Pretty much every SEO guide says that quality content is a key component to success. That’s great, but if your writing skills are a little bit lacking, that usually means getting someone else on board.
Hiring freelancers has been covered a fair bit on this site, but not too much has been said about how to get the best out of those who deal with copy. This post should hopefully provide some helpful tips, as well as some resources to get you started.
There’s never too much information
When I first started out I got a job writing for a well-known business magazine. One of my earliest features was on a company that Dubai Business Fax List manufactured boxes. I didn’t care too much at the time – I was just happy to be getting paid to write, no matter how dull the subject. However, the person I was due to interview pulled out at the last minute, leaving a two-page gap in the issue.
So I went ahead and wrote it anyway. All the information I had to go on was an out-of-date website. No media pack, press releases, interviews with other publications – nothing. Needless to say, my feature was terrible. No matter how hard I tried to make it interesting, there were no details or facts to back it up.
The next day, I interviewed the head of a different firm. We spent ten minutes on the phone, I got a few great quotes and wrote up a piece in half the time the last piece had taken. It was bump up to lead feature and I got a pat on the back.
The thing to learn from this is that the more information you can give your writers
The better the copy they’ll produce. If they are putting together content for a new homepage, a few minutes on the phone and a few links to Dd Leads competitors will make all the difference. If you’re commissioning an article, explaining why, who it’s for and what you hope to achieve with it means that everybody is on the same page right from the beginning.