Let’s revisit where we started.
“Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection.” -Mark Twain
Hopefully this rings just as true with you now as it did in Month #1 of your ‘how to start a blog’ challenge. It’s about the beauty of the process. And boy, have we come far.
In the past five months, you’ve already:
1. Set up your blog, gotten Google Analytics up and running for tracking, and found quality free sources for photos. (Month #1)
2. Written multiple posts per month and maximized SEO (search engine optimization) juice for those posts. (Month #2)
3. Learned the importance of publishing your written posts, defended your writing time from unproductive outside forces, and built an enviable list of blogging ideas that’ll be your blog’s Giving Tree in the days, months, and years to come. (Month #3)
4. Made blogging a habit, attacked your blogging strategy with persistence (4 blog posts per month!), and continued to curate your growing list of ideas. (Month #4)
5. Figured out long it takes you to write a blog post and stored away a few resources to tap when your blog topic brainstorming well runs dry. (Month #5)
And when we get through with this month, we’ll be halfway to a fully functional blog. Plus, you’ll have fostered and put invaluable habits into action that’ll prove their weight in gold again and again when this challenge is over. We’re going for long-term change, people.
So you could say this is a big month. And you’d be right.
Don’t lose your focus. Are you with me?
1. Get 8 blog posts up on your blog this month. Yes, eight.
Don’t pull this on me right now.
We’re not trying to overwhelm you, promise. But you know all the traffic you’ve generated over the past five months? We’re trying to double it (at least!) for you and build a robust archive that will be the SEO present that keeps on giving.
Hear me out. Write the usual four posts again yourself that you’ve grown accustomed to writing in months past. You probably already have four ideas that you’re primed and ready to write.
Here’s the difference: outsource the other four. Yes, get someone else to write them that isn’t you.
Outsourcing content isn’t at all unusual. In fact, much of what you read on the internet is outsourced. Outsourcing content is the new normal.
Did we just unveil the truth about content for you like Santa’s true identity for a kid?
…Sorry about that. But it’s true.
That being said, though, it’s tough to ascertain exactly who is outsourcing content, and just how much. Some folks might just outsource their gated content, some might outsource social updates, and many still outsource the development of every single content piece.
Let’s take a look at HubSpot’s numbers from their annual State of Inbound 2016 report, shall we? Pay specific attention to the ‘Freelancers’ metric, and the recent spike. Also applicable re: outsourcing content are ‘Agency partner’ and ‘Guests’.
(via HubSpot’s State of Inbound 2016)
With these in mind, you’d be crazy to say that outsourcing content isn’t at least compelling. Especially given how long just a single 500-word post is taking to write for the same folks surveyed:
(via HubSpot’s State of Inbound 2016)
Outsourcing at least some of those posts you need means publishing more posts without writing constantly.
Now find someone to write them. (Psssst. BlogMutt would love to help you out… 🙂 Submit the form at the bottom of this post to snag some sample posts to get a feel for our writing and how we’ve written for your specific industry in the past.)
Got questions before embarking on outsourcing content? We’ll likely have answered it in “How To Outsource Blog Writing For Businesses: 9 Frequently Asked Questions, Answered.”
2. Figure out which topics to outsource.
This should be cake, and might be as simple as which topics you definitely DON’T want to write yourself. Those might look like blog posts that simplify a complex, hairy topic for your customer, guides that don’t necessarily require your expertise, or product announcement posts.
Or just something that looks boring and excites you just about as much as this:
A frequently unsung benefit of content outsourcing is the ability to engage a fresh, objective perspective on your business or industry and make it more palatable or accessible to a less informed reader. Take advantage of that.
Luckily, you’ve been diligently curating a list of blogging ideas over the past several months, which by my count is still stocked well with over 40 unused ideas. So you’ve got no shortage of topics.
—
Happy trails, and best of luck in jumping on the outsourcing train this month. It will do you much good to vet those writers now to adequately arm yourself for the content challenges in the six months to come.
(Want a preview of the rest of the months? Or just a printable checklist to keep you honest? Download or print the full guide here.)
