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How I hire content writers for my agency?

I recently started my own content writing agency and hired a few writers. It took me so much time and resources to learn how to attract and hire the right people.

I think I have found a good recruitment process and I want to share it with you.

Let me break this into 7 steps:

  1. Decide whether you want to hire someone in-house, freelance, or an agency. Each of these cases has its pros and cons. But the final decision depends on the budget and the time you want to invest.

  2. Then decide the type of writer you want to hire by defining the niche and the kind of writing style your audience prefers.
    Depending on the business goals you might need someone to write your emails, articles, landing pages, social media posts, etc. Of course, there are writers who can write all of the above. But if you have a specific need only, you can hire specialist writers.

  3. Write a good Job Description. Don't just copy-paste this from someone else. You have a unique business with its own needs.
    If you are a startup you don’t need a writer who is a pro at making a content strategy and analytics. But you’ll need someone who’s flexible. Someone who can deliver a variety of content for your company.

  4. Start finding prospects on job boards like ProBlogger, Upwork, Fiverr. I even ask for referrals from my friends or on online communities like Reddit and Indiehacker.

  5. Now it's time to filter out these candidates. For freelancers and agencies, I read reviews and their sample articles.
    For some of them, I don't even have to do all this, I just read their bio or their websites. If I don’t like what they have written for themselves, they aren’t the ones.

  6. Conduct face to face interviews to understand how this person thinks and works. See if they are a good match for your brand.

  7. Shortlist at least 5 candidates and put them all to a test. I pay them to write an article on the same topic for my blog. In the end, I get 5 articles on one topic. All I have to do now is read them all and hire the best.

I tried to explain these steps as easily as I could. You can also read my blog post on this, I have covered these steps in more detail there.

  1. 2

    We're going through this right now at Savio. We are looking for writers that can write 400 level articles on our topics like this one on how to track product feedback when given subject matter expert interviews.

    We used a variation of the process the Grow and Covert guys have. You can find it here.

    Our modified process involves paying for the writer to complete a detailed outline based on a SME recording and transcript that we provide them.

    It was much tougher to find people that can (or want to) write 400 level content than I thought it would be.

    Finding people that can write well enough wasn't super challenging but most writers doing B2B SaaS content that responded to our job postings are used to writing "Google Research Papers". By this I mean Googling the key terms and copy and pasting snippets from existing articles they find and rework them into a fluffy piece.

    Even when given high quality source material most aren't able to use it to produce high quality content. This really surprised me.

    After reviewing well over 200 candidates and putting 15+ writers through our paid writing task here's what I learned:

    1. We sourced writers from Angel List, Upwork, Problogger and Indeed. The best volume came from Problogger. The best candidates came from Indeed. The worst candidates also came form Indeed. Paying for promotion wasn't worth it. If you do a lot of inviting you can find some decent candidates on Upwork. Angel list had the worst bang for the buck. That was a surprise to me. I thought it would be the best. Be prepared to sift through a lot of low quality applications.

    2. By far the best signal for whether a writer was going to work out was the quality of the sample piece they provided. If they haven't written a piece that is great and is super close to what you are looking for it's not going to work out. Every time I broke this rule it didn't work out. When you read a sample article and think, "Wow this is great", it's probably going to work out.

    3. If they've written something that is well written but isn't at the level you are after it's not working to workout. Being able to put the commas in the right place isn't the same as being able to write a 400 level. If I found myself saying, "It's well written but fluffy maybe it will work out", then no it didn't work out.

    4. The paid questionnaire / outline was a good way to weed out folks that seemed like they'd work out but didn't. We had everyone submit an outline for the same article so we could compare them. This was pretty effective.

    5. Candidates that don't include a well written personalized cover letter/message were generally of much lower quality than candidates that did.

    Knowing what I know now I'd:

    1. Make it super clear what type of articles you're after. Include a link to an example in the job posting.

    2. Ask them to include the closest example they've written to what you are after.

    3. Skip every candidate that doesn't include a sample post. It's not going to work out.

    4. Review each candidate's sample post. If it isn't super close to what you are looking for, skip that candidate. It's not going to work out.

    Hopefully the above will save someone else some of the frustration I've gone through the last couple of weeks :).

    1. 1

      This is so helpful! Thank you for sharing.

  2. 2

    "Right" people is very vague word. It depends on a) How much you're willing to pay b) That can largely determine the type of people you'll attract.

    If you want someone who's a) Cheap b) Good quality, you'll need to take a risk with new freelancers who are looking to get traction by charging lower prices. The risk here is churn; a lot of them realize that freelancing is not for them and just give up.

    1. 1

      Totally agree with you!

      The right person for the job is a personal term. It depends on multiple factors like say your niche, a law firm will look for different traits in a writer than an affiliate marketer.

      Your budget also plays a big role here.

      Another thing I feel really matters is where you are looking for these writers. You'll find budget-friendly writers on sites like Upwork and iWriter. You can find even cheap writers on subreddits like r/slavelabour.

  3. 2

    I'm honest, I don't have enough time or skill to write really well, so for important pieces for my blog, I write the draft and I want someone else to make a great article out of that. Currently I found someone who charges 50$ due to COVID (usual rate 120$/hour). He seems okay, but we still have some misunderstandings when it comes to the writing style that I would like to see.

    I'm basically looking for a really good writer and I want articles in a certain style. My favorite blogs include: Helpscout, Ben Kamens, Steph Jang, Paul Graham.

    Maybe someone here can advise me, thanks

    1. 1

      Hit me up and let's discuss.

      Here is my website if you'd like to take a look --- josephayomide.com

      1. 1

        Hi @Joe_UrSaaSGuy, I've tried to reach out to you, but didn't hear back. I got a trial job for you, send me an e-mail and let's talk.

        1. 1

          Oh, I'm sorry.

          Sent you a mail. Check it out and let's talk further. ☺

          Best,
          Joseph.

    2. 1

      That's an interesting approach, Moritz. I was thinking about that, since I'm lacking skill and time, too. How detailed are your drafts usually? Do you write like a list of things to cover or the draft is already a blog post that's semi-ready?

      How much do you usually pay for an article?

      1. 2

        Hi Luka, the standard I aspire to is basically to publish my thoughts on a specific topic. I don't want to pay someone who will write about his own ideas. So I write down what I have to say about a topic. But that's definitely not ready to be published, it's maybe one page of text with my thoughts. I want those thoughts refined into a well-researched and well-referenced article.

        To answer your question I simply write down text like a waterfall and the freelancer is supposed to make something out of that. Regarding a specific part of the article at times I have only one sentence, sometimes 10 sentences, no matter how much I give the freelancer, I want him to expand on important ideas or reduce trivial statements/personal rambling. If I already pay someone, why not go the lazy route?)

        Of course I check what he has written and make comments where things seem to be inaccurate or not mirroring what I want to say.

        Regarding your added question, I've just started working with that freelancer a few weeks ago, so I can't say an average yet. If I had to estimate, with his current writing, it will be around $500/article, but I want it different and that could be a bigger investment. I don't know yet where my pain threshold is when it comes to cost, in part because it heavily depends on the quality of the work.

        1. 1

          Moritz, this is exactly the problem I'm working on solving at Expert Machine. I'll send you a little more info about it.

        2. 1

          Hi Moritz,

          A lot of people prefer to just write a draft and then ask a professional writer for help.

          And it is very hard to find a writer who understands your writing style.

          It's not always the writer's fault of course because the writing style is completely subjective. What is good content for me might not be good content for you.

          The only way you can find someone with a similar style is by reading their previous work. Every writer has something to show as a portfolio.

          Apart from this you can talk to the person on a voice or video call, ask the writer what's their writing process and how they research a topic. By talking to the person you'll get a good idea if they are a good match for your business.

          You'll have to spend time in this process. There is no way around it.

          That's why I always hire multiple writers to write the same article. It does cost a lot in the start but I always find the right person for the job.

  4. 1

    Reddit would be the first place I visited if I were looking for content writers. There are a ton of individuals there that would fit your mold perfectly.

  5. 1

    That's a pretty smart process. Paid test articles are a good idea.
    At the moment, my agency has a combination of active and passive methods.
    The active ones are postings on job boards and outreach to individual writers. Passively, there's a "write for us" section on our site which gets the occasional application.

    As for choosing a writer - I know this isn't very system-oriented but I just use my judgement. Every form of communication a writer uses is part of their 'portfolio' - from their web presence to the emails they send. I find it easy to find the ones who just get it - the naturally gifted writers who you can tell take pride in delivering quality work.

    That's not to say that lesser skilled or non-native-English writers aren't useful. Sometimes they're amazing at research and putting ideas together but not very good at using language to express them. When that happens, you can still build the right editing process around them and deliver a stellar final result.

    1. 1

      Using your judgement may not be a system-oriented process but we all do it and it's actually a good thing in this case.

      Also, you can really tell a lot about the writer by how they communicate over chat or emails.

  6. 1

    Hey, thanks for this insight! I'm actually having a hard time finding an assistant who could help me with content (everything from managing several Twitter accounts to marketing copy, website micro copy etc).
    Do you have tips for this, or perhaps an article you already wrote? :)

    1. 1

      If you're looking for someone to handle both your content and social media, yeah that's possible.

      But you have to take into account that he/she might not give their best compared to others who specify in one particular thing.

      For instance, a direct response copywriter (like myself wink)* is mostly experienced when it comes to copy or content for a client. Sometimes, I get to work with social media managers in order to get feedback on our customers or perhaps position and communicate better.

      But that doesn't in any way mean I'm experienced in that niche. Although I could handle social media, I might not do a good job compared to an expert in that field.

      If you want the best, hire the best for each job position.

      That's the best advice I can give you if your aim is for long-term success.

      Check IH or any other place, and I'm sure you'll find someone that fits what you're looking for.

      If it's copy and content, let's talk.

      Best,
      Joseph.

    2. 1

      Hi Richard,

      Here's what I think:

      Since you say you want someone to handle your social media and website content, you'll have to decide whether you want to hire a generalist writer or many specialist writers. It will depend on your budget. You can hire a social media writer and a copywriter separately.

      In no way I am saying generalist writers are bad, in fact, they are more experienced since they write about a broad spectrum of subjects.

      If you are willing to try an agency, you won't have to hire different writers as you can just assign them the tasks. I have an article comparing 8 best content writing services, you can read this here: https://digifloat.io/blog/best-content-writing-services/

      (Full disclosure: As I mentioned in the post above, we also recently started offering content writing services, so we are on the list too.)

      You can also ask for referrals on Reddit and Indiehacker. A lot of talented writers pitch in if you post an opening.

      Doing all this will give you a list of people interested in working for you. Now you can see their sample articles, read reviews, and testimonials. You can even conduct a face to face to interview with the people you like.

      If you find a freelancer you can pay them for a small gig and see if they are a good fit before hiring them. If you decide to go for an agency, try to find someone who gives a free trial or a money-back guarantee.

      I have mentioned all these points in detail in my article: https://digifloat.io/blog/how-to-hire-content-writer/

      1. 1

        Thanks Jaideep! I'll drop you an email in a sec :)

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