Content Marketing Life Hack: Using a Content Writing Company

Content Marketing is the driving life force behind keyword targeting, content creation, and online lead generation. It’s no secret that all of this content writing takes time, which is the one thing that most content marketers have in short supply. Lucky for you, there is a life hack that every single content marketer should know about, which is to use an online content creation company to do some or all of the writing for you.

Why You Should Stop Writing Content Yourself

Like I mentioned above, most content marketers find that they never have enough time. One of the most time-consuming and most important parts of content marketing is to write content. In order to engage in different types of content writing, there is a lot of strategy, keyword placement, formatting, organization, scheduling and research time that has to be devoted to the craft. Most content marketers have their hands in so many marketing initiatives already that they rarely have time to sit down and write the content themselves.

On top of that, if you as a content marketer are in charge of all the writing for your content strategy campaigns, you’re likely to burn out. The chances of you falling short on inbound marketing goals or not producing enough content to make a dent in search rankings becomes very high. This can be stressful and frustrating! The most efficient way to increase your content marketing skills is to work smarter and not harder – employ high-quality content writers through a reputable content creation company to help your marketing efforts scale with your goals.

How Often Should You Engage in Content Writing?

A well-known study by Hubspot in 2015 highlighted the fact that companies that blog more than 16 times a month saw 3.5 times more traffic than companies that did less than that. In today’s content landscape, competitive content marketers should probably be doing even more than that, but the fact is most companies still aren’t even hitting 16 blogs a month. In order to accomplish this number, a business would essentially need to write around 4 blog posts a week throughout the entire month.

Now that you have a benchmark of the number of articles to create a month, let’s talk about the time it takes to actually sit down and write this much content. So how much time does it take to write at least 16 blog posts (assuming 16 is the minimum recommended amount) per month?

According to Hubspot, it would take you about 32 hours of writing time to come up with 16, 500-word blog posts per month. That’s a ton of time that most content marketers just don’t have! Enlisting a content writing company to handle this load reduces any bandwidth strangleholds that content creation has given you in the past.

How Long Should Your Content Be?

On top of the number of blogs you should be producing per month, guidelines for the length of blog posts have also changed over the years. For content that you want to rank at the top of google, 1900 words per post is the new minimum standard (but we’d recommend even 2500-3000 words…). That’s nearly 4 times the length of the 500-word blog posts analyzed in the study!

If you were to scale the math accordingly, the writing of 16 nearly 2000 word blog posts would take around 120 hours. If you’re working full-time as a content marketer or content manager, then just to write the content you need each month you’d be spending 30 hours of your 40-hour work-week typing. This isn’t sustainable!

This is one great reason why outsourcing your content writing to a reputable content writing service can be an amazing tool for content marketers. By having a skilled marketing content writer creating your content, you can spend more time focusing on keyword research, click funnels, posting schedules and analytics – the things you were hired on in the first place to take care of.

Delegating content writing to a trusted SEO content writing company is the best content marketing life hack out there!

What are Some Content Writing Examples in Digital Marketing?

Now that we’ve gone over how much time you can save, let’s talk about what content writing actually looks like in a digital marketing campaign.

Every digital marketing campaign consists of different types of content working together in order to create leads and, ultimately, sales. These different types of content come in all shapes and sizes. Here are some examples of different types of content writing:

• Blog posts
• Web pages
• Landing Pages
• Rewrites
• Geo-pages
• SEO articles
• Meta descriptions
• Title tags
• Product pages
• Category pages
• White papers
• Ebooks
• Social media posts
• Video scripts
• Quizzes
• And More…

While these web content writing projects all are similar in that they require someone to sit down and create them, they are not all the same. The structure of the content writing can differ between product types (think press release templates and ebook formats) and the intent can also be quite different. Blogs are meant to inform and engage where product pages need to describe and sell. Case studies require factual data written in a problem/solution format, while video scripts need to be short, succinct and translate well to being read on-screen.

In order to really nail your content marketing campaigns, you need to hire content writers who have experience with these different content types and can focus more on the message than just learning the template.

What Skills Should a Content Writer Have?

Marketers who haven’t used professional ghostwriting services in the past often wonder what types of skills they should be looking for when selecting a content writer.

The truth is that content marketing writing skills can vary greatly, but there are a few skills that the best content writers all have. They include the following:

1. Stellar Writing Ability

Content writers must have a firm understanding of proper grammar, sentence structure, and the ability to express ideas clearly. You’d want to be sure any content writers you hire go through a grammar test as well as multiple sample articles to get a feel for their writing ability and if you’d consider them to be a good fit for your content writing projects.

2. Researching Expertise

While everyone wants to find a writer who is an expert in their vertical, this just isn’t a reality. However, writers that may not know a subject need to have the skills to adequately research the topic in order to write helpful and informational content that is credible. You may need to create some industry/brand-specific training to make sure writers can write in the appropriate tone, voice and vocabulary of you or your clients.

3. Native Speakers

Since language has a lot to do with the way a person thinks and understands information, it’s important to write in the native language that you speak. This helps to ensure that those who also speak this language can clearly understand what you are expressing as it will sound familiar and make logical sense.

4. Writing Efficiency

Professional ghostwriters are just that, professionals. Hiring seasoned, high-quality content writers is essential as it means that these writers know how to meet deadlines and can work efficiently in order to produce high-quality content in short amounts of time.

5. Understanding of SEO

The best content writers have an understanding of how keywords should be used naturally in content and not keyword stuff their content – otherwise the content can come off as jarring and unnaturally worded. Optimizing content for SEO is something that is ingrained in the best article writers and becomes something they do naturally.

6. Aversion to Duplication or other Unethical Writing Practices

Duplicate content, as well as spun content, is completely worthless. Not only that, it’s unethical. Only original content is worth paying for…period! We only hire writers that have the integrity and pride it takes to produce well-written SEO article content. We believe the best content creation services are the ones that have the best all-around people working on client’s projects, and that has as much to do with core values as it does writing skills.

How Do Other Content Marketers Find Content Writers?

One of the main issues that exist for businesses trying to be good about executing content writing campaigns lies in creating it all. In many companies, digital marketers take on the responsibility of finding a way to create all of the different types of content that are used in a digital marketing campaign. Finding content writers is usually done one of three ways:

1. Hire High-Quality Content Writers In-House

While this sounds like a great fix at first glance, it’s usually the most expensive and least efficient way to do content writing at a company. While hiring someone in-house does give you the most control over the writing output of that employee, you do take on extra overhead, office space, taxes, hiring costs, managing costs and more.

If you don’t currently have a way to weed out high-quality writers from not-so-good writers, you may spend months as well as thousands of dollars on content that only ends up being subpar or worse.

Plus, there’s no easy way to scale your writing projects. If you have too much work to do, then you’re hiring multiple content writers in-house and piling on the costs. If you have too little writing work to do, then you have unhappy employees and wasted management resources.

2. Manage Your Own Team of Freelance Writers

While this is typically better (from a financial standpoint) than hiring in-house content writers, the hiring, procedural and management costs still add up. Bringing on independent contractors can help you to scale up or down when necessary, but you still have to have someone in charge of vetting and hiring SEO writers, training them and then managing them on writing projects as they come up.

The more article writers you bring on, the more your hiring and management costs are, and you need to have an easy way to distribute, collect and audit work from them. Typically, the amount of time and work it takes to just set up a solution like this doesn’t end up being worth the cost, especially if it takes you away from the other core aspects of your business.

3. Outsource Content Writing to a Content Creation Company

The most efficient, affordable and scalable way to increase your content writing campaigns is to hire online content creation companies. The best content creation services have already curated large teams of writers that can work on your projects immediately, without you having to worry about hiring talent or writing content yourself.

When it comes to certain online writing companies, writing is all they do! They focus on this one part of the content marketing process and have become specialists. Some writing companies also offer blog post subscriptions where they’ll do all the keyword research, topic creation and content writing for you. It’s basically a set it and forget it blogging plan for business owners that just don’t have the time. The key is finding the right kind of online writing service to help make sure you’re getting exactly the type of content that you need.

What are the Different Types of Content Writing Services?

The truth is that not all content writing companies are created equal. In fact, there are a few different types of writing services out there to be aware of. Knowing the different types of content writing that they specialize in can help you determine the best content creation services for your company.

Self-Service Content Writing Companies

Self-service content writing companies generally provide a large platform that gives you access to thousands of writers. They’ve done the initial work of vetting writers at different quality levels so you can then pay for the quality level you need and try some different writers on your project. This type of writing service can be good for companies with small projects, aren’t as concerned with quality/control of the message, or need an article ASAP.

This service is usually the cheapest writing service option available, but there is some loss of control on which writers take your projects and generally you will be the one managing the writers, albeit through their existing system. This may not be the best fit for a company needing consistent, high-quality content writing.

Companies like TextBroker, WriterAccess and Zerys would be considered primarily “Self-Serve” content writing companies.

Full-Service Content Writing Companies

These types of content writing companies offer a full-service experience at a premium. They can help you do in-depth keyword research, analytics, testing, content strategy and content writing – and at times provide well-known journalists. This can be a good option for companies that want the name recognition of existing writers to help boost credibility or need help with many pieces of the content marketing puzzle and have a bigger budget to spend.

That being said, this option may not be the best fit for smaller companies or digital marketing agencies that already have an in-house SEO. If you need all the services related to content writing, they can be a great fit but may be too expensive for the business that only needs one or two pieces of the content marketing puzzle.

Content creation companies that would fall under “Full-Service” would be companies like Brafton, ClearVoice, Contently, etc.

Managed Service Content Writing Services

A content creation company that falls under this “managed” umbrella would be one that provides quality, consistency and control at a project level. This setup is ideal for digital marketers who have come up with their own strategy and just need help to fulfil the content writing portion of it at a high level on a consistent basis. In a managed-service writing environment, you’d typically have dedicated writing teams that stay on your projects as well as a dedicated account manager to help customize the ordering process and provide customer support. The only requirement is typically that you’re ordering a minimum amount of content as a part of your project.

This option is generally a little bit more expensive than self-service but cheaper than full-service content writing companies. This is a great fit for companies that have consistent, ongoing content projects and want the same high-quality writers content writers on their projects without having to manage it themselves.

Here at BKA Content, we are a “Managed Service” content writing company. While we do offer a self-service option for companies that need a quick article here or there, the bulk of our business is done through our managed services.

How Does A Content Writing Company Offering Managed Services Work?

So instead of digital marketers creating the content one piece at a time, let’s assume they outsource this writing to a “Managed Service” content writing service. If you have multiple pieces of content to order at a time consistently, using a content writing service like this can be a godsend. So how does it all work?

In our case, we believe that consistent, quality content is what ultimately drives search rankings so we’ve set up our business model to accommodate. As long as you are spending a minimum of $1,000 a month on content, we provide account management for free and create dedicated teams of writers to keep quality and consistency high for each project. There are a few other content companies that offer managed services similar to us, but the process will differ slightly between companies. Even so, you can usually expect the following.

More Work Up Front = Better Results Later On

With a “Managed Service” content company, there is a little more work involved initially to help set up the project and go through a few feedback loops before the large project can be worked on. However, this is done to ensure that quality, process and scale are all up to standard so that the project has a pathway to success. Once the initial “trial order” is done and feedback is given, the process can be replicated month-in and month-out with very little work on the clients’ part and they can rest easy that the manager on our end will ensure the project runs smoothly.

Access to Dedicated Teams of Writers

Typically, in this setup, monthly feedback loops with clients are still preferred to make sure any new updates or any small issues are shored up and that the writing teams are still up to speed. Keeping the same writers on the same projects, however, ultimately helps the quality of the work increase as they become familiar with the purpose of the content, the topics that are given and become experts in the field they are writing in (if they weren’t already.

For specialized fields, like Legal, Medical, Technical or other, dedicated teams offer an affordable alternative to trying to find working experts to write the content. The truth of the matter is that working experts rarely write and the ones that do cost a fortune. Using dedicated teams of writers, with good initial feedback loops can provide training to help create a team of writing experts in your industry. We’ve done this for multiple clients and now boast some of the largest writing teams in those respective industries.

A Digital Marketing Content Writing Example Using Managed Services

Let me give you an example of how this managed service setup typically works here at BKA Content:

1. One of our boarding managers will communicate with you regarding the types of content you need and give you an initial content price quote.
2. An easy ordering method will be determined and customized for your business and a content order will be placed.
3. Our account manager will vet a few writers to complete a few pieces to get feedback from you in order to create a detailed set of instructions on our end to train the writers on your content project.
4. We create a dedicated team of content writers to work on the project going forward.
5. The account manager will get your content order written and then deliver it back to you.
6. The account manager takes care of all of the writer training and questions that may arise with your project.
7. Ordering and delivery works like clockwork as repeat and new orders can be made at any time.

Some Final Things to Consider when Using Content Creation Companies

While using content creation companies is the best way to affordably scale your content, there are still some things to be aware of as you decide who to use. There are plenty of content writing establishments out there, but choosing the right partner can make or break your content marketing results. Here are a few things to watch out for when selecting a top content writing service.

1. Beware Off-Shore Content Writing Services

Some content creation services can be based in the US but use off-shore writers to write the content. While these services may be cheaper, you get what you pay for in that the quality of the content will almost always be poor. When needing American English content, be sure to only use content creation services that use American writers.

2. Consider the Risks of using a Small Content Creation Company

While a small content company may tout anywhere from 0-25 writers, this simply is too small of a team to create a lot of content quickly. With a team that small, chances are they don’t have expertise in a wide variety of niches which can be problematic if you’re needing a certain level of experience. Make sure to pick a company that has at least a few hundred writers to ensure that they have the capacity to take on your projects, the personnel to write to your needs while also doing it in a timely fashion.

3. Understand What Each SEO Article Writing Service Offers

Many content creation services claim to be full service or managed solution when in reality they are only a freelance platform that connects you with individual writers. If you’re expecting managed services but only get self-service, you’ll find yourself frustrated since this type of setup doesn’t save you too much time since you have to do the ordering, writer selection, instruction explanation, editing, question answering as well as following up on all of your projects. The last thing you want to is to use a process where you feel like you should just be writing the content yourself.

When looking for a managed solution, be sure to select a top content creation service that gives you one point of contact for ordering and delivery so that you can truly save time by not having to deal with writers individually.

4. Be Aware that Some Content Writing Companies Can’t Customize

Every company works a little differently, but many content creation services lack the ability to customize ordering processes or delivery that works best for your existing processes. This is typically true of content writing services that primarily focus on having you use their platform to get work completed.

Experienced content writing companies will be able to customize certain processes to help keep things easy and work for the way your company operates. The goal is to be a content writing extension of your business, not just another writing platform you have to work around.

A Content Writing Company You Can Trust

BKA Content has everything you are looking for when it comes to hiring an experienced and professional content writing service that offers blog writing services. Having been around for over a decade, we have helped countless companies and agencies create high-quality content for their digital marketing campaigns. We also have multiple avenues for you to work with us, whether it be through self-service, managed services or our blog subscription plans.

We only hire American writers and take the time to vet them properly to make sure that their writing quality meets our high expectations. Our account management team is truly our secret sauce as we make content ordering simple, affordable, custom and efficient. Contact us today to see how our content creation company can help you with your article writing projects!