Watch Out for These 6 Mistakes When Hiring a Blog Writer

Many business owners commit hefty mistakes when offering someone the chance to take the reins on their business blog.

Here are six of the biggest of those mistakes. Watch out for them when hiring a blog writer to avoid frustrating setbacks and to ensure your blog is as great as it deserves to be.

1. Going to the Lowest Bidder

Remember the maxim: “you get what you pay for.”

Have high standards in mind, and use them to make your budget reasonable. Keep in mind that a badly written blog can cause damage to your brand and marketing goals, making a poorly run blog worse than no blog at all.

2. Not Looking at Their Resume and Past Work

You should also look out for a writer who is able to write engagingly in several different voices. They should be chameleons capable of mimicking your particular brand. At the same time, they should have consistent stylistic devices that make reading their pieces easy and fun.

3. Not Setting Goals and Expectations

If your goal is SEO and generating traffic from social media shares, then the writer may take a more “viral” approach. If the aim is to generate leads and develop brand awareness, quality information and a strong brand voice matter most.

If you have SEO goals, provide a sample of keywords they can work into the writing. Tell them what elements they need to include upon submission to make your life easier, such as adding images or including a meta description.

4. Going With a Strong Writer Who Can’t Match Your Brand Voice

Make sure that any writer you hire can adopt the approach and voice you want to represent your brand. A great test is to provide the guidelines for a sample article using excerpts from blogs you like and some loosely described ideas you’ve had.

5. Not Establishing a Set Workflow and Process After Hiring a Blog Writer

At the beginning of your relationship, you and your writer should know how the typical process for submitting blogs should work. Tell them the deadline for each piece. Tell them whether you want an outline or topic proposal submitted first. Explain how many revisions you might typically go through. Try to work towards consistency.

6. Not Talking Strategy With Your Writer

Try to schedule a call or meeting with your writer at least quarterly. Discuss your upcoming plans. Offer both praise and suggestions for improvement. See if they have any ideas you could work on your blog strategy. Make a goal to push your blogging to become better month after month.

Following all of the suggestions above ensures you don’t just find a great writer, but that you also develop a professional working relationship that gets better over time. If you can do all this, you will be much happier with the work of your writer and happier about the results they help your blog achieve.