6 Tips for Outsourcing Content for SEO‍

In today's digital landscape, focusing on search demand and on-page optimization is not enough to achieve success. Instead, a holistic approach that considers all search engine optimization factors is required.

One important element of SEO is content, which is the holy grail of online success. Your content must be keyword rich, informative and offer something unique that sets you apart from the competition to be successful. With search engines like Google doing their best to serve the 5.6 billion web searches made daily, the pressure is on to produce quality content.

And here lies the hurdle: quality content takes time, effort and skill to produce. How do you reconcile the need for quality content with the available time and resources? The solution may be outsourcing content.

However, outsourcing can be expensive, and quality is key when it comes to content creation. With 84% of B2B marketers outsourcing content creation, striking this balance is clearly doable. Follow these six tips for outsourcing content for SEO and see your chances for success increase exponentially.

1. Determine Your Objectives and SEO Needs

While you may be outsourcing content for SEO purposes, it's important to determine your overall objectives. This helps you better understand what kind of content is needed and how it can be used to achieve your desired results. 

Furthermore, you can take a more hands-on approach to your project and have time to assess your overall objectives, target audience and what type of content will work best for your company. You can also assign tasks to your writer and interact with them regularly to monitor progress.

Although this approach might not work for everyone, it's an ideal way to get things done within the shortest time frame. That being said, here are some things to consider:

• How many articles you need each month. Outsourcing content for SEO on a per-article basis helps ensure you get quality pieces without burning a hole in your pocket. Depending on your industry and content needs, targeting at least 3-4 blog posts per week is best.
• Your budget. The cost of hiring freelance writers can range between $0.03 per word and $1 per word, so it's important to have a ballpark number in mind to ensure you stay within your budget.
• How long do you need articles to be, on average? There's no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, as it varies depending on project requirements. A HubSpot study from 2021 shows that the average blog post length is 2100-2400 words. This will give you enough space to cover all the relevant keywords and topics while still providing value to your readers.
• What are your content goals? Does the content need to be evergreen, or can it be news-related? What topics should be covered? Having a clear goal makes it easier to brief your writer and get the results you're looking for.

2. Have a Clear-Cut Budget

One of the main benefits of outsourcing content for SEO is that it can save you money on your content marketing efforts. When you outsource content writing, it's important to keep the following factors in mind:

• The cost per word: This will vary depending on the writer's experience, location and the type of content you need. Generally, you can expect to pay anywhere from $0.10 to $0.50 per word on average for many types of content.
• The article's length: As a general rule, the longer the article, the more it will cost. This is because longer articles are more research-intensive and require more writing time.
• The experience level: If you're looking for high-quality, well-researched articles, you'll need to hire a writer with extensive experience. However, if your budget is tight, some talented up-and-coming writers can deliver great results at a fraction of the cost.

The overall cost of outsourcing content for SEO depends on the project you're working on. For example, if you're looking for someone to write an in-depth white paper, the cost will be higher than if you're outsourcing blog posts.

3. Carry Due Diligence

When outsourcing content for SEO, it's important to do your research and hire a reputable company or individual. Many content writing services claim to be SEO experts but don't deliver on their promises. To avoid being scammed, it's important to read reviews and check out samples of the candidates' work before hiring them.

Where to Find Quality Content Writers

• Job boards: Freelancing platforms are a great place to find quality content writers. Sites like Upwork, Fiverr and Guru offer various services at different price points. When settling for your preferred outsourcing company, check reviews and samples of work to get an idea of the quality you can expect. Also, look at the reliability and honesty aspect of the outsourcing company.
• LinkedIn: LinkedIn is a great platform for connecting with professional content writers. You can use the site's search function to find writers in your industry or niche, or post a job listing and wait for applications to come in.
• Content writing agencies: There are many content writing agencies out there that can help you with all your outsourcing needs. While they tend to be more expensive than hiring a freelancer, they offer the benefit of having a writing team that is familiar with your industry and can produce high-quality content regularly.

Request Price Quotes

When outsourcing content for SEO, it's important to get price quotes from multiple providers before making a decision. This will help you compare rates and find the best deal for your budget.

To get started, send a request for proposal (RFP) to a few content writing services. In your RFP, include information about your projects, such as the scope of work, target audience and desired tone of voice. Once you receive the proposals back, you can review them and decide based on your needs and budget.

4.Carry Out Tests on Candidates and Make a Choice

When you outsource content writing, it's important to conduct tests on several candidates before making a final decision. This helps you assess the quality of work and see if they're a good fit for your project.

If there are inconsistencies in the quality of work, it's likely that they're not the right fit for your project and you should probably move on with the search. It's worth noting that this is a very time-consuming process, and if you're a busy business owner, it would be best to find a third-party outsourcing company that can find the right candidate.

Nonetheless, if you have the time and want to know the potential candidates better, here's how to go about it.

Screen Your Candidate

When outsourcing content for SEO, the first step is to screen your candidates. This can be done by looking at their work samples and reading reviews from previous clients.

It would help if you also took the time to interview the candidates to get a better sense of their writing style and what they would bring to your project. After screening the candidates and having a shortlist of potential writers, it's time to move on to the next step.

Conducting a Test

The best way to assess a candidate's writing skills is to give them a test assignment. This can be a short piece of writing on a topic related to your project.

When reviewing the test assignment, pay close attention to the quality of their writing and their ability to follow instructions. If they can produce high-quality work that meets your requirements, they may be a good fit for your project.

Making a Decision

After you've reviewed the candidates' test assignments, it's time to settle on a decision. If you're happy with the quality of their work, then you can move forward and outsource content writing projects to them.

5. Create a Detailed Brief

Once you've decided on which candidate to hire, creating a detailed SEO content brief for the project is important. This should include information about aspects like:

• Scope of work
• Target audience
• Desired tone of voice
• Keywords to be used

By creating a detailed brief, you'll set clear expectations for the project and help the writer produce the best possible content for your needs.

6. Onboarding

The last step in outsourcing content for SEO is to onboard the writer. This includes providing them with access to your website or blog and any other relevant information they'll need to get started. You should also set up a regular communication schedule to provide feedback and answer any questions they may have about the project.

Key Takeaways

Just because a piece of content aligns with your style guide and makes you delighted doesn't mean it will rank. You could have the best writer or content writing agency in the world, but your rankings will suffer if they don't know how to produce SEO-friendly content. 

Creating high-quality content requires commitment, time and skill. You'll also need SEO tools to ensure your content is effective. Semrush's free tool, for instance, can help you perform an SEO audit of your website and blog posts to identify any issues that could be holding you back from ranking in Google. 

Outsourcing content for SEO can be a great option if you don't have the resources to create quality content in-house. It's an investment that can ultimately pay off in the long haul.