Can you outsource your blogging, and what will that cost?

There are SO many routine tasks that I would love to outsource. Making dinner. Tracking my cashflow. Writing proposals. Working out. Getting dressed day after day after day.

I’m not going to tell you which of those tasks I hire other people to do more happily, more consistently and more adeptly than I do. (Although, I don’t have a valet, so yes, I still dress myself day after day after day.)

Another of those painful, routine, can’t-I-just-hire-someone-else-to-do-this-for-me tasks seems to be content generation.

Business owners know it’s important to get their words out there regularly so prospective clients get to know-like-trust them and their name leaps to mind when their right people need them.

And yet… it’s hard, scary, vulnerable, time-consuming and hair-raising to post consistently, unfailingly, and compellingly week after week after week.

Surely there are copywriters who will take that off your plate!?

Yes, there are.

What will it cost?

Ay, there’s the rub.

It’s super hard for me to talk about pricing because of course I can’t speak for everyone in my industry. And when people ask if I’ll write content for them, I tend to say no. There’s a good reason, which you’ll learn if you read all the way to the end. Before that, I want to offer some pricing parameters, because I get asked about this a lot. And for every person asking, there’s got to be a bunch of folks wondering in silence.

I feel it’s the same as if someone asks “How much is car?” Of course it depends. And it still helps to know it’ll be closer to 5-figures, not 3.

So let’s give this a go.

Paying for a lot of words

Some companies want a LOT of content. Like, 3 blogs/articles a week, that are 1500++ words each.

They want a lot of keywords, a lot of links, a lot of click throughs, fast. The purpose of these blogs, mostly, is to rank higher in google (etc.) searches. It’s all about the SEO, less about the know-like-trust. Content ‘mills’ like fiverr, zerys and upwork can fill this content need and are super cheap. They typically charge a fraction of a cent per word or a few dollars per article. You will get lots of words, fast, for very little money. Hooray! But you won’t get big ideas, strong research, brand personality or even grammar sometimes. You might find yourself spending just as much time guiding, fixing, and rewriting the posts as you would if you wrote them yourself. Plus the writers have to ‘compete’ with each other to get work. You can probably tell I don’t love this race-to-the-bottom business model, and I don’t believe it produces high-quality work.

Paying for relevant, knowledgeable words

If you know the fast-and-furious content mill approach won’t endear your audience, you’ll need to invest more. You’re looking for writers who can produce natural-sounding, higher quality, more engaging content. There are content agencies and freelance writers who work on retainer to provide their clients with a smart content strategy and regular articles, newsletters & social posts. They may provide a team of writers and a templated approach to keep up with weekly content needs. I’ve seen costs advertised from $150-$450 per article, $1200-$3000 USD per month. Here’s a robust (and a bit overwhelming) list of these agencies, mostly to show there are loads of them: https://themanifest.com/ca/content-marketing/agencies

Paying for personality-laden, highly relevant, thought leadership pieces.

You get what you pay for, don’t you? I know it takes me anywhere between 2-6 hours to research, craft & polish a single blog post (TBH I’m at 3.75 hours on this one so far). And writing my own posts mean I can let the writing flow in my own style. You’ll want your post written in your brand voice. For true ‘ghost writing’ like that, a well-trained, talented, meticulous, experienced, client-service-minded, fluent English freelance writer will start at $200+ USD/hour.  

And they still don’t know what you know.

If someone subscribes to your list, they want to read what YOU think, know and feel about your subject of expertise. Whatever a freelance writer googles about reverse mortgages or moon phases in order to write a post, your reader might as well go google themselves. So you’ll need to be interviewed, or provide detailed notes, or videos, or podcast episodes that can inform the personal, unique, value-added post. I maintain that you can outsource the writing and even the voice, but not the thinking, feeling or knowing.

So: you can absolutely find great writers who will help shoulder the burden of regular blogging. They can produce thoughtful, well-researched, original, value-added pieces that sound like they’re coming straight from your heart. And it may not, in the end, prove to be a time-saving, effort-saving or money-saving process. 

What is the answer for a burdensome blogging practice that you still need to keep to high standards?

I recommend the Shitty First Draft with a Professional, Expert Review. I rarely try to author thought leadership pieces on anyone’s behalf, but I take immense pleasure in reviewing, editing and strengthening clients’ original, authentic words. That is so satisfying for us both. I don’t have to become an instant, imposter expert. And they get to express themselves knowing any C+ writing will be caught and caressed into A+ work.

What I’m trying to say with all this is, I really want you to write it yourself. Not because I can’t research or imagine or write in your voice, but because I want you to cut out the ‘middleman’, and feel joyful and proud about expressing yourself, communicating your ideas, and connecting with your readers on a regular basis.

I begrudgingly acknowledge that I can’t outsource exercise because I’d miss all the benefits that exercise brings – no matter how reluctant I am to do it. I guess I feel writing’s the same. And ideally when we make it a practice, we even start to love it and need it.

(If it’s okay with you, I might still hire that valet though. Because honest to god what is with belts?)