If you’re thinking of hiring a freelance blogger, you need to find a good one. But how can you do that when there are so many seemingly great ones out there? And what about your budget?
You need to ask certain questions to find out more about those you are considering. Here are eight questions to ask before hiring a freelance blogger.
How Much Experience Do You Have?
There are newer bloggers out there, and I do encourage giving them a chance. However, experience brings wisdom and knowledge. An experience freelance blogger is going to know the best place to find images, all about creating high quality content and how to use keyword phrases.
That doesn’t mean a new blogger isn’t going to know this though. It’s just worth asking about the experience, including the experience a blogger has within your specific niche.
What Topics Do You Enjoy the Most?
I’m a firm believer in that content looks great when someone is passionate about the subject. Someone with passion brings that across in their writing easily, and writing becomes even more fun for them.
It’s worth finding out about the type of topics a blogger enjoys the most. That doesn’t mean she won’t enjoy your topic, but you may find someone who really loves your industry quickly and easily.
Do You Offer Anything Extra?
Is it just the writing that the blogger does? Maybe there are extras like keyword research, finding images, posting the content and even doing some social media marketing.
Extras aren’t always necessary but it is good to know if a blogger is able to offer them. You never know when you may need to use these services.
Another one to find out about before hiring a freelance blogger is whether they will search for places to guest post and do all the negotiating there. Not all bloggers will do this because of the time it takes and the uncertainty of finding somewhere to post. There may be many extra fees involved.
What Do Past and Current Clients Say About You?
You need to ask for testimonials. Some bloggers for hire will put the testimonials on their sites, while others wait for you to contact them.
However, remember that these testimonials are a one-sided view. You’ll still need to do your research to see if there are negative reviews out there. The most important aspects to check on are the quality of writing, ability to stick to deadlines and ability to communicate well.
What Do You Charge?
This is another important factor of hiring a freelance blogger. After all, you do have a budget, right? You need to know that you can afford this blogger, or whether she is willing to reduce her prices to suit your needs.
Not all bloggers will want to reduce their prices, while some will reduce them to an extent.
You also need to find out the costs for all the extra services that may be added, including the image search and keyword research.
Be upfront about all your needs to help the freelance blogger for hire come up with a full and realistic quote for you.
Where Do You Get Images From?
This is extremely important. You cannot just get an image from a Google search and use it. Copyright is involved.
This is one of the most important questions to ask before hiring a freelance blogger who offers image searching as a service. There are plenty of sites out there that do offer royalty- and copyright-free images, and the best bloggers will likely use them for their needs.
What Is Your Delivery Time Like?
You want the content yesterday, right? It’s worth finding out about delivery time and whether a blogger can delivery within your time frame.
However, keep in mind that most bloggers will have other clients. They are freelancers after all. Their prices for quicker delivery will be higher than their standard delivery. You’re paying for the speed as well as the quality. Think of it like jumping ahead in the queue.
How Do You Communicate?
Skype is great for communication but not all freelance bloggers like to communicate like this. Some find it difficult to speak English but are excellent at writing it (usually due to accents). For the record, I love communicating via Skype (whether with or without video) because I find it easier to ask all the questions I need to understand the project, and it gives you as a client the chance to ask all your questions.
But Skype isn’t the only method of communication. There is the good old telephone, or you could opt for IM or email.
Find out the way any blogger for hire communications. You also want to find out how often you can communication. This is especially the case for a larger project. There is nothing wrong with asking for regular update meetings—such as once a week for a month-long project. Think of it like a project meeting that you’d have in the office.
Before hiring a freelance blogger make sure you ask each of the questions above. You’ll get to know more about the blogger you’re considering, and whether she can work to your terms and within your budget. You’ll also make sure you get someone who is worth the money you’re spending and will do an excellent job for your project.
Copyright Alexandria Ingham, 2014. All rights reserved
Wow…great info. Made me really think about my writing as well.
Thanks! That’s great to hear. It’s always worth looking at your own writing to make sure it’s the best quality it can be 🙂
Another great post x
This made me think!