Thinking about starting a blog for your business? That’s a smart decision. Blogging not only helps you rank higher in search results, it shows that you’re an expert in your industry (and makes people want to work with your company!)
When you decide to take the plunge into blogging, you have to make a choice. Do you write the blog yourself—or do you hire someone to do it for you?
Let’s take a closer look at the pluses and minuses of each approach:
No one else knows what you know. No one knows your subject area better than you. That’s why it makes a lot of sense to write your business blog yourself.
When you create content internally, you’re able to bring out your experience and expertise in every article. That’s not something an external blog writer can do—they’re not helping real customers solve their problems every day. You’ll be able to reference actual customer conversations as you write, which adds depth to your content.
DIY blog writing also gives your content authenticity. Blog posts are written in your voice with words you actually use and stories from your personal experience. As they read, your customers will feel like they’re actually getting to know you. Even in this internet age, human connection really matters. People want to work with and buy from people who they like.
Another major DIY benefit is that you’re not paying someone to get up-to-speed. Even if you hire a writer who is already deeply immersed in your industry, they’ll need to spend time learning about your offerings, case studies and how you do business.
Unless you’re already an experienced writer, it's not easy to start writing a blog. You have to learn what it takes to write a good post and then practice enough for your writing to improve. It will take a lot of time at first. Plus, to make sure your time is spent on the right activities, you'll need to learn about digital marketing, SEO and inbound marketing best practices. Finally, you'll have to find the time to actually write. It’s not possible to bang out a good post in minutes, expect to set aside a couple hours to write—especially if you're new to the game or want to include a lot of research.
If you’re putting off launching a blog because you don’t have the time internally, the solution is to find someone who can focus on creating your content. Don't worry, this isn't cheating. Many companies who consistently publish great articles outsource their blog writing. (I know because I’ve written for many of them!)
One of the top benefits of outsourcing is that it takes a lot less time for you. You don't need to learn how to write or to educate yourself on digital marketing best practices. Nor do you need to spend a day writing a blog post yourself (and then rewriting it 400 times). Instead, you can periodically (every month or week) meet with your writer and talk about the next posts on the calendar. Then you’ll get back to your regularly-scheduled work—and they’ll start creating your content. When they’re done, you review and they go back to make any required changes. Easy!
When you outsource, you also benefit from working with someone who really knows how to leverage blogs to get results. They can write interesting articles that will draw in your readers. Plus, they know how to identify which keywords to go after, can write headlines and meta descriptions that will get clicked on in search results and can interpret your analytics to see what types of blog posts are most effective at reaching your target customers. They can also write engaging social messages and are able to upload the content into your website without causing HTML errors (an often time-consuming, stressful task).
Finally, outsourcing is great because it ensures that your blog gets updated regularly—which is key to increasing your search rankings. When you ask internal people to blog, it’s often on a “When you can squeeze it in” basis. Your clients have to come first because they keep the lights on. When you outsource blog writing, however, you are the client. That means finishing your content on time is the writer’s priority and that you’re guaranteed to publish content on time (no matter what else is going on at your company!)
To be frank, a good writer can be hard to find. The last thing you want are poorly written articles that ramble on without substance, come across as uninformed or forget the intended audience. Many companies get discouraged because they don’t know how to evaluate whether a writer is a good match for their needs. Outsourcing also requires that you have a firm grasp of your industry and voice, and are able to communicate the needs of your target customers. If you don’t have clarity on what your customers need to read about, it will be harder for a blog writer to create effective content.
Luckily, it’s possible to get the best of both worlds by strategically outsourcing.
If you want someone to turn your words into articles, consider pairing up with a writer who is a good interviewer. As little as a 15 minute conversation could be turned into a blog post, while a half-hour call could turn into several smaller articles or one long in-depth article. Partnering with an experienced interviewer makes your content more personal because the writer gets to understand your voice and will be able to ask you for specific examples to include in the article.
Or if you want to write the articles yourself, but need help to make sure that you’re doing it right, consider working with an Inbound Marketing Strategist. They can help you choose keywords to focus on and guide you at analyzing the impact of your blogging efforts. They can also edit your articles to make sure that they are compelling, have the SEO elements they need and adhere to content marketing best practices.
Whether you decide to outsource blog writing or to do it yourself, the most important thing is to get started so you can start realizing the benefits of a blog.