Should you hire a ghostwriter for your blog? Will it be more of a help or a hindrance to you in the long run? Let’s explore some of the pros and cons for outsourcing your blogging tasks, plus a few tips for hiring good ghostwriters.
Hiring a ghostwriter means you will entrust your blog to someone else to handle it on a daily basis. Make sure that the benefits greatly outweigh the drawbacks before deciding that someone can handle your blog better than you can.
PROS:
- It saves time and effort. Hiring a blog ghostwriter frees you from the daily grind of blog content tasks. If you own a blog network, or are simply burdened with several other tasks on a daily basis, then ghost writers may be a boon to your efficiency. You may choose your own level of involvement in his or her input, but the bulk of the labor is on your writer.
- It adds to your online skill set. If you aren’t social media-savvy, hiring a ghost writer who is proficient in social networking, SEO, and other traffic-building strategies can help boost your readership.
- It allows you to expand your reach. Again, if you own a blog network and you want to transcend language and cultural barriers, ghost writers can help you cross them by making your ideas relatable and understandable to their respective local audiences around the world.
- It makes you look better. If you hire an expert-level ghostwriter, his or her work can boost your online reputation as an expert in your field.
- It gives your blog a fresh perspective. A team of ghostwriters can offer fresh insights and content on a regular basis, which translates into better SEO for your site.
- Also, it’s easy to find ghostwriters who are more than willing to work on your blog. You just need to be critical in handpicking the right people for the task.
As tempting as it may seem though, hiring ghostwriters may not be the best option for your blog, for the reasons below.
CONS:
- It presents authenticity and transparency issues. You blog may have started off with the voice that you first established, but your ghostwriter’s individual style may lend an entirely different tone to your site.
- It can harm your credibility. Once your readers begin questioning whether or not it’s you behind your blog’s voice, it can ultimately damage your reputation as a trustworthy source of information.
- It may not maximize the use of social media. Aside from creating blog content, your ghostwriter may share it via social networking sites. But if you expect him to actively interact with your audience as well, it may be asking too much of him as a writer, not to mention that he’ll be using his own voice — not yours — to interact with your readers.
- It makes you dependent. If you rely on ghostwriters to perform your writing tasks too often for far too long, you can lose touch with your blog, and ultimately your audience.
- It is risky. Not all ghostwriters are willing and able to perform the tasks that you require, and generally you get what you pay for. If your blog is an SEO leader or bears a world-renowned brand, you cannot simply entrust your content and social networking activities to ghostwriters without substantial credentials, experience, skills, and a good work ethic under their belt.
If you are inclined to hire a ghostwriter, keep the following tips in mind:
- Formulate a solid blogging and social media plan first. Make sure your strategies for these are clear, and clearly communicated to your ghostwriters, so you’re working in the same direction.
- Be transparent. If someone will write for you under your name, you might as well be honest with your audience about it. It will help uphold your credibility and reputation.
- Your ghostwriter is your assistant, not your clone. Make sure that he or she understands that their skills will be used to convey YOUR message to YOUR readers. If you want to ensure that your message comes through without writing all of the content, you can opt to co-author articles with your ghostwriter.
- Your ghostwtriter is not your slave. Do not palm off all of your tasks to your ghostwriter. There is no point in running a blog, social media accounts, and your entire online marketing plan if you expect someone else to do all the work.
- Exercise caution when hiring. A good ghostwriter can make your message and voice heard online. Mediocre ghostwriters simply write what you tell them to. Look for someone with strong communication and interpersonal skills, a strong work ethic, dedication to the job, a sense of initiative, and a sense of loyalty.
- Good ghostwriters will complement your blog’s voice and spirit, and if you are fortunate enough to hire one, make sure you take care of them and reward them well for a job well done.