So you’ve decided to start a blog for your business and you want to learn the secret to professional-quality, search engine optimized blog writing? In most cases, the answer is ghost blogging.
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Ghost Blogging and More
Professional ghost writers have been writing speeches, memoirs, and autobiographies on behalf of other people for decades (if not longer – hard to tell!). Now that the internet has created a large–some would say relentless–demand for content, businesses are struggling to keep up and are therefore turning to ghost writers as well. There is so much content online that it’s hard to stand out.
Blogs are useful for attracting visitors to your website through search engines, developing your brand, crafting a public image that resonates with people, and building relationships with current and potential customers. Depending on the quality of your blog, you could also create partnerships with other bloggers, catch the attention of journalists, and get some good press.
What is Ghost Blogging?
Ghost bloggers provide high-quality, professionally written content for websites without leaving a trace. When you hire a professional ghost writer, you are paying for the rights to own and publish their content. Basically, they forfeit their byline and you claim authorship of the material. Ghost bloggers are generally more effective at building brands because they understand more about search engine optimization, social media, and digital marketing as a whole.
When to Hire a Ghost Blogger
There are many reasons for hiring a ghost blogger. To start, you may not have the time, technical ability, or experience (see above). You may want to do everything on your own, but at a certain point your business needs to outsource work and leave it to the professionals. Digital marketing gets more complex and difficult everyday and, despite hype that you can DIY, keeping up with the latest best practices and digital marketing tool is a full-time job.
There are a few things to think about before hiring a professional ghost blogger. First, you need to consider the intention behind your blog. Are you trying to generate new leads or sell a particular product? Do you want to be seen as an authority or leader of a particular subject or in a particular industry? Do you want to offer fun leisure reading material? One of the key benefits for hiring a ghost blogger is that they provide consultation. They help you figure these things out and collaborate with you on a stellar action plan to help grow your business online.
Professional Blogging Takes Time
Blogging and providing high-quality, shareable content is a huge time commitment. You need to look at trending topics that are relevant to your business, brainstorm ideas for posts, do the research, write the actual posts, fit in keywords, edit and fact-check your work, find legal images, size them for social media, fiddle with other SEO best practices, and then publish and promote! Oh, and of course, repeat on a regular basis while running the rest of your business as usual. Piece of cake?
Ghost Bloggers Have Social Media Know-How
Ghost bloggers understand social media and how people interact with online material. They know the standard for what people expect and want to read. Professional ghost writers know how to spin your topic, no matter what it is, so that a particular idea or message comes across to readers. People have short attention spans and make judgements about online material they want to read or not within seconds. Ghost bloggers know all the tips and tricks to keep things concise, easy to read, and interesting. Simply put: ghost bloggers know how to make it snappy!
Providing Useful and Accessible Content
Ghost bloggers know how to connect with readers and write about your topic in a way that is useful, or entertaining, and offers practical value to their everyday lives. You can’t just offer your opinion or regurgitate basic information about a topic; it also has to be useful, interesting, and most importantly: readable! You want content that is easily consumable by the average reader. Ghost writers ensure that your content is readable and relatable to the average web user.
No Offense: Ghost Bloggers Are Better Writers Than You
Contrary to what some business owners would like to believe, not everyone can write. Professional blogging requires an on-going commitment to writing and consistent posting. Ghost bloggers are professional writers with experience and discipline. Even if you’re a decent writer, if you’re not used to writing on a daily basis, it’s easy to burn out.
Besides, it’s hard finding enough material to write about, but ghostwriters are used to researching and generating ideas because it’s their specialty. They understand how search engines work, have their own professional resources, and a honed ability to brainstorm. Because they’ve written for other industries and professions, ghost bloggers have been exposed to a great wealth of knowledge on several subjects. This experience makes them more versatile, creative, and well-versed in web content writing.
Collaboration and Communication
When you’re running a business, you’ve got 100 things plus on your to-do list, but freelance writers are used to that. Ghost bloggers work closely with their clients to ensure the work meets their needs. They know how to communicate clearly and effectively: they are used to communicating and being available online, they ask the right questions, and they’ll keep you disciplined with your business blog.
What Kinds of Services Do Ghost Bloggers Offer?
Ghost bloggers can provide all the necessary writing and editing for your blog. Ghost bloggers know how to adapt their writing style to suit your needs and the personality of your business. You can have input on anything you want: the idea, content, dictation, editing, or if you’d prefer to let your blog run without you, nothing at all!
Maybe you have great ideas but find the task of articulating them daunting or too time-consuming. In that case, you can give a ghost blogger an idea and they will create a structure and write it for you.
If you want more control over the blog, but don’t have the time or skill to do the full post, you can provide an outline or list of key points and they will flesh it out for you.
If you like to write, or have a difficult topic that requires insider knowledge, you can benefit from a ghost blogger re-writing content you’ve already put together. For example, you may write in a stream-of-consciousness style, writing whatever comes to mind with little regard for style, form, grammar, SEO, or social media. A ghost blogger can take your ideas and formulate them into a coherent, professionally written piece especially designed for the web.
One of the key benefits to hiring a ghost blogger is having someone to bounce ideas off of and keep the ball rolling. When you’re stuck and don’t know what to do, a ghostwriter can offer a fresh perspective. Two heads are better than one!
Finding Ghost Bloggers for Hire
Ghost blogger rates vary depending on the length of the post, the amount of research required, how involved you want to be, and the quality of their work. There are many cheap ghost bloggers for hire, but you need to be wary of the reason why. Ghost bloggers are faster and more effective writers, but the articles still require time, research, and expertise.
If you’re paying someone to create professionally written and search optimized content for your website, there will be reasonable fees attached to that. This may scare off some website owners who want to do things the old-fashioned way, but you need to look at the bigger picture. Ghost blogging is becoming a major content marketing tool because it pays off in the long run. When hiring a ghost blogger, you have to take into consideration what your ROI will be.
There are many ghost bloggers for hire in the San Francisco Bay Area who are native English speakers with superior researching and writing skills, but finding reliable talent can be a challenge.
Want to know more about how Colibri Digital Marketing can help you with your ghost blogging needs? Sign up for a complimentary digital strategy session.
This guest post was brought to you by Colibri Digital Marketing copywriter and social media management superstar Sara Ostrowska. When Sara isn’t managing media, she’s enjoying the sunset in Canada.
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