In a previous article, I talked about what are the advantages of buying articles from someone that is specialized in content creation. Writing quality content takes a lot of time, and in the beginning you may even think that you can handle it, but life takes its course, and you will find yourself overwhelmed by other more important things that need to be solved in the company.
If you decided to buy articles, then you should keep in mind that there are a few things you need to know before picking the writer for your company’s blog.
There are plenty of websites, and platforms where you can search for talented people to write content for you. You can start browsing through them, and see what are their conditions, and what they can offer.
[ Photo credits: J. Money’s Flickr ]
This is the first thing you need to think about before deciding who to hire. You want to make this choice depending on the number of articles you want per week, which is also based on cost and time efficiency. You can buy articles either from an agency that provides content writing services or from freelancers.
If you want to keep your blog active at all times, then you need someone that will create an appropriate strategy. The last thing you want is to hire someone that won’t meet your goals. After you’ve completed this first step, it’s time to move on, and see the pros and cons of agencies, and freelancers as well.
If you’re looking for a long term collaboration, then the best thing to do is to buy articles from an agency. An agency will also be able to create a strong content strategy for your website’s blog, and you will know for sure that they will get a more in-depth view of your brand’s voice.
Many agencies will also have packages that include managing your social media channels, which they will use to promote the articles they write. This is a great choice, especially if you don’t have time to deal with promoting your articles.
If you decide to work with an agency, take a look at the content they provide for themselves, because it can be a very useful insight into the quality of the content they can write for you.
More and more people (including writers) have shifted toward freelancing their work. It’s a convenient way both for them, and for the people that hire them.
As I stated in the beginning of this article, there are plenty of platforms where you can find people that write articles. To get a better look at what someone has to offer, the best thing to do is to go on their website (if they have one), and check the pricing and his portfolio, of course, since it’s the most important aspect.
If they don’t have a website, you can connect with them through email. But pay attention, and make sure they are trustworthy before deciding to buy articles from them.
While buying articles from someone outside your company is way cheaper than actually hiring someone inside the company to write the content for you, don’t focus your attention towards the cheapest ones out there. If the price is too low, this should raise you some questions regarding the quality of the content that person provides.
Stay away from these type of “deals”, because in the end you will not only lose money, but time as well, and time is the most precious asset we all have, and we can’t take it back.
No matter who you decided to hire, the agency, or the freelancer, it’s best to ask for a demo article, or establish some ground rules from the very beginning. I would recommend to ask for one article on a topic of your choice, and see how that goes, if you like it or not, and if you think the writer can adapt to your suggestions.
Thanks to the Internet, you can always collaborate with writers or agencies even if they are not from your country, or continent. Be open to their feedback, and give them your feedback as well. And if you don’t agree with them on a certain matter, don’t be afraid to tell them. After all, it’s your money at stake.
If you don’t want to do the research by yourself, then you can always ask for recommendations. Even if you don’t work in the content marketing world, you can easily connect with other professionals, and ask them for advice, thanks to the technologies available today, which make communication much easier.
Many writers work based on recommendations, because it makes the work easier for them. They trust the person who makes the referral, and the recommended person is also trusted, because most of the time the recommendations come from people who have already used the services of the writer/agency.
It’s in the best interest of trusted agencies or freelance writers to do an amazing work at providing content for you, because it’s what they do for a living. A bad recommendation could be a disaster for them. Of course, there can be some exceptions, of people or agencies that don’t care about their reputation.
My answer is yes, if you want your company to grow, engage with your customers, establish a more personal relationship with them, and also provide them valuable information. In today’s world, where there’s a lot of competition between companies, content marketing can make a lot of difference.
There are a lot of success stories out there of big companies, small businesses, and even startups that managed to use content marketing to increase their customers.
What do you think about this practice? Do you think that if you buy articles, it will make a difference in your business’ development? Would you be interested in these type of services? Let me know down in the comments section.
