Finding content writers is easy. But finding good content writers…not really as easy. In fact, if you’ve ever gone through the process of trying to find great content writers, you’ve probably had a nightmare of it. Bad grammar, odd structuring, plagiarism, are just some of the problems you’ll notice with many so-called writers.

So in this blog post, I want to show you how to find content writers for your business – good ones.

Why do you need content writers?

Because content is still king. As one of the most cost-effective digital marketing strategy, content marketing can help you drive more traffic to your website, improve your search engine ranking, and generate more leads for your business, consistently.

But, it can also be time-consuming, especially if you also have a blog. You need to strategize, research, produce content, and promote it – and while it’s definitely worth the results, the reality is that many SMEs don’t have the time or the resources to write too much content on a consistent basis, in-house. Or, even if they do have the time, they might not have the knowledge or experience to create the type of content that will get them results.

How to find content writers: what to look for & other useful tips

Before you start searching for content writers, here is what to look for in a writer:

• • Their style and tone: if they’re writing for your business, then you need to ensure that they can respect the overall style and tone of your brand and your other content.
  • The writing quality: not just in terms of grammar, but also in terms of overall readability. Do they know how to properly structure their content? Do they know how to get a point across and include a quality call to action?
  • Their versatility: what types of content can they write? Ideally, it’s best to work with fewer writers at a time, so focus on finding writers that can help you create any type of content you want: opinion blog posts, sales posts, how-to guides, listicles, and so on.
  • Their knowledge level: how well do they know your niche? If, for example, you’re selling an email marketing software, then any content writer you hire should be very knowledgeable about email marketing and all that it entails: marketing automation, improving open rates and click-through rates, segmenting an audience, and so on

• Their availability: if you only want to work with a writer on a part-time basis, then you need to discuss their availability before starting any working relationship. Set a clear schedule of how many pieces of content you want in a month, as well as the types of content (as some take a lot longer to write than others) and if you believe you’ll need any last minute content, ask them about their availability and delivery time for these occasions. Great freelance content writers will usually have a very busy schedule, so this is a very important talk to have before putting pen to paper

How to find content writers

Now that you know more about what to look for, here’s how to find content writers:

Check your favourite blogs and reach out

A lot of established bloggers will ghost-write content for brands as a means to make extra money.

Research quality blogs in your niche (make sure to read some of their articles too to see what their writing style is, as well as their knowledge) and check their website to see if they offer this service – sometimes, you can find this on their contact page, unless it’s listed as an actual service. If they don’t, you can still try reaching out.

Find their email address or use their contact form to send them a message telling them that you’re interested in working together on a project (but don’t go into any particular details at this point, wait to see if they want to continue the conversation first). Make sure to also show them that you’re a fan of their blog and their writing to start on the right foot and increase the chances of getting a positive response.

Post in social media groups

There are a lot of quality niche groups on social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn. Once you find any in your niche, look through the recent activity in the group to see whether it’s mostly a group for sharing links, with little actual conversation between members, or a group where the members are active and regularly engage in conversations with each other.

Preferably, before you ask about content writers, you should spend some time in the group to get to know the most active members (and them, you) and participate in a few conversations with them. This will help increase the chances of getting genuine responses to your questions.

Once you’ve spent some time in these groups, simply ask for some recommendations from the members; for example, “Does anyone know any good freelance writers they can recommend? I’m looking for an experienced blogger with advanced knowledge of digital marketing – appreciate any recommendations!”

Join blogging communities

Bloggers are a tight bunch and will often try to connect with other bloggers in their niche to help each other out.

Because of this, the Internet is full of all kinds of blogging communities where bloggers congregate, share each other’s’ content, and engage.

Some of these communities are just about sharing content in order to get more shares; however, there are also plenty of communities that also allow their users to engage with each other and ask questions.

Here, you can ask the other bloggers in the community if they want to work with you; for example “I’m looking for a blogger with at least 3 years’ experience in blogging and with advanced knowledge of digital marketing.”

How to find content writers: freelance work websites

Another option is to post your content writing job offer on a jobs/freelancer website – make sure to be very specific about what you want from a potential writer, how much work you’ll need from them, and what types of content/what topics they will need to write about.

Here are some of the top websites where you can find content writers:

• Problogger
• Blogging Pro
• Upwork
• Freelancer

Final thoughts

Once you find some potential writers, if you can’t see clear evidence of their writing talent (for example, if they’re already established bloggers with a successful writing career), you need to test them before hiring anyone – if you want to work with them multiple times, not just a one-off piece of content. Ask for past examples of their writing, but even better, ask them to write a few different pieces of content for you, based on topics you chose.  If you’d need them for multiple types of content, then you should ask them to write multiple pieces – even if someone is an amazing blogger, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be just as great at writing sales content, for example.

If you want to get results from your content marketing, get in touch here.  Whether it’s to create compelling content, an editorial calendar or a strategy, contact us here now!