Creating high quality blog content consistently is a massive challenge. You know you need it for SEO, lead generation, and building topical authority, but who has the time? If your team is stretched thin, it might be the perfect moment to outsource blog writing.
Hiring external writers can feel like a big step, but it’s a common strategy used by top marketing teams to scale their efforts. In fact, roughly half of all marketing teams outsource at least some of their content creation. This guide walks you through everything you need to know, from making the initial decision to managing a team of writers and scaling your content production.
Should You Outsource Your Blog Writing?
Deciding whether to outsource blog writing is a strategic choice. It involves weighing the benefits against the potential risks and figuring out if the timing is right for your business.
The Benefits of Outsourcing Your Blog
Handing off your content creation can unlock some serious advantages.
- Access to Expertise: You can tap into a global pool of talent to find writers with deep knowledge in your specific niche. This is a huge driver for many companies, with 42% of businesses outsourcing specifically to access specialized skills they lack in house.
- Increased Content Velocity: The more you publish, the faster you grow. Companies that publish 16 or more blog posts per month generate about 4.5 times more leads than those publishing only a few. For most teams, the only way to hit that cadence is to outsource blog writing and adopt programmatic SEO.
- Cost Efficiency: Outsourcing can be more affordable than hiring a full time writer. You avoid costs like benefits, training, and payroll taxes. Many businesses see significant savings, often reducing costs by 25% to 40%.
- Focus on Core Business: Delegating content creation frees up your internal team to focus on what they do best, whether that’s product development, sales, or customer strategy.
The Risks and How to Manage Them
Of course, outsourcing isn’t without its challenges. The primary concern for most marketers when they outsource blog writing is maintaining content quality and brand consistency. An external writer won’t know your company’s unique voice from day one. Marketers report that the biggest challenge with freelancers is the time it takes to get them up to speed on brand guidelines.
Other risks include potential miscommunications, missed deadlines, and the hidden costs of your own time spent managing the process. The good news is that all of these risks can be managed with clear processes, which we’ll cover in detail below.
When Is the Right Time to Outsource?
The ideal time to outsource blog writing is usually when your content needs outpace your team’s capacity. Here are a few triggers:
- You consistently struggle to publish on a regular schedule.
- You need to write about specialized or technical topics your team doesn’t understand.
- Your content quality isn’t driving the results you want (like traffic or leads).
- You’re heading into a major campaign or product launch and need to scale up content quickly.
If any of these sound familiar, it’s a strong signal that bringing in external help could be a game changer.
How to Find the Right Blog Writing Talent
Once you decide to outsource blog writing, the next step is finding the right people. You have several options, each with its own pros and cons.
Hiring a Freelance Blog Writer
Working directly with an individual freelancer is a popular choice. It offers flexibility, cost effectiveness, and the chance to build a strong one on one relationship. A vast majority of businesses (81%) report being satisfied with the quality of work from freelance writers.
To hire a freelancer, you’ll need to source candidates, review their portfolios, and likely conduct a paid test project. The key is to provide extremely clear guidelines and feedback, especially in the beginning.
Working with a Content Agency
A content agency provides a more managed, “done for you” service. Instead of hiring an individual, you hire a team that often includes writers, editors, and strategists. This is a great option if you need to produce a high volume of content and want a turnkey solution. Agencies handle all the writer management, editing, and quality control, saving you significant time.
While traditional agencies can be expensive, modern solutions are changing the game. For example, an AI assisted service like Rankai can deliver 20+ optimized pages a month for a flat fee, combining human strategy with AI efficiency to scale your content quickly.
Using a Content Writing Platform
Content writing platforms (or writing sites) like WriterAccess or Textbroker are marketplaces that connect you with pre vetted writers. You post a job, and writers on the platform can claim it. These services are great for speed and scalability, allowing you to order content on demand. The quality can vary, so it’s important to choose a reputable platform and provide a very detailed content brief that leads to authoritative content.
Leveraging a Gig Platform
Gig platforms like Upwork and Fiverr are broad marketplaces for all kinds of freelance work, including writing. You can find a massive range of writers at different price points. These platforms offer payment protection and review systems, which adds a layer of security. However, you are responsible for sifting through proposals and managing the writer yourself, which can be time consuming.
Sourcing Writers Directly
Direct sourcing means finding a writer without an intermediary. You might get a referral from a colleague or reach out to a writer whose work you admire on another industry blog. This approach allows you to build a strong, direct relationship and avoid platform fees. Just be sure to create a simple contract that covers payment terms, deliverables, and content ownership.
Accepting Guest Post Contributors
A guest post contributor is someone who writes for your blog in exchange for exposure and a backlink, not payment. This can be a great way to get high quality, expert content for free. However, it requires strong editorial oversight to ensure every post meets your quality standards and provides real value to your audience, rather than just being a vehicle for the author’s self promotion.
Setting Up Your Outsourced Content Engine for Success
Finding a great writer is only half the battle. To get consistent, high quality content, you need to build a solid operational process.
Capturing Your Brand Voice and Tone
Your brand voice is your company’s personality in written form. It’s what makes you sound like you. An outsourced writer can’t read your mind, so you need to document it. Create a simple style guide that defines your voice (e.g., “friendly and helpful, but not slangy”) and covers grammar rules (like whether you use the Oxford comma). Providing examples of what you like and don’t like is one of the fastest ways to get a new writer up to speed.
Creating an Editorial Calendar
An editorial calendar is your roadmap for content. It’s a schedule of what you’re going to publish and when. This tool is essential for staying organized, especially when coordinating with external writers. Pair it with content mapping to connect topics into clusters and avoid gaps. Shockingly, many businesses don’t have a documented plan, but those that do are far more likely to feel their marketing is effective. A simple spreadsheet tracking topics, writers, due dates, and publication dates can transform your workflow from chaotic to consistent.
Onboarding and Supporting Your Writers
A strong onboarding process sets the stage for a great long term relationship. This involves:
- Sharing your brand guidelines and target audience personas.
- Explaining your workflow for assignments, edits, and publishing.
- Being available to answer questions.
- Providing clear, constructive feedback on the first few articles.
Think of the first couple of assignments as a training period. The time you invest here will pay for itself in better, faster content down the road.
Managing Writers and Your Workflow
Ongoing writer management involves assigning topics, tracking deadlines, and ensuring the content pipeline is always moving. If you’re working with multiple writers, a project management tool like Trello or Asana can help you visualize where each article is in the process (e.g., Writing, Editing, Ready to Publish). Good management also means being a good client: communicate clearly, pay on time, and share feedback respectfully.
Establishing Communication Guidelines
Decide how you and your writers will communicate. Will it be email, Slack, or a project management tool? Set clear expectations for response times. For freelancers, one of the biggest challenges is maintaining clear and consistent communication with clients. By being responsive and organized, you become a client that top talent wants to work with.
The Nuts and Bolts: Briefs, Quality, and Ownership
Getting the details right is crucial for a smooth process when you outsource blog writing.
Writing the Perfect Content Brief
A content brief is a document that outlines everything a writer needs to know to create a specific blog post. A great brief prevents endless revisions. It should include:
- The primary topic and target keyword (start with your primary keyword).
- The target audience.
- Key points or questions to answer.
- The desired tone and call to action.
- Links to internal pages or external research to include.
Quality Control and Editing
No first draft is perfect. Plan to have an internal review and editing process for all outsourced content. Your job as the editor is to check for factual accuracy, polish the tone to match your brand voice, ensure it aligns with your overall strategy, and avoid keyword stuffing. Establishing a clear revision process (e.g., “we include up to two rounds of revisions”) helps manage expectations.
Pricing and Budgeting Your Content
The cost to outsource blog writing varies wildly. Freelancers may charge per word, per hour, or a flat fee per article. Agencies typically work on a monthly retainer. Rates depend on the writer’s experience, the complexity of the topic, and the amount of research required. When budgeting, remember that you often get what you pay for. Investing in a quality writer or service is an investment in your brand’s reputation and your marketing results.
Content Ownership and Legal Rights
This is a critical but often overlooked detail. Your agreement with any external writer or agency must clearly state that you (the client) own the final work once it’s paid for. This is often called a “work for hire” clause. Without it, you could run into legal trouble. Most content platforms and agency contracts have this built in, but if you’re hiring directly, make sure it’s in writing.
Scaling Your Content: From First Hire to Long Term Collaboration
The real power of outsourcing comes when you move beyond one off articles and build a scalable content engine.
Building Long Term Writer Relationships
When you find a writer who understands your brand and consistently delivers great work, nurture that relationship. Provide them with steady work, pay them fairly, and treat them as a valuable part of your team. A stable, long term partner is far more efficient than constantly searching for new writers. In fact, 73% of brands who use freelancers plan to rely on them even more in the future, highlighting the value of these ongoing relationships.
Scaling Content and Planning Capacity
As your content needs grow, you can scale up by giving your best writers more work or by bringing additional writers into your system. An editorial calendar helps you plan capacity in advance, so you can see when you’ll need to commission more content to keep your publishing schedule full.
Creating a Feedback Loop for Continuous Improvement
Great collaboration is a two way street. Provide writers with constructive feedback on their work, and also ask for their feedback on your process. Are your briefs clear? Are the deadlines reasonable? This feedback loop helps you refine your workflow, making it more efficient for everyone. Also, share performance data. Letting a writer know their article is ranking on page one or drove a bunch of signups is incredibly motivating.
If managing all these moving parts sounds like a full time job, you’re not wrong. That’s why many businesses choose a fully managed solution. A service that handles everything from strategy to publication can be the most effective way to scale. Learn how Rankai’s done for you SEO service can help.
Frequently Asked Questions About Outsourcing Blog Writing
1. How much does it cost to outsource blog writing?
Costs can range from $50 for a short post from a novice writer to several hundred or even thousands of dollars for a deeply researched article from an expert or agency. A common range for a quality 1,500 word blog post from an experienced freelancer is $250 to $600.
2. Is it bad for SEO to outsource content?
No, it’s not bad for SEO as long as the content is high quality, original, and relevant to your audience. Google cares about the quality of the content, not who wrote it. A skilled SEO writer can often produce better results than an in house generalist. For more detail, see our guide on whether Google penalizes AI-generated content.
3. How do I ensure outsourced content matches my brand voice?
The key is a detailed brand style guide, clear content briefs, and providing constructive feedback. Share examples of past posts you love and be prepared to go through a few rounds of edits on the first couple of articles as the writer learns your voice.
4. Can I outsource writing for a highly technical or niche industry?
Absolutely. One of the main benefits of outsourcing is gaining access to subject matter experts. You can find freelance writers with experience in everything from enterprise software and cybersecurity to veterinary medicine and finance.
5. How long does it take to see results from outsourced blogging?
SEO and content marketing are long term strategies. It typically takes 3 to 6 months of consistent publishing to start seeing a noticeable increase in organic traffic and leads. The key is consistency, which is where outsourcing can be a major advantage. Use this guide on how to tell if your SEO strategy is working to track progress along the way.
