You have been blogging for a while now, a busy parent, or someone who has a 9-5 job. You need content for your blog. You can't afford to hire a full-time writer, but you don't have the time to write it yourself either.
What do you do?
This lesson will discuss how to outsource blog content so that you can get the content you need without time taking away from your other responsibilities.
When I started blogging back in 2015, I had a full-time job. My normal working hours were 10 am to 7 pm.
But because I belong to an industry where "normal" doesn't apply (post-production industry), I often worked overtime and on weekends, too!
Blogging when you have a full-time job meant that I had to blog on my phone during my lunch break. I sometimes purposely rode a bus/train that would take a longer route, just so I can finish a blog post during the ride, lol.
When I decided to be self-employed back in 2016, and do blogging full time, I thought everything will be easier because I will just be "working from home." Boy, I was wrong!
I had a toddler who would oftentimes put toys on my laptop while I type. The dirty dishes often stares at me begging to be washed, I cannot concentrate, haha!
The clean clothes piled up for weeks, never seeing the insides of the cabinet, haunted me while I think of what to type next.
When my firsttimeparentguide.com blog reached an average income of $600 per month, I decided to reinvest $120 per month to pay for 12 articles (product reviews).
For the price point, you cannot expect so much. But at least I saved a lot of research time.
When I reached an average income of $1k per month, I decided to hire more writers - making it two writers for who I paid $240 each per month.
Nowadays, I don't outsource anymore because I already have Jarvis.
Why Delegating Is The Best Way To Get Blog Content For Your Business
If you want to grow your business and blog successfully, it's important that you're able to "delegate" some of the work.
When you do, there will be more time in your day for other things like writing emails or promoting your new blog posts.
If you want to hire someone, one option for outsourcing is thru Upwork. I got all the good writers from onlinejobsph. I personally don't like the output in Fiverr, mainly because I was paying cheap!
But paying "cheap" doesn't necessarily mean bad output. I pay $99/mo to Jarvis which can output an unlimited amount of words per month!
The decision about what route will work best for you can be tough but learning how to delegate properly could end up saving you time (and money) in the long run!
Look For Someone Who Is Willing To Be Trained
A writer who writes without purpose is no different from a robot. Offer a paid training to your shortlisted candidates.
I know it sounds like a lot of money but it can as cheap as $100 for the whole training session for 7 days straight.
Don't forget to tell them that whatever material they produce during the training will be yours in exchange for the compensated training.
Giving a monetary incentive gives the candidates a drive to do their best because nobody wants to work for free! However, tell them that they will only get paid if they successfully completed the 7 days training.
I had around 6 shortlisted applicants before, but not all finished the 7 days.
Doing this will also let them see a glimpse of what they are supposed to do in the future.
Some of the applicants I was training told me in the middle of the week that they decided not to continue. Their expectations about the work were totally different.
It's better to set the correct expectations even before you start working with them.
First Day Of Training
Writing for a blog involves keyword research. Give them training to follow, like this for the basic keyword research, and this one for the long-tail keyword research.
Give them temporary access to the tools you intend to let them use.
Let them come up with 12 keywords on the first day. You'll know on the first day who has the most potential.
Second Day Of Training
Let them write 1,000 words about the first keyword on the list. Tell them to write naturally, no rules or restrictions.
This will let you see their "natural style" and shortlist even further those that resonate with the tone of voice you are looking for.
Third Day Of Training
Teach them how to format the post in WordPress. You can point them to this lesson to understand the basics of the WordPress Dashboard.
Even the basic skills of formatting a post in Gutenberg Editor will come a long way.
If you are using the Thrive Architect like me, point them to a step-by-step lesson, too.
Whichever you plan to let them use once you hire them, that's the platform they should learn. Give them temporary access to a WordPress account, and let them format the post they wrote.
Fourth Day
Introduce them to SEO. And by introduce, I mean the SEO concepts that you want to implement.
I had a writer applicant in the past who told me she knows SEO and submitted a post stuffed with keywords - it gave me a migraine, lol.
You can give them a list of what you expect them to implement in every blog post they produce. Let them do the SEO part on the fourth day.
Fifth Day
Give them a chance to make the content better.
They can choose to take a break on this day if they are already confident about their output.
If not, give them the fifth day to revise the blog post, the formatting, and most especially the SEO part.
Sixth Day
Introduce them to Jarvis and give them a temporary access so they can play with it. Although Jarvis can write a blog post introduction, outline, body, conclusion, and everything else you ask it to write, Jarvis needs a proper direction.
Comparing someone who mainly uses Jarvis because he cannot write, a writer who knows keyword research, content quality, and SEO will come a long way when paired with Jarvis.
If you own several blogs, using Jarvis will make your team more productive. With Jarvis, I can output 1,000 words in less than an hour. Your writer/s can, too!
Seventh Day
Ask them to improve their output using Jarvis. At this point in time, everything is easier. They will also realize how much time they will save, which can also give both of you some space for rate negotiation.
You need to have a rough gauge in your mind on how much you are willing to pay now that Jarvis will be of help.
If the writer doesn't agree with your budget, don't ask them to lower their price just because they will use Jarvis anyway. Simply pay them what is due, and thank them for their time.
Everyone knows how much their time and effort are worth, and you should respect that.
Conclusion
If you’ve found yourself in a position where you don't have the time to create blog content for your business, then it's time to start looking into outsourcing.
You can leave the work of creating quality content up to someone else.
Finding the "perfect person" to create blog content for your business is not possible IF you are looking for someone PERFECT. They simply don't exist.
However, the willingness of someone to be trained and even to unlearn some concepts, just to absorb and implement new concepts will come a long way.
Make sure you know what delegating involves before putting the responsibility on someone else. Take some time today to review all the lessons I pointed you to, so you are sure you're able to outsource successfully!
If you still struggle to find someone who is willing and able to work with you given your budget, Jarvis is always ready and waiting to work with you.
It just needs some time getting to know it, and I assure you, you'll be the new best of friends! 🙂
P.S. I wouldn't know about outsourcing had I not consumed Jerry's training about it. He got templates on what to send the applicants, at every stage of the training process.
It doesn't involve Jarvis, though, but you can check it out here.
