Are you wondering if you should hire someone to write blog posts for you?

If you prefer to skim, here is the jist on what you need to consider before you hire someone to write blog posts for you. There is a lot more to it though, so I hope you stick around! I do NOT believe you should decide to hire someone to write blog posts just for the sake of content. If you have been writing blog posts that aren’t getting traction, it’s time to hire a content marketing manager. Enough said. Assuming you can afford it, it is worth it. You truly can’t beat a solid content strategy executed well. More is not always more.

Let me just quickly introduce myself before we get going. My name is Kara and I help fellow small business owners attract ideal clients through copywriting, blogging for SEO, and Pinterest marketing. I also offer a la carte marketing services so don’t hesitate to contact me at the form at the bottom of this page if you have any questions. Basically – I love marketing. And more than that, I love helping women-owned businesses make more money (and work less). If you are looking to hire someone to write blog posts, I’d love to chat more!

Should you hire someone to write blog posts for you?

First, let me just acknowledge that there is a difference between hiring someone to write blog posts for you and hiring a content marketing manager. PLEASE stop filling your precious website real estate (your blog!) with garbage content. You don’t need to fill it just to fill it. In fact, that was mistake #1 in this post. So no, I don’t think you should hire someone to write blog posts for you. At least, until you have a solid content marketing strategy. You need to have a content marketing strategy mapped out to make sure that you don’t waste your money.

Here’s the thing. You can find someone on the internet to write a blog post for you. And it can be quite cheap. I’ve literally seen blog posts for $25 before. But there is a big difference between having someone write a blog post for you and having someone help you with your content marketing strategy (and execution of course!).

The incomplete list of everything you should not waste your time blogging about.

There is a lot of bad advice on the internet, amiright? The reason I don’t think you should run out and outsource someone to write blog posts for you is that “content for the sake of content” is a waste of both your and your audience’s time. There are a lot of “20 blog ideas for ______ industry” lists out there but not all lists are created equally. Here are a few blog ideas I have seen floating around the internet that would absolutely be a waste of your time to write about – and by the way, some of these I have written for my own destination wedding planning biz soooo I know time wasted.

3 Blog Ideas NOT to write about:

• Your process (save it for your about page or services page). This also goes for “how you got started” unless you want to teach fellow wedding business owners how to do the same.
• Round up posts. You know the type – “20 accounts to follow on Instagram” or “15 photographers we are loving right now”. I’m going to defend myself. A rising tide lifts all boats, after all. I do believe that acknowledging other wedding vendors and sharing good work should be encouraged. I just think that kind of thing will do more for you in, for example, Instagram stories that go away after 24 hours. In order to get your website to actually convert into paying customers, you need to keep their attention on you. I get it. These posts are some of the easiest to write. But they just don’t work effectively for small businesses.
• Behind the Scenes/At Networking Event and/or Course you have taken recently. Here’s the thing – there is no doubt that stories sell. You should be adding tidbits of behind the scenes or recent education (ie. selling your value) should be sprinkled throughout EVERY blog post. But as a stand alone post? No way your ideal client is *searching for* what you learned last week. This theme is GREAT in an email though!

Sell them what they want, give them what they need.

Let’s talk now about the popular marketing phrase – sell them what they want, give them what they need. I am not sure who said it first – if you do, please contact me here so I can update. I would love to give credit where credit is due. The SAME is true for your blog posts.

My background is in the wedding industry so let me give you an example: you might know your audience needs to know the difference between a venue coordinator and a full service wedding planner – but it is not what they are searching for. Looking at the photo below, you can see it’s been searched in google exactly 10 times this month. I have my money on the fact that a majority of these ten searched were fellow wedding professionals.

In order to blog successfully (ie. generate business), you need to be the solution your ideal clients are actively searching for.

Other reasons to blog:

Okay, you may still want to write the “venue coordinator vs. wedding planner” post. Your ideal client is not searching for it but in this case, it serves a different purpose. There are certain points you want to make – but you don’t really want to make them yourself. This is a great post to counter objections with. If a potential client says “The venue already provides a coordinator” you can respond:

“Oh great! I love working the venue coordinators 🙂 I’m glad you mentioned that because often times it can become unclear what the difference between a venue coordinator and full service wedding planner does! I wrote a whole blog about the difference here ___ if you are interested :). [Insert next step here]”

This way you can make your point in an upfront way without feeling too “high pressure sales”. The blog is making your points for you. This way, the client doesn’t feel confused or attacked/uneducated. Trust me, this can be incredibly effective. Your blog won’t feel like you are trying to “prove something” to your client – it will feel like true education (when written with that in mind, of course).

So, should you hire someone to write blog posts for your business?

Without a content strategy, hiring someone to write blog posts for your wedding business is a waste. My content marketing management packages come with a quarterly content strategy which is where I pitch you blog ideas backed by DATA. The goal is to know your ideal client is actually searching for the post before it is even written. This is a crucial part of the blogging process that is overlooked. You know “you get what you pay for” so I will also remind you that whomever you hire will be representing your brand. it is imperative that they can imitate your brand voice and understand the needs of your ideal clients.

Think we would be a good fit? Get in touch here and let’s chat about how I can help you use content marketing to reach your sales goal this year.