Business blogs are essential marketing tools to inform existing and potential customers, increase brand awareness, and establish credibility. Whether you already have a business blog on your website or you’re considering adding one soon, the amount of copywriting required to make a success of your business blog is daunting.

Forget the SEO aspect for just a moment…and sourcing images…and coming up with ideas for it, the copywriting aspect alone is time-consuming and requires skill and dedication. Bearing that in mind, who is going to take responsibility for your blog and make sure it is regularly updated? Who is going to drive it and make sure they get the information they need to pull all the content together?

Options for copywriting your business blog

Perhaps you have an in-house employee in mind, who enjoys copywriting, or who you feel has some spare capacity. Perhaps you are considering outsourcing to an external freelance business blog copywriter. Or perhaps you want to give it a go yourself because only you know what you want to say and how you want to say it. (If this sounds like you but you know you’re time poor, you might find this article useful – ‘Will my business blog still sound like me if I outsource’).

Having worked in a marketing agency and been given responsibility for the company’s blog, and now working as a freelancer with companies outsourcing their copywriting needs to me, I have been on both sides of the blog writing fence and can see the pros and cons of each. So, if you have been agonising over this decision for a while and have delayed doing anything with your blog as a result, here are some advantages and disadvantages of in-house versus outsourcing.

In-House – Pros

If you employ someone to look after your business blog in-house or use an existing member of staff for your copywriting needs, they are a permanent fixture in your business. You can call on them whenever you like and keep a close eye on how things are progressing.

Someone who works within the business will also always be closer to the ‘action’ and other internal employees, to be able to download any necessary information for the purposes of copywriting for your business blog. Their level of access and perhaps even the way they extract ideas and information from others in the business, can be more informal and therefore possibly more effective.

In-House – Cons

When you give an internal employee the task of copywriting for your business blog, there is always the chance that when things get busy, they will get pulled onto other ‘more important’ tasks. Most businesses quite rightly put their customers’ needs before their own and so if there is something that needs to be done for a customer, your own blog will get pushed aside.

In addition, it might become more disruptive to have a copywriter working in-house. Because they are an employee, they might feel they can ask for more input from their fellow employees and become more of a nuisance than a freelancer who wholly considers it their responsibility to generate content for your blog.

Another downside of using an in-house copywriter is the cost. It is far more expensive to employ someone full-time, or even part-time, when you take into consideration salary, insurance, and benefits, than it is to recruit freelance support.

Outsourcing – Pros

The first and perhaps most obvious benefit of outsourcing copywriting for your business blog is that it is more affordable. You only need to pay for the hours worked, or deliverables produced, not an entire salary. On top of this, you have flexibility in the relationship too, so if at any point you need to reduce your costs, you can pull back a bit on the amount of work you outsource, and similarly increase the work when you need additional support.

Employing freelance support for your business blog is also likely to mean better consistency too. Unlike an in-house employee, a freelancer won’t get pulled onto other jobs. There is a slightly different attitude when you are dealing with a customer, as a freelancer is, than when you are an in-house writer writing for your own company.

By outsourcing the copywriting of your business blog, you can also benefit from a range of experience. Freelancers work with different companies simultaneously which means they have a breadth of knowledge and experience to bring to your blog.

Outsourcing – Cons

The downside of outsourcing your business blog, however, is that it is unlikely any freelancer will gain the same level of access to your employees as an in-house copywriter will. They’re not there to see the day-to-day work being completed, interaction with customers, and overall business culture.

Another concern with employing freelance support is whether they will always have time for you. What if you need a business blog written sooner rather than later and they’re not available? Of course, planning ahead and building an ongoing relationship can help with this, but it is a consideration with outsourcing that you don’t need to worry about if you employ an in-house copywriter.

And finally, what if you hire a bad one? How do you know which one is right for your business? Unfortunately, not all freelance copywriters are conscientious and even those that are simply may not fit with your team or your business culture. These Frequently Asked Questions about hiring a freelancer might help you through the process and ensure you find the right one for you, should this be the route you choose.

In summary

Building a successful business blog isn’t easy. Sometimes when you set out, it feels like it might be. You have lots to say and you have carved out time in your week to make it happen, but the reality is very different. Maintaining a consistent flow of content and copy requires complete focus and of course, a level of skill to get the words down on the page in the right way. The only way to make sure it happens is to have a dedicated person in charge of copywriting for your business blog. Whether you opt for in-house support or choose to outsource, getting that resource in place sooner rather than later is the best way to kickstart the blog you’ve been dreaming of!

About Blog Write Ltd

Writer of smart, engaging copy for businesses that understand the importance of great copy, but struggle to find the time to give it the attention it needs. I offer a proactive approach to deliver fresh content.