8 Compelling Reasons To Hire a Content Writer

Why hire a writer to create your professional content and blog posts?

Let’s be honest, being able to write content and manage a professional business are two very different things. Think of it this way: Celebrity chef Bobby Flay may have a steady hand and great knife skills, but you probably wouldn’t want him to perform your emergency appendectomy.

The same goes for you in your business communications. Just because you nailed that last sales email to a client doesn’t mean you should be writing evergreen, in-depth, SEO-optimized content for your blog. Hire professional blog content writers to do that for you, instead.

Why Hire a Content Writer?

You may be wondering if paying content writers is worth your time. You may even wonder if you need a content writer in the first place. If you’re asking these questions, then the answer is likely yes, paying content writers is worth it, and you definitely need one.

Content is the secret to getting more traffic, building up credibility and developing your brand. Websites aren’t just there for reference, they are becoming more and more the center of sales and business as well as your customer following. You should have in-depth descriptions of products and services as well as an updated blog that publishes useful content for your readers.

Every business that wants to rank organically online needs to hire a content writer (or content writing team) that can help them to scale their content marketing campaigns. Seasoned content writers have the skills and experience necessary to help grow your brand.

These men and women, most of them freelance writers, live and die by the comma. They may work odd hours, and they may work in their pajamas with The Clash cranked up to 11, but these creative workhorses know how to tell stories, engage readers and meet deadlines – all while keeping the professional tone and consistency of your brand. So why hire a writer? Because they are exactly what you need to start seeing better and bigger results.

8 Reasons Why You Should Hire a Content Writer

We’ve covered the basics of why content is important, but there are many benefits to hiring qualified content writers rather than doing it all on your own. Now, let us begin…

1. Typos and Other Kinds of Bad Writing Drive Traffic Away

To paraphrase the criminally underrated ‘80s band Human League: You’re only human, and you were born to make mistakes.

Whether it’s a missing word, a homonym that slipped past spell check or a “there” when you meant “their,” a single typo in your content can undermine your message. Leaving an entire platoon of errors on your web page or blog can demolish your brand’s image.

So yes, you’re only human and you were born to make mistakes, but don’t make the mistake of not hiring a professional content writer.

How you say what you say matters. According to the Pew Research Center, 96% of Americans perform their own research before making a big decision, whether that’s choosing what car to buy, which church to attend or whether or not they can really just skip “The Godfather Part III.”

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Additionally, 46% of their research is conducted using the internet (namely through informative blogs and reviews). When the voice of your brand is garbled or your website is riddled with grammar mistakes, that’s a monster turn-off for patrons who do their homework, and they’re going to take their business elsewhere.

That’s where professional content writers and editors come in. They’re trained grammar assassins. When you hire a content writer to create and edit your content it’s like having your own personal Jason Bourne on staff — but with thoughtful revisions and savvy edits instead of all the memory loss and punching.

Why Hire a Content Writer Who Can Engage Readers?

There’s more to strong content writing than just knowing how to use a semi-colon. Engaging material is 100% cliché-free. Hire a content writer and you can avoid tired phrases and dusty angles in favor of a more novel approach that’ll get your brand noticed by the people who matter.

The Nielsen Norman Group found that the average user typically leaves a page within 20 seconds unless its content captures his or her attention. Writing — and persuasive writing in particular — is a talent. If your content is stale, your audience isn’t going to click, literally or figuratively.

Why not bring someone on board who can tell stories and snag readers’ attention? Hiring a content writer can not only take time off your plate, but it can also be a huge catalyst to your branding.

The shorter your content, the more important ironclad syntax is, by the way. The last thing you need when you’re whipping up a new slogan or hashtag for your brand is a typo, awkward phrasing or word soup.

2. It Takes a Village To Raise Your Brainchild

It takes more than a web page to build a brand. You also need a social media presence, blogs, articles, ebooks and maybe even some video scripts or press releases to compete, depending on the size of your business. That’s a lot of content writing, and those jobs need a content writer or two. Or three. Or — well, you get it.

If your company is large, hiring one blog content writer who writes killer blogs likely isn’t enough to really connect with your audience, either. Writing a great blog requires different writing muscles than creating an engaging social media campaign does. Ditto for product descriptions, web pages, and virtually every other type of content that exists today.

Rather than trying to wedge four different hats onto one sweaty and overworked head, consider hiring a team of freelance content writers. Think of them like specialists — or maybe the Beatles:

Sure, Paul McCartney is a legendary talented songwriter and musician, but in order for the Beatles to become one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll bands of all time, they needed more than just Paul’s knack for melody. To connect with audiences on a truly massive scale, they also needed John Lennon’s brooding yet playful lyrical prowess, George Harrison’s iconic guitar licks and sly songwriting, and whatever it was that Ringo did.

Why Collaborate With Content Writers?

Working with your own handpicked dream team of content writers — or even just a single pro — also presents opportunities for collaboration.

For starters, fresh eyes on your material can do wonders for it. Odds are, you’re very, very familiar with your content. You need to hire a content writer who can point out any ideas or connections that may be missing but you haven’t caught because you know the process being described backward and forward.

A professional content writer may be able to point out areas of your content creation process that can be simplified, too, saving you valuable time and resources in the content writing process.

3. You’re Not a Content Writer (and That’s OK)

There’s a reason why most television shows employ an entire room of writers to craft a season of knee-slapping comedy or gut-wrenching drama: Writing is hard.

In order to foster brand growth and build relationships, you need to carefully analyze the rhetorical situation of every single piece of content that you write — whether it’s an informative 2,500-word blog or article, a taut and technical product description or a tweet that you want to rack up the likes and retweets.

If you have trouble putting your big ideas into words, you should strongly consider letting somebody else do it for you.

You have to consider your audience, your purpose, your message and your medium before you put pen to paper (or fingers to keys, as the case may be). Oh, and you need to do all of that while establishing your own signature writing style and voice as a brand. It’s a juggling act, and it’s a lot of work.

If you have trouble putting your big ideas into words, you should strongly consider hiring a content writer to do it for you. If you’re currently dividing writing responsibilities between your existing staff, you should consider letting a freelance content writer do it for all of you — and let your employees focus on their strengths.

Why Hire a Content Writer With Expertise and Industry Know-How?

This is especially important if you’re a small business or if you’re relatively new to your field. Teaming up with a content writer who already has experience writing for clients in your trade is an easy way to soak up industry-specific knowledge while building your brand. Here are some examples:

• First, a professional content writer may be able to provide valuable suggestions about which types of media you should use for your messaging and which types would be wise to avoid.
• You also need to hire a content writer if you think “Meta Description” played small forward for the Lakers. The reality of the content marketing landscape is complex. There’s much more to being visible online than cranking out a few good blogs every now and then.

To climb Google’s ranks, you need to hire a content writer skilled in the art of SEO who knows how to construct title tags, meta descriptions and killer copy that has the perfect number of keywords. Employing a marketing content writer can help you do just that.

Adding a professional writer to your team can also benefit the team itself. Consider turning your content writer loose on the rest of your staff in the form of regular grammar workshops and refresher courses. Before you know it, your entire staff will be writing more professionally and representing your brand better with every email they compose.

4. Google Is Getting Smarter

Google is adapting. No, not in a creepy HAL 9000 way, but in an algorithmic way. It used to be that all you needed were the right words to send your content skyrocketing up the search results page. Now, just like a ravenous high school wrestler trying to make weight, your page needs to “EAT” in order to succeed. This is something most content writers understand and implement in almost everything they do.

More specifically, to meet Google’s page quality rating guidelines, your content writing needs to demonstrate solid levels of the following:

• Expertise
• Authoritativeness
• Trustworthiness

If your page doesn’t “EAT” like a bear at the end of autumn, then it’s time to stock the pantry, cancel your plans and go into your own form of hibernation so you can start your site over from scratch.

Or you can hire a content writer, and when you do …

5. You Can Pay as You Go

For some brands, the decision to hire a content writer full-time is a no-brainer. Maybe there’s room specifically reserved for that in the budget. Or maybe the company’s found a talent it wants to lock down. And maybe the organization has a mysterious benefactor à la “Great Expectations.”

For other brands, particularly smaller ones, contracting professional writers through a content writing service is the better option. These freelance contractors are typically paid per project, so you don’t pay for writing that you don’t want or need.

The level of your commitment is low, too, which is particularly appealing to new companies just starting out. As business ebbs and flows, you can put a temporary hold on various content writing projects as you see fit. You only pay for what you need without any extra overhead costs.

Once your brand finds its footing, you can start hiring freelance writers again. If you find a content writer within a content creation company who connects with your brand and turns in stellar work, hire that writer for another project, and pick up where you left off.

6. Content Writing Consistency Is Key

We’ve all been there before. You start a blog to drive traffic to your page. It’s pure poetry, and you post consistently once a week for three weeks and then … radio silence for eight months. Whoops.

When it comes to establishing yourself as a force to be reckoned with, it’s imperative that you release fresh blog content on a regular basis. If you’re not utilizing a blog content writer to drop content like it’s hot, you’re not reaching your full SEO potential and you’re not growing your business. So why hire a content writer? You can’t deny that having someone else (or a whole team) to pick up the slack can really help you out.

What’s more, you need to stay in contact with your clientele. That means inviting — and maintaining — meaningful dialogue anywhere and everywhere you can, from social media to blog comments.

Even if you hire just one or two blog content writing ninjas, they can make sure your blog is updated consistently and becomes a reliable, authoritative presence in your industry.

It’s important to free you up to do other things because …

7. Your Time Is Precious

If you run a business, your to-do list is likely longer than the Great Wall of China, and maybe just as pedestrian. From generating invoices to responding to emails to remembering to inhale a handful of pretzels every now and then to keep your blood sugar up, there’s an endless stream of tasks to manage.

Your time is just like Danny DeVito: short and valuable. That’s why you need to hire a content writer. Delegating content writing to a professional can free up a large slice of your daily schedule. What’s more, by entrusting the work to someone whose sole focus is that blog or press release, you can be confident in its quality.

Think about it. Who would you rather have write your company newsletter: A professional writer who has composed dozens of newsletters from a quiet home office or a harried small business owner who needs to crank that letter out at 11:30 p.m. after the kids are in bed and after he’s finished a stack of invoices, updated his store’s social media accounts, emailed a new supply lead and written his overdue weekly blog?

If Option B hits too close to home, or if you got tired just reading that sentence, consider bringing in a ringer. Hire a content writer and let him or her focus on what they do best so you can spend more time shepherding your brand and its future.

8. Professional Content Writers Live — and Pay Rent — by Their Work

If you’re hesitant to find a content writer and bring him or her into your organization, that’s natural. What if he flakes out mid-project? Or what if she insists upon working the phrase “it’s finger-lickin’ good” into every blog she writes? What if the writing is just plain bad?

Those are legitimate concerns. OK, so two of them are legitimate concerns, and you probably have others that are equally merited.

The thing is, because most blog content writers and editors are independent contractors, their livelihood depends on how good they are at their jobs. If they’re flaky, full of it, or oddly obsessed with KFC, they’re not going to be able to secure many projects.

No projects mean no money, and no money means no rent or mortgage payments. In the simplest terms, it’s tough to make a living as a writer if you’re not very good at writing. Just ask my cousin who self-publishes *NSYNC fan fiction.

When you need to hire a content writer, don’t let the fear of hiring a bad one stop you from dipping your toes in the content writer pool. If you happen to connect with a blog content writer who can’t capture your brand’s voice the way that you’d like or who struggles to meet deadlines, you can find a replacement.

You’re in charge, and you don’t have to cede any control by choosing to play well with others in order to build your brand.

Why Hire a Writer? Start Investing In Your Brand Today

Hiring a content writer is an important, and often exciting, step in your company’s growth. Recognizing that you need to hire a content writer can benefit your brand in a myriad of ways, from boosting your content’s professionalism and appeal to saving you valuable time that you can devote to your next big idea.

When you’re ready to conquer Google and watch your traffic climb like Sir Edmund Hillary on Mount Everest, enlist the writing services of a seasoned pro.

And if the entire process of headhunting a writer or team of writers sounds overwhelming, let a professional writing agency handle that for you. Let us know if you have any questions about the writing process or if you need a content writer for specific campaigns you’re trying to launch. We can help you to hire a professional writer who will get your content creation strategy off the ground.

So why hire a content writer? Because your content, website and business will thank you for it.