3 Steps to Finding a High-Quality Article Writing 
Service
In a sea of online information, how do you find the pearls that are high-quality article writing services? There are so many article writers available online that it can be hard to separate the wheat from the chaff.
It doesn’t have to be that difficult. In fact, there’s a simple three-step process you can use:
- Identify potential candidates.
- Determine whether those candidates meet your needs.
- Hire a writer that fits your needs and goals.
You’ll just need to tweak the conventional process a bit to account for the exponential resources available online. Before you get started, take a few minutes to clarify your goals.
Are you only interested in providing essential information to your current customers, such as product descriptions? Or do you hope to attract new potential customers? Is your goal to build your reputation as a thought leader in your community or industry or attract a potential new employer?
If you know what you want, great! If not, high-quality article writing services can help you identify your goals. In fact, everything your article writer does should be strategically calculated to help you achieve your goals.
Let’s move on to Step 1 . . .
1. Identify potential article writing services.
Ask for Referrals.
First, build a pool of potential article writers. In the “old days,” we asked our friends, families, and colleagues for referrals or flipped open the yellow pages. These are still viable first steps that may bear fruit and should not be overlooked.
Don’t forget to ask people you employ to perform related services, as well. You may already work with IT services, web designers, and social media coordinators. These folks may offer article writing services themselves, and even if they don’t, they probably know someone who does.
Next, reach out to others in your communities (online and locally) to identify high-quality article writing services. If you’re on LinkedIn, message your connections. Chamber of Commerce member? Ask other members who they use to write articles and blogs. Make a list of your communities and contact people you trust to expand your list of potential article writing services.
Tip: It helps to keep a spreadsheet of your results rather than using post-its or handwritten notes. This way, you can sort your results, edit, and add fields as needed.
Look Online.
In addition to using more traditional referral sources, explore the online market. When it comes to procuring services, we are no longer limited by county, state, or even international borders. We can easily tap into talent anywhere in the world.
Run online searches to identify resources. Use terms that accurately describe the services you seek. Here are a few ideas to get you started, but use words that target the nature of the service you’re seeking:
- best article writers
- best article writing services
- buy blog articles
- buy unique articles
- custom content services
- custom content writers
- freelance article writers
- high-quality article writers
- high-quality article writing services
- SEO article writers
- SEO article writing services
- unique articles
Tip: You may even want to add the name of your city or state to these searches to narrow the results. But remember that you are no longer bound by geography. If you hire a high-quality article writing service, its custom content writers will work with you to ensure your local brand is preserved.
After you’ve established a pool of potential article writing services, it’s time to move on to Step 2.
2. Research the qualifications of the article writers you’ve identified.
Don’t Confuse the Basics with High Quality.
You should expect high-quality writers to have these skills:
- impeccable grammar, usage, spelling, and punctuation
- the ability to write attention-grabbing headlines
- the ability to write informative content that flows logically
If article writing services you’ve identified don’t exhibit these basic skills, strike them from your list. You don’t need subpar content that will worsen your professional reputation or your online search rankings.
The same goes for article writers who “spin” content. Some people make the mistake of thinking that all they need to do is throw up a slew of keyword-laden content and hope for the best. But the truth is that even if average content succeeds in driving traffic to your website, visitors will bounce when they don’t receive high-quality, usable information.
Seek Higher-Level Skills.
If you want someone to be a true partner in helping you build your business, target article writing services that offer more than the basics. The best article writing services take the time to understand your business, your voice, and your niche in the market.
You can learn a lot by checking out article writing services online:
- Company Website: Review each service’s website. Is it well-written? Are the concepts presented strong and logically linked? What writer qualifications are listed on the About or Biography pages? Does the website include third-party evaluations, such as recommendations, testimonials, or regular clients? If the website contains a blog or samples, read a few in full.
- LinkedIn Profiles: Review the company’s LinkedIn profile, as well as each writer’s profile. What is the company’s focus? What education and experience do the writers have? Does the profile include positive endorsements or references?
If article writing services pass your initial review, follow up to fill in any gaps in important information. Ask for sample articles, a link to a portfolio, or links to sample products that have been published online.
If you really want your articles to shine, look for an article writing service experienced at adapting its content for different audiences and subject matter areas. How?
Ask the company to share samples of work performed in your area or in a variety of areas. If the samples are strong, follow up to learn more. Here are a few areas for potential inquiry:
- What industries or services have you written about?
- What type of content have you produced (ex.-blogs, general articles, news articles, white papers, presentations)?
- Tell me about your education and experience.
- What experience do you have in content writing, proofreading, and editing?
- Describe the audiences you have targeted in your writing.
- Have you been published online? In print?
- Have you received any awards for your writing?
- Are you a regular contributor to any websites?
- Do you have regular clients? Tell me about some of them.
- What strategies do you use to capture client preferences and voices?
Most writers are happy to answer questions like these or others online, on video calls, or in email. (If an article writing service isn’t willing to respond or to discuss its writers’ qualifications with you, consider whether you really want to partner with that company.)
Tip: Consider using Skype or a similar service to vet potential article writers. After all, if you decide to hire this person, you’ll need to be confident in his or her ability to be responsive and communicate well with you.
As you might expect, hiring article writers with diverse knowledge and writing experience can greatly improve the quality of your articles through solid topic development. One of the challenges to posting quality online articles is developing topics that visitors find useful. Some people and companies know what they want to cover and how to find topics that draw in traffic. Others may not really know or may only have general ideas.
High-quality article writing services can provide topic suggestions for your review and approval. Many business owners and professionals simply don’t have time to focus on specifics, and that is where an article writing service can fill the void.
And if your article writers have real-world experience, all the better. After all, they’ll need to incorporate your voice into effective copy that drives traffic to your website, then engages potential customers. Practical experience makes this task much easier.
Your writers will be the voice of your company. In Step 2, make sure you learn as much as you can about your candidates.
3. Hire an article writing service that can best capture your needs and your brand.
Next, use the information you gained in Step 2 to identify three to five true candidates. If you haven’t already done so, obtain pricing information.
Pricing varies widely for article writing services. The most expensive is not always the best (although it may be the most efficient and reliable). And the least expensive is not necessarily the worst (unless the product is unusable or costs valuable time or money to fix). At bottom, you’ll need to decide your tolerance for both cost and risk. Ultimately, “the proof is in the pudding.”
If you like samples of the service’s work and feel comfortable interacting with its people, those are two of the best indicators of whether you are courting a reliable article writing partner.
You may even decide to have a few candidates work on test projects for you. This will allow you to determine whether each is a good fit with you and your business, personality, and budget without feeling committed to any one service.
After you’ve made a selection, remember that hiring a high-quality article writing service is only half the battle. Writing for Curata, Michael Gerard estimated that 75% of online businesses planned to increase their spending on content marketing in the next year.
Despite these great intentions, and as Steinbeck recognized, the problem is that the best-laid plans often go awry. After you’ve hired a great article writing service, you’re most of the way there. But you’ll still need to structure your relationship to ensure articles don’t get backed up in lengthy approval processes. The best content in the world does no good if it never goes live. And online, freshly drafted content can go stale quickly.
Tip: Many article writing services have a great deal of experience helping professionals and businesses prioritize their online content. Ask about best practices some of their clients have used to make sure their content stays fresh!
What about you? What factors help you identify high-quality article services? Share your ideas with us in a comment!
If you’ve decided to hire an article writing service, consider the TwoDogBlog. Our article writers are experienced in writing for varied industries and audiences, and we love helping our clients connect with others.
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