How To Hire And Onboard A Good Copywriter For Your Blog

Let’s start by defining what copywriting is. Essentially, it is any writing with the practical purpose of achieving business objectives, leads, traffic, or sales. A finalized material is called “copy” and can be anything from blog posts to web pages and product descriptions, while the person who wrote it is called a copywriter. A good copywriter will perform market research and has niche expertise as well as a deep knowledge of writing techniques that will encourage your readers to take a specific action.

Benefits of hiring a good copywriter

Think of hiring a copywriter for your website as an investment into your business growth. The right candidate will produce revenue-generating content and help achieve excellent results. Here are some of the advantages that a good copywriter will bring to your business.

Higher revenue

To drive sales, blogs need to create engaging content that won’t leave readers feeling indifferent. Professional copywriters do just that by using their marketing expertise, understanding of human psychology, and writing skills to drive your readers to take specific actions, such as subscribe, make a booking, etc. After proper research, they will know how to speak to your prospects’ struggles through content and convert them into loyal customers. Without the ability to persuade, it’s hard, if not impossible, to drive engagement, which is essential to make sales. By consistently creating meaningful and persuasive blog posts, you can attract more traffic and make more sales.

Time saved

You need to share three to four posts per week to drive organic traffic, which is time-consuming enough. Imagine how much time you’ll have to dedicate to writing, let alone SEO, marketing, and other promotional activities. However, if you don’t have to write all those posts yourself, you’ll free up more time to improve your overall blog performance.

Hiring an author is especially important if writing is not your best skill. Instead of wasting too much energy struggling to make the perfect post, outsource the task to a professional and work on aspects that you enjoy while getting better results.

Build trust with readers

High-quality posts generate more engagement with the audience and help build trust. The more valuable content you produce, the more people are likely to refer to your blog for information, which creates a stable traffic flow and allows you to grow a community. Consecutively, a larger community is indicative of a trustworthy resource, so it all works to your advantage.

More traffic

Nothing attracts readers more than posts that bring them actual value. By regularly publishing these sorts of posts, you’ll make your way to the top pages of the search results. It’s even more efficient if your copywriter uses proper optimization strategies, as organic traffic will start coming in much faster and easier. What keeps SEO all the more enjoyable is that this work pays off for good and the results last for quite a long time.

When you need to hire a copywriter

While the benefits of contracting a copywriter may sound convincing enough, it still comes at a price. If you are working within a modest budget, it’s natural that you may wonder, “When should I hire a copywriter?” to avoid spending too much. Hiring a copywriter will pay off handsomely in the following cases:

If you want to generate fast results, increase traffic, or make sales. The right copywriter will create content to achieve these objectives quicker than if you did the work yourself.
Suppose you are not familiar with the topic or don’t have the necessary skills to produce efficient blog posts. Instead of spending time learning how to write, you can hire a copywriter, who’s already good at writing, and get your desired results much faster and with fewer resources.
If there are too many posts written on a topic, it will require some good research before you can come up with an article worthy of landing on the first page of the SERP. A knowledgeable copywriter will be able to create valuable posts that put you ahead of your competition.

Last but not least, hiring a copywriter will allow you to dedicate your time to more important things that you excel at, while securing valuable blog content.

Where to find a great copywriter

How do I find a freelance copywriter? If you ask yourself this question, check out the following ways to find a good copywriter for your business, which vary from simply googling writers on the Internet to asking for referrals or exploring dedicated job boards.

Google search

You can start your search with good old-fashioned Google. Be as specific as possible to yield the best results. Indicate the type of copywriter you need, your desired price, location, and so on. A simple query like “copywriter” will generate millions of search results that have nothing to do with your particular business objective. You can also type your main keyword to find writers focusing on your specific topic. Don’t overlook ads, as they may lead to copywriters looking for clients who are ready to invest in promotion. Shortlist five to seven suitable candidates and reach out.

Google’s search allows you to connect directly with writers without paying membership or transaction fees (unlike on freelance platforms). However, you must be careful in your communications and remember that fraud is possible.

Freelance platforms

“What are the sites where I can find copywriters?” is what webmasters often ask after a fruitless search on Google. You can start with freelance platforms like Upwork or Fiverr, which offer hundreds (if not thousands) of freelance copywriters providing affordable prices (starting from $5 per post). On freelance platforms, you can find a contractor who charges per hour or per project.

How to find a travel copywriter on Fiverr

You can also sign up on such platforms and create a gig so that freelancers looking for work can apply for it directly. Make sure to give it a descriptive title and detailed project description, specifying what kind of expertise and skills you’re looking for. You can add questions for candidates to answer to find out more about them in advance.

Note that if you collaborate with a writer through freelance platforms, you’re most likely to pay a fee for each project. On Fiverr, for example, this fee is roughly $2 to $3 per transaction. While insignificant for a one-time project, this may add up in the long term. On the other hand, you’ll be able to open disputes for unsatisfactory work or fraud and the platform will take care of all work-related logistics.

The next best place to look for freelance writers is LinkedIn. As the world’s largest professional network, LinkedIn allows for the creation of new partnerships. On this platform, you can search for people, groups, posts, companies, events, and services, and filter the results accordingly.

You can start by searching for people and set up additional filters to narrow down your search. For example, by country, industry, profile language, service category, keywords, and so on.

How to find freelance writers on LinkedIn

Next, you can study experts’ profiles in the search results, including their education, work experience, connections, client testimonials, and so on. You can check to see if the writers you found have worked previously with similar brands or projects and what customers have to say about them. It might be the closest thing you can get to referrals, so make sure to use LinkedIn’s functionality to your advantage.

How to check recommendations on LinkedIn

Furthermore, you can set up a LinkedIn page for your business and share a job posting there so that writers can find it in the search. Note that the platform offers premium membership to find and hire candidates faster.

While Reddit is not primarily aimed at facilitating business connections, it offers space for conversations, which you can take advantage of to find a great writer. The platform provides subreddits for different topics and some cover writing and freelance projects. Sign up on the forum, if you haven’t yet, and start by exploring the following subreddits:

Join the relevant subreddits to stay informed on the discussions that are going on. You can also create a new post and offer a writing job to the forum members. Every subreddit has different rules, so make sure to check them before posting an announcement.

Writing job boards

The Internet abounds in job boards specifically for writers, where you can share your project. Depending on the platform, some of them will ask you for a fee in exchange for a single job posting or monthly subscription. This is a good investment if you are looking for a flow of writers or posting several gigs. Here are a few job boards to start with:

Job boards usually curate their postings carefully, but don’t hold themselves responsible for the quality of services and communication with the contractors you’ll find there, nor do they provide any logistics.

Blogs

Another way to discover a great copywriter is by sifting through blogs and online magazines with a similar topic to your topic of interest. Once you find writing samples that you like, contact the author and send them your offer. If their contact details aren’t available online, reach out to the platform hosting the post you found and ask them for the writer’s email. Given that it’s not their full-time employee, they might be willing to share this information.

The good part about this is that you can find precisely the type of writing skillset that you need and get in contact with the author directly without paying any fee (unlike on freelance platforms).

Referrals

If you don’t fancy picking a random person on the Internet, explore referrals via your personal or professional network. For example, you can share a job on LinkedIn or other social networks to show it to your connections. In addition, you can reach out to any agencies, companies, and experts in the niche and ask for recommendations. Chances are somebody can point you in the right direction, as word of mouth remains an efficient way to get referrals. Besides, it never hurts to let more people know about your business.

How to find a great copywriter

The next question that may come to your mind is, “How do I find a freelance copywriter?” It might not be easy to stumble upon a great writer, especially if it’s your first time looking for one. There are a few essential aspects you should pay attention to in order to find a true professional of their craft.

Experience

Hiring an experienced writer will save you a headache down the road, as you won’t have to spend time explaining the basics. Look for a copywriter who is already familiar with your niche and target audience or is willing to research it. This will indicate their interest in the topic, motivation to learn more, and ability to get the job done faster. Only writers who know how to relate to your audience’s pain points will be able to create killer copy.

Writing samples

Most respectable freelance writers will offer you a portfolio of their works, whether openly published on their page or available upon request. A portfolio with names of big brands in the niche indicates excellent industry expertise and trust with clients. Look for a writer whose writing style could suit your business goals.

You can also ask for the before and after of some of the projects the freelancer worked with. While this might require some digging on their part, such comparison will help you see the difference they’ve made to a business. For example, they might have made a brand’s voice more powerful or refreshed a project’s perspective.

References

Before hiring a copywriter, another thing to look at is their clients’ testimonials, which most professional copywriters are usually transparent about. Dedicate time to finding out what other people say about them, as such social proof will provide them with credibility and help you make a more accurate decision.

Such testimonials can vary from written reviews to photos or even videos. The latter indicates a perfect job and close connection with the customer, who has taken the time to make a video to share feedback. Videos also shed more light on how clients feel about the service rendered and the copywriter themself. Thus, you’ll have a better understanding of their personal and professional qualities.

Rate

The next thing you might want to check is their rate. How much does it cost to hire a copywriter? A true professional is worth their weight in gold, but with so many copywriters available on the web, you can find one for any budget.

So, how much do copywriters charge for blog posts? Naturally, different rates include different delivery times and post volumes. If we take Fiverr as an example, you’ll see that travel writing rates start as low as $10 per short article, with many authors charging about $30 per post, and then the rates go up to $100 or so. There are also authors with hourly rates.

Personality

Your copywriter’s personality is just as important as any other factor. You wouldn’t want to hire an overconfident author who doesn’t match your brand’s personality. Pay attention to the vibe you’re getting from a copywriter, such as what language and tone they use. Ideally, you would like to find an easy-going, positive person, who knows how to be persuasive through their writing and can work well as part of a team.

In addition, check to see if there are commonalities between the writer and your brand, as well as what kind of image they portray. Try to see what language and tone they use when writing. Naturally, matching your brand’s personality is the writer’s duty, but if you already have something in common, it’ll be easier to get off on the right foot.

Availability

Last but not least, check the copywriter’s availability. For one-off projects, you can hire a freelance writer, whom you can keep on retainer if the project turns into a series of posts. Some bloggers hire copywriters full-time, as they have regular posting needs.

It’s a win-win. The copywriter will have a constant flow of tasks and can build their industry knowledge, while you won’t have to bring them up to speed for each new post and can establish a long-term partnership on appropriate terms.

Types of copywriters

Copywriters may also decide to focus on creating a particular type of content and growing a specific skillset. Instead of looking for any copywriter, you can narrow down the search and hire a professional in SEO copywriting, creative writing, technical writing, and so on. Here are a few examples to point you in the right direction.

Content copywriter

Hire a content copywriter if you need to write a blog article, guide, White Paper, eBook, etc. A content copywriter often focuses on long-form articles that will be informative and engaging for readers and have SEO value for your blog. Most such authors are knowledgeable about search optimization and can improve your blog’s discoverability with their posts.

SEO copywriter

If your main goal is to improve your search rankings, choose an SEO copywriter who knows all the ins and outs of content optimization. They will add relevant keywords to your text so that more people can find your post naturally. Such a copywriter will help improve your site ranking and drive more organic traffic. SEO copywriters are a great option if you need to write blog posts, title tags, meta descriptions, comparison pages, and so on.

Creative copywriter

A freelancer focusing on creative writing will be able to find a new angle and provide killer copy that helps you stand out from your competition. Many such writers work in advertising and are well aware of market trends. If you want to reach out to a larger audience and grab their attention with an ad campaign or copy, or if you need eye-catching headlines, hiring a creative copywriter is the way to go.

Social media copywriter

If you need copy for your social networks, choose a social media copywriter. They usually understand the nuances of content creation for different social platforms and prepare posts accordingly. The thing is, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and other networks have different audiences and popular types of content. The right copywriter will already have all the necessary knowledge and can write exactly what you need. Hire a social media copywriter if you need to create captions, bios, or posts on social media, or if you want to devise a social strategy.

Technical copywriter

Technical copywriters specialize in working on complex matters in fields such as IT, finance, medicine, pharmaceutics, legal, and so on. Such niches usually have their own terminology, so the right copywriter is already well versed in the subject and can write texts that will be understandable to lay people, depending on your audience’s expertise. Hire a technical copywriter if you blog about medicine, software, finance, law, etc.

How to onboard a copywriter

To get off on the right foot, the copywriter must know what exactly it is that you want from them. So, the right question to ask yourself is, “How do I hire a copywriter and onboard them?” You can walk them through your workflow step-by-step and highlight your business needs. Below are a few ideas on how to onboard a copywriter and make their integration seamless.

Explain your objectives

Start by explaining your objectives to the copywriter. What do you want your readers to do after reading your copy? How will you promote your post after publication? Make sure to clarify these points to the contractor along with your overall business marketing strategy.

Have templates to follow

You’ll greatly save your time by developing a template to follow or a style guide and passing it off to every new freelance writer. You can explain your expectations, describe your target audience, desirable tone, and voice, lists of favorite sources, major do’s/don’ts, and so on.

Share your SEO strategies

With SEO being one of the main sources of organic traffic, it’s essential to optimize posts for search engines. If you already have some strategies in place, make sure to communicate them to your copywriter. For example, how to research and use keywords on the page, how to structure content, and so on.

Set your turnaround time

If you already have an established practice, let the copywriter know the desired turnaround time for a post. If not, discuss a rough timeline for the project that will be suitable for both you and the copywriter.

It’s better to break the process into phases so that each phase has its own deadline. This will help you better monitor the project and ensure that everything goes as planned. Tools like Asana and Trello allow for easy planning, assigning tasks, setting deadlines, and so on.

Explain your writing process

Likewise, if you have an established writing workflow, just let the copywriter know about it. It’s always great to introduce them to your designer because the best copy uses text and images that complement each other and support your brand’s personality.

If other people are involved in the writing process, such as an editor or SEO expert, make sure they all know each other and can collaborate. Explain how many rounds of review are included in the price and how long it may take for you to review and accept the piece.

Provide creative freedom

If you want to get a brilliant copy that will leave your competitors further behind, you must provide creative freedom to your copywriter. While they should follow your requirements when writing, giving them freedom will allow them to find the best angle and show your brand from its most attractive side, which may not always be apparent at first sight.

How to hire and onboard a copywriter for your blog

The secret to great performance is creating great pieces of content. The key to creating great content is hiring a copywriter who is familiar with the niche and can help you improve your content strategy. While there are many freelance writers who offer their services on the web, look for an experienced author who will be easy to negotiate with, persuasive, and available for this and subsequent projects. Jumping from one writer to another might be time and effort consuming, so securing a good, reliable author is best.

The complete guide to hiring a copywriter for the blog