When you’re a small business owner, you’re in control of every facet of your business. Sure, you may have a small staff manning the front desk, or a bookkeeper, or even a webmaster. But all decisions go through you, and you manage your public persona. If I’m describing you to a T, you may be wondering how bringing in a content writer to help with your online visibility would even work. How could an outsider possibly understand anything about your industry? How can you trust someone else to get everything right about your business?

These are great questions, so let’s get to a few great answers.

filling the void

When you bring in a writer for the purpose of improving your website’s visibility, you’re right about one thing – that writer probably knows nothing about your business. But that’s not necessarily a problem. A good content writer can tackle that ignorance in a few ways.

  • Picking your brain. The best way to get the best and most relevant content is through you. After all, you’re the expert! Think of your writer as a facilitator – an easy way to get all your expertise to the people who need it. In this scenario, your writer would work with you directly to brainstorm keywords, post topic, even content.

Pro observation – Some business owners are just too busy for this kind of collaboration, and that’s okay, too. Ideally, you should work closely with your writer to make sure he or she is nailing the tone and content, but with the right writer, a hands-off approach can work well too.

  • All the research. Researching your company history and your industry is a given when a new writer comes on board. Your writer should dive deeply into your online presence, scouring social media accounts, thoroughly investigating your website and checking out your current site visibility.  After that, the trick to developing the right content is to follow the process – compiling target keywords that will drive targeted content. Once you have your keywords and your content ideas, it’s usually pretty simple to complete the necessary research and make sure it’s on brand.

examples, please

Every week, I write about industrial real estate, group fitness, personal training, Brazilian jiu jitsu, cannabis, metal roofing and more. It’s a diverse group, and I can’t claim to be an expert in any of those industries (but after years of this, I’m getting there). But depending on the client, I either:

a) research, write, publish and promote the post solo

b) collaborate with the owner on a few specifics before publishing

c) write the post based on a few bullet points from the owner

d) edit and optimize the post supplied to me by the owner

Different strokes for different folks. And that’s the beauty of working as a content writer. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to this kind of work, and what works for one client may not work for another.

If you’re ahead of the game and you already understand the value of business blogging, but you’re worried about handing the reins to someone else, be brave. It’s really just a matter of finding a writer who can work with you in the manner that suits you and your business best.

Want to take this a little further? Let’s get some coffee and talk it through.