5 Research Strategies that Create Awesome Blog Posts

5 research strategies behind awesome blog posts

As a freelance content marketing writer, I’ve been tasked with writing about a lot of different industries over the years. But even though I’ve never worked as a cybersecurity specialist or a customer service agent, I’ve managed to write blog posts about those subjects (and many others) that speak to an audience of experts. 

How is it possible for a freelance writer to learn enough on a new topic to write knowledgeably?

The short answer is research.

But that word covers a lot of territory. Doing effective research can take a number of forms. 

First Things First: Onboarding Research

For each new client, this starts with onboarding research.

I ask clients to provide me with internal resources that help me get up to speed on their brand and industry, such as a style guide and buyer personas. I have an onboarding questionnaire I send that asks for information like target audience details, their top competitors, industry publications they like and trust, and examples of pieces they like the style of. I spend time reviewing their website to understand how they talk about the brand and product. And I read a number of their blog posts to get a feel for the typical writing style and the kinds of subjects they cover.

All of that happens before I start on research for the first blog post. Some writers have a minimum work requirement for new clients to account for how much time goes into onboarding research. (I don’t personally, but 100% understand why other writers do. The time commitment is a lot).

5 Smart Research Strategies for Better Blog Posts 

Once I have a strong bearing on the brand, product, and industry, I can get into the research needed for the first blog post itself. In my experience, there are five main research strategies that lead to high-quality blog posts. 

Strategy 1: Use a mix of online research and internal resources.

This is probably the most obvious research strategy available, and it’s the one I personally use the most often. But that doesn’t mean it’s always the easiest. 

You have to know how to find good resources in your research and avoid being taken in by bad ones that are either outdated, written by biased sources, or straight up inaccurate. For example, bad statistics are extremely easy to find online and, as such, get repeated over and over again in new blog posts. Writers that care about using accurate, trustworthy statistics in their work have to do a lot of work to find them. 

You also have to understand how to take what you learn from existing sources and turn it into something original. You can’t just repeat what other writers have said and call it your own work. That’s called plagiarism and is a surefire way to lose clients, tarnish your reputation, and potentially get sued. Instead, you want to take what you learn from existing sources, identify the most important points that are relevant for your audience, and rework the information into something new.

One benefit to this strategy is that you can handle the work independently—that’s why it’s the most common method I use. It means work doesn’t get held up while I’m waiting on others for information, at least not as much as with some other research strategies. But for some specialized topics, you may have a hard time finding good information to work from. And you have to be careful that you don’t end up just regurgitating the same content already out there. That just adds to the glut of low-quality content in the world. 

Some tips for using this strategy effectively:

  • Start with internal resources from your client.

See what blog posts, case studies, and other resources your client already has that are relevant to the topic. Seeing what they’ve already written on the subject helps you situate all the other information you learn within their particular brand story and tie it into their audience’s concerns. If the client provides a writing brief for each piece, advise them to include this information so you have it from the start. 

This step is especially important for any pieces where search engine optimization (SEO) is a priority. Seeing what pieces rank at the top of Google now for relevant keywords tells you what kind of information Google’s algorithm (and by extension, its users) like seeing on the topic. SERP research can help you determine important sections to include, how long the blog post should likely be, and any notable factors the top results have in common.

Reading over the information covered in those pieces will also provide some of the information you’ll need to write a knowledgeable blog post. But be careful not to assume that just because a piece of content is on page one of Google, all its information will be accurate or relevant to your audience. Be discerning as you review the information out there now, and look for ways to improve upon what you found in your own blog post.

  • Go beyond blog posts in your research.

Reading other blog posts on the subject is part of a good research process, but it’s not always enough. You also want to look for original research that backs up the points you make, examples that illustrate what you’re talking about, and any customer stories relevant to the topic. You may not need to include all of those in every post—a lot depends on the topic and blog post format. But going beyond what’s easy to find with surface-level research is how you elevate a blog post into something useful for the reader. 

  • Don’t be afraid to ask your client questions. 

Part of being a good researcher is knowing how to recognize what you don’t know. Cover as much territory in your own research as you can, but if you know there’s information you still lack or nuances you’re not sure you understand: ask. 

Your client will know the ins and outs of the industry better than you, and have easier access to internal experts. For any client worth having, admitting you want help understanding a topic will be a sign of your professionalism, especially if it’s obvious that you did the work to learn as much as you could on your own first. 

Strategy 2: Collect source quotes from experts.

When you’re not an expert in an industry or topic yourself, one of the best ways to ensure your post reflects real-world experience is to learn from people who are. One form this can take is reaching out to a number of different experts in the topic area you’re writing about to ask for their input. Then you can base sections of your blog post on what you learn, and weave their quotes in to add authority. 

You can employ a few different strategies to find relevant experts. To start, pay attention to the network you already have and work on building it up over time. Any time you interact with industry experts—at networking events, conferences, or even on social media platforms—make a note of it. If you keep a list of experts and influencers in the spaces you write about, you’ll always have people to turn to for a quote. 

If you’re active on social media, you may not even need to reach out to individuals directly. “I see a lot of success by putting call-outs for quotes/expertise on Twitter,” says freelance writer, Ashley Cummings. “The niche I write for is very active on Twitter, so it’s a great place to source quotes. I’d tell any writer to find where their experts live and spend time building relationships.” 

That, along with a list she’s developed of go-to experts in the spaces she writes about, helps her craft pieces packed with expert insights, like this one on product detail pages

If you haven’t built up much of a professional network or social media following yet, don’t worry. You can use websites designed specifically to match sources with writers, such as Help a Reporter Out (HARO). Some topic areas will net you more responses than others, and you’ll need to sift through the responses you get to weed out any that aren’t relevant or useful. But I’ve had good luck using HARO to craft posts full of actionable tips, like this one on promoting your content

Speaking of content promotion, featuring experts is a smart way to expand the reach of your pieces. When you mention someone in a blog post, they’re usually quick to share the post with their own networks. That can help your blog post reach an audience that wouldn’t have found it otherwise. 

This strategy also doubles as a good way to grow your network, and strengthen your connection with people already in it. Getting a mention (and ideally, a link) in a blog post benefits them too. And mutually beneficial relationships is what good networking is all about.

Strategy 3: Perform subject matter expert (SME) interviews.

When you want to feature several experts in one piece, getting quotes over email or social media makes sense. But you can go deeper with a particular SME or two by conducting interviews over the phone. This strategy is a great way to learn about a topic in detail from someone who knows the subject in and out. And it gives you the ability to ask followup questions that come up in the moment based on what they tell you. 

Performing interviews is a common research strategy for ghostwritten pieces. The goal of ghostwriting is generally to combine a writer’s skill with an expert’s thoughts and knowledge.  You can better ensure a ghostwritten post accurately reflects what an expert thinks and the way they talk about it when you’ve had a discussion with them. 

But blog posts based on source interviews are useful in other contexts as well. A conversation with an expert ensures you can approach a complicated topic with greater accuracy. And by weaving quotes from an expert into your piece, you give it more legitimacy. When I wrote about data privacy laws for a client, talking to a lawyer gave me confidence I wouldn’t get a complex legal topic wrong, while also giving readers confidence that the advice is legitimate. And when I covered accounting for freelancers for another client, talking to my personal CPA (who also happens to be my mom) meant all the advice included was backed by someone with decades of experience in the field. 

Some tips for getting the most out of an interview:

  • Do preliminary research.

While the interview may cover a lot of the information you need for the piece, preliminary research ensures you know enough to write smart questions. 

  • Write questions in advance.

Go into the interview with a list of questions in mind, so you’re prepared. While your preliminary research will ensure you have some topic knowledge going in, I still find it valuable to ask beginner-level questions in order to hear how a source covers basic information in their own words. And don’t be afraid to deviate from the list and ask followup questions based on what your source says during the conversation.  

  • Record the call.

Even if you’re great at taking notes, it’s easy to miss things in the moment. A recording enables you to revisit what the SME said as you write. And if you’ll be quoting the SME in your piece, a recording is crucial for making sure you get the quotes right. I use Otter to record calls. It creates a transcription for you, which I find much easier to work from than an audio recording.

  • As your last question, ask “is there anything we haven’t covered you feel would be useful for readers to know?”

This gives the SME a chance to elaborate on anything about the topic they think is important. In my experience, sometimes you’ll get the best insights or quotes from what they say in response to this question. 

Strategy 4: Use the content from webinars, events, or podcasts.

Savvy content marketers understand the value of repurposing content. Creating content from scratch every single time is hard, time consuming, and wasteful. But using content you’ve already created as the basis for new content? That’s just smart. 

The webinars, in-person talks, and podcasts a business participates in are packed full of valuable information. A good freelance content marketing writer can use the insights your experts shared in these formats and turn them into awesome blog posts.

If you’re already offering webinars for your audience that feature internal experts, capture that knowledge in blog posts. The presentations employees and executives give at industry events and conferences are also blog opportunities. Even if a freelance writer isn’t present for the talk itself, a recording or the PowerPoint and notes the speaker used may provide enough information to work from. And if your brand has launched a podcast, or your experts have been guests on one, that’s yet another good source for new blog posts. 

This research strategy for blog posts has some notable benefits. 

For one thing, it gives you the chance to make the work you already did creating the original piece of content go further. But it also serves as a great opportunity to do further promotion for the original content. A blog post that summarizes the top points covered in a podcast can encourage readers to listen and subscribe to the podcast itself.  A blog post that recaps a webinar can include a call to action (CTA) at the end to check out the webinar recording, and thus serve as a lead generation tool.  

For in-person events that already occurred, it’s too late to use the blog post to encourage attendance. But you can use it to draw more attention to the knowledge of the speaker, helping to further build up their thought leadership profile. And the blog post can become a tool to promote your future events by showing how valuable a previous one was. 

After Andi Robinson gave a talk at the Bay Area Content Marketing Meetup, Rochi Zalani used this tactic to create a blog post that highlighted some of the main takeaways for the Attention Retention blog. The blog post helps promote the meetup, the business that hosts the meetup, and the speaker all at once. And it provides more valuable content for readers of the Attention Retention blog. It’s a win for everyone involved.

5. Write pieces based on original research. 

Blog posts based on original research are a powerful tool for earning links and mentions around the web and building up your brand’s online profile. Performing original research isn’t easy. You have to be willing to launch a survey and promote it to enough people to get a decent sample set, or perform a useful analysis of data (not a skill everyone has). 

Generally speaking, performing the original research itself isn’t something most freelance writers will do for you. It requires a different skill set than writing. But once you’ve done the research, a good freelance writer can help turn the data into a story that makes it compelling for your audience.

Ashley used this strategy on her own website when she launched a survey on what freelance writers charge. By doing the work to compile meaningful data, and then craft that data into an easy-to-understand blog post, she created a powerful marketing tool for her own freelance writing business. 

Orbit Media’s known for creating this kind of content too. Every year they publish an in-depth blog post based on their annual blogging survey that tracks data useful to every freelance blogger and company with a blog alike. They’ve reported that the posts about their blogging surveys have earned backlinks from over 1,600 websites, and over 4,000 shares.

This strategy isn’t quite as common as the others, because it’s harder to do well. But if you can pull it off, blog posts based on original research get some of the best results of any type of content. 

Good Content Marketing Requires Good Research

Writing a strong piece of content marketing isn’t just about finding the right words. You have to understand the topic you’re covering before you can write well about it. To produce an awesome blog post, you have to start with good research. A strong research process is one of the main things that sets skilled freelance writers apart.

SEO Writing 101: Don’t Skip SERP Research

A good 90% of SEO writing is about creating content that’s valuable to the humans you hope will read it. But then there’s that other 10%—the part about understanding search engines and making sure your writing speaks to what the algorithms respond to.

And a key step in getting that 10% right (and helping with the 90% while you’re at it) is performing SERP research.

What is SERP Research?

SERP stands for search engine results page. Anytime you do a Google search, the page your search produces is the SERP for that keyword.

SERP research is performing an analysis of the SERP for a keyword you want to rank for. 

Digging into the SERP for a keyword yields useful insights about how people use the keyword, what Google deems good content on the topic, and what you need to do to effectively compete in the rankings.

How to Perform a SERP Analysis

The idea of SERP research may seem straightforward enough: perform a search, see what shows up. But to do an effective SERP analysis, you want to include a few key steps in your process.

1. Google your primary keyword.

Do a search for the primary keyword you have in mind. If you have a list of a few keywords you’re targeting, or are still trying to decide between a few, go ahead and do this for all of them so you can see how the SERPs compare.

Because Google sometimes provides personalized results based on past search history, this step is best performed in an incognito or private search window. 

2. Analyze the layout of the SERP.

The great aim of Google’s algorithm is to discern what the person searching wants to find, and deliver up the best possible results for their query. And because the company has massive quantities of data on people’s search habits and what they click on for each search, they do a pretty good job at understanding the intentions behind a keyword. 

For marketers, analyzing the layout of a SERP can reveal valuable information on what your target audience is thinking. You want the piece you write to address what they’re looking for, and the SERP helps you better understand what that is.

Sometimes the results you get will reveal people are searching for something entirely different than you thought. For example, if you do a search for “SERP research” the first result is for an organization called The Strategic Education Research Partnership Institute. 

That is…not how I’m using the term in this post. But because the rest of the results on the page have to do with SEO, that suggests that, other than the people searching for that specific organization, most of the people searching for that term are using it the way I’m talking about it. 

Beyond confirming the main meaning people have in mind for a keyword, a SERP analysis can help you better understand what type of results they’re looking for. For example, let’s look at the SERPs for two related keywords: ”how to improve energy” and “supplements for energy.”

The first has three main things on it: 

  • An answer box with information pulled from an article on the subject in a list format
  • A People Also Ask section with related questions 
  • Organic results dominated by articles that list tips

All three of these point to informational search intent. Google is convinced people performing this search want articles that provide actionable tips they can put to use, in list form. 

The latter search term looks different. Some of the organic results are informational articles like those on our first SERP, suggesting that’s what some people are looking for. But above that, we get shopping results.

Lower on the page, we get a local map of nearby stores that sell supplements. And several of the organic results are eCommerce brands. That all points to Google understanding this search term to have purchasing intent, at least some of the time. Some people doing this search want information, but many are ready to buy a product that meets their needs. 

3.  Identify any SERP features.

SERP features are all those extra features that show up on the SERP alongside the organic results. Some common examples include paid ads, the People Also Ask section, the Google local map, answer boxes, and knowledge graphs. 

A Backlinko analysis found that 97.6% of searches produce results with at least one SERP feature. Understanding the SERP features for your keyword is important for a few reasons:

  • They help you understand search intent (as with our supplements example above).
  • If a featured snippet tops the page, it’s something you’ll want to target with your content 
  • They allow you to gauge how valuable an organic result really is

To that last point, SERP features play a key role in how people will react to a SERP, and can impact how likely they are to click on organic results. For example, if you do a search for a movie, the knowledge graph that shows up on the right side of the page packs a lot of information.

You get images, the year the movie was made, its running time, where you can watch it, critics’ ratings, quotes from reviews, and a list of the top actors in the movie. In short, a decent number of the questions a person might have about the movie are answered right there on the SERP.

Even if you rank on page one for a keyword with a thorough knowledge graph like this—your content requires an extra click, and Google’s doesn’t. That might not make the keyword useless to target, but it means it shouldn’t be as high of a priority as a comparable term without a knowledge graph.

On the other hand, if the page is topped with an answer box, you’ll want to create content optimized for claiming that featured snippet. An Ahrefs study found that less than a third of featured snippets came from the top organic result. That means you don’t have to earn the top spot in Google’s organic results to be featured at the top of the page. 

Pay attention to what kind of featured snippet it is. If it’s a list, structure your content in a list format. If it’s a paragraph answer box, include your keyword followed by a brief answer in the content itself, ideally near the top of the page. And of course, aim to make it better than the content currently claiming that spot. 

4. Review your top competitors.

This step is the most straightforward, but also the most time consuming. In order to write content that has a chance of ranking, you want to understand what’s ranking now. Click on the top few results, and spend some time reading what’s on the page. 

This accomplishes a few things at once:

  • It shows you what you need to beat. Unless your website has already built up a lot of authority (e.g. you’re writing for a big player like The New York Times or their equivalent in your space), your content needs to be better than the top results to have any chance of competing with them. You need to understand what you’re up against in order to create something that rivals it. 
  • It shows you what Google considers a good answer for the keyword. The content that ranks now can teach you a lot about what Google sees as the best way to cover the topic you’re writing about. Pay attention to what different sections the ranking content includes, what questions they answer, and what language they use. And also note the length. Has Google determined this a topic that requires a longform piece to cover it adequately? 
  • It helps you learn more about the topic. If you’re already an expert, maybe you won’t learn much you didn’t already know. But if you’re a freelance SEO writer who covers a lot of topics, this is an important step for making sure you understand the topic thoroughly before you start writing. 
  • It gives you the chance to look for what’s missing. As you look over these pages, is there a piece of information you feel is important that none of them address? That’s your angle for creating something different and better. You have to know what’s there to find what’s missing. 

This step takes time, but by the end of it you’ll not only be better prepared to create content that can rank, but you’ll find that creating your outline and doing the writing itself becomes much easier. 

SERP Research Enables Better SEO Writing

If professional writers have one secret for making writing easier, it’s to hold off on trying to write until you’ve done your research. When you understand your topic thoroughly, know what you want to say, and understand how to approach it to meet your goals—the writing itself comes much more fluidly. 

For SEO writing, spending time on SERP research gets you to that point. And specifically, it helps you to check off a number of goals at once. You will:

  • Make sure you understand search intent for your keyword. 
  • Confirm how valuable your keyword is, and whether ranking is realistic.
  • Determine how to structure your content to optimize for relevant SERP features.
  • Understand what Google considers “good” content for the keyword.
  • Make sure you’re answering the top questions your competition is, and then some.
  • Know what you need to do to write a piece that’s better than what’s ranking now.

All of that alone won’t promise rankings. Google cares too much about things like backlinks and website authority for good SEO writing to ensure rankings alone (as nice as that would be). But it ensures you’re doing all you can to increase your chances of claiming those top spots.

Breaking Through the Buzzwords: 3 Takeaways from Content Marketing World 2019

For those of us coming up from the south, the best thing about Content Marketing World this year was a break from the Texas heat. OK, maybe I only speak for myself on that one, and the conference packed a lot of benefits beyond the cool breezes I start to forget exist in the thick of August.

Professionally speaking, one of the best things about Content Marketing World was, as usual, the ability to tap into the pulse of what’s happening in the larger content marketing industry. Amongst the insights that came through the chatter at this year’s event was acceptance that content marketing is no longer in its infancy.

Until very recently, content marketers still had to spend a chunk of our time advocating for the industry’s right to exist—making the case for why content marketing was even worth it. While those days aren’t 100% behind us, for the most part, the case for content marketing has been made. Most businesses are past the point of questioning whether they should do content marketing, and have now moved into the phase of figuring out how to do it well.

But the more conversations an industry has around how to do something well, the more the same lines and platitudes start to come up again and again. Multiple sessions this year touched on an unfortunate side effect of our growth as industry: the epidemic of buzzwords.

Robert Rose poked fun at the most common content marketing buzzwords in his talk on opening night to a response of knowing laughter from the crowd. We all recognize them—most of us have used them all at some point. 

But the thing about content marketing buzzwords is that they’re not exactly wrong. We do need to care about having empathy, and focusing on our target audience, and storytelling, and optimizing based on analytics, and earning ROI, and all those other things we all hear over and over again.

The problem is that when you hear the same words repeated ad nauseum, they start to lose meaning. Hearing that we should have empathy doesn’t help us figure out how to do so (something Margaret Magnarelli helpfully covered at last year’s Content Marketing World).

Luckily, many speakers provided specific suggestions for ways to break through the buzzwords and turn the generic advice we all know inside out into something you can use.

1. Don’t chase trends.

Joe Pulizzi’s keynote included a list of specific content marketing tips for businesses. One that stood out to me was the simple, but practical message: don’t try to do too much at once.

 Anyone that consumes content about content marketing knows that there’s a whole long list of trends that some blog post or video is always saying you must do.

Start a podcast! Invest in influencer marketing! Video content is the wave of the future! 

There’s nothing wrong with those tactics and they may well belong in your content marketing strategy. The problem is that you have a limited budget and only so much time in the day. If you spread yourself thin trying to do everything, you won’t succeed at anything.

Instead, Pulizzi recommends that you start with doing one thing well. Put your budget towards just a blog, or just a podcast, or whatever one thing you’re confident you can do a really good job with. Once you’ve built an audience in the channel of your choice, then you can diversify and bring in different content formats and tactics.

2. Make sure “optimization” takes a backseat to your brand story.

Another buzzword we all hear a lot (and not just in the realm of content marketing): optimization. As the martech landscape continually grows and more products that provide analytics come onto the scene, talk of “optimizing” your content strategy is hard to avoid. While creativity is still a big part of the game, content is becoming industrialized. Machines now have a bigger role to play in our conversations.

Doug Kessler from Velocity touched on this in his session about creating a galvanizing story. He was clear that “optimization” isn’t a bad thing. There’s definitely a place for data in building a successful content strategy. But it can’t take the place of having a clear story that defines your brand.

All those different tactics you track metrics for can’t exist in a vacuum—they all have to be connected by a unifying theme. He suggested defining a meaningful brand story first, then telling it in a million different places. Once you have that down, then turn to your data to optimize for things like tactics and strategies.     

3. Remember “audience” is more about context than categories.

Content marketers talk a lot about audience. Figuring out who your target audience is and how to talk to them specifically is both an important part of doing content marketing well—and something we’ve all heard so often that it falls firmly in the buzzword category.

Two different speakers touched on an important point that it can be easy to forget about “audience.”

Annie Granatstein from the Washington Post pointed out that “audiences” aren’t rigid categories. Often, there’s overlap between two audience categories you may target, and which category an individual belongs to can change based on what they’re currently doing. For example, the same person approaching your content in a work mindset will interact with it differently than when they’re on vacation. 

Similarly, Chris White from Capital One talked about how every person has traits that are constant, and others that become important or dominant temporarily. So someone in your audience can consistently be a movie lover, but when the toilets back up, they care a lot less about what movie they want to see next than figuring out how to fix the problem. 

In other words, context matters. A collection of demographic traits isn’t really enough to understand your audience. You also need to consider what they’re dealing with in a given moment. As White pointed out, relevance can make content that would otherwise seem dull riveting. 

On a normal day, you’re not going to watch that badly made 10-minute video about how to fix a backed up toilet, but at the moment you need it, you’ll watch it to the end.

If you can manage to deliver relevant content when your audience needs it, they’re more likely to respond well later when you start talking about your products. Capital One’s data shows that people who view blog content are 4 times as likely to click on an ad. 

Don’t Let Buzzwords Distract from Creating Useful Content

The buzzwords we’ve all encountered 100 times are common for a reason—they often tie back to worthwhile tips for your business. But you have to filter through generic advice to figure out how it applies to your business and customers.

Content marketing isn’t and never will be a one-size-fits-all solution. This year’s event provided important reminders not to get distracted by the shiny new thing. Focus on what makes sense for your business specifically. 

How to Avoid Content Writing Burnout

When a company embarks on a content marketing program, they often don’t realize just how hard creating great content is. Writing is a high-energy activity. It takes a lot of time, thought, and effort.

Research bears this out:

  • Orbit Media’s blogger survey has found the average blog post takes 3.5 hours to write.
  • Yet research into modern work habits has found the average knowledge worker is only productive 3 hours a day. The specific number of good writing hours you can get in a day will vary for different people, but there’s a hard limit for everybody (and I’d be genuinely shocked to meet someone who can do 8). 
  • HubSpot research reveals a clear relationship between blogging frequency and getting results. More blog posts = more website traffic. 

So, if you need to write a lot of blog posts, each post takes over 3 hours, and you only get around 3 good writing hours in a day for each content creator on your team—well, I’m a writer not a math person, so let’s just say it probably doesn’t add up well for most businesses. 

Content Writing Burnout is a Serious Problem

Burnout isn’t just about feeling tired, it’s a genuine health issue. If you overwork yourself for too long, it can lead to an array of health problems in the long term. But if protecting your health isn’t enough incentive, burnout will also hurt your work product. Good writing requires creativity and energy. Someone trying to crank out words while exhausted doesn’t have much of either to work with.

Avoiding content writing burnout is important both your team’s general well being, and to continue creating valuable content that gets results. 

How to Protect Yourself from Content Writing Burnout

There are no shortcuts in content marketing. To get results, you have to put in the work. So how can you do that without burning out? Mostly by working smarter, rather than harder. 

1.  Be strategic.

A strategy doesn’t just help you do better content marketing, it also helps you figure out your priorities. Someone who tries to do everything will burn out faster than someone who thinks carefully about which tactics and topics to tackle to get the best results.

Take time to learn who your audience is, what they care about, and how they learn about and consume content online. You’ll still want to do testing to see what works best, and be willing to change up the strategy you create based on the results you get. But being strategic will help you cut down on the total amount of work you do, since you’ll know where to focus your energies for the best results. 

2. Keep your goals realistic.

A lot of people don’t realize how much work creating content is until they start trying to do it regularly. Setting goals that require more writing than your team is capable of is a sure recipe for disappointment and burnout.

If the most you can reasonably create is one blog post a week and an ebook every other month, then don’t aim for two posts a day and an ebook every week. Make sure you give yourself and your team the time you need to do quality work, it’s not good for anyone if you put out rushed, sloppy pieces.

Create a content marketing calendar that helps you plan out realistic timelines for all your content pieces, and keeps you consistent in getting great content out there. 

3. Keep a swipe file.

Content marketing requires creating new, original content on an ongoing basis. At some point, you’re going to hit up against the challenge of figuring out what to write about. Having a strategy will help with that, since researching keywords, competitors, and your audience usually leads to healthy list of topic ideas.

But you don’t want to reach a day where you run through the list and get to the end. To avoid that fate, keep a swipe file. This is a folder or document where you save other good ideas you see around the web. Any time you’re doing research, browsing the web, shopping, or just going about your life and you see something you like, save it. Over time, you’ll have a file full of links, screen shots, and hastily scribbled notes you can turn to for inspiration.

When it’s time to fill in your content marketing calendar with new ideas, your swipe file will keep them flowing. 

4. Create outlines before writing.

Staring at a blank page is a notoriously frustrating experience for writers.

You know what’s easier than starting to write from scratch? Creating an outline. Then you’re not faced with a blank page when writing time comes, you already have your structure and basic ideas in place. 

Creating an outline not only makes content writing easier, it also makes the end result stronger. It forces you to do research and organize your thoughts before you start putting words on the page. Organization at the front end produces a piece that will be more intuitive and readable on the user end. 

5. Figure out your best process.

Writing productivity isn’t one size fits all. Each content writer will have to figure out for themselves what process most efficiently leads to good work. Analyze your working style carefully and try out a few different ways of approaching the creative process to see what works best for you. 

Some techniques worth trying are:

  • The Pomodoro Technique
  • Batching your blog posts or outlines (i.e. doing a bunch all at once)
  • Identifying your most productive time of day and scheduling all your writing work within that time
  • Creating mini-milestones to work toward to keep a big project moving

Track your time as you try out different techniques and see which ones lead to getting more writing done in less time. 

6. Take breaks.

When you’re overwhelmed and looking at a to-do list for the day that’s still far too long, taking a break feels like the last thing you should do. But breaks aren’t something to feel guilty about. They’re a necessary part of the creative process. And more than that, they’re proven to improve productivity.

Taking more breaks can mean getting more writing done.

If you’re not intentional about breaks, your brain will probably force them on you. Ever find yourself scrolling Facebook when you’re stressed out and have a million other things you should be doing? 

Instead, schedule breaks into your day intentionally, and find ways to use them that help energize you. For me, an exercise break inevitably translates into more productivity in the hours afterward. For you, a nap or a few minutes of meditation may do the same. This is one of those things to test out when figuring out your best process. 

7. Outsource.

No matter what hacks you use to get more content out of the time and energy you have available, you’re human and can only accomplish so much on your own. The most important step to avoid content writing burnout is recognizing when your team is overwhelmed. At that point, you can either scale back (which will likely mean slowing down your results), or you can outsource. 

An overworked, stressed out team is a good reason to hire a freelance content writer. Someone who specializes in content marketing writing will take some of the work off your to do list, and deliver work that helps you meet your goals. 

Avoiding Burnout = Better Content

Don’t work your team to the point of exhaustion. You’re much better off expanding your team with a skilled, capable freelancer (or a few) who lighten the load. 

If you’re ready to find the right freelancer for your needs, check out how I work and get in touch to see if we’re a fit. 

10 Tips to Find a Freelance Blog Writer Who’s a Good Fit

find a freelance blog writer good fit

You know that content marketing is worth it. But boy do you find it hard to keep up with the constant, ongoing need to produce new content. And good content at that.

You’re not alone. In a survey of over 1,000 content marketers, Curata found that creating enough content on a regular basis was the second biggest challenge marketers named. Writing useful blog posts that are well researched, accurate, and substantial takes a lot of work. And internal marketing teams can quickly get overtaxed.

One possible solution is hiring a freelance blog writer. Freelance bloggers who know content marketing and SEO can deliver content that’s well written and crafted to meet your business goals. But finding a good freelance blog writer is hard. And what’s even harder—and just as important—is finding a good freelance blog writer that’s a fit for how you work.

Why Fit is So Important When Hiring a Freelance Blog Writer

In years of working as a freelancer, I’ve learned that finding and working with new clients is a bit like dating. The first few interactions, including early assignments, are often a test in compatibility. When a client and I aren’t compatible in our working styles—even if I like the business or my main contact there is really nice—it won’t be a good working experience.

Taking the time to find a content marketing writer that’s a good fit for your company’s preferences and goals, instead of just one that’s a good writer, will make your life easier in a number of ways:

  • The process of working with them will go more smoothly.
  • You’re far less likely to deal with multiple rounds of edits.
  • You won’t have as much stress from dealing with minor conflicts or misunderstandings.
  • And by getting it right from early on, you can save yourself the trouble of having to start the search all over again after a failed start.

How to Find a Good Freelance Blog Writer

Before you can find the right blogger for you, you need to figure out where to find a good freelance writer to begin with.

I get it, it’s hard. And if you’ve tried job boards like Upwork and Fiverr, you may be feeling hopeless after getting a flood of responses from writers that don’t look very good.

That’s because job sites like those are full of low-paying gigs, so experienced writers who are picky about finding good clients mostly don’t bother with them.

1. Start with referrals and recommendations.

Before you go to any online options, start asking around. Between networking events, conferences, or even past jobs, most marketers have plenty of other friends in the industry. One of them probably knows a good writer or two. Send out some emails or LinkedIn messages. If you’re in a good professional Facebook group or Slack, ask there.

If you already have a freelance blog writer you’re working with and have realized it’s time to find more, ask them as well. Freelancers often know other freelancers. And most of us like helping each other out when given the opportunity, especially if it also helps out a client.

2. Pay attention to bylines on blogs you like.

If recommendations didn’t do the trick, think about the blogs in your industry you like the most. Pull up some of the posts you like and scroll down to the bottom to see if there’s an author bio. If the writer is a freelancer, often it will say so right in the bio and it may even include a link back to their website. For example: this is what my bio looks like on one client’s site.

If there’s a name, but not a bio, do a few minutes of sleuthing to see if you can find the writer on Google or social media. Freelancers usually have both a website and a social presence, and provide information that makes getting in touch easy. And if the person you contact says they’re overbooked or isn’t interested in the type of project you offer, you can go back to #1 and ask them if they have any colleagues they can recommend.

3.  Search on LinkedIn.

This is one of the exact things the professional social media networking site is for. When you search the site for freelance bloggers, you’ll see writers who are connected to people you know first. That means you can vet them by seeing who you know in common and checking with your shared connection to see what they think of the writer.

Their LinkedIn profile will share some information about their qualifications and experience, and may even include some writing samples. I recommend also looking for a link to their website and reviewing the information there before contacting them.

4. Try good ‘ol Google.

If those steps haven’t yielded the results you want, time to turn to the main place we all go to solve our problems. But here’s the thing to know about using Google to find a freelance blog writer: you may have to do some digging to find the websites of freelancers.

If you do a search for terms like “freelance copywriter” or “freelance blog writer,” you’ll find a lot of results that are either the aforementioned low-quality job boards, or resources on how to become a freelance writer. There are two main ways to get past this issue:

  • Be willing to do some scrolling and clicking to the next page to find writers’ websites (they are there eventually).
  • Get more specific in your search terms. If you search by niche (“B2B tech freelance copywriter” or “ freelance finance blogger”), or narrow it to locals (“austin copywriter”), sometimes you’ll get to writer pages faster.

One benefit of this method is that you can trust any writer that shows up in your search knows something about content marketing and SEO. Another is that it gets you straight to the writer’s website, where you can start checking out their samples and qualifications.

5. If all else fails, create a job ad on a high-quality site.

All the other tactics on this list will help you find writers that already have an established reputation, which is why I put this one last. This one puts you in the position of having writers come to you, which means you have to do more work in going through the applications you get and vetting each one.

But while I warned you away from a few job sites earlier, there are some that are a few notches above Upwork and Fiverr for finding qualified professionals. Most of these will charge either a one-time fee for the posting, or a subscription cost for joining the platform.

If you’re local to Austin, Freelance Austin has a job board to consider as well.

If you go this route, take some time to write a job ad that provides information about the type of work you need a writer to do and the budget you have in mind. Providing project details will save you time from fielding writers that specialize in a different type of work. And with so many freelance job ads that pay pennies, making it clear you have a real budget will affect the quality of applicants you get.

How to Vet Freelance Blog Writers for Compatibility

Hopefully, you now have a number of freelance content writers to consider. Now you need to figure out which of them is a good fit for your business needs.

1. Clarify your process first.

Before you can find out if they’re a good fit for how you work, you need to know how you work. If your team is new to hiring freelancers, then take some time to work out what your ideal working situation looks like. What are your typical processes for planning, creating, and publishing content now? What would be the most seamless, natural way for someone new to fit into them?

If you come to your search with a good idea of what you’re looking for, both in terms of skill and working style, you’ll know the right questions to ask to determine fit.

2. Review their samples.

Don’t skip this step! Before you hire a writer, confirm that you actually like the way they write. That seems obvious, but if you have a big list of names, it could get lost in the shuffle. Look at the writing samples on their website. Make sure you check samples from a couple different clients, so you can better see which aspects of their style and skill are theirs versus that of an editor they work with.

3. Pay attention to what their website says about how they work.

Freelance copywriters don’t want to spend a lot of time fielding clients that aren’t a great fit either, so often they’ll provide some information upfront about how they work and the kind of clients they’re looking for. See if there’s anything on their website that conflicts with the process and preferences you outlined in step one. If so, better to move on to the next person on your list.

4. Come to your first call with questions.

Once you know what you want in the relationship and have taken time to learn what you can about them, set up an interview call. Come prepared with a list of questions you have about how they work. Some of the questions in my list for copywriters will work just as well for those looking to hire writers.

Preparation will make your calls more efficient and make sure you cover all the bases you want to in the time you have. One thing to be aware of: it’s OK to ask about price on a call, but many freelancers will avoid answering straight away and instead send a proposal in writing after the fact. That’s normal, and helps us avoid misspeaking off the cuff before we have a chance to think through the details of the project. Don’t be put off by it.

5.  Treat the initial project as a trial.

Even if you do all this right, there still may be compatibility issues that come out during your first assignment or two. For that reason, it’s often best not to start with a long-term commitment, but instead to stick with a first assignment before deciding what the ongoing relationship will look like.

Be aware that the freelance content writer you hire will probably be doing the same thing though. Don’t treat it merely as a chance for them to to prove themselves to you. If you like their work, you need to prove yourself to them as well.  A good freelance relationship is a partnership with a fellow professional, and things will go better if you approach it that way.

If you need a freelance blog writer right now…

You just happen to be on the website of one. Take a look at my writing samples and some details on how I work, and get in touch if you think we might be a good fit.