Content writing outsourcing is when you hire a third party—like a content marketing agency or freelance writer—to write content for you.
For example, say your goal is to publish 30 B2B articles per month on your small business blog. You might outsource the writing to save your team time. So they can focus on other tasks.
A Google search for “hire B2B small business freelancers” returns a variety of freelancer marketplaces and agencies for outsourcing writing. And other tasks.
Whether you outsource content or create it in-house depends on your needs.
Criteria |
Outsource Content |
In-House Writers |
Expertise |
Lack of specialized knowledge or skills in-house |
In-house team possesses the necessary expertise |
Cost |
Cost-effective compared to hiring full-time staff |
Potential cost savings from using existing team |
Quality Control |
Ensuring consistent quality may be challenging |
Direct oversight enables stringent quality control |
Confidentiality |
Sensitive information requires trustworthy partners and NDAs |
Internal team helps ensure data security and confidentiality |
Time Constraints |
Tight deadlines require quick turnaround |
Flexibility to manage timelines internally |
Control |
Relinquishing some control over content creation |
Full control over content strategy and execution |
Scalability |
Easily scale production up or down as needed |
Limited by internal resources and capacity |
Follow these steps to successfully outsource content writing for your brand.
First, determine why you want to outsource content writing. Setting goals for your content marketing strategy will help you identify the types of content you’ll need.
For example, if your goal is to boost organic traffic, you might outsource these content types:
If you want to generate leads, you could outsource:
Defining your goals ahead of time will also help you source the right talent. And effectively communicate assignments.
Setting key performance indicators (KPIs) is important when outsourcing content writing. This can help ensure the work meets your expectations. And is contributing effectively to your business goals.
Consider these KPIs:
Writers come in all forms.
Including:
You’ll also want to consider skill level. Do you need an expert? Or is it a beginner-friendly topic that a newer writer can handle? This can affect your budget. As more experienced writers often charge more.
Outsourcing generally frees up the time of your in-house team. But that doesn’t mean it’s a set-it-and-forget-it solution.
Designate a lead for your outsourcing efforts. To handle these tasks:
These tasks may fall on different team members. Depending on the size of your content operations. Communicative, organized, and detail-oriented team members are vital to outsourcing success.
Once you’ve established your goals and how to measure them, it’s time to set a budget.
Consider the following factors to determine an adequate budget:
Thirty-four percent of businesses spend $1,000 to $5,000 on outsourced content each month. According to Semrush’s State of Content Ops and Outsourcing Report.
Your budget will depend on the type of content you need. Writer expertise. And niche.
Here’s an idea of what different freelance writers charge, according to Upwork:
There are different ways to outsource content writing.
Options include:
This is one of the most common methods of outsourcing writing tasks. There are a number of freelancing platforms (more on that later) where you can find talented writers.
But you also can reach out to freelancers directly. On sites like LinkedIn.
Here’s how:
Search “freelancer,” “freelance writer,” or “freelance + [niche]” on LinkedIn to find potential candidates.
Alternatively, post ads for freelance writing jobs on popular boards like:
Hiring freelancers is a good option for companies of all sizes. It allows you to negotiate contracts and rates with freelancers directly.
Content marketing agencies offer extensive content marketing solutions.
If you have the budget but lack the internal team, a content agency can take ownership of your content marketing efforts.
Content marketing agencies can often handle all aspects of content creation.
Including:
Many agencies can act as a third-party marketing team if needed. Others may only offer writing services. Determine your needs and find an agency to match.
Content mills, also called content farms, focus on quantity over quality. These platforms employ freelancers to produce mass quantities of content. If you need a large amount of non-specialized content, this is an affordable approach.
The downside is that you usually can’t handpick your freelancers. Or find writers with niche expertise.
Because content mills tend to be more affordable, the writers are also usually paid less. This means many freelance writers are just starting their careers when they work for content mills.
All of this generally means you get less experienced and less specialized writers.
If expertise is what you’re after, focus on finding niche experts. This can help you produce high-quality content written by industry specialists.
But you’ll need to budget accordingly.
According to the Editorial Freelancers Association, medical freelance writers make $82.50 to $110.00 per hour. While non-specialized, work-for-hire writers make $50 to $79 per hour.
If you can commit the time and money, finding an expert writer can positively impact your content beyond how well it’s researched.
It can also help you demonstrate E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness). Which is part of Google’s framework for assessing content quality. (Not a part of its algorithms, but an essential directive given to human search quality evaluators who work for Google.)
This is especially important for “Your Money or Your Life” (YMYL) topics. Like finance, medical, and health-related topics.
If you publish YMYL topics, it could be worth budgeting more for highly experienced writers.
Whether you require a test assignment is up to you. The writer may have enough relevant examples in their portfolio that you feel confident hiring them on the spot.
In some cases, it may still be helpful to ask writers to complete a writing test. Before hiring them for a project.
Keep the test short. And consider compensating writers for the work. This can help increase the quality of candidates you receive.
The test should measure the freelancer’s writing abilities. Like grammar, spelling, and logical flow. And also reflect your content needs.
For example:
Provide specific instructions. Like word count, keywords, brand voice, subjects to address, and links to include. This will help you gauge how well they follow direction. And if they’re a fit for your brand.
Establish your outsourcing workflow early in the process. So your outsourcing lead and your freelancers have a smooth system in place.
Ideally, these processes will be clearly outlined in your contracts.
To protect your company and respect your freelance talent, draw up a contract. And make sure someone with legal expertise and credentials reviews it.
Generally, an outsourced writing contract should include:
To ensure you include the right terms and clauses, consult your legal team or use an online contract service.
Once your contract is set, get signatures from relevant parties before you begin outsourcing work.
Whether you hire freelancers or a content agency, you or someone on your team will likely need to provide the content ideas.
To identify content ideas, use Semrush’s Topic Research tool.
Open the tool, enter a topic idea, and click “Get content ideas.”
For this example, let’s say you need content for a pet grooming website.
The tool will generate various ideas related to pet grooming.
Click on an idea to see more details. Including “Subtopic Volume.” This is the keyword search volume—the estimated number of Google users searching this term each month.
Higher Subtopic Volume indicates more interest in that topic.
Build out your content calendar using the ideas you generate with Topic Research. To ensure you cover all relevant topics. And then assign them to writers. Based on expertise.
A content brief is a document that communicates expectations to the freelancer.
Content briefs should include the following:
Review outsourced content to ensure it matches your style guide, quality standards, and goals.
This can be done by an in-house editor. Or outsourced to an editing partner. Or freelance editor.
Use third-party content editing tools to assess SEO potential and grammar.
For example, use Semrush’s SEO Writing Assistant to analyze drafts for readability, SEO, originality, and tone of voice.
And use tools like Grammarly to quickly review a freelancer’s writing mechanics. Many of these tools offer free browser plugins. So you can easily run a review on a Google Doc to catch grammar and spelling mistakes.
If the content is on a niche subject, consider having an expert review it for accuracy. If your article is product or industry-specific, ask a relevant team member to review it.
This can help keep quality high. No matter who writes your content.
Follow these best practices to get the most out of revision requests:
The best way to produce quality outsourced work is to tell your freelancers what is and isn’t working.
Incorporate feedback into your revision requests that explain any issues. And how the writer should approach them the next time.
Compliment what they’re doing well. So they know to keep doing it.
If you’re noticing frequent problems with the quality of content you’re receiving, try
Once your content is published, start tracking results.
Use Google Analytics to monitor traffic and engagement.
Look at data like:
Analyze your top-performing content. To help you and your freelance team optimize the writing process moving forward.
Here are some popular platforms where you can source freelance writers:
Best for: Individuals or teams with limited budgets
Upwork offers a wide range of talent. Including creative writers. Podcast writers. And even speech writers. Select the category you’re interested in based on your needs. Like grant writing. Or a blog post writer. And view writers’ portfolios. And rates.
If you find a writer you want to work with, select the service package you want (if applicable). And pay for their services.
Alternatively, post a job ad with your own rates. And project details. Upwork writers can apply to your job. And you’ll pay them through the platform.
The large talent pool means you need to post a competitive job to get attention from top writers.
Best for: Individuals and teams with limited budgets
Fiverr is a freelance marketplace that lets you post jobs that freelancers can bid on.
Or you can seek out talent on the platform.
Fiverr is not a writing-specific platform. It’s a gig platform that connects freelancers from a wide range of industries with buyers. This means you may need to look harder for the service provider you want.
Best for: B2B and B2C websites with large content needs and high budgets
Contently is a cloud-based content agency that specializes in B2B and B2C content. In exchange for a subscription fee, Contently will manage your outsourced content.
The platform is a good option for teams who want to outsource the entire content creation process. As Contently helps manage everything. From content strategy development to writing.
Contently vets its content writers and provides helpful resources. Including training, webinars, documentation, and live support. This helps ensure high-quality results.
Its subscription fees are unique to a company’s needs. Request a quote to get pricing.
Best for: Individuals and businesses of all sizes with varying budgets
WriterAccess is a freelancer platform that charges monthly subscription fees.
The platform helps manage your content outsourcing workflow. And offers different tools for different subscriptions. All subscription levels have access to the WriterAccess writer marketplace. Including a selection of AI writing tools and image sourcing.
There are two subscription models:
These are just a few of the biggest platforms available for outsourcing content writing. The best fit for you will depend on the type of talent you’re looking for. And your budget.
A successful content outsourcing strategy requires ongoing planning, action, and maintenance. Especially if you’re managing a team of freelance writers.
Speed up the process with Topic Research. And use Keyword Magic Tool to identify target keywords. This will help ensure you get high-quality, high-ranking content. Every time.
This post was updated in 2024. Excerpts from the original article by Maria Raybould may remain.
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