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1. Hey. You’re a Busy Businessperson, Aren’t You?
We’ve all heard this nugget of wisdom: “If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.”
Whether that particular nugget is really golden is up for debate. Doing it all yourself is asking for trouble in most businesses — and trying to be a one-man or one-woman army prevents you from growing your business in all the wonderful the ways you envision. Instead, you’re swallowed in a clinging-tentacle swamp of minutiae.
Multitasking has its practical limits. For some tasks, it’s better to call in a pro so you can focus on what you do best.
2. Freelancers Are Expert Writers, Mostly.
Expertise is the product of experience and writing for a living sharpens skills to a gleaming edge. Every type of business can benefit from an experienced writer drafting blog posts, articles, and sales copy.
For example, let’s say you’re an insurance agent. You’ve probably been in the business for years and have a sixth-sense for what to do in a given situation — and, as importantly — you know what not to do. Insurance is a business based on exact language and industry terms that confuse the heck out of the average person.
A skilled freelance writer can translate all that confusion-inducing insurance jargon into everyday English that your customers can understand and identify with. That second part is really important.
Effective writing isn’t just about using proper grammar.
There’s an art to writing relatable copy that empathizes with the reader’s challenges and frustrations — and brings the reader into the text, making the reader see a reflection of themselves as they read along.
Not everyone is an artist in that regard. Odds are, you aren’t either — and the good news is you don’t need to be. That’s why freelance writers exist.
Choose a freelancer who writes well, who understands your product and customers, and who can be a reliable ambassador for your brand.
3. A Freelancer Can Get The Job Done Faster
Investing extra time in learning how to do something (like the art of writing), for which you may not have a natural gift, is often better suited for hobbies than for business.
And honestly, writing projects are just difficult to complete when you’re the business owner because the business is always calling.
Phones are ringing. People have questions. Customers need this and that. Vendors are clamoring for your attention. Emails are coming in at a rate of 20 per hour. This is all great news because every one of those things presents an opportunity.
All that business productivity is also bad for writing productivity. Writing whatever needs to be written will take longer — and there’s a good chance the content won’t be your best work because of all the distractions. You might even be annoyed, and who wants to read something written by someone who’s grumpy?
Hiring a freelance writer solves that problem and the work will be done while you’re cheerfully taking care of other business.
4. The Finished Product Will Make You Look Like a Superhero
Your business might not rescue damsels in distress or save the world from aliens like Superman does, but businesses can live or die on first impressions.
Second impressions count too. Actually, everything that has your business name on it reflects on your business — and yes, your customers are noticing.
Sure, you can assign the task of content creation to an employee, who may or may not be a writer— or you could hire someone to write for nickels and pennies.
Both of these options can fill a page with words — but as you already know, customers and prospects want useful information and they’d really prefer that whatever you give them to read didn’t look like you hired the cheapest writer you could find.
You don’t need to hire the most expensive writer in the universe either. A writer who can make your business look good is priceless, but you won’t need to break the bank to find a skilled writer who’ll make your business shine. Your customers will be grateful for the useful content — and — they’ll feel that they can recommend you to others because you’ll make them look like a superhero too. Double-kapow.
5. A Freelance Writer is Tuned in to SEO
Are you an SEO expert?
Most people aren’t, and that’s okay.
You might know that SEO is Search Engine Optimization, the art and science of getting your content to show up in Google’s search results. Then again, you might not have known that — but now you do.
In truth, a freelance writer may not be an SEO “expert” either, but writers typically know more about SEO than the average person. SEO is an integral part of their business and a skilled writer can produce your content in a way that makes it stand out to both people and sometimes-finicky search engines.
6. Freelance Writers Can Suggest New Content Topics
Any seasoned manager or business owner knows that he or she can’t possibly come up with all the good ideas a business will need to take it to the next level.
If you give 5 ideas to a skilled writer, that writer can give you back 10 more content ideas.
If the first 5 ideas required any meaningful amount of research, you can probably expect another 50 ideas to come out of that as the writer does what he or she does best: dig, dig, dig, and then write about the treasures unearthed.
Just ask your writer for more content ideas. That’s 50 more chances to be found by your next customer. If you don’t have a writer yet, well, you know what to do.
7. A Freelance Writer Can Help You Avoid Black Holes
Every business has its elements that just aren’t productive to discuss in painful detail. In some cases, these topics may need to be mentioned in the interest of full disclosure — but it’s often important not to dwell — and there’s a danger of creating doubt in the customer’s mind that doesn’t advance the sale, even if what you offer is the best thing in the world for that customer’s needs.
Have you noticed the language in television ads for prescription medications that describes all the terrible things that can happen if you actually pop one of those pills? The remedy sounds worse than the condition it promises to fix.
A skilled writer can help you balance your message so that you can paint a fair picture and illustrate the benefits in an honest way that your customers will appreciate.
8. An Experienced Freelancer Knows How to Infographic With the Best of Them
Google kinda digs infographics, those chart-like pictures that present complex ideas in an easier-to-understand graphic.
There’s a balance and an art to making infographics. If the graphic gives too much (or too little) information, you’ve wasted your time making it.
Done well, an infographic is a great way to keep the reader on the page because now the reader understands the fundamentals and is ready to digest the expanded thoughts of your content.
A skilled writer knows what information belongs in an infographic and what should stay in the black-and-white text.
The infographic also lends credibility to your site — both for customers and for search engines — and it becomes yet another way for your business to be found in search engines. Infographics and posts with infographics also tend to attract more inbound links. True story.
9. The Rest of Your Website Copy Could Use a Tune-up
If you haven’t been using the services of a skilled writer for the existing content on your website, it probably needs some help. Maybe a lot of help. Yes, even if it looks pretty because your web designer gave you nice graphics and an ajax-powered search box.
Looking pretty is only half the battle and a second set of eyes never hurts when it comes to optimizing website copy.
You can alternate new content projects with revisiting old content to rewrite copy, phrase things better, or drive more traffic.
The benefits of fine-tuning existing content are twofold: You’ll get more (qualified) traffic, and you’ll improve your conversion rates on existing content.
10. You’re Too Close to See Your Content Clearly
One of the downsides to being an expert in your field is that you know too much. Seriously. Knowing too much can make it difficult to write in a way that your customers can understand.
Depending on the topic and how much of an expert you are, it’s entirely possible that your writing reads like an indecipherable Martian dialect.
A skilled writer knows when to slow down and explain an idea or an industry buzzword. While both versions of the content (the expert version and the writer’s version) are technically accurate, the version written by a skilled writer will resonate more with your customers — unless all your customers are experts too. Hey, it’s possible.
In writing, it’s also common to assume the reader knows what you meant to say. Nope. Such omniscience is the exclusive territory of spouses and best buddies, and they might guess wrong too.
Your readers need the difficult ideas spelled out — not because they aren’t smart — but because they probably aren’t experts on the nuances of your particular business. They’re experts in something else.
What your customers and prospects really need to know is why it matters to them, whatever “it” might be. Let a writer explain it.
11. A Freelance Writer Only Costs Money When Producing for You
Most lists only go to 10. This one goes to 11.
Okay.. if you’ll forgive the movie reference, we can discuss one of the best benefits of hiring a freelance writer.
In nearly all cases, a freelance writer only makes (costs) money when producing work, work that will benefit your business and can be measured. Compare that to full-time or part-time employees. Most employees are productive — hopefully — but payroll and other employee expenses add up even during the downtime that every business has.
Face it, you’re paying someone to tell bad jokes by the water cooler, at least sometimes.
By contrast, a freelance writer needn’t cost you a penny unless they’re actively producing — and helping you grow your business in the process.
As a reliable content and branding partner, a freelance writer is better described as a smart investment than a business expense.
If you haven’t already hired a freelance writer to help you build more traffic, add value, and improve customer retention, now is the perfect time to take the next step in growing your business.
