Hire an SEO Copywriter: The Ultimate Guide (2022)

Ranking your site on search engines is one of the best ways to pull prospects to your business. Copywriting that checks all SEO boxes can help you achieve just that. But, as a business owner, you should invest your time and energy in more strategic tasks. So, even if you know how to write your content, you might want to hire an SEO copywriter . Why write the content yourself when you can get an expert to do it for you, right? In this article, you’ll learn:

• The benefits of hiring an SEO copywriter
• How to hire the right talent for your business

Let’s dive in.

What is SEO Copywriting?

SEO copywriting is optimizing a piece of content to attract and convert a niche audience. Let’s break down the concept into two parts. SEO: Generally, search engine optimization is when you optimize a web page to make it rank higher in the search results. In the context of content marketing, SEO refers to finding the right keywords and producing search-engine-friendly content around them. This includes:

• Adding keywords in important areas of your web page
• Uploading relevant images with ALT tags (Containing the target keyword, preferably)
• Hyperlinking the content to off-site and on-site resources
• Writing short, easy to read, and interesting sentences and paragraphs

And, the longer a visitor stays on your web page, the better it tends to rank in search results. Copywriting : On the other side is copywriting. It refers to creating content that gets your website visitors to act on your offers. So, the goal of copywriting is to generate conversions.

Role of an SEO Copywriter

 Businesses use SEO copywriters to maximize the probability of their target audience finding them online.  

Their role will ultimately depend on what type of channel or content you want to use to attract prospects. For instance, if your brand is new, you might want to generate leads first. The role of your SEO copywriter in this case could be to get prospects to sign up for your newsletter. But, generally, an SEO copywriter would attract, retain, and convert your audience with top-notch content. They do that by:

• Sprinkling the target keywords in their content
• Writing compelling words

So, in a nutshell, an SEO copywriter creates content for search engines as well as for users. Note that you can’t expect a copywriter to have in-depth SEO knowledge. The good thing is : Writing for search engines doesn’t require SEO expertise; a basic level of SEO knowledge is enough.

Why Do You Need an SEO Copywriter for Your Business?

You can have the most attractive web design and fastest-loading web pages. But, if your copy isn’t good enough, you won’t get the right traffic nor can you generate conversions.  

Of course, no one can deny the importance of a well-designed landing page, but content plays an equally important role. If you’ve been writing copy for your business, it might be worthwhile to hire a professional copywriter now. This leads us to the first major benefit of hiring a copywriter for your business.

Saves You Time

Effective copywriting can take a lot of energy and time. So, even if you are great at it yourself, outsourcing the task to a professional is the right way to go. See, in order to grow your business, you need to come up with marketing and growth strategies to compete effectively. When you let a copywriter take care of your website copy, you give yourself time to focus on the strategic aspects of your business.

Improving Brand Visibility

SEO copywriting entails finding the right keywords and incorporating them into your content. But, optimizing a piece of content around specific keywords can be tricky; go overboard with the keyword usage and you risk getting penalized by Google. A professional copywriter would seamlessly use your target keywords in the content.

Creating Consistent Content

Consistency in content quality, as well as quantity, is one of the major advantages of hiring an SEO copywriter. Moreover, SEO writers keep themselves updated about SEO updates and industry developments, which can help you stay on top of trends.

Presenting Quality Content

You can attract the right kind of people with keyword-optimized content, but if your content isn’t good enough, they won’t stay. In order to retain your website visitors, your content needs to be attention-grabbing and engaging. Moreover, presenting high-quality content to your target audience helps you build authority and trust. Your site’s content represents your brand, so make sure it’s handled by a copywriter who knows their craft.

Avoiding Costly Mistakes

Copy is powerful, but creating powerful copy isn’t easy; it requires skill and experience. Not hiring an SEO copywriter and relying on mediocre content can prove to be a costly mistake. For instance, let’s say you produce content around the right keywords and manage to get traffic to your site. Now, if your content isn’t up to par, you won’t be able to convert a majority of that traffic.

Persuading Your Readers

Because persuasive content makes readers take action, it’s the most attractive aspect of SEO copywriting. After all, every business strives to generate maximum conversions. Any copywriter worth their salt would know how to convert a website visitor into a lead or a customer. Your web copy shouldn’t sound too salesy, though. People don’t like that now; you need to keep it subtle.  

Get too commercial with your words and you risk losing most of your prospects.

Keeping Your Content Error-Free

If you want to appear professional, the content on your site should be free of spelling and grammatical mistakes. Now, you can use software like Grammarly to pinpoint any mistakes in your content. But, because you’d have to correct every mistake yourself, it can become overwhelming pretty quickly. And, you can’t fully trust these online tools as they aren’t always accurate.  

Especially when your business’s reputation is at stake. The point is: You won’t have to worry about your content’s quality and relevance when a professional SEO copywriter has your back.

Generating More Backlinks

SEO copywriting doesn’t only help on-site SEO, it can also take care of your off-site SEO. This is because when your content starts to rank for particular terms and offers great value, authority blogs would like to link to it. And, when someone links your site in their content, it sends a signal to search engines that your content is share-worthy. This boosts your site’s authority and in turn, its overall organic rankings.

Minimizing Bounce Rate

Bounce rate is the number or percentage of your website visitors that return without taking any action.  

Because a copywriter can produce attention-grabbing and engaging content, your audience will stay longer, which would decrease your bounce rate. But, why is it important? A lower bounce rate is a positive search engine ranking factor. If you think hiring an SEO copywriter is the right thing to do, you might like this service on Legiit.

With all that out of the way, let’s now address the elephant in the room; how to hire an SEO copywriter for your business?

How to Hire an SEO Copywriter?

Before you can trust someone with your marketing budget, you need to get some answers.

Check Their Industry Knowledge/Experience

This is one of the first questions you need to ask before hiring an SEO copywriter. Generally, when you are working with an expert SEO copywriter, you won’t have to worry about their industry knowledge.  

However, the importance of this can vary from industry to industry. For instance, let’s say you are offering copywriting services to lawyers. It would be a good idea to work with someone who can position your brand as an authority in the industry. It generally requires years of education and experience to get the hang of a subject like that.

Plus, you won’t have to provide long briefs to your SEO copywriter who already knows about your industry.

Look At Their Portfolio and Experience

This applies to any industry; when you hire someone, you want to know if they’ve helped other brands like yours in the past. And, although relevant experience isn’t an absolute necessity, it’s a big plus.

Hire Someone Who Can Hunt the Right Keywords

Not every SEO copywriter would know how to hunt the right keywords. But, it pays to find someone who has the expertise to handle keyword research as well. Of course, you should expect to pay them for this additional service. Let’s say you want to outsource the keyword/topic research, too. How do you make sure a prospective copywriter can effectively handle the task? Ask them:

• What’s their preferred keyword research method?
• What are their criteria for choosing a keyword?

See If They Have Experience With SEO Tools

Now, it’s not necessary to use a tool to optimize your content for SEO. But, content optimization tools can help you check all the on-page SEO boxes while writing copy.  

The point is : It’s a good idea to hire an SEO copywriter with the know-how of your preferred content optimization tool. Surfer SEO would be one of the most popular examples. The cool thing is: You won’t have to look anywhere else if you want an expert SEO copywriter with Surfer SEO optimization skills. You can hire this one on Legiit right now.

Have Them Write a Sample Piece

As soon as you find a good candidate, have them write a paid piece of content for you. Never ask someone to write anything for free, though. It’s a turn-off for many established copywriters. Plus, you won’t be getting their best work that way. Even if it’s a small 300-word blog post, it’ll tell you a lot about a writer.

Ask For Their Rates

Of course, you don’t want to start a contract without knowing exactly how much it’d cost you. By now, you might’ve shortlisted a few candidates. Ask them what they charge per word. This important step would help you land on the most cost-effective resource. Plus, you’d be able to better plan your expenses down the road. Although the rates can depend on the topic, setting a base price right off the bat is a good idea.

Check Their Client Testimonials

Client testimonials can tell you a lot about a service. So, you can ask a prospective copywriter if they have any online reviews from past clients.

Do They Offer Revisions?

Your SEO copywriter will not nail every piece of content. There can be times when you’d need them to make small tweaks to their content. That wouldn’t be possible if a prospective copywriter doesn’t offer even a single revision.

Decide on the Turnaround Time

Some SEO copywriters can be too busy sometimes to deliver on time. So, if you have a strict publishing schedule, make sure they can stick to it. That said, it’s better to focus more on content quality rather than getting it published as soon as possible.

Where to Hire an SEO Copywriter?

Now, there are several places to hire an SEO copywriter for your business. For instance, you could explore Facebook pages, LinkedIn groups, or even find websites on Google. But, finding the right talent can be tricky. Even if you find one through that route, establishing a long-term business relationship would be a pain in the neck. But, the question remains, “where should you hire an SEO copywriter ?”.

Legiit – The Fastest Growing Freelance Marketplace

Before you think it’s just another freelance marketplace trying to make money off you, let’s get something out in the open: Buyers on Legiit don’t pay a single penny more than what they have to pay for a service. So, let’s say you want to hire this SEO copywriter on Legiit. If they are charging $19 for 500 words, you’d pay $19 for 500 words.  

No strings attached! Moreover, we have an incredibly helpful and engaging Facebook community. You can use that to find and connect with the right talent, too. Ready to hire an SEO copywriter for your business? Explore relevant services on Legiit here.