3 Qualities To Look For When Hiring A Blog Writer

• by Gabriel Sutton
• On December 11, 2017

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Putting together a hard-hitting team of blog writers is one of the toughest hurdles of running a digital marketing agency. Unless you already have a highly qualified digital journalist on your team, it’s not easy to know whether a prospective writer would be a smart hire or a waste of your time and resources. In this article, I’ll discuss a few qualities to consider when vetting a blog writer.

If your company is growing quickly and you simply don’t have the time to find, hire, and train writers, contact SearchCopy to learn about our Managed Blog Writing services. All of our writers have a college degree in journalism, and an Associated Press Stylebook expert will edit each piece of content that you order.

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Here are three qualities you should look for when hiring a blog writer:

1. Editing Experience

Any writer who’s fresh out of college is going to need some help with grammar, style, and blog writing etiquette. Simply put, if you hire a writer who doesn’t have editing experience, you should expect poor quality, and you’ll most likely have to rewrite all their work for the first few weeks or even months.

At SearchCopy, an Associated Press Stylebook expert will edit each piece of content that you order. Our articles will be ready to publish without proofreading, and our quality will impress your clients who are particular about grammar and style.

2. Impressive Portfolio

Just because a writer has a degree in English or creative writing doesn’t mean he or she is a seasoned digital journalist. Before you hire a blogger, find out how many blogs he or she has written and for which publications. Read through those blogs and evaluate their style, structure, and grammar to determine if the author would be a good fit for your publication.

You can use our 49 Point Blog Writing Checklist when evaluating a prospective writer’s portfolio.

3. Extensive Internet Marketing Knowledge

The content of even the most talented writers will fall flat if they aren’t familiar with techniques for optimizing user experience (UX) and conversion rates (CRO). Sophisticated grammar and high-level punctuation might look impressive, but if they’re not converting visitors into customers, then the content isn’t accomplishing its primary purpose.

Here are a few factors to look for when evaluating a blogger’s samples:

• Short paragraphs—preferably two to three sentences;
• Effective use of bullet and numbered lists;
• Subheadings that allow the reader to skim the content for the main takeaways;
• Effective use of links to other landing pages on the website;
• Calls to action that encourage conversions; and
• A style and tone that are appropriate for the target audience.

Although these tips will put you in a better position to hire a qualified blogger, the truth is that finding a talented writer is incredibly difficult—even if you know what you’re looking for. And when you do find the right author, you’ll still have to provide extensive training and ongoing feedback. If at some point in the future that author quits, you’ll be right back where you started.

To avoid the hassle of developing and maintaining a hard-hitting content production system, contact SearchCopy. We’ll make it easier for you to expand your company by meeting deadlines and consistently producing stellar content. Call us today at 757-447-3950 to get a quote.