Checklist for the selection of copywriters for blogging or social network
Given: a small business company (services sector) that needs clients from a blog or social network.
Required: copywriter for writing texts. But not simple, but generating demand for the service (albeit not immediately, but at least in a month or two).
Statement: for the posts to generate demand for services, the master of the text should also be a little marketer, a little designer and a little SEO-person.
')
Proceeding from this, I developed the following list of competencies of the candidate, let's call him “copywriter marketing specialist”:
Let's go through each item and see which issues can help check these competencies:
Question: Do you have experience in similar projects?
The purpose of the question: to understand what is the probability that the candidate will be able to achieve your goals .
If he has worked as a journalist for 5 years and periodically wrote to himself at the buyout, this does not mean that he will be able to bring you customers.
Ask tricky questions (for example, what are the results of your activity in money?), Do not hesitate, it will only play into the hands. Seeing that you are not so "experienced expert", you can bring down the price.
Question: I want to consult with you. In fact, I doubt that I need a blog. In your opinion, why is a blog better than a clear landing page that will quickly sell a service to those who need it?
Purpose of the question: to assess the understanding of digital trends .
In the digital world, something is constantly happening, and it needs to be monitored. For example, the complication of search engine algorithms has led to difficulties with SEO-promotion of single-page sites (landing pages).
Landing is a working option, but only as long as the customer invests money in advertising. Contextual advertising is becoming more expensive day by day, as more and more advertisers carry money there. Therefore, the cost of leads from the landing will only grow.
A blog is a long-term investment in content. He will “generate” with time more and more hits, due to the appearance in the search results for key requests and rassharivaniya in social networks. Consequently, the cost of leads from the blog will tend to zero.
Question: How do you plan to evaluate the effectiveness of your work?
Purpose of the question: to understand whether the candidate is “imprisoned” for the process or for the result .
If he says something like “by the number of hits from a blog or social network” - that is, of course, so. But it should be remembered that you should not immediately expect orders (especially if the audience is cold).
After the first publications, you can track intermediate results that will signal whether the path is correct. This will help the analysis of behavioral reactions of readers to content (read it to the end, just like or like and share what content is shared the most, etc.).
To evaluate the results of their work, the copywriter will need knowledge of analytical services (for example, Google Analitycs for the blog and Popsters for the social network). What analytical services a copywriter uses is a logical continuation of the question of performance evaluation.
Question: How do you think, how many times the key phrase should be repeated in the text?
The purpose of the question: to understand whether the copywriter is planning to use key requests and, if so, if he does not overdo it with the number of entries.
Busting keys (6 or more) may lead to
a) readers vomit from the text, and they quickly leave the page,
b) search engines will lower the page rank in the issue (due to the fact that now they are increasingly looking at user satisfaction, rather than the number of occurrences of the key).
Question: What additional ways to increase my pages in the issue you can use?
The purpose of the question: to understand whether a copywriter knows that linking articles to each other (and, accordingly, will do it on SEO promotion ).
Links to a page from other pages of the blog increase the “trust” in it from the search engine => it rises in the issue.
Links to other pages in the final (in the style of “You may also be interested”) are a good disguise for keywords and an easy way for readers to get all the information on your site. A long stay of the reader on the site also adds to the site “pluses in karma” and positively affects the position in the issue.
Question: How will my post on social networks be found to those to whom information in it may be interesting? Also by keywords?
The purpose of the question: to find out whether the copywriter plans to use # hashtags .
If so, ask how.
The main shoals when setting hashtags to posts -
Perhaps the best test of understanding would be to give the copywriter to read some of your post and ask them to come up with hashtags.
Question: Tell us what, in your opinion, affect the pictures in the post for the blog. And for the social network?
The purpose of the question: to find out whether the copywriter understands that the presence of drawings increases the influx of new readers .
Search engines believe that such content is more relevant than just text. You can track the statistics on the pages without pictures and with pictures. Most likely, visitors will spend more time on pages with graphic elements. In order for pages with a high percentage of bounce not to drop your blog in the issue and not to deprive you of new readers, it is better to get used to accompanying the text with pictures or other multi-media inserts (short videos, for example).
There is an interesting Western statistics (in Russia, probably a similar situation): 87% of the posts on Facebook that caused the greatest number of reactions (likes, comments, sharing) included exactly the picture:
A simple conclusion: a picture is required . And not any, but helping to illustrate the topic and preferably not hackneyed (ideally, made by hand).
Question: What can you do in terms of text design?
The purpose of the question: to understand what awaits your posts in terms of design .
It would be nice if the contractor:
In modern digital space, it is desirable to be able to also create GIFs and edit videos, but this can be too expensive). Although with such a contractor the possibilities of the text will become truly endless :)
Question: How do you plan to search for topics for your blog and social network?
The purpose of the question: to find out whether the copywriter owns the skill of monitoring the information field, competitors, and your own resources in order to find truly relevant topics .
Feel free to dig deeper, ask how he will do it - which services to use or view manually. This will give additional information about the competence of the specialist.
If a copywriter knows what a sales funnel is and is ready to develop you a content strategy for an audience at different levels of engagement , congratulations - you have a content strategist before you .
The benefit of cooperation can be assessed after two months (if you need a quick response in the form of sales from the text, then this is another story). Calculate the return on investment formula:
ROI = (Income from orders from a blog / social network - Content costs) / Content costs * 100%
Depending on whether the payback period of the project has come in due time, you can review the conditions or refuse to cooperate.
Required: copywriter for writing texts. But not simple, but generating demand for the service (albeit not immediately, but at least in a month or two).
Statement: for the posts to generate demand for services, the master of the text should also be a little marketer, a little designer and a little SEO-person.
')
Proceeding from this, I developed the following list of competencies of the candidate, let's call him “copywriter marketing specialist”:
Let's go through each item and see which issues can help check these competencies:
1. [Has experience in similar projects]
Question: Do you have experience in similar projects?
The purpose of the question: to understand what is the probability that the candidate will be able to achieve your goals .
If he has worked as a journalist for 5 years and periodically wrote to himself at the buyout, this does not mean that he will be able to bring you customers.
Ask tricky questions (for example, what are the results of your activity in money?), Do not hesitate, it will only play into the hands. Seeing that you are not so "experienced expert", you can bring down the price.
2. [Understand marketing trends]
Question: I want to consult with you. In fact, I doubt that I need a blog. In your opinion, why is a blog better than a clear landing page that will quickly sell a service to those who need it?
Purpose of the question: to assess the understanding of digital trends .
In the digital world, something is constantly happening, and it needs to be monitored. For example, the complication of search engine algorithms has led to difficulties with SEO-promotion of single-page sites (landing pages).
Landing is a working option, but only as long as the customer invests money in advertising. Contextual advertising is becoming more expensive day by day, as more and more advertisers carry money there. Therefore, the cost of leads from the landing will only grow.
A blog is a long-term investment in content. He will “generate” with time more and more hits, due to the appearance in the search results for key requests and rassharivaniya in social networks. Consequently, the cost of leads from the blog will tend to zero.
3. [Able to use web analytics and track subtotals]
Question: How do you plan to evaluate the effectiveness of your work?
Purpose of the question: to understand whether the candidate is “imprisoned” for the process or for the result .
If he says something like “by the number of hits from a blog or social network” - that is, of course, so. But it should be remembered that you should not immediately expect orders (especially if the audience is cold).
After the first publications, you can track intermediate results that will signal whether the path is correct. This will help the analysis of behavioral reactions of readers to content (read it to the end, just like or like and share what content is shared the most, etc.).
To evaluate the results of their work, the copywriter will need knowledge of analytical services (for example, Google Analitycs for the blog and Popsters for the social network). What analytical services a copywriter uses is a logical continuation of the question of performance evaluation.
4. [Understands how to use keys, relink and hashtags for the appearance of a post in the search engines or social networks]
Question: How do you think, how many times the key phrase should be repeated in the text?
The purpose of the question: to understand whether the copywriter is planning to use key requests and, if so, if he does not overdo it with the number of entries.
Busting keys (6 or more) may lead to
a) readers vomit from the text, and they quickly leave the page,
b) search engines will lower the page rank in the issue (due to the fact that now they are increasingly looking at user satisfaction, rather than the number of occurrences of the key).
Question: What additional ways to increase my pages in the issue you can use?
The purpose of the question: to understand whether a copywriter knows that linking articles to each other (and, accordingly, will do it on SEO promotion ).
Links to a page from other pages of the blog increase the “trust” in it from the search engine => it rises in the issue.
Links to other pages in the final (in the style of “You may also be interested”) are a good disguise for keywords and an easy way for readers to get all the information on your site. A long stay of the reader on the site also adds to the site “pluses in karma” and positively affects the position in the issue.
Question: How will my post on social networks be found to those to whom information in it may be interesting? Also by keywords?
The purpose of the question: to find out whether the copywriter plans to use # hashtags .
If so, ask how.
The main shoals when setting hashtags to posts -
- the choice of irrelevant words (according to which no one will search) and
- "Stuffing" in the post of a huge number of hashtags (more than 3 already looks spam).
Perhaps the best test of understanding would be to give the copywriter to read some of your post and ask them to come up with hashtags.
5. [Knows how important the visual components of the content (photo, video, layout) and can work with them]
Question: Tell us what, in your opinion, affect the pictures in the post for the blog. And for the social network?
The purpose of the question: to find out whether the copywriter understands that the presence of drawings increases the influx of new readers .
Search engines believe that such content is more relevant than just text. You can track the statistics on the pages without pictures and with pictures. Most likely, visitors will spend more time on pages with graphic elements. In order for pages with a high percentage of bounce not to drop your blog in the issue and not to deprive you of new readers, it is better to get used to accompanying the text with pictures or other multi-media inserts (short videos, for example).
There is an interesting Western statistics (in Russia, probably a similar situation): 87% of the posts on Facebook that caused the greatest number of reactions (likes, comments, sharing) included exactly the picture:
A simple conclusion: a picture is required . And not any, but helping to illustrate the topic and preferably not hackneyed (ideally, made by hand).
Question: What can you do in terms of text design?
The purpose of the question: to understand what awaits your posts in terms of design .
It would be nice if the contractor:
- versed in style (colors, fonts, indents),
- knew what the subtitle, sidebar, lists,
- knew how to create collages, select relevant pictures to the topic and process them if these are not your photos (so that they look original),
- worked with services for "lazy" type Canva (to reduce the cost of work).
In modern digital space, it is desirable to be able to also create GIFs and edit videos, but this can be too expensive). Although with such a contractor the possibilities of the text will become truly endless :)
6. [Able to find topics relevant to the audience with the help of special services]
Question: How do you plan to search for topics for your blog and social network?
The purpose of the question: to find out whether the copywriter owns the skill of monitoring the information field, competitors, and your own resources in order to find truly relevant topics .
Feel free to dig deeper, ask how he will do it - which services to use or view manually. This will give additional information about the competence of the specialist.
If a copywriter knows what a sales funnel is and is ready to develop you a content strategy for an audience at different levels of engagement , congratulations - you have a content strategist before you .
Notes to the checklist.
- Note that there is no “can write readable text” item, since it is checked through the portfolio.
- The more the candidate knows and is able, the more expensive is the content in his performance (capstan, but recall is not harmful).
- Choose what is more realistic for you:
- pay to a more expensive specialist who can do everything, or
- cheaper, periodically paying another for some work (for example, creating a content strategy).
The benefit of cooperation can be assessed after two months (if you need a quick response in the form of sales from the text, then this is another story). Calculate the return on investment formula:
ROI = (Income from orders from a blog / social network - Content costs) / Content costs * 100%
Depending on whether the payback period of the project has come in due time, you can review the conditions or refuse to cooperate.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/300516/
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