Do You Outsource Your Blog Content?
Jessica Foster
Account Director, SEO at NetReputation // Online Reputation Management, PPC & SEO for Market Leaders
The other day I spent 4 hours writing a blog post.
4. Hours.
4 hours to conduct the keyword research, create an outline, write the content, edit the content, optimize the content, source images, optimize the images, reach out to my designer for a featured image design, and make sure the post was 100% publish-ready.
If there were more hours in a day, I believe more businesses would have the time to spend on content creation.
You, as a business owner, know that creating great content can work wonders in attracting new customers to your site. You know it's important. It just keeps being something "you've been meaning to get to". :/
But, alas, you've only got about 8 hours to kill and about 1,000,001 things on your plate. Things that NEED to get done.
So your blog keeps getting left on the backburner.
Question: What do you do if you don't have time to create content?
You have a few options.
1) You could suck it up and write it yourself. But you know that other tasks would have to be put on the backburner (likely tasks that are making you money here and now).
2) You could delegate content creation to someone else on your team. Someone who likely has some other very important jobs to do.
3) You could outsource it by hiring a writer - either a freelancer or a content agency - knowing you're saving time by spending a little extra money on content.
Unfortunately, adding more hours to the day isn't really an option. And, honestly, trading in your own time to create content isn't a great option either. Your time is better spent helping clients, running your marketing, managing your team, and putting out fires.
At the same time, if you have employees or work with contractors, it's likely that you hired them for some pretty important jobs. Are they best suited for writing blog posts? How much does their time cost you?
Dollar$ and Sense
Say your hourly rate (if you had one) comes down to about $65 per hour. That would mean you'd be spending about $200 of your time writing a blog post if you took the DIY route. But say you could spend that same 4 hours helping your client - work that's earning you $1000 or more. Is writing content the best use of your time?
As for having an existing hire write your content, they may be making $15-$45 per hour, but that's likely because you see the value in them doing work you can't or don't want to do yourself. But if they aren't particularly skilled in writing, you could send up paying them $64+ for so-so content - definitely not content that's search engine- or conversion-optimized.
The ideal solution? Hiring a skilled writer that will create amazing, fully-optimized content the first time around. Someone that doesn't hurt your bottom line, but creates content that will generate more traffic and leads for your business.
A writer of this caliber typically charges $.10 to $.20 per word, or roughly $70 per hour if they work at a decent speed. That blog post will end up costing you right around $300.
Spending Money to Make Money
You've likely heard the saying "It takes money to make money". When it comes to outsourcing, this is the case - but it helps to consider how much money you'll be saving compared to doing the work yourself.
Writing your own blog content - especially if you aren't necessarily a pro writer - is time-consuming and does cost you money if you do the math. Simply multiply what would be your hourly rate x how long it takes for you to write, edit, and optimize an article.
By comparison, hiring a skilled writer may put you out some $$$ (something that is felt by your pocketbook), but they'll end up making you money in the long (and often short) run. It will also save you $$ - typically - because they will likely write amazing content in 2/3 or 1/2 the time as it would take you to write it yourself.
I'm a Numbers Girl
I don't expect any business owner to "take my word for it" when it comes to forking over money for a writer. Any good writer should be able to highlight the results they have generated for their clients in terms of ROI. This is the only REAL way to know that your $$$ will be an investment vs a lost cost.
In working with a major SaaS company, I overhauled their landing page content at around $300 per page - but I doubled their conversions and landed them on the first page for a super high-volume, high-competition keyword. A $300 per page investment on their end resulted in $3000+ in sales per page on their end. That's smart outsourcing in action.
Ditch the Stress. Outsource.
If you keep stressing over the thought "I reeeeally need to post content on my blog" but it's just not happening for you, it's time to outsource. I hate to be a Debbie-downer, but it's unlikely that you'll be able to pull together even 2-6 hours in your week for content creation. Most business owners are just too busy - but this is a good thing.
You SHOULD be focusing on what you do best - the things that are earning you money here and now. But if you understand the benefits of a long-term content strategy, then the time to invest is now for a much bigger payoff down the road.
Otherwise, the hours keep ticking away and your blog just becomes "something I have been meaning to get to".
Finally ready to outsource your blog content? I can help. Send me a message on LinkedIn or email me at [email protected]. Let's talk numbers.
CEO and Digital Matriarch at Cogwheel Marketing & Analytics | Dedicated to Hotel Digital Marketing | HSMAI Top 25 Extraordinary Minds in Hospitality Sales, Marketing & Revenue Management
5 年4 hours doesn’t even include getting published, sharing on social or repurposing for other blogs
Content Strategist & SEO Content Writer
5 年This article really makes sense. ????????