Lauren
Hiring content writers to create your blog posts is a great way to make sure you are providing your audience with top-notch content on a regular basis.
Writing good content takes time, energy, and expertise, and many businesses find it beneficial to work with a professional. However, just because someone is a professional content writer, it does not mean that they will be the right fit for your business.
If you are considering hiring a content writer for your business, you should be aware of different green (and red!) flags that will indicate whether or not this writer will be able to help your business.
Here are 6 questions that you should ask any prospective content writers before you hire them to write your blog posts:
1. Why does content matter?
If your interviewee cannot answer this question, that is a major red flag. Providing valuable and relevant content to your target audience has the potential to boost your customer engagement, subscribers, website visitors, conversion rate and profitability. As such, it is one of the most important aspects of your ecommerce site.
A content writer that has not fully grasped the benefits of offering high-quality content will not know the importance of delivering effective content for your business.
2. What does high-quality content mean to you?
In addition to understanding the importance of creating content, you need to make sure your content writer knows how to write good content that will appeal to your audience.
While there is no specific right answer to this question, here are some signs that your content writer understands how to create high-quality content:
He mentions adding value
You do not want to work with a content writer that does not make adding value a priority. All of your blog posts and articles should go beyond simply advertising your products and services and provide some sort of value to your audience. Whether this is through offering helpful tips and tactics, answering questions specific to your industry, or finding ways to inform, entertain, and inspire, your content writer should make sure that your audience is able to find your content worthwhile.
He mentions relevance
High-quality content needs to connect with your target audience. A content writer can write the most beautiful or technical article in existence, but if it is not relevant to your readers, they will not find it useful.
A good content writer will tell you that effective content is tailored toward a business’ target audience so that it is relevant and helpful.
He mentions consumer engagement
In addition to being relevant and valuable, high-quality content should be engaging. If readers are not interested in your content or they are not able to connect with it, they will not be eager to visit your website or interact with your brand again in the future.
When you interview potential writers, make sure you find a one that aims to write engaging content.
3. What does client communication look like to you?
You do not want to hire a content writer that does not value communication. The only way for your content writer to truly know how to deliver work that is helpful for your business is to communicate with you and find out your unique needs and desires.
A good content writer will note the importance of staying in frequent communication and asking you for clarity, direction, and feedback. Ultimately, no one knows your business as well as you do. Your content writer should be willing to reach out to you and learn about your vision for your website’s blog.
Prevent yourself from getting into a situation where you and your content writer are not on the same page by asking this question before you hire your writer.
4. How do you respond to feedback?
On a similar note, you want to make sure your content writer is able to respond positively to feedback, constructive criticism, and revision requests. You need to know that if there are any changes you would like for them to make or if they did not quite meet your expectations, that they are willing to listen to your feedback, take it to heart, and make appropriate adjustments.
Anyone who is not open to receiving feedback or actively seeking it out is going to be a poor fit for your business.
5. What do you know about SEO?
Search engine optimization and keyword integration are important ways to boost your website traffic and your profitability. Before you hire a content writer, make sure he is well-versed in ways to use keywords and increase SEO.
If you ask this question and you are met with answers indicated that he is unsure of what SEO means or specific strategies that he can implement to increase SEO, then you should continue your content writer search.
6. How frequently will you be able to deliver content?
Make sure you and your new content writers are on the same page when it comes to content delivery. If you are expecting new content daily, but your writer can only deliver blog posts once a week, you need to find a better fit.
When you are deciding to hire a content writer, ask these six questions and you will have a better chance of finding the perfect match.
If you are in the market for a content writer, Content Cucumber can help! When you work with Content Cucumber, you will have a writer dedicated to producing high-quality content for your audience. Learn more about Content Cucumber when you visit our website.
