Karen Repoli — April 15, 2017 As an entrepreneur or small business owner, you may feel like there aren’t enough hours in a day to finish everything you need to do. Many of us wear a lot of different hats and it’s easy to get one askew or lose it completely. One of these tasks is blogging.
Blogging is a crucial part of your marketing plan if you have ANY online presence. On average, blogs increase both indexed links and inbound links by 97%, and lead to 434% more indexed pages. This results in more search traffic from Google which benefits your bottom line as well as builds your credibility and customer loyalty. And of course, it also leads to more work for you. Great content doesn’t just flow from your mind onto the page. Not even for great writers!
And that’s only the writing part. There is so much more to do after the creative process. If you just write the post and stop, you wasted your time. Blog creation starts before you write the first word. You have to research your topics, create attention grabbing headlines and find a fresh perspective that will appeal to your target audience.
After you’ve created your unique blog post, your next step is to create meta content, links and images for your posts.
You have to post it on your site and promote it everywhere. (Learn more about blog promotion.)
This video shows you some of the tasks you can outsource.
Why You Should Outsource Your Blogging
Let’s look at Tammi’s situation. She is a busy business coach and she is a prolific writer. So she thought blogging would be a piece of cake. It was only a short time when she realized that writing a lot of quality blog content is tedious and repetitive. Since her clients continue to have the same needs, she has to write about the same topics over and over again. Each post she writes must be as good as or better than the last.
So Tammi was getting burned out. She decided she needed a fresh pair of eyes to bring new questions and perspective to her writing. And an outsourced writer was just what she needed to keep her marketing content fresh.
On the other hand, Kyle, a fitness coach, dreaded every piece of content he had to create. As a result, he struggled over each one. His sweet spot is personal training and live interviews. The result was very sporadic blogging and half-hearted posts. Blogging was actually hurting his professional reputation and credibility.
He outsourced his blog and brained stormed with his writer on concepts and ideas. The writer then did some additional research and crafted a blog post that would appeal to both the reader and the search engines. Kyle was impressed when his blog began to attract new readers which meant more business.
How do I insure outsourcing my blog is a success?
Whatever your reasons for outsourcing your blogging, these five tips will help you get started.
Identify Your Topics and Goals for Your Content. What do you want the content in your blog post to achieve? Do you want to:
- send traffic to a sales page?
- boost your organic reach on Facebook?
- promote a new product or service?
- Establish your credibility and authority?
When you share your goals with your ghostwriter, it helps them write for your goals.
What Type of Content Do You Want? In addition to sending the topics you’d like your ghostwriter to focus on, let them know the type of content that you prefer or feel best fits the topic. For example, you might ask them to write a “how to” type article or a product comparison.
Assign the Content Well in Advance of When You Need It. Work with your writer to create a schedule that fits your needs and theirs. For example, you might assign November’s content in October so you can post your blog at the beginning of the month.
Planning ahead also ensures you bring forth the best content for your subscribers and makes it easier for you to include effective product promotions to go with that content.
Provide as Much Information as Possible. In addition to sharing the goals for each blog post also let your writer know:
- What keywords and keyword phrases you want to use.Since your blog posts are online, using keywords will improve SEO. If you have specific requests regarding the placement of keywords, for example in the title or the first paragraph, let your ghostwriter know.
- What you want the message to sound like.Share your brand message and voice. For example, are you friendly and informative, controversial, or authoritative? Include a description of your brand image and message along with a few links to content that accurately conveys your voice.
- Are there any links you want included in the message?You can always add links later after the content is written. However, sometimes the flow of the article can be improved when the writer inserts the hyperlinks in relevant and appropriate places.
- How do you want it formatted?For example, does your audience prefer lists? Do they respond to bullet points and content with numbers or steps?
Check Content for Plagiarism. I am an optimist and always want to see the best in everyone. But, putting on my realist hat, not all writers are honest about their sources. Always check the post you receive for plagiarism with a program such as Small SEO Tools.
Obviously, it’s great when you can get someone else to do quality work for you and free up your schedule. But another benefit you may not notice right away is that working with a writer ensures you are organized and proactive in moving your businesses forward.
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