Whether you own a small mom-and-pop shop or run a Fortune 500 company, time is a valuable asset and one you never seem to have enough of. Though you can’t tack more hours onto the end of your day, you can gain time back by outsourcing some of the more difficult, specialized or just plain mundane tasks. This is especially true when it comes to content marketing and the idea of outsourcing content writing.

What Does it Mean to Outsource Content Writing?

In the digital marketing industry, the idea of outsourcing has gotten a bad rap. This is mostly due to the early history of SEO and SEM, when companies tried to game the system and use poorly written, extremely cheap content to help buffer their content marketing results on search engines. The way they’d do it is by “outsourcing” their content writing to the Philippines, or somewhere outside of the country they lived and worked in, in order to get the content for pennies and maximize profits.

In today’s SEO landscape, outsourcing content writing outside of the country to non-native English-speaking writers (or whatever language you’re currently writing in) is a no-go. Google has gotten smarter, improved their algorithm and can see right through choppy content. This type of content is a non-starter, provides little to no results, and ultimately is bad for branding.

Today, outsourcing content writing literally just refers to using content specialists that are not a part of your organization. There are many reputable content writing outsourcing companies today that are specialized in writing and hire, staff and manage writing projects for companies that need it at scale. It typically is still more affordable than doing it in-house and provides the added benefit of diversity, knowledge and experience in one central online location.

Why Should You Outsource Content Writing?

We get it – even the term outsourcing makes entrepreneurs like you cringe. You didn’t get where you’re at today by shirking away from hard work. However, as your business grows, so does your workload. From handling customer relations to training new hires, and from managing your budget to developing new offerings, you barely have time to stress over your company to-do list, much less tackle every item on it. Instead of letting this fact overwhelm you, take it as a sign of your business’s success, then reward yourself by hiring others to take over some of the workload for you.

Creating content is more than just busywork, too. Each piece you publish for your website and social media platforms needs to be carefully crafted and search engine optimized to receive the best results. You can outsource content writing to professional writers who are skilled and experienced in web writing. Handing this responsibility over is a smart move, especially when you already have plenty on your plate.

The Benefits of Outsourcing Article Writing

Still not convinced? Below are four reasons outsourcing content writing is, as Forbes calls it, marketing’s modern solution:

• Outsourcing provides access to a number of different specialties, all of which can become extraordinarily expensive and difficult to try to manage in-house.
• Outsourcing brings experience, knowledge and insight to which many in-house team members may never be exposed.
• It also allows you to explore new ideas and execute fresh content marketing campaigns at the drop of a hat.
• Outsourcing is cost-efficient, as you retain services on an as-needed basis. For instance, instead of paying full-time for strategy, design and content writing services, you pay for each as the need arises.

A part of building up your online following and getting on the search engine radar is having lots of diverse content, each with quality writing. So, if content marketing is such an important part to your business, don’t let yourself become limited in this area. Outsourcing article writing introduces new perspectives, ideas and writing styles to your growing stack of articles, product descriptions and other types of content.

Perhaps one of the best parts of outsourcing for any service is that “you pay for each as the need arises.” Whether you’re a big company or just starting, you will have different needs at different times. Find an outsourcing content company that you trust and reach out to whenever you need content written. If content becomes an important marketing factor for your company, consider paying for outsourced content more regularly. Ultimately, it depends on your needs, schedule and budget.

What Should You Outsource to Content Writing Services?

There are hundreds of online marketing services you can outsource content writing to free up your time and grow your business. However, we’re going to focus strictly on the top five content writing types you should delegate to high-quality content writing outsourcing companies.

1. Outsource Article Writing, Blogging and All Associated Tasks

To generate the most success with your blogging efforts, you should post 16 or more times a month. The average blog – which should be 1,000+ words in length – takes three hours to write. That means you should set aside at least 48 hours each month for writing. Realistically speaking, though, you likely need to set aside closer to 60 hours if you take into consideration the additional tasks associated with blogging:

• Developing blog topics and titles
• Proofreading blog articles
• Formatting blogs
• Copyediting blogs

Or, you could save yourself an entire workweek’s worth of time and outsource content writing services to an affordable content writing service that can handle the writing and related tasks for you.

They can take care of the idea-generating, blog writing and proofreading for you. Depending on how much you’re willing to pay for quality content, you can get extra editing and SEO help on each piece of content, making them potentially golden pieces of marketing. Most outsourcing companies are prepared to handle this type of content, but you may want to do some research to find which company can best fulfill your needs.

2. Outsource Social Media Content Writing

What good is your blog if no one is going to read it? Social media is a great platform to share links to your latest articles and garner interest. You can outsource content writing for this type of content, too! Besides, the writer who wrote the original article is most familiar with the content, making him or her the best person to write an accompanying social media post.

Any great marketer knows you need to post to social media more often than every 16 blog posts, though. Social media marketing is less about generating awareness and more about nurturing relationships with customers and fans (though it can help generate awareness as well). To do this successfully, you need to always be posting inspiring, helpful, interactive and relevant content.

A writing agency understands not only what types of users frequent which outlets but also what type of content is most successful on the various platforms. If you outsource content writing, including your monthly social media writing needs, you can ensure your fans receive just the right amount of high-quality and engaging content with which they can interact throughout the month. And you won’t have to do the work to come up with engaging writing.

 3. Outsource Webpage Writing

If you’re like most business owners, your website is all about you, you and you. And while Toby Keith would be proud of your taking time for, well, you, your visitors may be less than impressed. Consumers today are not interested in you, your company or your products. (It hurts, right?) What they are interested in is themselves. Appeal to customers’ egos by ensuring your web pages do the following:

• Address how each feature of your offerings can benefit the reader.
• Identify customer pain points and explain how your offerings can help.
• Acknowledge objections your readers may have with buying from you, then assuage those concerns throughout your content.

One of your roles as a business is to fulfill the needs of your customers. You can do this by convincing them on your webpage. Content is powerful, and it can be very persuasive to readers. Don’t forget to include some media and stylish design to complete the package.

That’s not all your web copy should do. It should also help prospective customers find your website, which means the site needs to be optimized with key terms and phrases. It should include an enticing value proposition, be seductive and be well written.

Creating compelling web copy requires research, writing skills and best-practice know-how. Don’t have time to retain or develop those skills and knowledge? Outsource your webpage copy to a writing services team that has the talent to develop converting web pages on your behalf today.

 4. Outsource E-commerce Writing: Product and Category Pages

A product description does a lot more than just describe. It informs, persuades and convinces customers why your specific product is better than the rest. Products that have unique descriptions help potential buyers understand what your product can do and why it’s important to them.

An outstanding product description can work for you in three major ways:

• Help searchers find your product
• Sell prospective buyers on your product
• Sell prospective buyers on the lifestyle your brand offers

For a product description to do each of the things above, it needs to do more than list the dimensions, size, availability, color and price. It should also contain keywords and terms users search to find your product. You want to eliminate buyer’s guilt by turning the product from a want into a need. Also, conjure up images in the buyer’s mind about life with your product and make them feel remorse for not already owning it, all while creating original content.

You may be the mastermind behind your products, but are you the best person to sell them? And even if you are, do you have the time to craft the works of art that are converting product descriptions? If you didn’t answer no to the first question, chances are you did to the second. For descriptions that highlight your product’s best features and that prompt shoppers to click “Buy,” outsource your e-commerce writing projects to a reputable content writing services agency.

And when push comes to shove, if you have more than a handful of products to sell, it will take a lot of time to create unique product descriptions for each. Save the stress and outsource.

5. Outsource Video Script Writing

Recording a three- to five-minute brand video takes much longer than three to five minutes. Creating a brand video that makes an impact often requires an investment of days, and much of that time should be spent on crafting a compelling script. Guess what? You can outsource content writing AND script writing.

Too many people assume they can refurbish a blog post to use as a video script. That is far from the case. HubSpot suggests starting with a brief, which should address the following:

• The goal of the video
• Your intended audience
• The (specific) topic of discussion
• Key takeaways

Once you have a brief to work from, you can start the script-writing process. Your script should be conversational, thorough and appropriate for the audience you wish to target. It should also be brief. While two pages is okay, one is better.

As the owner of your company, you have a lot to say. If you don’t have time to pare down your extensive script into a one- or two-page masterpiece, reach out to a copywriting agency that does and outsource your content writing.

Outsource Content Writing Today!

Although you may have heard some rumors about outsourcing article writing, we can assure you that it is a reliable, convenient and practical way to generate quality content. In fact, outsourcing may be one of the best ways to save money in your content marketing strategy.

As digital marketing continues to gain traction, the need for quality content will grow quickly for companies of all sizes. Today, there are many more outsourcing options you can use to meet your needs. Depending on the company, you can opt-in for professionally edited articles as well as help with SEO. Ecommerce content (such as Amazon product descriptions) and ebooks are potential options. With the right company, you can outsource content writing of all kinds!

You owe it to yourself to delegate five or more of your most pressing content writing tasks to a qualified agency. Doing so may be the best investment of both your time and money. Shop our outsourced content writing services to start checking off your to-dos today.