Do You Have a Website? This Is What You Have to Do

Business LoungeNovember 12, 2017

If you’re running a business today, you definitely need a website with great content on it. Just having a website is pretty much useless. Following this need, you will also have to have a quality content writer to create the original blog content for your business. On the other hand, there are some things that you can do on your own without spending your money on the content writers.

Let’s see what you have to do before hiring a content writer.

DEFINE THE MAIN GOALS

First of all, you should define what type of writings you actually need. It is crucial to find a writer who can deliver the kind of content you need. Upon defining this, you should realize if this is an ongoing project or a one-time job. If the website/blog content needs to be refreshed, then you should hire a content writer to in a short-term project. On the other hand, if you plan to blog about your business daily/weekly, you should hire a blog content writer who can write engaging blog posts on a regular basis, as well as give your blog a specific style and tone.

CAN YOU DO IT BY YOURSELF?

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You can probably create the blog content on your own, but is it advisable? Will it be a quality content? On the other hand, are you able to write posts three times a week or even twice a week? Can you do it once a week?

Consistency is obligatory, and it means fresh content every week if you want to increase your site’s traffic. You should also consider whether it is better to hire a freelancer or a full-time writer from a content writing agency. More importantly, do you want to develop a robust content marketing strategy that includes web content, SEO, PR and/or social media? This is a case when you need to hire a full-time pro or a content agency.

HOW MUCH MONEY DO YOU HAVE?

You must define your budget. Define how much you can spend and will be paying in advance or make payments along the way. Will you be able to offer 50% up front and 50% upon completion? Beware that payment terms have to be clearly defined and agreed upon before the work begins.

Define if you want to offer a kill fee, or not. This allows you to pull the plug on a project if you are not happy with it. This can be a good idea for longer types of writing, such as eBook writing or content writing for a full website.

You should bear in mind that a cheaper option is not always the better one. Also, the most expensive writing isn’t necessarily the best one.

You have to set that budget and compare it against the current rates for blog and content writing. It is highly important that you define your budget for all the aspects of your content marketing. What about the content optimization costs? Do you have someone who can handle that? And what about the images for your site – where you will be finding them, who would be doing it?

WHO WILL BE IN CHARGE OF THIS WRITING PROJECT?

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You will definitely need someone to oversee the project but who will be that person? Can you handle it on your own? Do you have the adequate skills and knowledge? This person checking the content’s value should have a clear vision of the goals for this project. This means that everyone should have the same criteria for the content that’s delivered.

Also, the important thing is to assign a single point of contact for the writer. This would diminish the possibilities for miscommunication and eliminate confusion on both sides.

Ideally, your business should have a person whose job is to manage and monitor your content — even if he/she doesn’t have to write it. If your business is going to live on the Internet, you have to check and double check your content management strategy. Otherwise, you will have many costly mistakes.

WHAT ABOUT THE KEYWORDS?

Content writing and SEO are pretty much different things even though they are intertwined. The content writer you hire doesn’t necessarily have to be SEO expert. There are many excellent writers out there who will tell you that this SEO thing is not a big deal, but you should know better than that.

The first step here is finding keywords that matter to your business. There are many (even free) tools and resource guides that can help you find your keywords. After identifying your keywords, you have to decide which ones you want to target. Selecting keywords to focus on is done through data analysis and partly by experience and a willingness to engage in trial and error. This is the explanation why your website always needs fresh content, or at least an occasional polish and update.