How To Find Blog Writers: Know Where To Look and How To Snag Top Talent

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, we must say it: You need a blog.

Not only do you need a blog, but you need an active blog to which you consistently post meaningful, insightful and quality content. “Consistently,” in the content marketing world, means at least two to four times per week or, oddly, 11 times per month. While we will get into the logistics in a bit, it’s important to note that your blogging strategy is only as successful as the person you hire to write your content.

In the coming sections, we’re going to give you tips for how to find blog writers who can help you bring your strategy, and visions of content marketing success, to life.

What Is a Blog Writer?

Not all writers are the same. In fact, there are quite a few different types of content writers that you may hire for your content marketing strategy. Among those include ghostwriters, copywriters, technical writers, email writers, social media writers and long-form content writers. Then there are blog writers.

Blog writers are writers who can turn often complex or boring topics into warm and engaging conversations. To do this, they conduct research on everything from the topic in question to how people are talking about the topic.

For instance, say you sell LED lightbulbs. You may assume your customers want to hear all about the inner workings of LED bulbs and what makes them so energy efficient. You would be wrong.

A quick Google search will tell your writer that people want to know how they can save money on their electricity bill by switching to LED light fixtures, how they can decorate with LED bulbs, what paint colors work best with LED lights and how to soften LED lighting.

Blog Writers Put In a Lot of Work

Bloggers often work for hours on a single article to write blog content that hits the mark. While this may seem excessive, you have to remember that the goal of your content is to drive traffic and engagement. A poorly written article just won’t do this. A well-researched, well-thought-out and well-written article will. Creating the latter type of article takes time. In fact, the average blogger today spends 65% more time creating articles than earlier bloggers did. The estimated time-per-article is three hours and 57 minutes. While the average blog length is right around 1,200 words, most bloggers say they see the best results from 2,000 words or more — which means more time spent on writing.

In addition to researching and writing, bloggers often conduct SEO. This includes keyword research and content optimization. While a great blogger will integrate keywords and phrases naturally while writing the content, it is often necessary for writers or SEO specialists to strengthen content even more with secondary and tertiary key terms. The goal is to create content that performs well in the search results without compromising the integrity of the content — a goal the best blog writers achieve time and again.

Why Blog?

We’ve written countless articles on the benefits of blogging, the contents of which can be summarized here. So that we don’t bore you, we’ll give you a brief rundown of why your business needs a blog:

• 80% of internet users interact and engage with blogs.
• Businesses that actively blog receive 55% more visitors per month than those that do not and 67% more leads.
• Consistent blogging efforts can result in 434% more indexed pages and a 97% increase in indexed links.
• Brands that blog frequently see 13X the ROI of brands that neglect this crucial task.

If you’re not going to blog for the conversions (though, we don’t know why you wouldn’t), do it for the sheer fact that everyone else is doing it. Seriously. Not to use peer pressure on you or anything, but 90% of marketers make blogging a key part of their content marketing strategies. Of that 90%, 55% say it’s their top priority.

The takeaway here is this: Your customers expect and want you to blog. Your competitors are blogging. If you don’t blog, your audience will turn to a brand that does.

How To Find Blog Writers for Hire

Finding blog writers for hire is easy, as it seems like everyone fancies themselves a writer these days. Finding blog writers for hire who will add real value to your blog, on the other hand, is a whole different story.

The writer you want to hire is someone who can produce content that increases your position in the SERPs and drives conversions. Writers who have the talent to do this are few and far between, and you have to know where to look for them. Below are a few tips on how to find blog writers and the challenges associated with each tactic.

Seek Out Talent in Your Own Team

If you have a small team and a tight budget, it may not hurt to begin your search for a blogger within your organization. There are many talented writers out there who take on “practical jobs” for the sake of “earning a living” while neglecting their true callings. Your accountant, for instance, may be a hidden wordsmith, or your receptionist could have been a staff writer for his university newspaper. Before you begin to look outward, give your team a chance to reveal their hidden talents. Some benefits of doing so are as follows:

• You’ll get varied perspectives on your products and services and, as a result, publish more diverse content that keeps your readers interested and engaged.
• Your team members may take pride in the fact that they’re able to make such a valuable contribution to your organization.
• The variety of content may help you expand your reach, attract new leads and increase sales.

The Challenges of Keeping Your Writing In-House

• Content creation may begin to interfere with employees’ existing workloads.
• You may fall behind on content creation, as it is not a designated “job.”
• Team members’ enthusiasm for creating content may wane over time.
• You may find that you struggle to publish content with a consistent voice and find difficulty matching writing styles between writers.

Ask for Referrals

Referrals are often the best sources of new leads, so it makes sense that they would also be one of the best sources for new hires. Assuming your network is full of people and organizations that you admire and respect, reach out to it for suggestions. By clarifying your needs and specifications when making your request, you have a good chance of finding The One without ever so much as putting out a job ad.

The Cons of Asking for Referrals

• The number and quality of leads is directly related to the size of your network.
• If you have a large network, you may have to sift through hundreds of prospects to find a diamond in the rough.
• If you have a small network, you may not receive any leads that even do so much as point you in the right direction.

Turn to the Job Boards

Ask any professional how to find blog writers for hire and they’ll tell you, turn to the job boards. For a small fee, job boards will provide you with a steady stream of applicants within a specified period of time. Depending on the job board you use, you can set parameters for who may apply and how. For instance, Indeed allows you to set qualifying questions, such as “Do you have at least two years of experience?” and “Are you familiar with AP writing style? and “Do you have a degree in writing, English or a related subject?” Indeed also allows you to request a cover letter and automatically rejects candidates who fail to submit one (assuming, that is, that you require one).

With job boards, you can also set start and end dates for your search, pause your campaign if necessary and expand your reach by paying more. That said, while job boards seem to set you up for success, they do come with a few pitfalls.

The Challenges Associated With Job Boards

• The biggest problem with using job boards to find blog writers is that 90% of the candidacy pool is either inexperienced, untalented or both.
• You will have to sift through hundreds, or possibly thousands, of applications to find a candidate who is even somewhat qualified.
• If you find a candidate who has promise, you will then have to train him or her on your style, brand and goals — and there is no guarantee that he or she will stick around once you do.
• If you need more than one writer, you will have to repeat this process until you fill your team.

Hire a Content Writing Service

Content writing service models vary greatly from agency to agency. Some platforms merely charge freelancers and brands a small fee to connect with one another. Others work on more of an agency basis and assign from one to a handful of writers to a single client’s account. For the sake of this article, we’re going to discuss our model.

BKA Content offers three standard models: A self-service model, a subscription model and a managed services model. Our self-service model is similar to Spirit Airline’s a la carte approach. You select the main product (in this case, a blog post), choose the word count and decide whether you want add-ons. Add-ons include meta descriptions, title tags, social media posts and images. We also offer proofreading and editing services as extras. Our self-service model is best for small businesses that want to spend $1,000 or less on content creation each month.

Through the blog subscription model, you can order two, four, six or nine blogs a month. As you “level up,” you get additional services, such as an SEO package, social media package and complementary articles. All plans come with topic creation, content strategy and proofreading.

With our managed services model, you get a dedicated team of writers, editors and account managers. We will cater everything, from how you order to how and when we deliver, to your needs. We will work with you to create a custom style guide or we will use the one you create yourself. Essentially, you get all the perks of working with an agency but for a fraction of the cost.

The Challenges of Working With a Writing Service

The biggest challenge of hiring a writing service is that not all are created equal.

• Many services operate more as “content mills,” and encourage freelancers to pump out as much content as humanly possible in a short window of time.
• Some services do not oversee their writers, so there is a strong possibility that you will receive poorly written, ill-informed and possibly plagiarized work.
• A number of services offer zero accountability. You pay for what you get, and refunds are not an option.
• We are proud to say that we have a family of professionally diverse writers who create high-quality content ethically, and often enthusiastically. Our content writing services are of the highest, yet affordable standard. 

BKA Content Makes the Process Simple and Worth It

Each of our models offers affordability, scalability and options for customization. Regardless of which model you choose, you can have peace of mind that your content will be written by a writer who made it through a stringent hiring process that consists of testing, writing samples and ongoing quality checks. With a dedicated point of contact, you can rest assured that if you have an issue with your content, we will resolve it. In short, when you work with our writing service, you will not run into many, if any, of the issues you might face with other agencies.

We’re not saying that the only answer to your question of how to find blog writers is to hire us, but we’re not saying it’s not the best answer. See for yourself how BKA Content’s blog writers make it easy for you to bring your content marketing strategy to life. Get in touch with our content creators today.