Been struggling to execute your content strategy? Let us introduce you to your competitor’s secret sauce: working with freelance writers. And not just any freelance writers—freelance SEO writers.
Sure, in-house hires are great, but when you don’t have the headcount or don’t have time to manage the details, a freelance SEO writer or two can really save your bacon. Freelance writers help you maintain (or even improve) content quality without burning out your own team. And if you wanna get really fancy (and we know you do), they can work actual SEO magic when paired with an experienced project manager and SEO lead.
One thing’s clear: to make a bigger impact, move the needle on your business goals, and keep your own head above water, you need to hire a freelance SEO writer. With the skills and tools of the search engine optimization trade, SEO writers can add extra spice to your blogs, attracting readers and helping your rank on search engines like Google.
In this fun lil’ article, we’ll explore how hiring a freelance SEO writer is the key to delivering the biggest ROI.
Ready to outsource your blog and content creation? Buckle up, and let’s dive into the world of SEO writing and how to hire the best SEO experts.
Table of contents
- What is a freelance SEO writer?
- Why you should hire a freelance SEO writer for your blog
- When should I hire freelance writers?
- How do you hire a blogger?
- Freelance SEO writer FAQs
What is a freelance SEO writer?
A freelance SEO writer (also known as a search engine optimization writer) is responsible for creating incredible content that will improve your SEO performance.
Still wondering what that means exactly? Let’s dig a little deeper. At the most simple, a freelance SEO writer creates blog posts (potentially other forms of content) that are optimized for search engine algorithms.
That means they’re not just writing words on a page; every piece of content they write aims to rank your website higher on search engine result pages (SERPs) and increase the qualified organic traffic coming to your site.
Because if people can’t find your content, they sure aren’t gonna read it.
Why you should hire a freelance SEO writer for your blog
Hiring a freelance writer relieves the stress of having to ideate and write good content that Google likes. It means knowing that your business will have consistent content to publish to keep the search engine gods happy; you won’t have to struggle to get a blog post out every week. Instead, you’ll have professional, well-researched, and expertly written content ready to publish on your schedule.
You and your team can focus on your KPIs and other projects while your blog stays up-to-date and your readers stay informed. Also, a freelance copywriter will bring a fresh perspective to your business that can re-engage your audience in ways you probably haven’t considered before.
Professional copywriters are trained to write copy and content that gets results. While you may agonize over a single sentence, they’ll deeply understand how each sentence works together to add to your customer journey.
How to maximize your online content
Now, while you can’t go wrong with hiring a freelance copywriter, you can get even more out of the experience by hiring a freelance SEO writer.
A freelance SEO writer brings a whole other set of tools to the writing party. You’ll still get a professional writer with marketing knowledge who can free up your team and keep to your content schedule. But you’ll also get someone trained to help you woo Google and bring more organic, qualified traffic to your blog. (People still ‘woo’, right? That’s a thing?)
Here are five skills a freelance SEO copywriter brings to the table that make it worth searching for a writer who understands the intricacies of SEO.
1. Conduct keyword research skills to stay on-topic
Keywords are the backbone of a successful content marketing strategy—with the right keywords in your content, your ideal clients are more likely to find you with a quick Google search.
But it’s not as easy as choosing a random word and writing a blog. You need to find the right word—the word that aligns with your audience’s search intent, addresses the right questions, and resonates with your target audience.
One of the benefits of hiring a freelance SEO writer is that they have the skills and knowledge to execute the very same keyword research we’re talking about. Keyword research helps determine which keywords are best to target and gives you insight into the search terms and queries that your target audience is using when looking for businesses like yours. SEO experts are well-versed in how to undertake keyword research effectively for an SEO blog strategy, saving you a lot of time Googling, ‘SEO keywords for beginners’.
TL;DR: Keyword research tells you what keywords your audience is searching for and helps you understand which keywords to prioritize. An SEO writer will know not only how to find keywords, but also how to choose the right keywords and target them in content.
2. Dig into competitor research to to stay relevant
Spying on understanding your competitors is a part of business. You need to grasp their services/products, sales techniques, and even marketing strategies to get a full picture of the industry. This knowledge helps to inform how you differentiate your business and also gives you insight into how customers react to certain approaches.
Another essential aspect of competitor research is learning how your competitors are being found by customers online. And that, friends, is where SEO competitor research comes into play.
As part of their discovery, your SEO expert will dig into your competitors’ websites and analyze their keyword rankings, content, and internal linking strategies to improve your SEO. The idea is to reverse engineer the elements of your competitors’ strategies to improve them for your plan.
Think of it like the ol’ Starbucks marketing play: if it’s working for them, it’ll work for you.
An SEO competitor analysis can help to answer the following questions:
- Who are my actual SEO competitors? You may be surprised to learn that some of your competitors aren’t, in fact, your SEO competitors. If they haven’t put effort into their own SEO strategy, a direct competitor may not actually be competing for the same non-referral audience.
- What does the competitive landscape cover? Confusingly, the competitive landscape of your industry might not be the same as the competitive SEO landscape. You may find that your industry is full of keywords with high SEO difficulty—this is when an SEO expert can be invaluable in helping you find keywords that might not be obvious and, therefore, are easier to rank for. Nice.
- What keywords should my blog target? By examining your competitors, you can find keywords that work well for them and determine if they apply to your business.
- What topics should my blog cover? Keywords and topics go hand-in-hand. An SEO expert can determine which topics you should cover by analyzing your competitors’ blogs.
An SEO expert can take all this competitor information and, instead of copying what they’re doing, leverage the data to create a superior experience for your target audience.
3. Offer strategic content suggestions
A content strategy can feel a lot like reaching into your toddler’s pocket and seeing what sticks, especially when it isn’t backed by much, well, strategy.
When you work with a freelance SEO writer, they’ll have the know-how to give you strategic content suggestions to ensure every piece of content you put on your blog is working towards your goals. Fluff, begone!
They can also suggest topics and keywords to increase your organic traffic and bring more qualified leads to your business. Now we’re talkin’.
4. Develop optimized content to get you found on the internet
Once you have your keywords picked out and your topics finalized, it’s time to start writing. The work of an SEO expert doesn’t end when the research phase is over—it only starts to heat up.
SEO is found in every sentence of a well-written blog post. After all, SEO writers create content with search intent in mind. They focus on readability. They understand the importance of a blog’s length. They know where and how often to use their keyword. Above all else, they know how to write for human readers while also appeasing the algorithms.
A freelance SEO blog writer can help optimize content so the right people find your business more often.
5. Help you be seen as an authority in your field
An SEO copywriter can—and should—point you in the direction of the keywords being searched. They can also create well-researched, educational content that will tick all the boxes for your audience. Because they know their way around a search engine results page, you’ll start to see your content ranking better on Google, meaning more eyes, more clicks, and more sales.
When your business ranks on search engines for topics that matter to your target audience, you’ll be seen as an expert in your field.
For example, Homebase is a SaaS company that helps businesses simplify scheduling, time clocks, and payroll in one app. After undertaking a comprehensive SEO blog strategy, Homebase now ranks on the first page of Google for terms surrounding payroll, scheduling, and other keywords, all thanks to that same SEO strategy. The volume of keywords coupled with the niche focus has solidified Homebase as an authority in small business management solutions.
When should I hire freelance writers?
Okay, okay, so this all sounds great, right? But if you’re still wondering, “Uh, Freelance Squad? Yeah, when is the right time to hire freelance writers?” then you’re gonna wanna read this section.
Maybe you’re convinced you’ll find the time to write content yourself, but from our experience*, that magical extra “time” where you can sit down and write content never actualizes.
*Editor’s note: One of the many reasons I hired my own freelance SEO writer to write the first draft of this post.
Instead, your blog—and your organic traffic—will stagnate. Worse, you’ll publish rushed content that isn’t representative of what you and your business are capable of.
If you’re unsure your business needs a freelance SEO writer, answer the following questions yourself.
1. Do you have the time to write high-quality, well-researched content?
Whether you’re a business owner, social media manager, or marketing manager, your plate is full. Your days are packed with meetings, to-do lists, meetings, project check-ins, and oh yeah: meetings. Can you really add “write high-quality, well-researched content” to your list?
A well-researched, SEO-backed blog post can take a freelance writer anywhere between four to ten hours to write. Add on time to ideate the content, edit the post, and upload it, and that’s a lot of investment just to get one optimized blog post up on your website. If no members of your team can spend that kind of time on a task outside of their job description, your business is ready for a freelance SEO writer (and probably a freelance project manager and editor, but we’ll get there, okay?).
2. Have you run out of ideas for your blog?
Keeping a blog up-to-date with fresh, interesting content is more than just the time it takes to write it. It also comes down to actually having something to say on the topic. If you and your team are left scratching your heads at content meetings and need to figure out what the hell to write about next, bringing in a fresh pair of eyes can spark some real creative magic.
A professional freelance SEO writer conducting keyword and competitor research can unearth some exciting new topics you may have never considered—really. If you’re running out of ideas for your blog, your business is ready for a freelance SEO writer.
3. Do you actually enjoy writing?
When you sit down at your desk and open a blank document, are you excited about writing? For some, the answer is a resounding yes! (Please refer to question 1 above). But if you don’t enjoy writing, freelancers can help. The great thing about writing is that it’s an easily outsourced job.
If you hate the idea of researching and writing content, your business is ready for a freelance SEO writer.
4. Does your writing engage your audience and make them take action?
Your content should be backed by business goals. When you write content for your blog, you should know its purpose—is it part of the customer journey, a tool to convert, or a piece meant to increase brand awareness? Whatever the goal, the content should be designed to help you reach it.
A professional freelance writer does oh-so-much more than simply putting words on a page. They know how to create copy that engages your audience and makes them take the action you need them to take. Every blog post by a freelance copywriter is going to move your business closer to its goals.
If you aren’t seeing results from your blog content, your business is ready for a freelance SEO writer.
5. Do you want to attract more buyers to your website?
If you’re currently sold out or fully booked and can’t take on more clients, well, start a podcast or something. But if you’re looking to grow and expand your business, attracting more viable buyers to your website is a good place to start.
A freelance SEO copywriter can help you create blog content that speaks to your audience and checks all the boxes for search engine algorithms. As your content starts to rank, you’ll see an increase in organic traffic and potential buyers.
If you want to grow your business and bring more buyers to your website, you’re ready for a—you guessed it—freelance SEO writer.
How do you hire a blogger?
Now that you’re ready to hire a freelance SEO blogger, you might wonder where to start looking. The good news is you’re already there (or… here?).
Hiring the right SEO blogger for your next content project is a breeze with The Freelance Squad. Our team of vetted freelance content writers and SEO experts are ready to create memorable content that makes Google stand up, take notice, and write its grandma about how excited it is. Paired with our streamlined project management systems and senior editing team, you can rest assured that The Freelance Squad can take your project from start to finish and deliver high-quality, well-researched content.
From an online insurance company to a SaaS solution for sales teams, a medical software provider to an all-in-one management app for small businesses, we’ve created and executed SEO blog projects for businesses of all different shapes, sizes, and industries with astounding results. Give us a try and let us show you our stuff.
