Michael Gray - Graywolf's SEO Blog

Outsourcing Content Creation Vs. Hiring in House

Posted: 20 Apr 2010 08:35 AM PDT

One of the first considerations for a web site owner is how to get the content you need at fair prices. Most serious web site developers have little to no time to create the most important aspect of a web site – the content. Outsourcing content creation to a company has many advantages. However, hiring in house writers can give you a great deal of control and flexibility that companies cannot provide. Some web site owners will even do both.

Outsourcing Content Creation

When you outsource content creation to a company or firm, you can trust that you are backed up by experienced editors and managers that know what it takes to produce good quality SEO content. In addition, the prices of a group of writers are often much lower than the price structure of in house writers or individuals. The average individual writer charges $0.09 to $0.12 per word. The average good writing company charges $0.06 to $0.08. Some of the other advantages of outsourcing content creation include:

Faster Turnaround Time – You have a large pool of writer that can deliver your content quickly back to you.
Guarantees – You will often be given content quality and delivery guarantees that protect you in the event of a problem.
Differences in Style – Different editorial styles can bring a great deal of life and depth to your web site. With multiple writers working on a set of pages, your readers might enjoy some different approaches.

Some of the consequences of outsourcing content creation could include:

Differences in Style – Although it can be a benefit, style differences in your web site can also become a curse. Too many style differences can quickly distract readers and make them wish that one style was universal.
Reliability – Especially if you try to find a writer on the forums to save money, there are some reliability concerns when outsourcing content creation.

Hiring in House Writers

If you choose to hire in house writers, you will likely need to pay higher prices than when you outsource content creation. Depending on how often you need those writers, you are asking them to make a time commitment to your web site. Typical in house writers should earn between $0.05 to $0.08 per word. This might seem high. However, remember that you can demand much more of your writers if you pay them well. Pay them enough so that they want to keep their job and will go great lengths to please you with their writing. Other advantages to in house writers include:

Choice – You can choose the style and skill level of your writers by interviewing them and testing them before you put them on the payroll.
Writer Consistency – As you continue to work with your writers, you will become aware of what they enjoy writing and how you can capitalize on their interests to get better content.

Some disadvantages to hiring in house writers include:

Turnaround Time – Depending on the size of your staff, it might take much longer to receive content than it would by outsourcing it.
Keeping Writers Busy – You may be tempted to hire a vast team of writers to make sure that you can get a 50 page project done is a single day. However, remember that you will need to continue to keep such a team busy with more work to keep them on staff.

While many web site owners have chosen to go the route of hiring in house writers for content creation, it might be best to have a few go to in house article writers and outsource the rest of your content creation needs. If you have a few reliable writers that you can go to for urgent or very important projects, you can have an outside company or writing firm handle the remainder of the content that you need every week.

Corry Cummings is the author of this blog post, and the owner of Content Customs. With extensive knowledge in the fields of SEO and Content Creation, you will find a lot of useful information on SEO Copywriting. Visit Corry’s site for more information about Web Content Creation.
photo credit: alazaat

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This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review.

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