The Ultimate Guide To Buying Articles For Your Blog

There are few things more important to the success of an online business than an engaging blog. Your blog is one of the key touchpoints you have to connect with existing customers, as well as one of the most robust marketing channels available to develop new customers.

That said, running a blog is a full-time job that can sometimes feel like it’s distracting from the rest of your business. If you’re not able to commit the attention that your blog needs or that your visitors demand, it might be time to consider buying articles instead of writing them yourself.

For many businesses, buying blog content offers an excellent return on investment. To be sure, it takes time upfront to find a writer or article service that can consistently turn out high-quality work. But the payoff is that you get to put your website content development on auto-pilot. As a result, you can spend your time building out other marketing channels, streamlining your sales process, or whatever else matters most to the success of your business. In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about how to buy content for your blog and explain how to measure your blog’s return on investment.

Why buy articles for your blog?

Given how important blogging is to your website’s visitor traffic and customer conversions, many business owners are loath to give up control. But there are several strong reasons why you should consider buying blog posts instead of writing them yourself.

{{orderbox}}

The first is one we’ve already touched on: there’s simply not enough time in the day. Writing high-quality content takes time - even a short 500-word post could take several hours, depending on how much keyword research you need to do and whether you have a clear framework for the article in mind.

Most business owners don’t have hours to spare. That’s time that could be spent pursuing leads, developing new products and services, or focusing on ways to grow your company’s footprint. Hiring a writing service to develop content for you frees you up to do the things that no one else can do for your business. In the end, your business is much better off for it.

Of course, many business owners are perfectly happy to give up blogging. If you get writer’s block every time you open a blank document or you aren’t great at organizing your ideas, hiring a professional writer to write on your behalf can be a great way to delegate a responsibility you dislike.

It’s also worth considering whether your blog is as effective as it can be with you at the helm. The distance between good content and great content might seem small, but it can make a huge difference in how much traffic your website receives and whether customers feel a strong connection to your business. If you’re not getting the results you expect from your blog, buying articles for sale can help you take your content and your readership to the next level.

How do you calculate ROI for a blog?

When you’re considering whether outsourcing your blog is worthwhile, the key thing to consider is your return on investment (ROI).

{{publisher}}

When you hire a writer, you know exactly how much each article will cost. But do you know what each article is worth to your business? That question gets at the heart of ROI.

To calculate ROI, you need to know two things about your blog: how much of a return it’s generating and how much you’ve invested in it.

Calculating Your Blog’s Return

Calculating how much revenue your blog generates can be a process of eyeballing and guesstimating, especially if you’re not making money from outside advertisements on your blog posts. The best way to figure out what your blog is worth is to find out how many people your blog is bringing to your website, and then to determine how many of those people are going on to buy a product or service from your business.

You can figure that out by using a tool like Google Analytics, which tracks user behavior from the moment they land on your site to the moment they leave. Say you have 100 visitors who land on your blog and 10 of them go on to buy products from your business. The profit from those products would be your blog’s return.

However, things aren’t always so clear-cut. It’s up to you to assign a value to visitors who, for example, visit your blog and then sign up for your newsletter. It’s also difficult to know how many people visited your blog, left your site, then returned another time to buy a product without stopping at your blog first.

So, take the return you calculate as a baseline rather than a definitive measurement of your blog’s value.

Calculating Your Blog Investment

ROI also takes into account how much you’re spending on your blog. While you might not be paying anything to write your posts now, there’s no such thing as free articles for blogs.

Start by figuring out how many hours go into your blog. If you know the average number of articles you write each month and the average time each article takes to write, you can multiply those together to get a rough estimate.

Next, you need to figure out how much those hours are worth. Multiply the time you put into your blog by your salary (or the salary of whoever is writing your blog right now) to get your cost. You should also add the cost of any hosting or app fees associated with your blog.

Your Blog’s ROI

Now you can calculate your blog’s ROI. Subtract your investment from your revenue, then divide by your investment. If you get a positive number, you’re making money from your blog.

The important thing to keep in mind is that you should recalculate this number before and after turning to a writing agency. If your ROI goes up, it means that the extra money you’re putting into your blog by paying for content is generating more revenue for your business in terms of products and services sold.

Keep in mind that seeing an improvement in your ROI can take time. Very few businesses are able to build an online following overnight, and it can take months of developing strong content in partnership with a writing agency to see a bump in your site traffic. Be patient—the investment you make in your blog today will pay dividends for your business in the long run.

What kind of content do you need for your blog?

While a good writing agency can help advise you on what kind of content you need for your blog, it’s a good idea to go into the process with a framework for what you want.

Look through your analytics to find out what topics have resonated with your target audience and where there are holes in your content. If you have a post that is underperforming, it could be a target for a professional rewrite. You should also look at what keywords your target audience is searching to find your site, and target those with potential blog posts.

With all this in mind, you can put together a list of article titles and concepts to hand over to an article service. Having a blogging strategy on hand like this makes it easier to get content right away and gives you clear targets to aim for to boost your blog’s ROI.

One thing that’s certain to come up during the hiring process is how long you want your articles to be. Typically, blog posts that are around 2,000 words or longer are best for SEO. Depending on the topics you want to cover, longer or shorter might be better and that’s okay. Think about your budget and check your analytics to see if your readers are actually making it to the bottom of your longest blog posts.

You should also consider whether you need services beyond just writing. Some article services will source images and upload the blog to your content management system, for example. Others even offer social media promotion to help you announce your new blog posts to the world. Again, think about what’s important to your business and what will offer the greatest ROI.

How much should you pay for blog articles?

Cost is a huge factor when it comes to paying for blog posts. The truth is, there’s no standard number for what a blog post costs. The range of cost estimates you’ll see can be as wide as a few cents per word to several dollars per word.

While you don’t want to overpay, you should be prepared for the fact that high-quality content comes at a premium price. Longer articles cost more than shorter articles. Articles on highly technical topics will cost more than articles that any writer could write. If you want a writer to publish content on your website, that will cost extra as well.

How you pay is also important. Some writers charge per hour, some charge per word, and some charge per article.

While a fixed rate per article can be helpful for controlling costs, this approach also disincentivizes writers to spend the time necessary to deeply research your articles and to write creatively. On the other hand, an hourly rate can leave you with surprise bills if an article takes longer than expected. If you use opt for an hourly or per word rate, it’s a good idea to negotiate a cap on how much you’ll pay for each post.

Keep in mind that if you buy articles in bulk, you might be able to get a discount. Of course, you should always test out a writing service to make sure it suits your needs before ordering dozens of blog posts. But once you’re happy with the process, bulk orders can cut your costs while streamlining the delivery of new content to your website.

Where can you buy blog articles online?

There are dozens of places you can go to buy web articles online.

Platforms like Upwork and Freelancer.com connect you with thousands of freelance writers, who have expertise in everything from eCommerce to rocket science. You can set your price range and accept bids, or seek out individual writers who focus on your topic area.

There are also writing mills like Verblio, Scripted, and Text Writer. These companies can meet any budget and offer a wide range of services, including SEO and social media. Just be sure to carefully vet the writing, since you don’t get to choose a specific writer or team to work on your project.

You can also turn to a writing agency like Eleven. We specialize in producing high-quality online content crafted by writers with deep knowledge of their fields. Writing agencies offer a more tailored experience than writing mills and give you access to a dedicated, seasoned team of content creators.

Summary

Buying articles for your blog is one of the best ways to bring more traffic to your website, free up time to focus on other aspects of your business, and boost your ROI. While the process of outsourcing your content creation can seem daunting at first, there are plenty of platforms for buying content online to meet any topic area and any budget. Remember to always keep one eye on your blog’s ROI so you can measure the success of your investment and continue charting a path forward for your online presence.