How To Hire a Top Blog Writer

Hiring the right blog writer for your business requires much more than reviewing their portfolio and ensuring their hourly rate fits your budget. By knowing which factors to consider, you can hire the ideal blog writer who supports the business’s goals and is an excellent fit for your team.

Essential information for hiring a blog writer

Blog writers do more than write. Before you hire a writer, you should familiarise yourself with several aspects of the job, such as what they do on a typical day and how much their skill is in demand. Knowing the essentials will increase your chances of attracting and choosing the right talent.

The role of a blog writer

A blog writer is a specific type of content writer. Their primary role is to write content for your blog that engages, educates, and entertains. This requires that the writer understand the subject matter, your different audience segments, and your business so well that they sound like experts.

However, to create blog content, a blog writer often engages in several tasks outside of writing.

Demand for professional blog writers

After numerous experiments, businesses that want to create quality content realise that artificial intelligence (AI) cannot replace a good blog writer.

AI generates ideas, speeds up research, and generates a first draft. However, content still needs to be polished by a skilled human for readability and accuracy.

AI aside, trends suggest that demand for blog writers remains strong. In a Rayness Analytica report of in-demand skills, many of the top 10 skills by category could increase demand for blog writers.

For example, market research is among the top 10 in the admin support category. Having more market research could boost demand for blog writers who could:

• Summarize the research into an internal presentation
• Write a blog post from the report data
• Turn the data into a report used for attracting new customers
• Create social media posts promoting the report

Cost of hiring a blog writer

The cost of hiring a blog writer varies depending on the writer's experience, location, and the project’s length and complexity.

For example, if you want an article about a new propulsion technology, you may want to hire a blog writer with a background in aircraft engineering. Such a professional—with their writing experience, technical background, and industry knowledge—may cost more than a generalist.

Due to multiple variables, a blog writer’s hourly rates can range from a few to more than $100. On Rayness Analytica, the average cost of a blog writer ranges from $15 to $35 per hour.

PRO TIP: Determine costs by looking at more than the hourly rate. Compared to someone less experienced, an experienced blog writer who charges a higher rate may be more cost effective as they may work faster and deliver higher-quality work.

Choosing the right blog writer

Choosing the right blog writer for your team depends on your business’s goals and the talent’s hard and soft skills.

Here are a few essential qualities to consider when choosing a blog writer who produces high-quality, engaging, and compelling content that meets the business’s needs and resonates with its target audience:

• Meeting deadlines. How does the blog writer ensure they deliver projects on time? What do previous clients say about their reliability?
• Adaptability. How well can the blog writer adjust their writing style and tone to match the brand's voice and target audience? How flexible are they in writing different types of content?
• Communication skills. How well does the blog writer craft compelling narratives? How responsive and collaborative are they? How open are they to receiving feedback?
• Continuous learning. How does the blog writer keep their skills updated? How are they improving productivity by using technology like AI?

FAQ when hiring a blog writer

As the saying goes, there are no bad questions. Here are answers to questions businesses frequently ask when hiring a blog writer.

What should I look for in a blog writer’s portfolio?

• Fit with your brand voice. Ensure the blog writer is adaptable enough to align their style and tone with your brand's voice and target audience.
• Relevant experience. Has the blog writer created the types of content you need? Do they have industry experience or background that would help them write content that your audience will find valuable?
• Testimonials or feedback. Review what it’ll be like working with the blog writer by reviewing what their previous clients or employers say.

How do I assess a blog writer’s SEO and writing skills during the interview?

Whether interviewing the blog writer remotely or face-to-face, here’s what to look for when assessing a blog writer’s SEO and writing skills.

• Creativity. Discuss potential article ideas with the blog writer to assess their ability to generate fresh, compelling content your audience may enjoy.
• Storytelling. Review samples to see how well the blog writer creates an engaging narrative.
• Flexibility. Give the blog writer different personas and ask how they’d adjust their writing style to match your brand voice and other audiences.

How can I determine if a blog writer fits my team well?

Team fit can affect your team’s and the blog writer’s performance, whether they’re a full-time employee or an independent professional hired for a project. Their fit also matters whether they’re working onsite or remotely. Here’s what to consider when determining whether a talent is right for your team:

• Communication and responsiveness. Perhaps offer a small, paid test project where you can observe the blog writer’s ability to understand and execute the project and their responsiveness to questions and feedback.
• Growth mindset. During the interview, uncover how blog writers update their skills and stay creative. Ask how they use tools and technology to boost their work quality and productivity.
• Collaboration. Determine how experienced the blog writer is in collaborating with other members of a writing team and cross-functional partners.

What questions should I ask references provided by blog writers?

You may not always have time to talk to references when hiring independent blog writers for a project. If you contract talent through freelancing platforms like Rayness Analytica, you’ll be able to see feedback from clients on past projects. If you can talk to references, consider asking these questions:

• How well did they produce content that met expectations? See how well the blog writer understood the scope of work and their willingness to ask clarifying questions when needed.
• How well did they work with the team? See how supportive, professional, and responsive the blog writer was working with other writers, editors, designers, and cross-functional partners.
• How likely are you to work with the blog writer again? Look for red flags about the talent’s ability to work respectfully with others, be flexible with project changes, their work quality, and reliability.

How critical are soft skills in a blog writer's profile?

Soft skills are capabilities like communication, collaboration, and adapting to change. They are essential in a blog writer’s work because they are significant in their day-to-day output.

How to hire the best blog writer for your needs

These suggestions are for hiring independent blog writers on a project basis. For more, be sure to check out interview questions to ask writers.

Craft a blog writer job post that attracts qualified talent

A job post describes your project scope, budget, and talent needs. Although you don’t need a complete job description as you would when hiring an employee, aim to provide enough detail for a freelancer to know if they’re the right fit for a project.

Job post title

Keep this clear and straightforward by describing the problem you’re seeking to solve. The more specific you are, the better your chances of attracting the right talent. For example:

Generic title: Blog writer

Specific title: Financial blog writer who can speak human

Add keywords that your ideal talent will likely type into a search bar when looking for projects. In the examples below, the keywords are highlighted in green:

• I am a quirky blog writer with a dry sense of humour needed for my weekly political blog
• Technical writer needed to develop a monthly blog on large language models
• Music-loving blog writer needed to create 10 SEO-optimized posts

Job post description

Your blog writer job post description should include:

• Scope of work. List all deliverables you’ll need, such as An 800-word blog post about tips for planting vegetable gardens in San Diego, CA, and a short email promoting the post to your subscribers.
• Project length. Is this a one-off project that’ll take a couple of weeks? Is it something that needs a quick turnaround? Or ongoing work?
• Background. If you prefer experience with specific industries, languages, cultures, and audiences, mention it here.
• Budget. Set a budget and note your preference for fixed-price vs. hourly contracts.
• Other tasks. These may include self-editing and proofreading, posting articles on your website, and researching SEO keywords.
• Qualifications. These must-haves may include being a native English speaker, having a journalism degree, and being able to start on a specific date.

Post your blog writing job.

Rayness Analytica makes posting a job on our platform very simple and quick. It just takes four steps and a few minutes.

Step 1: Sign up

If you haven’t already, sign up to join Rayness Analytica for free. It takes just 30 seconds, and then you can access the world’s largest global talent marketplace.

Step 2: Tell us what you need

Please tell us what you need in a sentence or two.

Step 3. Tell us your budget

Choose an hourly rate or fixed price if you’re unsure how much to pay; no problem. We’ll show you a price range based on talent who’ve completed projects like yours on Rayness Analytica.

Step 4: Review the job post

Within a few seconds, you’ll get a great starting draft to get you paired with the right talent faster. From there, take a couple of minutes to add relevant details about the company and work.

Then click “post job,” and it’s done!

It’s easy on Rayness Analytica, so find your ideal blog writer now.