As an agency owner, account manager or digital marketer, you know that producing consistent, high-quality content is a crucial business activity. It’s true that content is just one piece of the overall SEO puzzle, but if you’re being honest with yourself, you know it’s a crucial piece.
Let’s look at it this way…content is what prospective customers or clients encounter as they search for goods and services online. Sometimes they may choose to call based solely on a GMB listing or a review they’ve seen, but if they end up on your website it’s a different story.
If the content on a website or in blog posts contains factual errors, is sloppy, rushed, off-topic, unengaging, out of context and littered with spelling and grammatical errors, how will it be perceived by the reader? And more importantly, how will the business be perceived by the reader?
Your clients want to be perceived as professional and as experts in their industry. But if the content that is supposed to attract new customers is anything but expert and professional, then money is being left on the table month after month, even if your SEO services are getting them ranked and driving traffic.
The reason I bring this up in a post called ‘Should You Outsource Your Content Writing’ is because it’s imperative that you know how important the quality of the content on your clients’ blog posts and web pages really is. It’s your responsibility to increase traffic, leads and conversions for your clients, and to do that consistently month after month, that content writing engine needs to be firing on all cylinders.
And to accomplish this, one of the primary questions to ask if outsourcing your content is the best way to make an impact. Here’s a breakdown to help you see things a little more clearly.
When Should I Outsource?
For most agencies or even businesses in general, the decision is between writing it yourself, hiring in-house writers or outsourcing the writing. Here are some scenarios where outsourcing your content writing makes good business sense:
If You Can’t Write – If you are a digital agency owner, you shouldn’t be writing your own content or content for your clients anyway. However, if you’re starting out or you own a business that’s not an agency and have taken on the role of content writer, you should definitely outsource if you’re not good at it. Just because we all learn to put words together in school doesn’t mean we can all write marketing content effectively. There’s nothing wrong with that but be honest with yourself and outsource your content writing to professional writers if it’s not your thing.
To Free Up Your Time – If you are running a digital agency then there are many different balls in the air almost all the time. Depending on the extent of your services, you may have search engines, paid ads, social media marketing, YouTube channels, email marketing, webinars, content strategy sessions and your own team all vying for your time. It stands to reason that if you can outsource the content piece to a reputable writer or content writing service, you’ll be able to spend more time on other business activities that are going to move the needle for your clients.
To Reach Your Business Goals - As business owners, we all have quarterly and annual business goals you want to reach that cover a range of different metrics like revenue, number of new clients, average spend per client, etc. And if you are serious about reaching those goals, then outsourcing your content writing to professional writers is a no-brainer. Just like your clients outsource their digital marketing services to you to help reach their business goals, outsourcing the content writing to meet yours makes sense for your bottom line.
If Budget is a Factor – Finding good writers to produce content for your agency is a business expense, but it will usually be more cost-effective to outsource the writing than to add in-house writers to your team. While you may have more control, or perceived control, over a full-time writer, you still have to pay their salary if things slow down for some reason, team members use resources within the office, and you may have to pay employee benefits. By outsourcing, you can have access to the best writers and only pay for what you need, which means you'll have more control over that aspect of your budget.
If You Have Diverse Content Needs - If you have clients that cover a range of industries, or you often need different types of content then outsourcing your content writing may be the best choice to find the type of writer you need. High-quality professional content writing services will have experience writing in a variety of industries or niches to just about any target audience. They will also have experience writing different types of content such as blog writing, web pages, landing pages, white papers, press releases, email campaigns and most other types of content your clients may require. This may not be true if you hire a solo freelance writer, which is why it pays to ask up front.
Can I Do Both?
What if you love the idea of outsourcing some or even most of your content writing, but want to have an in-house writer for a specific client or niche? The good news is, there are no hard and fast rules for this sort of thing, and your decision should be measured against the results. If you can meet all your business goals, the content creation process is smooth, you’re within budget and your clients are happy then this just may be the best option for you.
Benefits of Outsourcing Content Writing
Here’s a list of the benefits of content outsourcing. Some of these may overlap with the scenarios listed above, but that’s all the more reason to give it careful consideration.
Saves Time – The number of times we hear agency owners say they are stressed from being stretched too thin is mind-boggling. You can probably relate, which is why outsourcing your content writing is a good idea. When you unload this critical component, you’ll have more time for your clients and to scale and grow your own business.
Saves Money – If you can spend less to get the same or even better-quality service, that’s just good business sense. And the fact that you only pay for what you need is a great way to keep more of your money for other things.
Consistent Quality – One of the main issues digital agency owners have when they order new content is consistency. Good only part of the time isn’t good at all, but outsourcing can fix that when it's part of your content marketing strategy.
Meet Deadlines Consistently – It’s no secret that digital marketing centers around meeting deadlines. When you use a quality content writing service, you don’t have to worry about in-house writers quitting and leaving gaps in the process and you can feel confident that every piece of content will be ready on time.
Meet and Exceed Your Clients’ Expectations – In the end, you’re working for your clients, and they expect you to achieve the results you’ve laid out for them. Perhaps the greatest benefit of outsourcing your content writing is that it will help you meet and exceed your clients’ expectations.
How to Choose the Right Content Writing Services
If you’ve made the decision to outsource, you still need to go about the process of finding writers, and great writers don't grow on trees. It’s common to use individual freelance writers or you could use a content writing company that has its own roster of professional content writers. There are also content farms that have hundreds or thousands of writers, but you are taking a big risk by going that route.
It’s usually easier to develop a relationship with an individual writer, and you may feel a greater sense of control when it comes to the process. And if you have a very specific niche, you may be able to find subject matter experts that are a good fit. However, if you depend on a specific writer to take care of your clients’ content and they decide to stop writing or you can’t get in touch with them, you may be left high and dry. Even if you use a good writer, there is a risk. There is also a relatively high turnover rate in this industry, so take the time to ensure the writer or writers you choose are professionals and want to stick around.
When you use a content writing service that has its own writers, you won’t get to create that same intimate relationship with the writers, but there are other advantages. You don’t have to manage the writers or worry about them leaving, and you don’t even have to go out and vet new writers at all. The people who are experienced at finding the talent do that for you and take care of the content production and all you have to be concerned about is the finished product.
Here are some important factors to consider when looking for the best fit for outsourcing your content writing:
At The Content Company, we have our own team of writers that we manage, so you only have to place your orders and then focus on running your own agency. We’ve been going strong producing great content since 2014, and during that time have written tens of thousands of pieces of content. If you think outsourcing is the way to go and you’d like to learn more about what we have to offer, book a free consultation today!
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