While press releases are an essential part of online marketing and digital communications, they’re tough to write, and few people understand their structure. Because of this, many companies and marketers hire expert writers or journalists to write press releases for them. However, understanding the format and how to write a press release important so you can recognize a good press release when you see it.
Then you can always evaluate your press release content and be more successful when promoting your brand image and new products.
While press releases can feel foreign, they all contain specific elements that should be present in every press release you issue.
In the words of Robert Wyne, a prominent Forbes contributor, press releases “are formulaic, by nature, but so are poetry, tweets, columns, and other written communications. Everyone has constraints. Chefs work within an 8-inch pan to create an omelet, and the great ones know how to pick the best ingredients and mix them to create a savory sensation. Writers can season their sentences within the confines of a release.”
When you know what to include in your press release and how to structure it, your PR material will be more official, credible, and useful for readers. This is true whether you plan to write your press releases yourself or hire someone else to do it for you.
Follow along as we share the 11 steps required to create an expertly crafted press release.
What Is a Press Release?
A press release is an official statement from a business or organization that shares news with media outlets and the public. It is a formal document used to distribute relevant information in a simple, one-page format. The goal of a press release is to attract attention from the media and the public.
When Should You Use a Press Release?
As an official media document, press releases should be reserved for newsworthy events. If used too often for insignificant updates, your releases might get ignored.
Press releases are commonly used for the following types of announcements or events:
Product launches
Significant service changes
Hiring or leaving of company executives
Funding announcements
Breaking news
Public and private events
Grand openings and groundbreakings
Press Releases vs. Company Announcements
To the untrained reader, a press release might just seem like a fancy term for a company announcement. While a press release is technically an announcement, from a journalistic perspective, it’s viewed as a primary source that can be cited.
Press releases are the source of official information. If a company shares the same news in another way, like a tweet or a blog, it will likely link back to the official press release.
Since they are structured more formally, press releases also differ from other types of announcements because they are meant to be shared by media outlets.
11 Steps to Writing a Press Release
No matter what kind of business you run, press releases are critical. They are an ideal medium for telling the media, Google, and your readers when something new and exciting has happened within your company. Use press releases to announce partnerships, product launches, new hires, and more.
If your business has never written a press release before, don’t worry. Our 11 foundational tips will guide you through the process.
1. Use the Correct Release Language
When submitting a press release to a news outlet, you must tell them when you would like it published. If you’re ready for your press release to go out to the public right now, use the words “FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE” at the top.
However, if you need to hold the release until a certain date (this is common with product launches), put “HOLD RELEASE UNTIL” along with your specified date.
This is an important piece of your press release article because it tells readers and journalists when you want to see your article on the web or in print. It also gives you control over when the press release hits the media, which can have a massive impact on the success of your press release efforts.
2. Use Your Company Logo and Colors
Branding in a press release is crucial if you want your readers to know what your brand represents. To make your press releases more impactful and recognizable, use your company’s logos and colors in the headline section.
Check out how the autonomous driving company Motional added their logo to the top of a recent press release:
3. Include Keywords in Your Press Release Headlines
Just like in other types of online content, you should include SEO keywords in your press release headlines. This makes it easier for search engines to find and rank your press release while ensuring that the media and your readers understand what your press release is about.
Remember: you don’t want to go overboard with keywords – just include them naturally throughout like you do with other content.
Check out how Apple does this in a press release published on December 6, 2022. In this case, you could safely assume the keywords Apple targeted include “App Store pricing:”
Another consideration is the capitalization of your headlines. If you are following official AP Style capitalization, all the words in your headline should be capitalized except for prepositions and words shorter than four letters.
As you can see in the example above, Apple only capitalized proper nouns. However, they published the press release on their website. If they had published the press release on an official news website, choosing title case capitalization would be the better option.
For best results, keep your headlines under 160 characters. Longer than that and readers may lose interest, and you risk having your headline truncated by Google.
Your headline must pique the interest of a very limited demographic – journalists. While you might want to write for your customers, a press release is for the press. Make sure your headline is factual, informative, and attention-grabbing.
Here are a few tips to help you write more effective press release headlines:
Use Numbers: Numbers are easier to understand than vague descriptions. For example, would you rather read: “Sales Increase in the Fourth Quarter” or “Sales Increase by 40% in the Fourth Quarter”?
Think of a Press Release Like a Newspaper Article: If you read through a list of newspaper article headlines and press release headlines, you likely wouldn’t be able to tell them apart. When writing your press release headline, think like a journalist and make the biggest impact you can with limited space.
Use the Present Tense: Even if something has already happened, a press release should talk about it in the present tense, especially in the headline. Instead of “Company X Hired New CEO,” change it to “Company X Hires New CEO.”
Avoid Sales Language: It can be tempting to encourage people to buy something from your business in a press release. However, press releases are for sharing information, not promoting products. If you are sharing information on a new product launch, your headline should talk about why the product is important, not why someone should buy it.
4. Write a Summary Paragraph
Every press release includes a summary paragraph positioned after the headline. This briefly summarizes your announcement. Additionally, most of these summary paragraphs stick between one and five sentences. Some are even formatted as bullet points.
This little paragraph is critical because it helps readers understand immediately whether to interact with the press release or move on to find something that better suits their needs. It can also help busy journalists understand why your press release matters and decide if they want to cover it.
Here’s an example of what a good summary paragraph looks like, from a recent Ford press release:
You’ll note that Ford includes a one-sentence summary in italics to help it stand out.
Consider writing this paragraph last to ensure that it remains a summary. That way you do not include any new information.
Adding a keyword or two in this paragraph could also be helpful, depending on the length of your summary. It’s easy to forget your company name in a headline, so make sure it’s in the summary if you do leave it out.
Finally, with a limited amount of information to include, make sure each sentence is as clear and concise as possible. You only have a few sentences to convince your readers that your press release is worth their time.
5. Include the City, State, Month, Day, and Year
While press releases are meant for wide audiences, it’s also important to tie them into your geographical location. This means including your location information. As you write your press release, add the city, state, month, day, and year of publication.
Here’s an example of that from the same Ford press release:
This information adds context to your press release and will help orient the reader about when the information came out. What’s more, the current city and publication date help readers recognize the press release as recent and relevant.
6. Craft Your First Paragraph
The first paragraph, also known as the “lead” of the press release should contain the primary purpose of your press release.
There are six elements that you need to include here:
Who: Who is the press release about? Who is the company, or the main players involved in this document?
What: What is the topic of the press release? Why should readers care?
Why: Why are you sending out the press release? How does it affect your customers or readers?
When: When is the subject of the press release taking place?
Where: Where is your company located? If there’s an event people need to know about, where is it taking place?
How: How does the subject of your press release provide value? How does it help your readers?
Including this information will better orient the reader and help them understand the purpose of your press release.
Check out how NASA includes all these elements in a press release issued on December 11, 2022:
Nasa answers each question:
Who? NASA’s Orion spacecraft
What? Splashdown of the Orion spacecraft
Why? Shows the progression of the mission to return to the Moon
When? December 11, 2022, at 9:40 a.m. PST
Where? Pacific Ocean, west of Baja California
How? Announces record-breaking space mission
7. Develop the Body of the Press Release
The body of your press release should expand the content of the first paragraph. Each paragraph should be no more than three or four sentences. Break up the body accordingly, but make sure that each paragraph is cohesive and flows well from the preceding paragraph.
In these paragraphs, you will share facts about your press release topic. For example, if you are announcing a new product, you would share details about its features. However, if you are hiring a new CEO, you would share some background information on the new person.
The body of a press release should include a quote, if possible. If there is someone significant who can offer a relevant, valuable comment, you should add it. This will give your readers an objective view of your press release, and, if you quote experts, make your press release stand out as credible.
Consider this example from an American Airlines press release. The airline moved to a new terminal at JFK airport and got a quote from the governor of New York:
You can also consider adding additional media content like photos or videos. However, you should limit this to two pieces of content. In some instances, like if you are emailing your press release, it might be better to include a link to the source instead of inserting it into the press release. For example, include a link to a video the reader can find on YouTube instead of increasing the size of your press release.
Consider your last paragraph as a space for your closing remarks. If you are launching a new product, place the products available here. You can also put the product’s trademark and any pertinent information you may have that doesn’t fit into the body.
This paragraph should give your reader all the information he or she needs to understand the “next steps.” Even if those details are where to find your upcoming event or how to contact your new HR manager.
9. About the Company (Boilerplate Information)
After your body paragraphs, you should add your company information, called a boilerplate. This is where you can share some of your company’s merits and achievements, but don’t make it too long, since this will put you at risk of sounding like you’re hard-selling your company.
Boilerplate information is designed to give journalists general information they can include in their writing about your company. This will give their readers more context and will help make your company more professional and recognizable. Boilerplate information rarely changes, so you can use the same text over and over. Just double-check its accuracy each time in case something has changed.
Here is an example from the same American Airlines press release:
Notice how it includes company information for both American Airlines and British Airways. This is because the press release is about both companies. If you write a press release about a business partnership, you should include boilerplate information for all the companies involved.
10. Add Your Current Contact Information
After reading your press release, journalists or potential customers may want to know how to contact you. That’s why it’s crucial to include your current contact information in your press release.
For best results, include your email address, telephone number, and a link to your company’s website and social profiles. Make sure the information you include is current so people never have trouble getting in touch with you.
11. Tie It Up with a Bow
At the end of your press release, you should include the word END or three pound signs (###). This will tell your readers they’ve reached the end and nothing else is coming.
Fast Tips for Better Press Releases
With an understanding of the overall structure of the press release, you will be better equipped to recognize a good press release when you see one. To make your press releases even better, here are a few more tips:
1. Writing
Write in Third Person: Unless you’re using a direct quote, the words “I,” “we,” and “you” don’t have a place in press releases. A professional voice is critical and will make your press release feel more authoritative.
Write to Your Readers: Press releases are meant for readers. Put yourself in their shoes to better understand their perspective and concerns.
Keep It Brief: Press releases should be one page or between 400-500 words.
Don’t Beat Around the Bush: A press release is not the place for inefficient communication. You’re your point clearly and remove any words, phrases, or approaches that don’t immediately clarify your point.
Keep the Adjectives to a Minimum: Adjectives are distracting and difficult to read. Limit them for clearer and more efficient press releases.
Keep It Objective: Readers respond better to a press release that gives the necessary details of a product/event without overhyping it. The more objective and neutral your press release can be, the better.
Get Rid of Jargon: Jargon makes your press release difficult to understand and inaccessible to many readers. Cut it out whenever possible.
Proofread and Edit Carefully: Read your press release carefully to help avoid costly mistakes. Spelling, grammar, or factual errors can make your press release look unprofessional. Before publishing, read the press release out loud to make sure it sounds correct.
2. Distribution
Don’t Syndicate: Once the preferred method of press release distribution, syndication is now dead. While some brands use to spend thousands of dollars each month to distribute their press releases, experts like Time Grice have since come to say that there is “no value in press release syndication for SEO purposes.” Instead of staking this approach, share your press release with local media outlets. You’ll enjoy a better ROI, and your press releases will get more traction.
Follow-up by Phone or Email: Once you’ve sent your press releases out to your local media outlets, follow up with a phone call or email. This personal touch can help cement your press release on a journalist’s radar and make it easier for them to remember.
Post On Your Website: While sharing with public media outlets is the purpose of press releases, you should also publish them on your own site. Many businesses create a dedicated “news” page for all their newsworthy information or adapt their press releases to publish on their blog.
3. Optimization
Include Relevant Keywords: These keywords should be searchable and relevant to your press release.
Don’t Overstuff: Going overboard on keywords will give your press release a spammy, dense feeling, which you don’t want. Don’t overstuff or you risk turning your readers off.
Use Multimedia: Multimedia elements, like videos or images, can be fantastic for enhancing your press release. Use them sparingly, though, so you don’t overwhelm the text.
Better Press Releases Start Here
Knowing what it takes to write a great press release can give you better control over your brand image. Whether you write them in-house or hire something else to do it, understanding what you’re looking for can lead to more success.
Need a great press release? Trust our copywriting and PR experts at Express Writers to create high-quality PR for you. Explore our content shop to see what we can offer you.
Google is anything but transparent. As such, the inner workings of its algorithms have never been easy to interpret. This is especially true of Google’s search guidelines. So how do we properly interpret “SEO” (Search Engine Optimization) if that’s the case?
SEO experts dedicate themselves to a sort of “algorithm watch.” They spend countless hours pouring over search metrics. They write novel-length blogs analyzing the changes they can only guess happened and how these changes may or may not affect search rankings.
In the SEO world, Google’s “Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines” give us a glimpse into what Google’s algorithms choose to prioritize. This large-scale document offers clarity on what Google looks for in their ranking algorithms. It’s where the SEO acronyms EAT and YMYL (Your Money and Your Life) come from. However, in late 2022, Google added another E to its guidelines turning EAT into EEAT.
While the Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines don’t lay out exactly what we need to know to jump to the top of the rankings, they do provide some valuable information:
What kind of pages are viewed as high quality.
Which factors influence high- and low-quality ratings (Important since these factors may be similar to how Google measures page quality for SERP rankings).
We’ve taken an inside look at the guidelines to understand how they relate to your SEO and on-page site content, including the most recent updates.
Read on to learn more about the crucial points from the Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines for your online content marketing and writing needs.
What Are Google’s Search Guidelines All About?
Google’s search guidelines document is over 170 pages long and broken into an overview, an introduction, three parts, and an appendix.
The major parts are as follows:
General Guidelines Overview
Introduction to Search Quality Rating
Part 1: Page Quality Rating Guideline
Part 2: Understanding Search User Needs
Part 3: Needs Met Rating Guideline
Appendix 1: Using the Evaluation Platform
Appendix 2: Guideline Change Log
In addition to focusing heavily on mobile search, Google’s search guidelines focus on the importance of building trust and a good reputation for websites and/or content creators.
This isn’t hugely surprising – it’s simply a variation on what Google has been saying for years – the best websites deliver relevant, trustworthy, quality information to users.
Google focuses heavily on experimentation and continual algorithm improvements to improve web quality. These guidelines provide specific instructions on what Google engineers want people to do to improve individual site quality.
These guidelines are dense. They cover everything from important definitions to duplicate landing pages and all the places in between.
Google’s E-E-A-T Update
In recent years, Google has put more emphasis on who is creating the content. This is emphasized with the addition of Experience as a factor in quality.
Experience: This new word adds another layer of quality to its search results assessments. As far as experience is concerned, Google is looking for content that “demonstrate[s] that it was produced with some degree of experience, such as with actual use of a product, having actually visited a place, or communicating what a person experienced.”
There are many times when a searcher would benefit from content produced by someone with real-world experience. For example, if someone is looking for information about traveling to Paris, a blog written by someone with a lot of Parisian travel experience would be more beneficial than a blog written by someone who has never been there.
Expertise: The expertise criteria considers how much relevant knowledge or skill the creator seems to have on the topic. For example, if someone was searching for advice for filing their taxes, an accountant with 20 years of experience would have more expertise than someone with a mild interest in tax laws.
Authoritativeness: There are some creators or websites that have established themselves as a “go-to source” in their area. While there may not always be one official, authoritative source for every topic, if there is, Google will prioritize that site over all others for relevant searches. For example, if someone is looking for information on how to renew their passport, the official government site is going to have the most authority.
Trustworthiness: Google views trustworthiness as the most important factor in E-E-A-T. All other attributes contribute to a page being “accurate, honest, safe, and reliable.” The amount of trust a page needs depends on what kind of site it is. For example, social media sites on entertainment topics don’t need as must trust as informational pages on YMYL topics.
When used together Experience, Expertise, and Authoritativeness all contribute to the overall Trustworthiness of a page.
10 Key SEO Content Factors in the Google Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines
This document offers an expansive guide to Google’s preferences and the future of SEO. The guidelines lay out specifics about Google’s algorithms and how SEO experts can better predict changes to them in the future.
Beneficial Purpose
In 2018, Google updated its guidelines with the concept of “beneficial purpose.” This term defines websites that are created, first and foremost, for the user’s benefit.
On the other hand, there are many pages created solely for the purpose of ranking on Google or created with no intention of helping users. Sometimes these pages are designed to defraud users. From Google’s perspective, these pages have zero beneficial purpose.
According to the guidelines, Part 1 Section 3.0, pages that provide no benefit may earn the lowest Page Quality (PQ) rating.
In stark contrast, pages that fulfill their intended purpose will receive a higher PQ rating. So if your content does not help your readers in some way, your content will have little to no value to Google.
2. Page Quality (E-E-A-T)
Page quality has always been somewhat of a mystery. Google uses hundreds of ranking factors, and it’s often unclear how they all related to one another.
We’ve always known unique, relevant, well-written content is crucial to producing a high-quality page. However, the guidelines have some additional insights on this topic.
According to the guidelines, it’s not just high-quality main content (MC) that matters. In fact, Google created an acronym for what every high-quality page needs: E-E-A-T.
First introduced in 2018, the original E-A-T acronym stood for “Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness.” In 2022, Google added another E, “Experience.” According to official Google liaisons like Danny Sullivan, E-E-A-T is NOT a ranking factor itself. Instead, it is a tool search evaluators use to determine the quality of a web page.
While the algorithm doesn’t look for E-E-A-T, it does look for signals that point to E-E-A-T. The Google algorithm and system for ranking pages is a machine, so it looks for signals a machine understands. Search evaluators are humans, so they look for E-E-A-T. It’s two different languages for the same concept.
Pages that exhibit experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness are generally viewed as higher quality than those that aren’t.
High-Quality Pages
Google’s guidelines state that the search algorithm ranks websites on a sliding scale including lowest, low, medium, high, and highest.
According to Part 1, Section 8.4, high-quality pages possess the following characteristics:
A “satisfying amount” of high-quality MC, including a title that’s appropriately descriptive and helpful
“Satisfying website information” or information about the website’s owner/creator (shopping of transactional pages need satisfying customer service information, conversely)
The page and its associated website have a high amount of E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness)
The website (or the MC creator) has a good reputation
Google doesn’t specify how much content a page needs to be considered “satisfying,” only that the “right” amount of content depends on “the purpose of the page.”
Google offers numerous examples of high-quality content, including this page:
This site got the lowest score because there are numerous articles on trustworthy sites describing this organization as fraudulent and misleading.
How Can You Increase E-E-A-T on Your Pages?
One of the main ways E-E-A-T standards have been modified in recent years is a bigger emphasis on the author/creator of the content.
You can fulfill the E-E-A-T standards with your content in a few ways:
Disclose who’s writing your posts: Include the author’s credentials or byline. You can also share the names of any experts who review your content for accuracy. The most trustworthy sites also include “About me” pages with author bios.
Back up your claims: If you make claims or share statistics, provide sources and link to those sources.
Audit your external links: Linking to high-quality, authoritative outside sites can give your content an SEO boost. Make sure your thoroughly vet these sites before linking to them.
Get rid of low-quality, spammy comments on your page: Unfortunately, many comment sections are a target for spam. Do routine checks of your comment sections to get rid of these comments. If your content is primarily focused on YMYL topics, consider disabling the comments.
Audit your reputation online and figure out if you need to do some work: Check out the search results for your brand name that do not include your site. Are there any reviews or mentions that show you in a negative light? Do you see any fraudulent sites impersonating your brand or stealing your content?
Use content produced by and for humans: While Artificial Intelligence technology has made significant advances in recent years, it cannot replace the quality and expertise of human-made If your content production process relies too heavily on AI tools, your E-E-A-T ratings might suffer.
All these actions help establish your experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. Ensuring your E-E-A-T level is high is one of the best ways to earn high search rankings.
3. YMYL Content
The concept of YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) has been around since the early 2000s. According to the full guidelines, these pages are the ones Google pays the most attention to because they’re the ones that can most profoundly impact a person’s life.
Google says YMYL pages are the ones that can “impact the health, financial stability, or safety of people, or the welfare or well-being of society.” These pages include:
Shopping or financial transactions
Medical information
Legal information
Financial information
News articles and/or public/official pages important for informing citizens
Any other topics that can deeply affect users’ lives, i.e., child adoption or car safety information
Because of their importance, these pages have incredibly high page quality standards. They must be authoritative, factual, and written by experts.
The guidelines make it clear that any content needs to be created in an authoritative and expert manner. While there are “expert” websites in all niches, including food, industry, fashion, law, and medicine, Google has a clear standard: When “expert” content is needed, true experts need to write it.
This means the following:
Medical advice needs to be written by individuals and communities with appropriate levels of medical accreditation. Once published, it must be edited, reviewed, maintained, and updated regularly to keep up with changing medical consensus.
Complex financial advice, tax advice, or legal advice needs to come from highly qualified, expert sources and must be updated and maintained on a regular basis to accommodate changing information, laws, and statutes.
Pages addressing topics that can cost consumers thousands of dollars must be written by expert/experienced sources that readers can trust. For example, investment platforms or real estate information.
Topics that may affect the health of a family or individual must be written by expert, trustworthy sources. This could include parenting or mental health sites.
Pages with scientific information must be written by people/organizations with relevant scientific expertise. For topics where scientific consensus exists, producers should represent that consensus accurately.
News articles need to be written with journalistic professionalism and contain factually accurate information.
Pages on specific hobbies, like horseback riding or hockey, must also be written by people who are knowledgeable about the topic and can provide sound advice.
Recent updates to the guidelines also stipulate the content creator must have a positive reputation and adequate experience in relation to the topic about which they’re writing. In short, page authors/creators must also have a high level of E-E-A-T. Two pages with basically the same information might be ranked differently based on the reputation and authority level of their authors.
What Does It Take to Be an Expert Content Creator?
You might be wondering, how Google defines an “expert.” An expert doesn’t always have to be a credentialed, highly trained person (the exceptions: when they’re writing about medicine, law, finances, taxes, or other YMYL topics).
First-Person Experience
Google makes it clear that first-person experience can be a form of expertise in some cases, especially in settings where you don’t necessarily need formal training to have an extensive knowledge base, such as on hobby pages.
In fact, Google states that “for some unusual hobbies, the most expert advice may exist on blogs, forums, and other user-generated content websites.”
In these instances, what Google is looking for is a display of expertise. Here are a few examples:
Say you’ve lived with diabetes for 22 years. You may be qualified to offer tips about coping with the disease (YMYL content) because you have extensive first-hand experience. However, at the same time, you would not be qualified to write a high-quality medical blog about the symptoms and onset of diabetes.
On the hobby site The Spruce Crafts, expert crafters teach all kinds of techniques in informative blog posts. These are highly ranked because each writer has plenty of personal experience that qualifies them as experts. Take this post on “How to Knit the Garter Stitch”:
Finally, reputation plays a role in expertise, too. There’s a whole section dedicated to this facet of expertise in the guidelines, Part 1, Section 3.3:
This information is not about how creators or websites describe their own credentials and expertise. It’s how the wider internet (external sources) views the site and its creators.
External sources that provide independent reputation information about a website or MC creator may include:
News articles
Wikipedia articles
Magazine articles
Blog posts
Ratings for independent organizations
Forum discussions
Customer reviews (for these, content matters as much as the number of reviews available – one negative review or one positive review are not good sources unless you have multiple other reviews to compare it to)
Why Is Google So Stringent About Expertise?
Google wants to ensure deep, broad, important topics get the necessary treatment so searchers can find accurate, useful information about them.
If the search results served up low-quality, untrustworthy content constantly, we would quickly begin to distrust and stop using Google to fulfill our information needs.
Consider this example: Most kids in the U.S. learn about World War II in school. However, it would be absurd to believe this type of broad knowledge qualifies anyone to write an informative page about what it was like to live through it.
In the end, it’s important to think about what constitutes an expert for different topics:
How much expertise do you need to write about a subject in a way that’s useful and valuable to others?
How much expertise do you need about a topic, so you don’t lead readers astray or negatively impact their lives?
5. Supplementary Content
The importance of supplementary content (such as sidebar tips) is one of the most interesting features of the Google search guidelines. This content is supportive because it provides additional information to users alongside the MC.
Supplementary content can also include links to similar articles or anything else that can help the reader understand your page’s information. Pages with high-quality, useful supplementary content may be generally ranked higher than those without.
Allrecipes has good examples of pages with supplementary content (SC). For example, on the recipe page for Applesauce Pumpkin Spice Bread, you get the ingredients and instructions (the MC) as well as photos, recommended recipes, user comments, reviews, and serving information (the SC).
Some pages receive the “lowest” rating from search quality evaluators on principle. These types of pages are created with the intent to misinform or deceive users or may potentially harm them or spread hate.
Here’s the full list of types of pages that automatically get rated as the lowest quality possible:
Harmful to Self or Other Individuals: This includes pages that “encourage, depict, incite or directly cause physical, mental, emotional, or financial harm.”
Harmful to Specified Groups: These low-quality pages promote or incite hatred or violence against a specific group of people.
Harmfully Misleading Information: These pages include misinformation that can cause harm. These types of pages often include unsubstantiated claims not backed by evidence.
Untrustworthy Webpages: These pages are purposefully deceptive or manipulative.
Spammy Webpages: These are websites with no MC or hacked content.
As an example of a lowest-quality page, Google shares a site that seems like it sells playground equipment for children.
On the surface, the site may seem real. However, there are reviews on numerous sites describing how users paid money for the equipment and never received anything.
Copied Content
Google also specifies what they mean by “copied content” in this subsection, Part 1, Section 4.6.4. Naturally, any content that is not original will get the lowest quality rating from a search evaluator.
What many people don’t know, however, is that Google doesn’t consider rewritten content original if it relies too heavily on its source. Google puts it like this in the guidelines:
Content creators who like to “spin” content should tread carefully with this criteria.
7. User Experience: “Need Met” Ratings
In the user experience portion of the Google search guidelines (Part 3: Needs Met Rating Guideline), Google examines how well a site meets the users’ apparent “need. “In this section, Google asks raters to evaluate the results of various search queries.
For example, the guidelines ask raters to consider user needs and how helpful the result is for those users. This chart in the guidelines illustrates the rating scale, from “Fully Meets” all the way down to “Fails to Meet”:
These ratings help Google understand how search queries are related to user intent, and how their search results are measuring up. For example, if a lot of low-quality pages that “fail to meet” user needs are showing up for a certain query, Google obviously needs to work on delivering better, more relevant and useful results for that query.
8. E-E-A-T Versus Needs Met
The guidelines clearly distinguish between “needs met” ratings and page quality ratings. The difference is important to understand.
“Needs met” ratings are based on both the search query and the result.
Page quality (E-E-A-T) ratings are only based on the result and whether it achieves its purpose. This means useless results for a particular query are always rated “fails to meet” – even if they have outstanding page quality ratings.
Think of it this way: A high-quality page with fantastic information about sea lions is useless to you if you want information about otters. If you searched for “otters” but got search results featuring pages about sea lions, your search needs would be unfulfilled.
Conversely, when considering page ratings, the search query is unimportant. This means high E-E-A-T pages can still have low “meet” scores if they are deemed unhelpful for a query or do not fulfill a user’s search needs.
The guidelines also state that when a user is searching for very recent information (like breaking news, for instance) a site can earn a “fails to meet” rating if the content is stale or useless for the user’s particular query. This means pages appearing in search results for time-sensitive queries featuring content about past events, old products, or outdated information will be marked useless and given a “fails to meet” rating.
While fresh content is important, older content can have a high E-E-A-T rating without sacrificing usefulness. This is true for evergreen content and “timeless” information.
For example, users who search for information about Ronald Regan will find biographical information useful, even if it was written many years ago. This is not true, however, for unmaintained or abandoned websites that feature infrequently updated or inaccurate content.
9. “Fails to Meet” Pages
According to the guidelines, “fails to meet” content is helpful and satisfying to virtually nobody. The content results are unrelated to the query, filled with incorrect facts, or in dire need of additional supporting information. Because of these things, this content doesn’t meet a user’s search intent or need.
The guidelines go on to state that content may also be marked “fails to meet” when it’s low-quality, stale, outdated, or impossible to use on a mobile device. The guidelines also specify that it’s possible for sites to earn in-between ratings.
Here are a few examples of “fails to meet” content results for different queries:
In these examples, the search results did not meet the users’ intent and, therefore, got the lowest possible “fails to meet” rating.
10. Medium-Quality Pages
In the guidelines, we have seen that raters may rank page quality anywhere from highest to lowest.
Google defines each rating and which characteristics exemplify that rating. One of the most interesting is the definition of “medium” quality page, Part One, Section 6.0.
Google states there are two types of medium-quality pages:
Nothing is wrong with the page, but there’s nothing special about it, either.
The page has a mix of high- and low-quality characteristics.
The first type of medium-quality page goes straight to the heart of what it takes to stand out in content. You can do everything right SEO-wise, but if there is nothing unique or special about your page/content, you can’t expect it to rank well.
From Google, here is an example of a medium-quality page. The website is from a trusted source, but the content is merely “okay”:
Major Takeaways from the Updated Google Search Guidelines
With the most recent updates to the Google Search Guidelines, the importance of high-quality, authoritative content has never been greater.
1. The Need for Expert Content is HUGE
As Google made clear with their discussions on E-E-A-T and YMYL, the need for expert content is huge.
Google values pages with high levels of experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness. Websites and content creators who champion these things by hiring and staffing expert writers will be rewarded for their efforts. This is especially true for YMYL pages.
Because YMYL pages are so important and have a big potential to positively or negatively affect a reader’s life, Google puts them under heavy scrutiny. That means websites specializing in these pages need to hire expert writers and content creators. The price of not doing this is too high for both websites and readers alike.
Fortunately, when websites hire expert writers to improve their page’s E-E-A-T and write important YMYL pages, they are more likely to enjoy both higher rankings in Google’s index and a position as an industry leader.
2. Reputation Matters
The recent updates to Google’s Search Evaluator Guidelines underline the importance of website/MC creator reputation and experience when determining page quality.
Google exhaustively covers various ways that reputation can affect a page’s quality and stipulates the best ways to research this vital factor. For example, the guidelines recommend using third-party websites and sources to research websites and content creators/authors, Part One, Section 3.3.3.
Google recommends using high-quality news articles and informational sites to search for reputation information about a website.
With the addition of the “beneficial purpose” concept in recent years, it’s clear that Google is looking at it as the main determiner of a page’s quality.
If a page has no apparent beneficial purpose for users, it automatically gets a low rating from search evaluators. That tells us a lot about Google’s user-first mentality, and how we should treat each piece of content we create.
This concept is reflected across Google’s other guidelines, including the brief but pointed Key Best Practices in Google Search Essentials:
Keep Growing Your SEO Skills and Improve Your Content with E-E-A-T
The best marketing and SEO experts never stop learning, especially with the regular changes to the Google algorithm. To stay on top of the latest content marketing news and SEO updates, subscribe to our Write Blog.
In addition, if you find your content creation has fallen behind with the recent E-E-A-T update, our expert content writers are here to help. We have always had a people-first priority, and we match the best writer to your business needs.
Explore our content shop to pick the best type of content for your needs.
This blog was originally published in 2021. It was updated in January 2023.
Your team, no matter what they do for you, counts on your business for the training they need. Even the most educated and experienced workers need training, especially when processes change. Therefore, continually updating your internal training content is essential to creating a good employee environment.
In fact, Henry Ford famously stated,” The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay.”
This quote encapsulates the importance of training and why it is crucial for any business to be successful.
No one wants to read about processes that are outdated or even obsolete. It wastes everyone’s time and is mostly useless for your workers.
Read on as we explore strategies you can use to keep your internal training fresh and introduce you to Express Writers University. This is our new internal training site that we will use to make sure our writers always have the most up-to-date resources and skills.
Why Is Internal Training Important?
Whether you have two employees or two thousand, they need proper training to do their job effectively. Your business should have training available for roles from entry-level positions to high-level executives. Even having materials for those who train your employees is important.
Developing effective training materials achieves several goals:
Demonstrates and Defines Roles and Responsibilities
While your new team members likely have a general idea of their responsibilities, you can’t ignore training them on in-house best practices. This training should clearly define your expectations for them and include real-world examples and demonstrations of their responsibilities.
If they ever have any questions about their role and responsibilities, they should be able to refer to the training materials for clarification. You may need to consider updating your materials if you regularly hear from new hires that they can’t find the answers they need in your training guides.
Establishes Best Practices
Even if employees have experience in your industry, your company likely has some unique processes they need to learn. Effective training content should exemplify the best practices for your business.
When employees know your expectations and have the best methods to achieve the goals you set, they will catch on faster. Plus, you’ll avoid having to slow down your tasks and spend time teaching someone a new way to do things.
Improves Employee Compliance
If employees don’t get the proper training to understand your expectations, how can you expect them to comply with your procedures and rules? When your training content clearly defines your business rules and practices, your employee compliance should improve.
It’s worth noting that the material should also outline any consequences if employees ignore the rules. You clearly establish boundaries and ensure they understand what could happen before they make a mistake.
Enhances Employee Performance and Satisfaction
When your employees understand their roles and how to do their jobs, you should see a boost in employee performance. In turn, when employees feel confident and secure in their roles, which can improve employee satisfaction.
If you create an environment that nurtures satisfied employees, you’re likely to notice lower turnover rates, less absenteeism, and more pride in the work they do.
Provides Opportunities for Advancement
Training new employees is something all businesses do. But do you offer training opportunities for your veteran employees?
Internal training is an excellent way to give your loyal employees the skills they need to advance within your company. This is often called upskilling and helps increase employee retention, prepare employees for promotions, build on their current skills, and keep your business up-to-date on the latest industry trends.
Types of Training Content
You can produce training content in a wide range of formats. Some of the most common types of training materials include:
Videos: Videos are an excellent source of training, especially if you need to demonstrate a specific activity or process.
Checklists: You can give new employees checklists during their training to ensure they accomplish all their onboarding tasks.
Presentations: Slide presentations are a great way to cover general topics.
Worksheets or evaluations: Worksheets help employees practice their new skills, and evaluations let them prove their competency.
Activities: For many employees, there is no better way to learn how to do something than by doing it yourself. Make sure your trainers follow specific procedures for any active, hands-on training to create consistency for all new employees.
How to Improve Your Internal Training Content
Whether your training materials are outdated, incomplete, or not applicable to your business, you should reevaluate them to keep your training relevant and helpful. Try these 4 strategies to improve your internal training content.
Reflect Your Business Practices
While generic “off-the-shelf” training materials are available online, these may not be the best fit for your business. By creating your own custom training content, you can incorporate your unique business practices into your training. This enables you to include real-world examples and data that directly correlate to what employees can expect to happen.
As your business practices evolve, you can update your training to include these changes. For example, if you replace one software solution with another, you should update your training to include the new program. There is no point in training someone on procedures you no longer use.
Using custom, up-to-date training materials can make onboarding easier for new hires. They can see exactly how to do their daily tasks instead of having to figure it out on their own.
Use Staff Feedback
An incredible resource for your training materials is your own staff. These are the people who use the training materials. If there is a major disconnect between the training procedures and the actual on-the-job experience, consider updating your training content.
To prevent a disconnect from happening, you should regularly ask for feedback from your employees. Once they have completed their training and gotten experience in their new job, ask them if there was anything they were still unsure about or if anything was confusing or misleading.
You should also ask for feedback as soon as someone has completed a training course. Consider questions like:
Was the training content helpful?
Was the training relevant to your role?
Were there any topics covered in the training that you still do not understand?
Are you satisfied with the training content?
Was the material easy to read/understand?
Is there anything you think should be added to this training program?
Do you feel you can confidently fulfill the requirements of your job after taking this training?
Do you have any suggestions to improve the training materials?
If your training content is online, consider adding an automated survey that trainees fill out to complete the training. The results can be automatically tabulated and sent to the appropriate team for evaluation.
Including a test at the end of each module is another way to assess the quality of your training. If trainees routinely fail or get low scores on the test, the training materials are likely inadequate.
Continually monitoring and improving your training helps your staff be better at their job and shows them that you care about their feedback.
Consider Your Company Goals
Does your company have the same exact goals year after year or even quarter after quarter? We’re guessing the answer is no. Most companies regularly evaluate and adjust their goals based on current and past performance. As you update company-wide goals, you’ll want to make sure that all training content reflects those goals as well.
For example, let’s say your company extensively relied on automated customer service responses but realized your customers were feeling disconnected. Now, you are cutting back on automation to focus on a more personalized approach. If your training materials still include information about the old, automated processes, any new employees who join could feel confused while trying to catch up.
Review Your Training Content Regularly
One of the most critical steps in creating your training content is to plan to review it regularly. Assign this to a relevant associate who can go through each piece of training you have to make sure it is still current and useful.
Depending on the amount of training materials you have, this could be a large-scale effort. You may have one associate or a team whose job focuses on updating the training content as processes change. However, it is still important to schedule a time to do a more thorough review and update of the content. Depending on how quickly your business changes, this could be every two to three years or even every two to three months.
Small changes throughout the year can help your internal training stay relevant and fresh. If there are associates who must retake training sessions regularly, these updates can help them from getting bored with the content and ensure they always learn from the most up-to-date information.
With in-depth, updated training content, your team should have the knowledge and skills they need to do their jobs well.
What Is Express Writers University?
Express Writers University is a new site we’ve started for both new and current writers and editors. With this new training, we hope to create a smoother, more efficient onboarding process while offering more high-level learning opportunities for writers who want to advance their skills. All our training lessons will include an evaluation to make it easier to track who has completed and passed each module.
In Express Writers University, our writers and editors will receive training for our unique business procedures, learn how to write and submit assignments, and explore deep dives into specific writing topics that can help improve their writing. These topics include things like:
Passive vs. active voice
SEO keyword research
Creating better social media posts
Avoiding fluff language
How to source images
Writing high-performing emails
Comma usage
Formatting guidelines
With Express Writers University we hope to achieve the following goals:
Make onboarding easier for new hires that is less cumbersome for management
Better prepared new hires
Improve copy quality through assigned lessons based on editor feedback
More accurate tracking of completed training
Growth opportunities for existing writers and editors
Improve retention and satisfaction for current team members
Why We Are Updating Our Training
We’ve found that our previous training process could be too cumbersome for many of our writers. We were losing qualified writers during the onboarding process because it was too slow, and there were too many separate documents to read.
In addition, we did not have a process to verify if someone had actually read through the required materials. This was evident after some new writers submitted their first assignments without following internal guidelines.
With our new training content, we hope to solve all these issues. Our new onboarding process will be smoother and more effective in tracking new writers’ process through all required reading. Additionally, each writer must pass our new evaluation process before they receive their first writing assignment.
The system also makes it easier to work with current writers who want to learn new skills and improve their writing. They can take new modules to learn other writing types and receive an evaluation. If they pass the evaluation, we know they are qualified to move on to more advanced writing assignments.
Finally, we are making it easier for our editors to assign refresher courses to improve their skills. If our team feels they need to brush up on a specific grammatical convention or go over an internal brand. They will be required to complete an assessment at the end of the lesson.
How Will Express Writers University Affect Your Content?
When you request content from us, you have certain expectations. You want high-quality, well-researched, error-free content that follows your brand guidelines. With these updated training materials, our team becomes better equipped to achieve our goal of “Quality content done right the first time.”
Every piece of content we offer includes two free revision requests. While our current revision request rate is relatively low, we hope to reduce that number even further with better-trained writers and editors.
With our improved internal training content, you can expect even better results from our expert writers and editors.
Our Internal Training Content Gives You Better Results
As a client, you want to make sure you get the best results possible from your business partners. With our new Express Writers University training content, our writers at each of our levels will have access to our latest training materials. This will help them become familiar with our processes and expectations while expanding learning new skills.
If you are considering using our writing services, you can feel confident that our professional expert writers have the training they need to meet or exceed your content expectations.
Want to learn more about the content services available at Express Writers? Contact us today to start a conversation.
Did you know the top result of a Google search gets approximately 32% of all clicks?
So, it’s no wonder content creators fight to climb to the number one position in the SERPs. Secure that spot, and you’re sure to generate tons of organic traffic for your website.
The only problem is that not everyone is well-versed in the world of SEO best practices. When that happens, you have a couple of options – either learn how to do it yourself or hire SEO content writers to tackle the job for you.
We’ve compiled some reasons why it’s beneficial to outsource your SEO content writing to folks with a deep understanding of best practices and optimization. There are also a few things you’ll want to make sure your writer knows.
What’s the Difference Between SEO Copywriting and SEO Content Writing?
Now that you’re moving to hire content writers for your business, you might wonder if you should hire SEO copywriters or SEO content writers since there are some differences between the two.
As you likely already know, search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of optimizing your website and its content to boost visibility in search results. Because search engines like Google search for the most helpful and valuable content to share with users, it’s important to publish quality content your target audience is actually searching for.
First up, SEO copywriting focuses largely on converting that traffic into leads and sales for your business. These copywriters handle the creation of things like email campaigns, sales pages, product descriptions, and website copy. Overall, SEO copywriters focus their skills on persuasion and inspiring someone to act.
Meanwhile, the goal behind quality SEO content writing is creating people-first content optimized for search engines through keyword optimization. Writing this way allows you to focus on providing value through content and use optimization as an additional asset to generate more organic traffic for your website. SEO content writers typically craft blog posts, guest posts for other industry sites, service pages, and landing pages.
6 Reasons to Hire SEO Content Writers Trained in SEO Best Practices
You’ve decided to start with updating your blog strategy, so SEO content writers are the best choice for your business needs. Is it going to be worth the investment to pay for SEO content writing services? Or would it be better to tackle everything on your own? The size of your team will determine whether you should outsource or hire for your internal team. Meaning, it’s important to understand some reasons why you should bring on a writer with SEO content experience:
1. They Can Create High-Quality, Well-Written Content
Poor writing can make your business look unprofessional. If someone stumbles upon your website for the first time and discovers content riddled with bad grammar and spelling mistakes, they’re less likely to trust that you know what you’re talking about. Hiring content writers who have a high-level understanding of the language you write in is essential to successful content.
A professional writer will craft high-quality, well-written content that appeals to your readers and adds value. This will help you get sustainable results with your content. These SEO writers use content to make connections with your audience and should have industry experience that positions you to be successful in your niche. That means that they can convince people to take action because they’ve offered them a solution to a problem.
SEO content that provides value and is well-written is the smartest thing you can do for your content marketing strategy, and it starts with a professional content writer.
2. They’re Knowledgeable on SEO Best Practices
It’s safe to say the world of SEO is pretty competitive. After all, other creators in your industry target the same keywords you’re after. And much like you, they want to secure that coveted spot at the top of Google’s SERPs. For that reason, you want to hire content writers who are well versed in SEO and can keep up with this ever-evolving industry.
Your ideal writer will take time to understand your target audience and branding. This will allow them the space to utilize keywords while still putting people first. Whether they do keyword research for you or you have a content strategist, these writers understand how to implement your keywords throughout your content so it’s well-optimized but never forced.
Since Google regularly updates its algorithms, ensure that the writer you hire is committed to staying on top of all the changes and adapting their writing style. This step is essential to using data and metrics successfully in your content. If your writer doesn’t understand why they should be using a certain keyword or how to do that on multiple levels, you could risk a drop in your rankings.
A content writer trained in SEO has the knowledge to optimize your content because they know the best on-page strategies. Because, while creating engaging meta descriptions, complex header sequences, and even keyword distribution might seem easy, a master understands how to blend these tactics the best. And this seamless mix of SEO and expert writing chops will get you closer to the perfectly crafted content you need.
3. You’ll Generate More Traffic and Conversions
Because your content writer understands how Google and other search engines crawl and catalog content, you’ll be able to see the results of this investment more quickly. Your monthly page views can skyrocket because of the uptick in organic traffic. And all of it is because you have a writer who understands search intent from your target audience through SEO.
As your traffic increases, you’ll likely start seeing more engagement throughout your website. People will visit multiple pages, stay on pages longer, and start leaving comments. Even better? Amazing copywriting can boost your conversion rate.
People will start filling out your contact form or joining your subscriber list because they trust you know what you’re doing. This usually converts visitors and subscribers into paying customers that you can retain with ease. That makes the investment in hiring a writer worthwhile.
4. It’ll Save You the Time and Hassle of Doing it Alone
If writing isn’t your strong suit or you don’t know the first thing about SEO, trying to master both can feel overwhelming. Luckily, you don’t need to invest the time and energy into bettering your writing skills or studying SEO unless you want to. Instead, you can hire SEO content writers who are skilled professionals to handle the job for you.
These writers are better suited to creating content so you free up your time. You’ll improve efficiency in the content creation process because they can complete these tasks quicker and easier. It will also allow you to be more consistent with posting since you’ll have a steady stream of optimized content coming in.
And, with your time reclaimed, you can focus on the other tasks that need to be completed to grow your business. You can build out new or improved processes for your employees, develop stronger relationships with clients for retention, and even make product and service development a priority if you’ve had to put it off.
5. It’ll Help You Build the Know, Like, and Trust Factor
To create success in business, it’s important that you build the Know, Like, and Trust Factor. This is because people want to buy from businesses they like and trust. If they don’t trust you, they could take their business to your competitors.
So, what’s the secret to building trust? Well, One of the best ways to establish such a strong connection with your target audience is through your content.
You want to publish content to your site that addresses their pain points and interests. Then, you can provide a solution to their problems and add value to their lives or business. Without these points of connection, you can’t build a relationship with your readers.
When you hire content writers passionate about creating online content, they’ll craft content that speaks directly to your target readers to form a strong partnership. From there, it’s your job to continue nurturing that relationship by engaging with them.
6. Your Readers (and Google) Will Appreciate Your Content
Hiring SEO content writers is a surefire way to ensure you publish content your readers will love. Through keyword optimization and other SEO strategies, you can better address the interests and needs of your audience to consistently provide valuable content while building your readership. And your target audience will view you as a trusted resource to continue to come back to.
You can’t ignore the search engines while creating content. And hiring a trained SEO writer will help you keep Google happy. With the Google Helpful Content Update, it’s more important than ever to focus primarily on creating people-first content.
A great writer can balance the expectations of helpful content with SEO to create a powerful strategy. Plus, you’ll feel confident knowing that your readers and Google will love what you publish.
What to Look for When Hiring SEO Content Writers
Now we’ve covered the value of hiring SEO content writers to assist with your content creation, your next task is to hire someone that fits the bill. You know you can’t just bring on anyone to create your blogs, landers, and other educational or informational content. It’s time to find someone who has writing skills and knows SEO best practices so they can effectively optimize your content.
So, how do you know if someone is the right fit for the job? Consider how important it is for your business to work with someone who understands your industry and target audience. You ensure they have some level of background knowledge on the topics they cover.
There are a few other things you can look for when hiring SEO content writers. Here are a few:
A Stellar SEO Content Portfolio: You want to hire content writers who have SEO and writing experience so you can trust they know what they’re doing. This means they should have a portfolio featuring previous writing samples to give you a taste of their work. These samples allow you to assess their overall skills, writing style, and ability to match your company’s unique voice.
Proof of Their Ability to Get Results: Again, since you want an experienced writer, they should have no problem providing proof of the results from their previous work experience. If you’re hiring internally, ask potential writers to provide examples of articles they’ve written that perform well in the SERPs. Ideally, you want to see these articles ranking in the first two pages of Google. If you’re thinking about outsourcing, ask for testimonials or case studies showing proof of how a content writing agency has helped a client.
Solid SEO Writing Technique: It’s also important to evaluate the SEO writing techniques of the writer you’re looking to hire. To do this, ask questions about their SEO writing procedures. Do they know how to conduct keyword research? Do they understand the importance of keyword density? Is formatting blog posts properly in their wheelhouse? Are they aware of how to write meta descriptions and use H2s and H3s? Ensuring that they understand the basics is essential to avoid wasting time.
A Promise to Consistently Create Quality Content: Consistency is crucial in the world of content creation and SEO. You want to make sure you hire content writers who can promise to create well-written and optimized content consistently, so you know they’ll be a dependable and trustworthy part of your team.
Finding SEO content writers who understand best practices, get your business, and are trainable might feel like a shot in the dark, but if you keep all of these things in mind, you’re well on your way to a content team that you can be proud of.
Try Our SEO Content Writing Services
Tired of spending all your time vetting content writers who just don’t work out? The team at Express Writers are professional SEO content writers. They understand how to craft content that works for you and dazzles your audience.
Our industry writers have a variety of backgrounds and degrees, in addition to their years of writing experience. We train our writers in best practices while focusing on people-first content. You can trust that your content will be optimized for search engines without sacrificing readability and expertise.
Contact us today to see how we help you craft unmatched content that grows your business.
When it comes to content creation, you have two options: do it yourself or outsource.
While it’s certainly admirable to create content entirely on your own, it’s not feasible for everyone. That’s why many companies opt to have a mix of in-house or freelance writers, or they choose to outsource the task entirely.
If you’ve been considering making the move to outsource content writing, you probably have a few questions you need answered. For instance, how do you know when it’s time to hire a writer? Will this investment really be worthwhile? How do you outsource anyway?
This article shares everything you need to know if you want to get started with outsourcing.
Knowing When it’s Time to Outsource
Now that you understand how to outsource content writing efficiently, you may be wondering – is it time to hire someone or can I continue to manage my content on my own?
This can be a difficult decision. Giving up control or seeking outside help isn’t always the easiest thing. However, sometimes it’s exactly what you need to propel your brand forward. Here are a couple of signs it’s time to outsource:
1. You’re Missing Publication Deadlines
If you want to be successful with your content creation, you should consistently publish new. Doing this allows you to stay top-of-mind with your target audience. Plus, it helps you generate more organic traffic and will help position you as a thought leader over time. To be consistent, it’s helpful to have a set posting schedule. For instance, you could aim to publish a new article weekly.
However, that’s often easier said than done. When building a business, there are typically tons of tasks on your plate. And sometimes, content creation takes a backseat to those other to-dos when you have limited time in your day to get things done.
If you find you’ve been neglecting your content schedule by missing publication deadlines, it’s time to consider outsourcing. This will ensure you get back on track and have new content going out regularly. Then, you won’t have to risk being forgotten by your readers.
2. Writing Isn’t Your Strong Suit
The truth is writing isn’t for everyone. Which is okay because you don’t need to be an expert writer or spend hours stressing about putting together a high-quality article. Instead of beating yourself up over it, call in the reinforcements.
When you outsource content writing, you get to remove this task from your to-do list and focus on the things you enjoy doing for your business. Additionally, hiring someone who truly loves to write ensures you’re putting out better content than ever.
3. You Don’t Know SEO
If you want to generate organic traffic, optimizing your content is a must. Search engines like Google are always evolving and updating their algorithms to better deliver users the content they’re searching for. And if you’re creating online content, you need to stay updated with these changes because they could impact the SEO strategies you’ve been implementing.
But what if you don’t know a thing about SEO? Or what if you’re struggling to stay updated with what’s going on with Google? You don’t need to be an optimization expert. However, this is another good sign you may want to outsource content writing. A skilled writer will know how to effectively optimize your content so you can rank higher on Google. That will bring in more traffic and could increase engagement and conversions.
4. You Have the Budget
Money is often one of the biggest roadblocks for businesses that want to outsource content. Sometimes they simply don’t have the extra funds to allocate to this. If you do, it might be time to move forward with outsourcing.
Investing in content can help you make more money. In 2019, a HubSpot study revealed blogging alone can net you 13 times more in positive return on investment (ROI). But on top of that, you free up time to tackle other projects to grow your brand, so the investment only grows.
The Benefits of Outsourcing Your Content Writing
Even if you know you should outsource, there’s a good chance you’re probably a little hesitant too. Finding the perfect writer can be stressful. Plus, you need to create a new budget for this added expense. You might feel like that isn’t worthwhile, but you just need to understand the great things that can come along when you outsource content writing.
Here are a few benefits that just might seal the deal for you:
It’ll Save You Time:Instead of pouring hours into content creation, you can have someone else completely take over this task. Then, it’ll free up time in your day to focus on other things to drive your business forward. For example, you’ll be able to put more effort into creating new products and services. And relying on a skilled writer will often take less time than if you were creating the content.
High-Quality, Optimized Content:An expert writer will deliver top-notch content carefully optimized so you can attract more organic traffic to your website. You’ll never have to question the quality of the content you receive, nor will you need to worry about staying updated with the latest SEO tactics. Your writer can handle that for you.
Improved Rankings in the SERPs:Since you’ll now be publishing optimized content on your blog, there’s a good chance your content may start climbing up the SERPs. Landing on the first page of Google is quite a feat, and it’s something a skilled writer can help you accomplish. Higher rankings generate more visibility and lead to a boost in traffic.
Increased Conversions and Engagement: A powerful article could be what leads someone to purchase with your business, especially if you include a well-written call to action at the end. You also may see engagement rates increase because of all this new content you’re publishing.
Of course, those are just a few of the benefits you can experience when you outsource. Beyond that, you can feel confident knowing you’ll receive 100% original content every time.
Sold on outsourcing and ready to dive in? Before you do, there are a few tips you need to know if you want this to be a successful partnership. Here’s some advice to keep in mind:
1. Set Your Budget
Great content doesn’t have to break the bank, but you need to know what you can afford to spend. After all, you don’t want to allocate more money to content creation than you have. However, you will need to pay your writers fairly if you expect to receive high-quality content in return. Take some time to review your current budget. How much money do you have left to spend on a writer? How much do you feel comfortable spending? These are essential questions when you begin searching for freelancers or agencies to work with.
2. Find Writers Who Are Skilled in Your Niche
Whether you’re hiring a freelancer or choosing to work with an agency, it’s smart to ensure the writer creating your content has some expertise in your field. This is especially important if you’re in a high-level niche such as the medical, financial, or technical worlds. Not only does this improve the overall quality of your content, but you’ll feel more confident in the outcome.
If you opt to work with an agency, you can ask them ahead of time if they have writers skilled in your niche. And you can request to work with that specific writer. At Express Writers, we vet and train writers with a variety of backgrounds, then match hand match writers to our clients in those industries. If a client finds someone whose work they love, they can request to keep working with that writer every time they order.
3. Clearly Communicate Your Needs
Whenever you’re working with someone else, clear communication is going to be essential. As you outsource content writing, it’s imperative that you’re up-front with the writer or agency about what you want. For instance, you’ll want to provide as much detail as necessary when you order your content. Include the topic you’d like them to write about, your focus keyword, any information you want included in the content piece, and details about who your target audience is.
If you want to take it a step further, you could also include an outline. It doesn’t have to be overly detailed, but it can break down all the different areas you’d like to ensure the content covers. Linking to a reference piece is great as well. Your writer can then better understand what you’re looking for from the content they’re creating for you. They’ll get a feel for the style of writing you like and the different points you want them to include.
Beyond that, providing more details is much more effective than saying, “Write a 1,000-word article on smart marketing tactics.” That’s rather vague and could lead your writer to take the article in the wrong direction than what you had intended.
4. Give the Writer Room for Creativity
It is possible to be too constricting when working with a writer. You want to give direction when it comes to tone, keywords, and your core message. However, you also want the writer to have room to be creative. A talented writer will know how to craft an amazing piece of content while adhering to your directions. So, offer guidance, but give them enough space to do what they do best without restricting their creativity.
5. Work With Your Writer Through the Editing Process
Once the writer has submitted a piece of content to you, remember that this is merely a draft. You don’t have to accept what they’ve created, especially if there are issues. If there are any changes needed, politely communicate that with your writer so they can make the appropriate edits.
You never want to quit on the first draft. Instead, work together and create a collaborative process. When you go back and forth to finalize the copy, it forges a stronger relationship between you and your writer. They will understand your likes and dislikes for any future content they create for you. Think of it as a learning opportunity. The better your writer gets to know what you’re looking for, the better job they’ll do next time.
6. Reward Your Writer for a Job Well Done
Those who work freelance sometimes see an assignment come in, complete the job, and never hear from that company again. This can be discouraging because it often leaves the writer wondering if something went wrong.
If you work with a freelancer, take the time to send your thanks after they complete an assignment. You can even call out a specific element you liked about the content. Not only is this encouraging, but it helps foster a trusting relationship for the future. This writer may even feel compelled to make your work a top priority moving forward since they’ll know just how much you appreciate all their hard work.
Outsource Content Writing to Our Expert Team
If you’re interested in outsourcing your content creation to a skilled and reputable agency, look no further. Founded in 2011, Express Writers has served over 5,000 clients with a team that has completed over 50,000 projects. You can trust that we have what it takes to create high-quality, valuable content your readers will love.
Head to our Content Shop to see what our writers can do for you.
