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SEO Copywriting Outsourcing Tips

September 10, 2013 //  by Alyson Harrold//  6 Comments

Updated January 13, 2023

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Outsourcing SEO copywriting is a big decision. You’re delegating an integral piece of your online marketing. It reflects your business brand and messaging. You know that content is SEO fuel. Therefore, to build rankings you need to publish fresh webpages or blog posts. If you’re finding that internal resources can’t keep up a regular SEO copywriting schedule, outsourcing may be the perfect solution. These tips are designed to help marketing managers leverage hiring of outside writers to generate quality content.

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Outsourcing SEO Copywriting Requires Guidelines

Even if you are outsourcing content to an established writer, I recommend that you take the time to create content guidelines or a creative brief. This document typically includes:

  • a recap of your company and its point of difference
  • a definition of your target audience (demographics, description, knowledge or comprehension level of your topic)
  • the objective of the written piece (educate vs. sell)
  • the tone that best suits your business brand (business formal, conversational, journalistic, humorous)
  • an outline of what to avoid (e.g., referring to or bashing competitors, political references)
  • formatting preferences such as subheads, bullets, word count, etc.
  • SEO standards for meta data like title tags and meta descriptions

Having a guideline template will help you efficiently outsource content like blog posts, webpages, landing pages, etc. I suggest having a different document for more in-depth assignments like white papers or eBooks. The goals are slightly different and therefore the final product should reflect the overall objective.

Provide Background Information & Sources

When outsourcing SEO copywriting my recommendation is to cultivate a relationship with a writer(s). Unless they already have deep industry knowledge, give them links to information that will get them up to speed quickly. These links can be to general services pages or other source material.

Even if they do have industry experience, I wouldn’t make assumptions. Your creative brief/copywriting guidelines should give clear instructions of what to include or not. Source material could include:

  • General services webpages
  • Product information
  • Industry associations or publications
  • Governmental regulations*
  • Competitor websites

*Don’t expect your writer to slog through a government regulations document or website. You’re paying for SEO copywriting experience. Research is a valuable skill and may be outside the writing agreement.

Your Editorial Role

It’s your job as an editor to make sure the copy hits the mark. You also need to make sure it’s original. The goal of SEO copywriting is first to connect with your target audience. Optimizing for the search engine bots is secondary. Yes, optimized content contributes to SEO rankings. However, it should be readable and shareable.

If the piece isn’t what you want, go back to your creative brief. Is there something you forgot to include? As an editor, your SEO copywriting role is to make sure the writer has clear SEO copywriting instructions, reference materials, and realistic deadlines. Expect revisions, especially at the beginning. Over time, the process gets easier and faster. Once you have an established relationship with a writer, that’s marketing gold. 

Have you outsourced SEO copywriting? Any advice you’d add?

Category: Content// Author: Alyson Harrold

About Alyson Harrold

Alyson is Co-CEO and Chief Storyteller. Prior to forming the agency, her career spanned media (NBC-TV affiliates and city magazine, international ad agency) and positions like C-Suite financial services marketer and digital marketing consultant. Alyson learned how the right medium with the right message can attract the right audience. With her team, Alyson helps brands have meaningful customer interactions. Now she teaches those lessons—among others—as a UC Berkeley Extension instructor in her SEO and Digital Marketing courses since 2014. Alyson shares her knowledge as a speaker at preeminent digital marketing conferences around the country like Digital Growth Unleashed and more.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Online

    March 10, 2014 at 9:55 am

    First of all I want to say fantastic blog!
    I had a quick question in which I’d like to ask if you don’t mind.
    I was curious to know how you center yourself and clear your min prior to writing.
    I have had a difficult time clearing my thoughts in getting my ideas out.

    I truly do enjoy writing but it just seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes tend to be wasted simply just trying too
    figure out how to begin. Any recommendations or hints?
    Cheers!

    Reply
    • Alyson Harrold

      March 10, 2014 at 4:36 pm

      The writing process is never linear. I have three suggestions for you. 1) Train your brain to write to music. This is a technique that I’ve used for years, and it works. Whenever I hear a certain type of music, distractions are magically minimized and I’m ready to fill an empty page. 2) Don’t start at the beginning. Write the body of the article first. In the process you may find inspiration for that attention-getting first sentence. 3) Separate creating from editing. It sounds like you’re mixing the two. One way to exercise your creating skills is to practice free writes with prompts. Spend 5-10 minutes writing continuously (even if it’s nonsense). Over time, you’ll learn how to dive right in. Hope these suggestions help.

      Reply
  2. Mel Lasyone

    December 26, 2022 at 9:49 pm

    You’ve been really helpful to me. Thank you!

    Reply
    • Maine Demot

      December 28, 2022 at 9:57 am

      We’re glad you found the information helpful.

      Reply
  3. Flavia Versteeg

    December 28, 2022 at 9:54 am

    Thank you for your articles. I find them very helpful. Could you help me with something?

    Reply
    • Maine Demot

      January 30, 2023 at 2:46 am

      Hi Flavia. We’re glad to hear you find our content informative and useful. What can we help you with?

      Reply

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