What is the best content writing service?

Your Essential Guide to the Best Content Writing Services

Kristineprofile image
Written By

Kristine

Content creation is an essential marketing tool for all modern businesses. It’s a surefire way to attract more traffic to your website, improve customer loyalty, show off your industry expertise, and boost your SEO rankings. However, as most managers and entrepreneurs know, composing a well-written blog post can be incredibly time-consuming and, sometimes, downright frustrating.

Whether you lack the time to create content or you simply loathe writing in general, getting help from a professional writer can be a lifesaver. The only challenge is finding a reliable candidate. Of the hundreds of websites, agencies, and companies that promise to deliver great content, which ones are really worth the hype? 

Signs of a High-Quality Writing Service

At first glance, all writing companies seem to be exactly alike. In most cases, users submit a topic summary to a team of writers who will then write, edit, and return the project within a specified timeframe. Easy peasy, right? 

Although this tends to be the basic formula for requesting and receiving content, there are a number of variable factors from one business to the next. For instance, some agencies don’t allow revisions after a writer turns in their work. Some companies carefully select the most talented writers, whereas other sites can be like a free-for-all with writers of all skill levels. 

To save you from receiving disappointing content, as well as several potential headaches, look for the following signs of the best content writing services: 

  • Easy to use. Submitting requests should be a quick process that doesn’t require a ton of writing on your part.
  • Offers a fair price. Some sites will only give customers a price quote after they submit their request. Personally, I think that’s a little shady. Look for companies that have set prices based on the type of content and the number of words.
  • Hires skilled writers. Companies that thoroughly vet their writers will consistently provide you with excellent content. This is one of the primary reasons why businesses choose a writing service over hiring freelancers.
  • Clear policies. A trustworthy service should have information involving refunds and revision policies available on their site. It can be helpful to look up customer reviews to see what the average wait time is for receiving content, how the revision process works, and if refunds are available.
  • Provides a variety of content. Businesses today need more than just blog posts to stay relevant online. Look for services that offer to write social media posts, product descriptions, emails, newsletters, eBooks, white papers, FAQ pages, or any other written content you need. The best content writing services can do all of these projects with skill.
  • Quick turnaround. Creating an amazing article can take a writer some time, but you shouldn’t be left hanging for weeks for an 800-word request! There should be a reliable timeframe for delivering projects that’s fair to both you and the writer. 

What About Freelancers?

When you take sites like Fiverr, UpWork, and Guru into account, there are hundreds of thousands of freelance writers to choose from. It can certainly be tempting to hire a freelancer instead of going through a writing service, but it might end up costing you more time in the long run. 

If you hire a blog writer through a random online job posting, there’s no way to tell if their writing is going to live up to your expectations, if they’ll deliver the project on time, or if they’ll deliver it at all. Although there are definitely some reliable, skilled writers on these types of sites, they can be difficult to find among the plethora of subpar content creators. In addition, talented writers also tend to be pretty expensive—according to research conducted by UpWork, top content writers might charge as much as $80 per hour!

If you aren’t looking for a long-term content partner, or if you don’t mind editing papers, hiring a freelancer could make the most financial sense. On the other hand, if you want to build a long-term partnership with a dedicated and professional writer, choosing a content writing service is in your best interest.

The Best Content Writing Services

Keeping the aforementioned criteria in mind, we began to weed out any agencies that failed to meet the requirements of a high-quality writing service. Ultimately, we were left with this final list of promising options. If you want high-quality blog content with speedy turnaround times, here are our top recommendations:

  • Copify

Copify can provide all kinds of content for your website, blog, press releases, eBooks, and more. Users can expect their orders to be handled in an average of 48 hours, and they can request revisions prior to accepting the work. Copify has a large network of “rigorously assessed” writers, and they promise to deliver 100% original content.  

When it comes to pricing, Copify is a bit vague. Users can order content that begins at $0.06 per word, or they can choose blog packages that range from $89 to $329 per month. If you’d like to customize your own package, Copify allows you to fully personalize it to suit your needs. However, users should be aware that Copify does not accept refunds, and users are not always paired with the writer they prefer. 

If you were to order a single project from Copify, you can expect a quick turnaround time, but this comes at a cost. A single 500-word article will cost $30, which is a bit strange when you consider how inexpensive their blog packages are. 

  • RightlyWritten

RightlyWritten has wide price margins ranging from $120 to $720 per month based on your content needs and budget. For the startup-level price, users will receive one 500-word blog every week, and they can request additional blogs if needed. At the $720/month enterprise-level, businesses receive six 500-word posts every week. 

Outside of the blog packages, the cost for individual projects varies quite a bit. For example, selecting “Express Delivery” for a 500-word article will set you back $50. If you’re willing to wait 12 days for delivery, a 500-word article will be $25. And if you would like “premium” quality instead of “standard,” you’ll have to tack on another $5 per assignment. 

RightlyWritten has an in-house team of writers, and each individual goes through a trial period writing for a variety of clients before they are hired full-time. However, as a client, you will not be able to directly contact writers. Instead, you will be assigned an account manager who will communicate your requests with the team. 

If you like the style of a specific writer, you can put in a request for them to permanently take care of all future assignments. However, this can cause longer turnaround times, and if you need a project completed right away, it may still be assigned to somebody else.

  • Constant Content

Constant Content allows you to buy unique content in a few different ways. You can browse through thousands of pre-written articles and posts (which have all been checked by Copyscape), post public requests that all writers can see, or publish private requests that only writers you select will be able to view. The cost of pre-written content is determined by the writer, and you get to set the price for any orders you request. Therefore, there is no average monthly fee, and you’ll have to be careful to stick to your budget.

Constant Content offers Usage, Unique, and Full Rights licenses for clients to purchase, and this system appears to be a bit confusing to people at first. The average cost for each license isn’t mentioned anywhere on their site, although the site assures potential customers that buying a more expensive full rights license is better for their SEO rankings since the content won’t be published anywhere else. With most content writing services, this is a given; content typically isn’t reused for different clients!    

Overall, Constant Content can be a cost-effective option if you don’t require incredibly detailed pieces. It can take some time before you find writers you like to work with, and you’ll be left in the dark between the time you submit a request and receive the completed project. 

  • Scripted

Scripted has plenty of well-qualified writers who can be matched directly with clients through the company’s SmartMatch Technology, or users can browse the work of different writers until they find the perfect candidate for the job. Unlike Constant Content, you can message writers directly and even schedule conference calls for up to 1 hour at a time with your writer. When it comes to communication options, Scripted is definitely more flexible than most other platforms.

After you submit a content request, you can expect to get an editor-revised draft in 5 days, on average. If you’re not satisfied with the writing, you can request additional revisions until the piece is perfect. However, you will only have a few days to ask for changes before the work is “auto-accepted,” and this isn’t reversible or refundable. 

You have to be willing to pay a monthly membership fee just to be on the Scripted platform. Memberships begin at $149 per month, but enterprises may pay over $1,000 every month for the additional SEO services that Scripted also offers. But this membership fee doesn’t include the cost of content; you’ll still need to pay more for each blog or article you accept. According to the content budget tool, a standard 550-word blog post will cost you a minimum of $58. If you choose to upgrade from a “standard” writer to a “specialist” writer, the fees will increase as well.

  • Textun

Textun offers competitive pricing that ranges from $13 to $17 for a 500-word blog post. The company guarantees that projects will be edited prior to being submitted to the client, and writers will revise their assignments until the user is completely happy with the work. That being said, any requests for additional editing have to be sent in within 5 days after a writer turns in a piece. After the 5-day period, your order will “auto-approve,” similar to the process of Scripted.

The price of Textun seems to be much lower than other writing services, but there is no information about how writers are chosen for each project, if clients get to communicate directly with their writers, or if they can request to work with a single writer long-term. Along with the communication issues, Textun doesn’t offer any refunds after a writer is assigned to a project. 

Finally, if you look into the fine print of their revision policy, it states that “If you ask us to revise the content based on instructions that are different from the original instructions or requirements that were not included in the original order, this would not be considered a revision; it would be considered a new order and you would need to pay for it.” 

In other words, the “unlimited revisions” Textun promises on their homepage is a bit of a stretch. 

  • Content Cucumber

Content Cucumber is the only subscription-based writing service, which means that clients only have to pay a flat monthly rate, regardless of how many orders they submit. Our customers don’t have to pay extra fees for each submission or to gain access to “skilled” writers. At Content Cucumber, all of our writers are highly qualified — in fact, clients have a 14-day money-back guarantee if they’re not satisfied with the quality of our work. 

All clients are paired with a writer who will take care of all their requests to help establish long-term partnerships, improve communication, and ensure that the client’s brand voice will remain consistent. Each customer can communicate directly with their writer through email or through another form of communication, if desired. We’re more than happy to accommodate our clients and provide truly unlimited revisions on all of our content.

Lastly, all of our writers are expected to complete projects at a consistent rate of 400 words per business day. For instance, if a customer orders an 800-word article on Monday, a revised copy will be in their inbox by Wednesday afternoon. If you don’t believe me, go ahead and request a sample article to see for yourself how awesome our writers are!

Thumbs up

Like this post?

Find out how Content Cucumber can write blogs like this for you.