The actual process of producing content and publishing it can be a bit of a grind. It can be even more of a grind if you’re not able to do it efficiently. Don’t be surprised if, the first time you launch a major web content campaign, you wind up feeling a little overwhelmed, struggling to get the content from the point of concept to publication. Here are a few tips for optimizing the actual process of developing, commissioning, and publishing your web content:
Plan Well
If you’re going to be looking for professional writers for hire, here are the two most important points to keep in mind:
- Know what you want each piece to say
- Know what your brand’s voice should sound like
In addition to these two points you can add other details. Let your writers know that you want this one to have a sense of humor, or that it should be formatted like a news article, or that they should end it with a clear call to action followed by a link to your landing page. Your writers can handle all of that, but without knowing what to say, and how to say it, they’ll be lost. Don’t leave them to “wing it.” Know what you want to say, and let them know what sort of voice represents your brand.
Have a Pipeline
The three act structure of a web content pipeline looks like this: Concept – writing – publication. Those are the big steps. Once you break it down, it starts to vary from one campaign to the next, but usually looks something like this:
- Need. Why are you writing this piece? What effect are you trying to have?
- Conception. So you know what effect you want to have, what points are you going to make, and how are you going to make them, in order to have that effect?
- Hiring. Hiring a writer is easy. Hiring a good writer is easy. Hiring a writer who really gets your brand, with whom you can communicate easily, with whom you’ll want to keep working with into the indefinite future, that takes some trial and error. Our advice: give a lot of writers a shot at the brass ring, and then select your favorites as your writing team with which you can build a long term working relationship.
- Publication. This one’s easy: put that stuff up on your blog, your Facebook feed, etc.
- Adjustments. This takes us back to “need.” How are your prospects responding to your content, how can you improve it?
Don’t Micro-manage
You have more important things to do than tweak blog posts for hours on end every day. Hire writers and editors whose instincts you can trust, and let them sweat it out.
This isn’t abstract painting, this isn’t experimental poetry, this is web copy. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel, you just need to build one properly. Approach it in an ordered, structured way and its cost in time, effort and money will plummet.
Writer Bio: Gilbert S is a writer and artist who lives with his wife and his dog, Sir Kay, in rural New Mexico.
