Writer needed? Many small businesses do not have the time, nor the resources, to build and maintain a strong online presence or a solid online content strategy.

It is well-known that having an online presence is crucial to business success, and engaging directly with consumers and potential customers.

Having a blog is beneficial for small businesses, allowing them to build loyalty among their current customers, gain feedback, and attract new leads (therefore increasing sales) whilst also helping with the search-engine ranking of the company website.

Suffice to say – blogging for small businesses is pretty important! It is an effective way of communicating with your target audience, and provides a cost-effective way of building and maintaining an online presence, without the need of hiring costly web designers or having to learn HTML.

With all of this in mind it is worthwhile investing in a professional writer, needed to make your content stand out from the crowd and get your message heard. Here are just some of the ways that blogging can benefit your small business:

Communicate Your Brand Proposition

Your blog is your way of reaching out to your potential customers, and the content you publish will shape and enhance the ways in which your audience connects with your brand and company. You can use your blogs’ content to drive engagement, as well as increase the likelihood of new customers discovering your business, through publishing high-quality, shareable content.

A good writer is needed for you to be able to pull this off effectively, as blogging also creates a level of trust between your organization and your target consumers. People are more likely to ‘trust’ content that is written on a blog, by an individual – rather than corporate-style sales material that is purely promotional and offers no real benefit to the person reading it.

In this respect, blogs enable small businesses to establish a clear, authentic voice and communicate their message in a meaningful way online in a way that many larger corporations do not.

Boost Your Websites SEO Ranking

The first thing that a potential customer will do when they are looking for a specific product or service is search for it via Google, or another search engine. Therefore, you want your business website to rank as highly as possible in search results! Having a blog attached to your company website is a highly effective way of climbing the search engine ladder.

A good blog writer will be able to identify the appropriate key words for your business to target, and then create content around those key words to improve your search-engine ranking. This goes beyond the simple offerings and services of your business – and can include peripheral keywords that your target consumers will be searching for.

This type of targeted marketing based on the demographics and interests of your consumers is highly effective, and much less costly than other traditional forms of marketing and print or media advertising.

Enable You to Build a Mailing List of Potential Customers

If your blog contains useful information that your target consumers are searching the web for (which it will – provided your blog writer performs the appropriate keyword research as stated in the point above), then ultimately the people who land on your site are warm leads who might benefit from your products or services.

By offering a free, downloadable piece of content on your blog (such as an Ebook or pdf that addresses certain pain points within your target consumer) – you have the opportunity to capture the email addresses of your target audience.

This can be used to build a database for future direct marketing campaigns, as you will steadily build a catalogue of customers who have already expressed an interest in the types of services or products your business is offering – and are therefore more likely to buy from you.

This type of lead generation is extremely valuable for small businesses – and what’s more, it’s easy to manage. Using a free service like Mailchimp to build your email list, you can plan future marketing campaigns strategically, and also send out company newsletters to promote engagement with your customers.

In Conclusion

If you’re serious about boosting the online credibility of your small business, and growing your customer base – then regular blogging should be central to your content marketing strategy. There is a writer needed!

It is critical that the content you produce keeps consumers coming back for more – as is striking the right balance between genuinely useful and engaging articles with more promotional content.

If you plan your strategy carefully and understand the importance of hiring a writer needed for executing that strategy, then your small business can most certainly gain a competitive advantage, even against some of the bigger, key-players within your industry.

The post Writer Needed: Why a Blog Can Give Your Small Business an Edge appeared first on Blogger Freelance.

Whether you’re a start-up business looking to define your online presence, or a large, established enterprise seeking to implement a strong content strategy – you need engaging, fresh content to help communicate your brand and your story.

Not every business has the time or resources to do this in-house, so if you’re in need of help developing your online content, then one option to consider is outsourcing your content needs to a professional freelance blogger.  However, before you do so – it is important to know what to look for when searching for a blogger to help you develop your online content. 

Where to Find a Freelance Blogger

Where you look for a freelance blogger is likely to dictate the sort of person and caliber of writer you will find. While many freelance bloggers will undoubtedly use multiple platforms to get showcase their work to prospective clients and get hired (ranging from their own professional website right through to anonymous content mills), it is worth paying attention to the different places you can find bloggers for hire, as this will give you some indication of their level of both expertise and professionalism.

Google Search

This seems like a no-brainer, and it is. Using Google search is one of the easiest ways to find freelance bloggers within your particular niche. However, rather than searching for the broad term ‘freelance blogger’ consider narrowing your search down to ‘freelance (niche) blogger for hire’.

Many professional bloggers have their own websites (and professional blogs, of course) so by searching for your chosen niche you will gain a good understanding of the level of authority a particular blogger has within their field. If a blogger turns up on the first page of Google’s search results, then this gives you a good idea that they are a professional!

Online Bidding Sites

There seems to be divided opinion about online freelancing sites such as Odesk, Guru and Elance. While plenty of experienced bloggers do use these platforms, they are also rife with less experienced, less professional freelancers.

In spite of the divided opinion about the caliber and quality of freelancers you might find on these sorts of sites, it may be worth checking them out if you are looking for a freelance blogger and have a particular budget in mind.

While not many bloggers publish their rates publicly (largely due to the fact that many prefer to charge per project, based on the size and scope of the works) – online bidding sites will show a freelancer bloggers desired hourly rate on their profile.  When you need to find a freelance blogger, this can be a decent starting point.

What to Look For in a Freelance Blogger

Let us assume that you’ve used some of the above tips to find yourself a freelance blogger for your content needs, and narrowed your choices down into a shortlist of potential candidates. Now, there are a few things that you should look for when seeking to hire a freelance blogger:

Find a Freelance Blogger Through Professional Portfolios

Any professional blogger should have a portfolio of past work. This is important for showcasing both skill and experience, and also client testimonials. Most bloggers will have a portfolio of some form on their website, or at least be able to provide links to works they have had published.

If you are seeking to recruit entry-level bloggers, who may not have a sizable portfolio of past works – then check out their personal blog to get a feel for their style and quality of writing.

Guest Posts on Authority Sites

Take a look at some popular, high-traffic sites such as Copyblogger, The Huffington Post or any other high-authority website within your specific niche that accepts guest post contributions.

In simple terms – if a blogger was able to land a guest posting position on a high authority website, then you can deduce that their abilities are up to scratch. Typically, high-authority websites have strict author guidelines which must be adhered to, as well as demanding high-quality, engaging content. If a blogger has guest posted on authority sites then you can also assume that they know how to follow guidelines and instructions, as well as generate fascinating content ideas.

An Understanding of SEO

When it comes to freelance blogging, having least some knowledge of SEO principles is crucial. It is important to check that your prospective blogger has knowledge and experience in this areas – so look for some of the articles they have written in the past. How do they rank in the search engines? Do they have a nice balance of keywords?

You can use online tools such as chkme to assess the SEO ranking of an article – or use a free Keyword Density Analyzer to ensure the content has a good ratio of keywords.  This should give you a good indication of whether or not your prospective blogger has a firm grasp of best SEO practices. Oh, and SEMRush kicks serious butt if you have a few extra dollars in your budget.

Fluency and Excellent Grammar

You could have the most interesting, unusual content in the world – but if your blog is littered with spelling mistakes and grammatical errors then readers simply will not stick around. When looking for a freelance blogger, be careful to check their samples for any grammatical or spelling errors.

Also, check that the blog posts published on their own sites are fluent, engaging and of high-quality. These blog posts, unlike those written for clients or guest sites, will most likely not have undergone an external editing process. Because of this, they are a good indicator of just how well a blogger really knows his or her craft, and speaks volumes about their proofreading skills, as well as their attention to detail.

Professional Training and Experience

This information should be readily available to you – any blogger who’s worth their salt will have an about page on their website, a profile on a freelancing website such as Elance – or at the very least a Linkedin profile listing their skills, expertise and experience. If they don’t, then you can cross them off your shortlist.

Publically showcasing professional training and expertise is a sure-fire way for bloggers to convey professionalism to prospective clients. Check out their social profiles, personal website and any other public information they have published to see what experience and credentials they have.

If you are ready to hire a professional freelance blogger, contact me today for a quick and painless price quote!

The post Need to Find a Freelance Blogger? Here’s What to Look For appeared first on Blogger Freelance.