Quality content is vital for businesses to stand out and engage with their target audience. High-end copywriting can be a game-changer in driving targeted traffic and promoting your brand message, but with AI taking over the industry, it becomes a game of tight margins to find the right person for your needs.
And it is exactly where hiring a freelance content writer comes into play: offering cost-effective solutions, proven expertise, and increased flexibility that can help elevate your business above the competition.
Key Takeaways
- The decision to hire a freelance content writer can save businesses time and money, as they only pay for the work delivered without additional expenses such as benefits or office space.
- Freelance content writers allow companies to adapt to changing market conditions without sacrificing quality or committing long-term overhead costs.
- A skilled freelance writer brings fresh perspectives and expertise in writing and marketing, providing consistent quality output that resonates effectively with your target audience. Effective communication is also facilitated between companies and freelancers throughout the project’s duration.
Why Hire A Freelance Content Writer?
As I have already mentioned, with AI taking over the creative world, finding ways to optimize your workflows becomes pivotal. And while I’m totally against replacing people and cutting down stuff by 80-90% (trust me, it’ll do more harm than good,) being conscious about the changing business climate DOES help.
Freelance writers save you TIME /and Money/
A freelance content writer for hire brings expertise without extra fees and delivers quality content. Imagine focusing on your core business while a seasoned freelancer reliably pens your blogs, newsletters, and press releases. It is THAT simple.
Make Your Business More Agile
Staying agile these days is more important than ever. By hiring a freelance content writer, your company can quickly adapt to changing market conditions and trends without sacrificing the quality of your digital presence.
For example, suppose there’s an unexpected shift in consumer behavior or industry trends. In that case, a freelance writer can quickly pivot their content strategy accordingly without disrupting other ongoing projects within the organization.
This kind of responsiveness allows companies to capitalize on new opportunities while keeping content fresh and relevant for their audience.
Focus On Other Essential Tasks
Content writers can help businesses can shift their focus onto other essential tasks that drive growth and success.
A practical example would be an e-commerce company engaging an experienced SEO content writer to produce blog posts and product descriptions.
The arrangement enables the marketing team to concentrate on optimizing advertising campaigns and developing new promotional strategies without being bogged down by time-consuming writing assignments.
Benefit From A Proven Workflow
When you hire a freelance content writer, you benefit from their proven workflow and system for creating high-quality content. Experienced writers have sharpened their skills over time and developed processes that consistently produce excellent output.
With a solid workflow in place, they can deliver prompt turnaround times without sacrificing quality or accuracy. Whether you need blog posts, website copy, or technical documents created regularly, working with a vetted freelance writer provides the assurance of professional output every time.
Plus, since freelancers often work with various clients across different industries at once – they bring fresh ideas and unique perspectives to each project they undertake.
Scale Your Content Efforts Quickly
Hiring a freelance content writer can help B2B companies scale their content efforts quickly. They specialize in different areas, and businesses can easily find the right one to suit their needs.
With an in-house writer, scaling up efforts may require significant investments of time and resources in recruitment, training, and equipment upgrades.
With outsourcing content writing, businesses can access a larger pool of experienced writers with proven workflows that ensure prompt delivery times and solid output quality.
Additionally, hiring contractors for short-term projects allows companies to remain agile without committing long-term overhead costs, such as providing benefits or social insurance fees.
Avoid The Cost Of Hiring An In-House Team
Hiring an in-house content writing team can be costly for many businesses, especially small and medium-sized ones. Apart from the salaries of full-time writers, there are other costs to consider, such as office space rent, equipment, and software expenses, taxes, and benefits like health insurance or retirement plans.
With freelance content writers, you can avoid these costs altogether while still obtaining top-quality output that aligns with your brand’s tone and style.
For example, hiring a web content writer who is entirely remote means you don’t need to worry about providing them with workspace or any special equipment beyond what they already have.
What A Freelance Content Writer Can Bring To Your Business
A freelance content writer can bring flexibility, a fresh perspective, expertise in writing and marketing, easy communication, and consistent quality to your business.
Flexibility
One of the most significant benefits of hiring a freelance content writer is the flexibility it provides. Companies can access writing talent as and when needed, without any long-term commitments or overhead expenses.
Freelance writers can be hired for specific projects or on an ongoing basis, depending on the company’s needs and budget. This means that companies have the freedom to be more selective in their hiring process and easily replace a writer who does not meet expectations.
Additionally, freelance writers are entirely remote and do not require office space or expensive equipment, making them a cost-effective solution for any company looking to scale its content marketing efforts quickly.
Fresh Perspective
One of the most significant benefits of hiring a freelance content writer is their ability to bring a fresh perspective to your business. As an outsider, they can offer an unbiased view and provide insights that internal writers may have overlooked.
A professional freelance content writer has worked with different industries and knows what works in each niche. They will work collaboratively with you to understand your objectives, target audience, voice tone, and goals before crafting compelling content that resonates with your clients.
Expertise In Writing And Marketing
Another benefit of hiring a freelance content writer is their expertise in writing and marketing. A professional content writer possesses core skills such as research, writing, editing, and communication that help to craft engaging and persuasive written materials for your business.
They clearly understand how to communicate with your target audience using tone, language, and structure that fits your brand’s voice.
With their experience in marketing written content across various platforms like social media or email marketing campaigns, freelancers can provide valuable insight into different digital strategies you need to get ahead in today’s competitive market.
Easy Communication
Freelance content writers are experts in communication and understand the importance of staying open, honest, and transparent with their clients. They make it easy for businesses to communicate their needs and expectations by using various tools such as email, messaging apps, or video conferencing software.
For example, when you hire a freelance content writer for your business, they will take the time to fully understand your brand’s voice and style guidelines before writing any content.
However, as an experienced freelancer myself, I’d advise you to avoid regular meetings. After all, you should never forget that freelancers are not a company asset – their main goal is to be as efficient as possible to make money.
Consistent Quality
A freelance content writer can bring consistent quality. With so much content being produced and distributed every day, it’s crucial to stand out from the competition by providing high-quality pieces that resonate with your target audience.
Consistent quality means publishing articles or blog posts that are well-researched, error-free, grammatically correct, and engaging throughout.
This level of consistency builds trust with readers and search engines alike because it shows that you take your content seriously.
How To Find And Hire A Freelance Content Writer
To find and hire a top-quality freelance content writer, determine your needs, look for relevant experience and skills, review their portfolio and samples, communicate effectively, and agree on payment terms.
Determine Your Needs
When hiring a freelance content writer, it is crucial to know what type of content you need and how often you need it. Here are some factors to consider:
- Identify your target audience and the purpose of your content.
- Determine the type of content needed, such as blog posts, articles, social media updates, or case studies.
- Decide on the frequency of content production, whether you need weekly or monthly deliverables.
- Estimate your budget for outsourcing content writing services.
- Outline the scope of work and provide clear instructions on your expectations regarding tone, style, format, and SEO requirements.
By determining these needs beforehand, you can ensure that you find a content writer who can meet your expectations and deliver high-quality results that align with your business goals.
Look For A Writer With Relevant Experience And Interest
Among the most crucial factors to consider when hiring a freelance content writer is their relevant experience and skill set. Look for writers with expertise in your industry, whether technology, healthcare, or finance.
And this is something that almost no one tells you – you should hire freelance content writers who have a genuine interest in the niche that you’re working in. I used to work with some lovely ladies about two years ago, promoting biocosmetics. And while the monthly fee was absolutely fine, I was 30-40% less productive, so I advised them to pick someone who loves their products. Beware, not every freelancer prioritizes well-being over money.
Fun fact: During some peak times when I had to outsource some of my assignments to freelancers (I’ve used the most popular freelance platform, you know which), I’ve come across experts who “knew” all niches. Finding someone who understood electronics and had some REAL tech background was a nightmare.
Last but not least, you should always try to hire writers who have experience in different types of content, such as blog posts, social media copy, email newsletters, etc., so they can provide versatility based on your needs.
Set Clear Expectations And Communicate Effectively
Clear communication and setting expectations from the beginning can lead to a successful collaboration with a freelance content writer. Determining your requirements and conveying them effectively to your writer is essential.
Let them know what tone or style of writing you would prefer and which topics are off-limits. Then, you should provide reasonable deadlines.
Many freelance writers won’t tell you these few facts, as they wouldn’t risk losing their clients. But I consider myself an honest person and will tell you what drives freelancers crazy:
- Micromanagement – the core idea of freelance writers is “free.” Trying to be on top of anything is against all arguments for hiring freelancers.
- Lack of instructions – this is a double-edged sword. I am totally fine with people trusting my expertise. However, not everyone feels the way I do. In fact, around 70-75% of freelancers need detailed instructions to do their job well.
- Multiple revisions – remember that the lack of instructions could result in many revisions. That’s a time waste, and it is agitating both you and your freelancer.
- Responsibility for conversions – the whole idea about content is to provide valuable information for the industry and the product. After all, a good content writer can greatly improve conversion chances, but the buying decision is out of their scope.
Agree On Payment And Terms
When it comes to agreeing on payment and terms with a freelance content writer, clarity is key. It’s important to establish upfront how much you’re willing to pay for the work, how and when payments will be made, and any other conditions or expectations that need to be met.
As a B2B company looking to hire a content writer, you may want to set a fixed rate per project or per hour, depending on your needs. You might also consider offering bonuses or incentives for quality work delivered within specific timelines.
It’s also worth noting that some freelance content writers may require an upfront deposit before beginning work to protect themselves against non-payment.
While this can provide peace of mind for them, it’s important to ensure that you feel comfortable with this arrangement as well before moving forward.
Common Concerns About Hiring A Freelance Content Writer And How To Address Them
Some common concerns about hiring a freelance content writer include quality and consistency of work, intellectual property issues, and communication. But don’t let those worries stop you from considering this valuable resource – we’ll address these concerns head-on so that you can make an informed decision about hiring a freelancer for your business.
Quality And Consistency Of Work
One of the biggest concerns in hiring a freelance content writer is ensuring the quality and consistency of their work. After all, your brand’s image and reputation are on the line.
To address these concerns, hiring a writer with experience in creating high-quality content that aligns with your brand voice and goals is imperative.
Moreover, setting clear expectations upfront through detailed briefings can also ensure consistent output from the freelancer.
Intellectual Property Issues
IP issues are not an uncommon problem that arises when dealing with freelancers, especially bottom-tier ones. Many freelancers are more than glad to share their works, even if they go against companies’ policies (for example, publishing articles after agreeing to ghostwrite.)
To address these issues, both freelancers and clients should consider signing custom agreements or Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs). Additionally, freelancers can include specific clauses in their Terms and Conditions agreements that outline how they will address intellectual property concerns.
Communication And Availability
Effective communication and prompt availability are two critical factors to consider when hiring a freelance content writer. With remote work being the norm for most freelancers, it is essential to establish clear communication channels and set expectations for response time.
Here are 4 effective strategies to work efficiently with freelance content writers:
- Set clear deadlines – if you avoid this step, your project will go down the pecking order. Be flexible with the deadline, but don’t be too loose.
- Reduce meetings – freelancers try to squeeze every possible minute and juggle between projects. Regular meetings over Zoom and Google Meet will reduce their productivity. And if you’re paying hourly rates, you might spend 100s for a couple of convincing nods.
- Use productivity tools – Trello, Basecamp, ClickUp, and even Google Sheets are good options for assigning tasks, deadlines, and chatting.
- Add multiple tasks at once – when you assign multiple tasks at once, you let the freelance writer manage their time more effectively. This helps them meet deadlines.
How Does Digital Parrot Compare to The Typical Freelance Model Types?
| Service | Quality | Turnaround time | Price | Reliability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upwork | Average/Slightly above average | Average | Low/High | Low/Average |
| Fiverr | Poor with slight exceptions | In most cases, quick | Low | Low |
| In-house employees | Potentially high | Very quick | Very high | Average |
| Content marketing agencies | High | Quick | High | High |
| Digital Parrot | High | Quick | 1 full-time content manager salary | Very High |
Freelance platforms
Hiring freelance content writers from Upwork and Fiverr is like attending a shooting competition after a hangover. While some talent out there is really prominent, and given Fiverr has a 26% share of the world’s gig economy, most expert content writers are not very active, as the huge competition drives down the prices.
Also, I’m witnessing a trend that anyone claims they’re an expert, making some criteria irrelevant. Why hire a content writer for $2,000 per project when their “equals” charge half the price(or even less.)
When we add the fact that freelancers should pay commission fees (Upwork has just reduced initial contract commissions from 20% to 10%) AND taxes, freelance platforms don’t really offer top-tier talent room to do their magic.
In-house content writers
In-house employees are always the best option. Or used to be. Nowadays, remote work is taking over, and any CEO who forces employees to go back to the office, risks losing key personnel.
Having a content writer by your side is definitely a big advantage. But with most content writers currently working at home (it’s not a position that requires physical attendance,) the idea of paying a huge salary, accompanied by different social security perks, expensive office equipment, and software costs, makes it financially irresponsible.
And remember – hiring someone doesn’t guarantee you a superb quality. Even the best recruiters can be misled by good-written CVs, potentially leaving you with a liability worth high 5 (or low 6) digits.
Content marketing agencies
Content marketing agencies aim to hit the sweet spot – offering good prices while working with a company. Many quality content marketing agencies offer writing services. Until the rise of AI, most of them used in-house employees to guarantee high quality for their clients.
But this was BEFORE AI. When I decided to do market research, many newly created agencies (and even some legacy ones) are turning to freelancers to write low-quality content. Many times, they are even encouraging ChatGPT use (a good way to offer freelancers peanuts.)
DigitalParrot
And here I am – the solopreneur. About 2 years ago, I started a content writing agency with ambitions to build a solid team and help clients achieve their goals.
Many people struggle to find content writers who can deliver outstanding quality over time. While I cannot guarantee you I’m the best available talent (I believe there are many fantastic professionals out there), I can offer you the three things my clients love about me:
- Prompt delivery – everyone can do a great job. Doing so consistently and not missing deadlines is what truly matters, at least to me.
- Proactive attitude – time is the most expensive resource. My proactiveness will help you focus on other things.
- Insane value for money – my goal is to strike the perfect balance between quality and quantity. I use various SEO, NLP, and AI tools which help me keep a cutting edge over the competition. At the same time, these tools help me charge competitive rates.
FAQs:
What are the benefits of hiring a freelance content writer?
Hiring a freelance content writer allows businesses to access high-quality, customized content without hiring a full-time employee. Freelancers often have expertise in specific industries or niches and can help companies connect with their target audience through engaging and informative content.
How do I find the right freelance content writer for my business?
It depends on your budget. For small projects (like one-off assignments), freelance platforms like Upwork and Fiverr can provide enough talent. If you need someone to create content consistently, LinkedIn might be the best solution. However, most people on LinkedIn are looking for a stable job, so offering a contract might not suit them. And this is where I can help – I work as an independent contractor.
How much should I expect to pay for freelance writing services?
The cost of hiring a freelance writer varies depending on factors such as project complexity, level of research required, word count, type of content (blog post vs white paper), industry niche, or specialty area. Generally speaking, freelancers charge per hour or per project. However, I charge a monthly retainer fee, which helps businesses predict their monthly costs without exceeding the estimated budget.
Can working with a freelancer improve my website’s SEO performance?
Yes! Freelance writers who specialize in SEO-friendly writing understand how to create an optimized copy using targeted keywords/phrases throughout each page/post they create, which ultimately improves search engine rankings over time as more traffic starts flowing into those pages from organic sources, i.e., Google searches.
