers is their attention to detail. As they work with you one-on-one, it reduces the chances of getting things wrong
Another benefit is they charge less than content agencies. Even if you’re working with an experienced freelancer, their rates are on the lower end of the spectrum. That’s one reason many companies prefer freelancers over agencies.
Some freelancers offer only niche services. For example, consider article writing for SaaS brands. Others master more than one skill and offer bundled services, like a copywriter offering design services.
I offer blog writing, blog strategy, and LinkedIn branding. You can club them all together to create a bundled content strategy service.
So, who you should hire depends on your needs. If you already have a content marketing team, hiring only a content writer is more profitable than hiring a content marketer.
What Does a Content Agency Do
These are content marketing agencies that hire content writers, editors, designers, etc., to create content for their clients.
It’s an umbrella of services where you can create end-to-end content in one place. That’s why audiences charge more: They need to manage the complete content production team.
But working with agencies can save you tons of time. All you need to do is hire the agency and hand over your content marketing needs to them. They’ll take care of the rest.
It’s profitable if you have an end-to-end content project ranging from web content, copywriting, social media marketing, etc.
Why Not Go For In-House And Choose Outsourcing
With freelancers, you only need to worry about their per-hour or per-project rates. There’s no extra compensation.
However, with in-house employees, there are:
- Cost of hiring
- Insurance
- Compensation costs
- Bonuses
- Salary
Hiring an in-house team incurs more costs overall. However, hiring in-house teams only derails your budget if you’re a small business or a new brand just entering the content space.
If you need an all-round solution, hiring freelancers or a marketing agency is the best option when you want to get results from content marketing, but not at the cost of hiring an entirely new team.
How To Hire Freelancers
Having been hired by many companies and entrepreneurs, I’ve created an ideal process for hiring freelancers.
Here’s how I’d hire freelancers for my projects:
Advertise Opening
First, you need to spread the word that you’re looking for a freelancer. The best ways to do that are:
1. Approaching your existing network: Write a post on social platforms like LinkedIn, X, Instagram, etc., that you’re hiring a freelancer. Add as many details about your project as you can share. It’s fine if you don’t reveal the entire project in the post, but ensure you add enough to let freelancers understand if reaching out to you is beneficial.
2. Ask for referrals: If you’ve worked with someone in a similar industry, ask them for a referral. Usually, you get ample recommendations.
3. Use job boards: Post on LinkedIn jobs or job boards such as ProBlogger, Indeed, Contently, etc.
4. Scout for freelancers yourself: In the last couple of years, content creation for generating leads has been on the rise. Many freelancers regularly create content on social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Instagram, X, Medium and discussion platforms like Quora.
Simply use the search features in these platforms. Search “freelance content writer” if you’re hiring one, and check out the profiles. DM the ones you find would be a good fit.
Collect Portfolio/Samples
You’ll receive a large number of interested profiles, but you can’t interview every single one. To hunt down the profiles that align with your needs, go through their portfolio or samples.
Many freelancers have a website showcasing their portfolio and share its link when you reach out. To ensure only those with a portfolio or samples reach out, specify you won’t entertain anyone without a link to their portfolio or samples.
Check out their existing work to understand if they qualify for your project.
Build a Common Ground on Pricing
Before going any further, reach out to those people whose portfolios stood out to you and ask them their price quotes.
It’s better to establish early on whether you can afford their services. Send them your project expectations and ask them for their flat rates or a range of rates.
Note that this process is not as simple as selecting the cheapest rates. You need to consider the deliverables, quality, and rates, too.
If you think you can get better service at a little higher price, go for it. Because the content will generate an ROI that will surpass your expenses.
Create a Paid Test
Test the freelancers you shortlisted. Give each freelancer the same paid test.
Never ask freelancers to submit articles or test content for free. It takes effort to create even test content, and not getting paid is a surefire red flag that turns away good freelancers.
Your test will vary according to your needs. For example, if you’re hiring a content writer, a good test sample can be a blog post that can be published on your blog. Or, if you’re hiring a content strategist, you can ask them to create a week’s content plan.
Use the same content brief for all candidates so you can judge the submissions based on:
- How well is the content aligned with the post’s need?
- How easy to follow is the structure?
- Did the writer match your brand voice?
- Did the content have any features that make it better than the existing content?
- Is the content well-researched and contains original content?
Note: Ensure you clearly explain your expectations from the test content. Vague guidelines make it difficult for the freelancer to write and for you to judge the content.
Consider Legal and Contractual Matters
Create a legal contract by clearly defining the scope of work, payment methods, revision policy, intellectual property rights, termination clause, etc.
If you wish, you can include a confidentiality clause to protect your business information. If you’re outsourcing services that demand access to your business strategies, consider adding a non-compete clause. It prevents the freelancers from working with your direct competitors for a specified period.
Also add tax and regulatory compliance clause, and a clause that dictates how you’ll handle disputes.
Ensure the contract protect both your and the freelancer/agency’s rights. It shouldn’t create a bias against any one party.
How To Hire Agencies
The process of defining your objectives and budget remains the same as that of when outsourcing to a freelancer.
But the process of approaching agencies changes slightly.
Research potential agencies that have a proven track record in your industry. They’ll understand your audience and content better.
Review their clientele and previous work they have done. Read reviews or testimonials by their previous clients.
Many agencies publish case studies showing how they generated results for their clients. Go through this resource to understand their working process and strategic approach.
Ask the shortlisted agencies for proposals. Send them a brief that outlines your content needs, goals, and budget. Look for proposals that have included a plan of action, timelines, deliverables, metrics of success, and pricing.
After further shortlisting, conduct interviews to meet their team, understand their working style and ask the right questions.
You can also assign a pilot project before finalizing the agency. If everything looks good, draw a contract and get started with creating amazing content.
| Suggested Reading: Create a successful blogging business in 2024
Onboarding Process
The onboarding process can easily be the most crucial part of outsourcing content writing. Whoever you hire is new to your systems and work environment.
You need to take extra care to ensure that they blend in well and that there are no hiccups during the initial few days.
Making the onboarding process as smooth as butter isn’t difficult when you have outlined a day-by-day plan.
Start with establishing clear ways of communication. If you’ve outsourced to a freelancer, send them an SOP or email explaining:
- who they’ll be reporting to
- when and how they need to submit articles
- what the feedback and edit process looks like
- where they should store the content
- which platform you’ll use to communicate with them
I’ve worked with brands that were unclear on these points from the start, or at least they failed to communicate them properly with me. This created a lot of back-and-forth, making me slow down on content creation and worry more about what protocols I failed to follow.
If you’ve outsourced content writing to an agency, you usually don’t have to worry about the onboarding process. The agencies have a standard process. Working with many clients helps them understand what needs to be communicated to make the onboarding easier.
Secondly, create clear expectations from content. What do you want the content to be like? There are a few things content creators can’t start without. At the top of the list are keywords and topics but target audience, tone of voice, content objectives are also equally important.
Have a content style guide that explains itself. If you’re starting fresh and don’t have a style guide, sit down with the writer or the agency to create one.
The last step is the most crucial. Give yourself and the freelancer or agency time to gel into the project. It’s possible that you won’t approve the very first draft. The writer will need time to get into the right headspace for the project. Give them that.
You’ll only see good results if you give it some time. Use this time to collect feedback and communicate it with the freelancer or the agency team. This brings me to the next section: creating a feedback loop.
Create a Feedback Loop
Even the best writers depend on constructive feedback to meet your content expectations. Think of it this way: the writer is a new admission to your school mid-term. They’ll need time to get along and make friends.
Give your writers the right suggestions and feedback to improve their work. It’ll eventually improve your content ROI.
Share a feedback right from the first draft. Take more time to publish the first piece of content. Do back-and-forth of understanding the writer’s process and your expectations.
When you spend more time in the writing process of the first article, you give the writer time to understand the editor’s thought process.
After publishing the first article, create a consistent feedback loop where you keep the writer updated about your thoughts.
Platforms for Outsourcing Content Writing
If you’re outsourcing for a small or one-off project, the best platforms to hire freelancers are Upwork, Fiverr, and Freelancer. These platforms have hundreds of freelancers matching your requirements.
You can review the freelancers’ profiles and choose to contact them. The rates are fairly low compared to other platforms.
When outsourcing for a project that needs experienced writers or subject matter experts, you can sign up on job boards like ProBlogger, Contently, and Tasquitos. Another way to find experienced writers is through social media platforms like LinkedIn and X.
Red Flags to Look for When Hiring a Content Writer
Since you’ll come across many new people, it’s possible to hire the wrong person sometimes. Here are all the red flags you should look for when hiring a content writer:
1. Lack of verifiable portfolio:
If the writer doesn’t have valid samples, screenshots, or links to published content on their portfolio, they cannot share a verifiable portfolio. If you can’t verify their previous work anywhere, it’s a red flag you should avoid.
2. Poor communication:
After reaching out to the writers, if they respond slowly, it reflects the absence of time management. If their messages are unclear and confusing, it shows an inability to articulate ideas effectively, which is not a good sign.
3. Lack of Questions:
Even if the writers are going through a screening process, they can ask you questions about your business and project. If they agree to everything without having a single question or seeking clarification, it reflects a lack of knowledge or an inability to envision the project’s needs.
4. No clear process or workflow:
If the writers cannot clearly explain their writing process or don’t showcase a systemic approach to research and writing, it’s a sign they don’t have a defined system. It’s a red flag as a poorly defined system can cause your project to suffer.
5. Lack of references/testimonials:
Even if not many, the writers should have some references or testimonials that vouch for their writing skills or the skills you’re hiring them for. An absence of that shows a clear lack of proof of their services.
6. Unprofessional online presence:
Always choose writers who have a good and professional online presence. This can include a professional website or social media account where they post about their services or published content. Go through their profiles to check if they have any negative interactions or unprofessional behavior online.
Make Content Outsourcing Easy
Now you know how to outsource content writing. Though it takes effort, finding content writers and outsourcing content creation doesn’t have to be difficult. If you have defined processes, it’s a smooth ride.
Want to make content outsourcing even smoother?
I help small businesses and brands establish an online presence through blogging and LinkedIn marketing.
If you need help creating rankable blog posts or building a thriving LinkedIn personal brand, book a consultation call with me now!
