9 Things To Look For in Top Content Writing Companies

There are many article writing services out there offering to create content for your company. However, not all of them can deliver the content that you need to distinguish your business from its competitors. Top content writing companies are different. They are able to deliver high-quality copy that is optimized for web searches on a consistent basis.

Of course, finding these companies becomes easier once you know what to look for.

What Should You Look for in Top Content Writing Companies?

If you’re convinced that outsourcing to a content creation company is the right choice for you, you need to learn to identify those companies that can deliver the copy that you need to market your business. A top content writing company should demonstrate the following characteristics.

1. High Quality

The content that you publish on your website makes a strong impression on your customers, whether positive or negative. The top content writing companies produce high-quality writing on a consistent basis. Every piece of content you order should exhibit the following characteristics:

• Correct spelling
• Standard grammar
• Effective search engine optimization (e.g., keyword integration)
• Relevant, authoritative content (i.e., no “fluff”)
• Original content (i.e., no plagiarism)
• Strong writing voice

If you were hiring an individual writer to create content for you, he or she would probably demonstrate the consistently high quality of his or her work by presenting a portfolio for your review. However, when you consider outsourcing to a content writing company that engages with many different writers, it is more common to order a few test pieces to see if you are happy with the consistency of the quality and want to order more.

How To Check If Content Is High-Quality

The bullet points above are great indicators of whether or not something seems high-quality. When reading samples or commissions, there are a few things you can do to quickly determine whether or not the writing is of professional grade.

First, read through the content. At any time, you feel the need to stop and reread a section to comprehend the message, you may be dealing with poor-quality content. Does the content make sense? Did you catch any easy spelling mistakes? If you struggle to understand the sample, this is a good indicator that the writing is not very readable, which is a huge factor of quality.

Next, check the formatting. Does it flow? If there are bulky paragraphs, no headings and minimal effort in creating sections, you may be dealing with a writer who isn’t familiar with professional SEO writing. If you commissioned a sample, carefully check to see if the writer followed your instructions. Top content writing companies should be able to match the tone and style of your brand in any piece of writing. If you don’t see that, don’t expect high-quality content that aligns with your brand.

2. Strategic Understanding

Before you decide to look into article writing services, you should have a content strategy in mind. This means you need to consider what goals you have for your content, how much you want to create and how often you want to promote.

And don’t forget that a content strategy involves more than just a healthy business blog. It includes optimizing product descriptions, updating landing pages and upgrading your social media presence. Any form of content on your website can be used to help and benefit your business.

Top Content Writing Companies Can Give You A Strategic Edge

If you have a plan in mind, all you need are the hands and expertise to make it happen.

Once you decide which of the best content writing companies to hire, you will work with its managers to tailor and refine your strategy so that it will be as effective as possible. From there, you can expect a steady flow of high-quality content.

3. Efficient Turnaround

Timing is very important to your digital marketing strategy. If you do not publish content frequently and consistently, you may see your web traffic and customer engagement decline.

The top content writing companies are able to deliver the content you order within a reasonable time frame. This is an important reason to outsource work. Instead of stretching yourself thin trying to write content every week, you can hand it to a team of professionals who get it done quickly with skill.

Occasionally, there may be unavoidable delays, but the company you work with should keep these to a minimum and always be proactive in communicating the reasons for them.

4. Effective Communication

One of the benefits of outsourcing content creation is that you don’t need to micromanage the work. You can generally just tell the professionals what you want and trust them to do their jobs.

However, there are several points during the process where you need to touch base with the professionals. Certainly at the beginning, you need to articulate and refine your strategy with the representative of the company. You may also have to provide clarification at some point in the writing process. If something is not right with the finished product, you may have to request a revision.

Pick The Company That Communicates

Top content writing companies aren’t just known for the quality of content they produce. People skills are just as important. Work with a company that makes your outsourcing experience simple and enjoyable.

The best content writing companies provide you with one consistent point of contact to manage your orders. This person should be accessible, understanding of your needs and goals and knowledgeable about the process. They also need to be able to communicate effectively to help you with your content strategy and resolve any issues that may arise.

5. Flexible Revisions

If you’ve chosen a reputable content creation company, you should usually be satisfied with the end result. However, occasionally a misunderstanding can occur and a particular piece of content may not be up to the usual standards.

The top content writing companies offer flexibility in their revision policies. Rather than charging you extra for every revision, they should only do so if you failed to communicate something that the writer needed to know to meet your expectations.

Revisions that are required because of an error on the writer’s part should incur no additional expense to you. In addition, the turnaround on a revised article should be faster than on the original order.

6. Built-in Scalability

Your content needs may vary from month to month. At certain times of the year, you may require greater quantities of content, while at others you may need fewer articles.

This can be an issue if you decide to hire an in-house writer for content creation. At some times, you may require more content than one writer can reasonably handle, while at other times you may not be able to provide the writer with enough work to justify his or her salary.

The top content writing companies are scalable by their very nature. They contract with multiple writers so they can handle the biggest orders that you have to make. You only have to order when you need content, which is part of what makes outsourcing content creation more cost-effective than hiring in-house writers and paying them a salary.

7. Ordering Options

If your projects tend to be small, without a lot of specialized requirements, you may be able to order content when you need it on a self-service basis. This is a useful option, especially if you are still figuring out your content strategy or need a few updated pages.

On the other hand, if you order large volumes of content and need it to meet custom specifications, you may be able to create your own account for managed services. Among other benefits, this allows you to create a style guide specific to your company and save on large orders with volume discounts.

The top content writing companies offer both options. At BKA Content, we offer a third option: a blog subscription service that makes ordering content consistently even easier. When it comes to content creation, remember that the best content writing companies do not limit your writing options.

8. Industry Awards and Accolades

Good work in any field tends to gain recognition from peers and professional organizations. The same holds true for top content writing companies. You can often find information about any awards and honors that a content writing company has received on its website.

When evaluating a company to which you might want to outsource content creation, it is helpful to know what kind of experiences its other customers have had. You may be able to find reviews of the organization on third-party sites. These provide an objective view of the company and whether it can deliver on what it promises. Some of the best content companies publish customer testimonials on their websites. A review of both may give a more complete picture of the company.

9. Reasonable Prices

Whenever you purchase anything for your business, you want to get as much as you can, in terms of both quality and quantity, for as little money as possible. Content creation is no exception. Once you have identified some of the top content writing companies, you should compare prices to see which is most cost-effective for your company. However, don’t make the mistake of choosing the least expensive content company without first evaluating whether it can deliver consistent high-quality content in a timely manner.

An important thing to keep in mind while studying prices is to recognize different levels of content. Basic SEO content will be less expensive than branded SEO blogs. Determine the kind of content you’re looking for and evaluate the price depending on the difficulty, length and expertise needed.

Why Do You Need Article Writing Services?

With these nine qualities in mind, it’s time to ask the question: Do you really need to outsource your content creation? Couldn’t you just write your own blog posts? You could, but you may be underestimating how much time you need to invest to create content for a consistent publishing schedule. Studies show that blog posts at least 1,000 words long tend to perform the best. Creating a blog post that long, including the research required to make it detailed and authoritative, takes approximately three hours on average.

It is not only the consistency of your publishing schedule that counts but the frequency. Companies tend to see the most engagement when they publish content at least 16 times per month, which works out to approximately four blog posts per week. If each blog post takes approximately three hours to write and you are producing four per week, that’s approximately 12 hours per week that you need to devote to creating content rather than attending to other concerns related to running your business.

Content Options

Another alternative to hiring one of the top content writing companies is to hire your own staff of one or more in-house writers. However, that tends to be much more expensive than outsourcing to a third party. This cost comparison explains in detail why outsourcing is ultimately cheaper, but here is an overview of the expenses related to hiring in-house staff that you don’t have to worry about from an outside company:

• Onboarding
• Overhead
• Salary
• Payroll taxes
• Employee benefits

While overhead is a one-time expense, salary, benefits and taxes are ongoing costs. Onboarding can be either a one-time or ongoing expense depending on how big your writing staff is and how much turnover you experience.

Using a top content company can give you more freedom and quality content while saving you money. Besides, sometimes the best way to get the most out of your content strategy is to use professionals who are trained and eager to write excellent SEO content.

Start Working With One of the Top Content Writing Companies

We are proud of the work we do at BKA and are eager to prove why we are one of the top content writing companies around. Whether you need 1 or 1,000 articles per month, we can help you. We invite you to check out our content shop to see all the different products we offer.