Originally published March 30, 2022 , updated on August 9, 2024

Content is the foundation for any online business. It leads to more sales, visibility, and engagement. You attract new visitors while strengthening relationships with existing customers. 

Unfortunately, not every business owner has enough time to produce copy for commercial impact. Business owners juggle various responsibilities, and writing isn’t a walk in the park. Writing a quality blog post takes several hours, and not every business owner can fit that task into their schedule.

Companies must consistently post to stay in front of people and get new leads. The moment they stop publishing new copy, companies start to stagnate and lose ground to competitors. Business owners may have enough flexibility to write the occasional blog post, but daily and weekly posts can be a hassle.

A website content writing company can provide consistent articles for your website. Writers optimise the articles to gain traction on search engines and generate recurring traffic. You can significantly improve revenue and earnings growth with web content writing services. We’ll share the process of hiring copywriters that benefit your company.

Create Your Content Strategy Before Looking for Web Content Writing Services

Before looking for talented writers, you must first establish your content strategy. A decent strategy sets the following:

• Core offers
• Customer avatars
• Main topics
• Prioritised platforms
• Key objectives

Core offers are products and services that deserve the most focus. These offers generate high ROIs or convert better than average. Settling on core offers helps you create customer avatars. Companies should create a customer avatar for each core offer.

Knowing customer avatars helps you identify topics. Companies should create topics that address each stage of the customer journey. 

Some website content writing services provide copy ideas that target the customer journey. Understanding what prospects think and optimising articles for search intent leads to a more robust strategy. You’re no longer pumping out copy just for the sake of it.

Knowing your offers, avatars, and main topics will help you prioritise platforms. You can’t be on every social network, and it wouldn’t make sense to stay active on each one. Companies thrive when they get the attention of their prospects. Spend more time on social media platforms that attract your clientele. 

This background information helps you identify key goals for your content strategy. Establishing objectives helps you measure success and focus on what matters the most for your company.

Some companies don’t see a return on investment from writers because they don’t create strategies. Producing copy for the sake of it doesn’t lead to more revenue. You can either make the strategy yourself or work with an agency to craft your plan. 

Should I Hire a Freelance Writer or a Website Content Writing Company?

Companies can choose between a freelance writer or an agency. Both investments yield more content for your brand. Website copywriting services help you publish articles that increase visibility and revenue. 

Companies want the most beneficial writers, which requires a combination of value and price. No one wants to overpay, but you don’t want poor results either. Some businesses will benefit from a freelance writer, while others should invest in a content marketing agency. 

Understanding the pros and cons of both choices will help you narrow your focus. Making your choice refines your outreach so you either focus on freelance writers or copywriting agencies. We’ll outline the pros and cons of each option.

The Pros and Cons of Hiring a Content Agency

Content agencies provide many advantages. You get access to a broader pool of writers and more professional help. Agencies train writers on how to optimise articles and vet talent. These agencies reject writers who don’t fit their criteria to ensure clients get paired with great writers.

The main disadvantage of agencies is the cost. You’ll pay more for an agency than a freelance writer who offers website copywriting services. Not every agency will pair you with the same writer. If you enjoy an article, ask the agency to pair you with the same writer. Not every agency can fulfil the request, and the writer may be unavailable, prompting the agency to provide you with a temporary replacement.

The Pros and Cons of Hiring a Freelance Writer

Freelance writers charge less for their time than agencies that offer web content writing services. You’ll also know the same writer will handle all of your assignments. If you enjoy working with the writer, you get direct contact with them. Some companies see this as a significant perk.

However, hiring a freelance writer has downsides. A freelance writer is often one person without a team. Freelance writers may not answer your emails while on vacation, and your work may not be a priority for them. Some freelance writers work part-time while working at a day job. You may not get a prompt response for an urgent matter. 

Content agencies provide copy and other assets to businesses full-time. These companies regularly invest money into staff and take themselves more seriously than part-time freelance writers. You may not get the same work ethic from a freelance writer who treats their occupation as a part-time career. 

Some freelance writers provide great content. However, you’ll have to spend extra time vetting freelancers you find in the market since an agency hasn’t vetted them for you. You will save money with a freelance writer, but you’ll often get more value from an agency.

Ask Each Writer to Provide a Test Article

You can invite a freelance writer or content agency to provide a test article or short-term contract before hiring them. This measure allows companies to invest a low amount of money in determining if a writer or an agency of web content writing services can produce acceptable copy. 

Agreeing to long-term contracts with low-quality writers will hurt your brand. Low-quality copy reflects poorly on your brand. People make associations between what your offer and what you post. Great content indicates a great offer, but the reverse is also true. Prospects won’t consider your offer if your posts have typos and are not engaging.

A test article helps you determine if a writer can produce good copy and follow your rules. Some companies have parameters for their content, requiring a specific call-to-action, keyword usage, and other details. 

Read through each article and review them for grammar and style. Seeing grammatical errors should draw you away. Professional freelance writers and content marketing agencies will run each piece through Grammarly or another software to identify errors before submitting articles to clients. Quality grammar is a basic expectation.

After checking for grammar, read the article. Ask yourself if it would resonate with readers and if the writer addressed that article’s objectives. You can also have someone on your team review articles to determine if they fit your company’s branding. 

Interview Web Content Writing Services or Writers Who Reach the Next Step

Test articles submissions create an affordable filtering process. You can shortlist your favourite writers and content marketing agencies and proceed to jump on calls. Ask writers and agencies several questions to gauge their interest and ability to write for your company. We’ve provided some starter questions to help you conduct an effective interview.

How Do You Handle Writing About Topics That Are New to You?

Some writers don’t know about your topic going into a contract. Agencies will do their best to pair you with an expert, but due to availability, you may get paired with someone who doesn’t know your industry. This isn’t always bad, as the best writers do enough research to write a compelling article. Ask about the process even if the writer knows about your industry. No one knows everything.

How Much Copy Can You Produce for Us Each Week?

Some companies need writers and agencies who can commit to full-time hours. Other businesses only need 5,000 words per week. Even if a writer’s potential output surpasses what you need, you can always make a change later if you want more copy.

How Do You Expect to Get Paid?

Writers and agencies have various payment structures. Knowing how a writer or agency expects to get paid helps with budgeting. Some website content writing services expect payment by the article or word. Some services will charge $0.20 per word or set a rate of $200 for a 1,000-word article. 

How Do You Optimise Each Article for Search Engines?

This question reveals a candidate’s ability to optimise for search engines. You’ll want to hear something about keywords and backlinks in the article, but an SEO strategy can stretch beyond those tactics. Search engine optimisation presents a tremendous long-term opportunity for your businesses. No search engine optimisations will close the door on that opportunity.

How Do You Handle Editing and Feedback?

Writers and copywriting agencies should not charge an extra fee for editing and feedback. It’s common for service providers to charge for content and make any changes free of cost. Ask candidates about their availability to handle editing and feedback. Receiving updates in a day compared to a week makes a big difference.

Facilitating Communication With Your Writers

Communication can make or break any relationship. After hiring a writer, quickly provide them with assignments so they can get started. Promptly respond to submissions with requests for feedback to stay top of mind. If you ask for feedback several weeks later, a writer may reject your request. 

Asking for feedback within a few days will speed up the process and lead to an earlier publication. You can email writers, but using other platforms will strengthen communication. Messaging boards such as Slack help you communicate with many writers at once. 

You can also use a resource like Trello to visualise the workflow across your company. You can create columns for assigned articles, tasks in the editing phase, and which pieces should get published.

Business owners have to juggle freelancer communication with other parts of their business. You can assign this responsibility to a team member, but a content agency can perform this role more effectively. 

Content agencies handle the communication and have the software to facilitate smooth interaction. Instead of communicating with many writers, you can speak with a writing agency’s manager. This manager can communicate with all writers and provide you with a summary of what’s happening. The manager can also reach out to all writers and inform them of a client’s changes. 

Hire the Best Web Content Writing Services for Your Company

Content can perform various objectives. Some posts will educate visitors and make them aware of your brand. Other posts help people select the right offer in the late stages of the customer journey. 

It’s overwhelming to manage production and planning by yourself. The best web content writing services streamline the process for you, providing additional time to focus on other business activities. If you’re still looking for a team of writers for your business, look no further than Goodman Lantern.

Goodman Lantern vets all of its writers and ensures smooth communication. We let our writers know if you want changes, and they get the job done. You won’t have to worry about talking with many writers or fret over communication issues. 

We will help your business craft a successful content strategy, so each article grows your brand. Content marketing isn’t going away. Many consumers use search engines to find products and services. Goodman Lantern wants your company to show up on top of those search results and grow revenue. We’d be happy to assist your company with those goals.

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