Now that you’ve decided to outsource, focus on these things to help your accounting firm get the most out of your content.
Once you’re ready to outsource and you’ve made the strategic decisions about exactly which content you want, you’re in good shape. Setting goals and putting together some ideas about topics are also checked off, so all you need is a bit of reassurance and a push in the right direction.
First of all, take a deep breath and get comfortable with your choice; if you follow these guidelines, you can be confident that your content will reflect well on your firm. Your entire team can be proud of the content you’re going to get, because you will ensure the high quality that you want to associate with your firm through these strategies:
Use only original content.
Yes, there is “canned content” available many places. You can buy it online and it doesn’t cost very much, but it’s not a great idea. These pre-written, generic articles are designed to be personalized before they are published. Unfortunately, most buyers use them as they come. The articles are going to appear multiple places online in identical form, which means you won’t show up at all on search engines if you do it too (Google dismisses “copycat” articles and excludes them from search results). Not only that, but you’re not offering your readers anything special with canned content, because they can obviously access the same thing other places. If you do personalize it, you improve the worth of the articles significantly, but why not go the extra mile and make it completely original? That way you are adding value with your perspective and unique insights, which is what makes you relevant to your readers in the first place. Do it right – use original content.
Maintain your firm’s unique voice, by:
- Creating and adhering to a recognizable tone and style that your firm uses in all communications.
- Educating your content developer thoroughly about the firm’s style, goals, services and audience.
- Assigning a point person within the firm to review and approve all content outsourced, making sure it’s consistent with your style and factually accurate.
- Creating guidelines for keywords, style, length, etc. that all contributors, both internal and external, use when developing content for the firm.
Focus on quality.
Be sure your content is up to par by exclusively working with writers who deliver top-notch products:
- Obviously, your writers must be exceptionally fluent in the language you’ll be using to distribute your content.
- Ensure your content brings the respect you want for your firm by sticking with a specialist who knows your industry and can produce intelligent content that demonstrates knowledge of the niche.
- Work with multiple writers until you find one or a few that really understand your goals and produce the consistently high quality, on target work you’re proud to claim for your firm.
Ask for revisions when necessary.
It’s okay to request revisions. In fact, it’s unusual to get exactly the content you want at first crack, especially when working with a new writer, so you should feel comfortable asking to have it tweaked. Give your content creator specific, detailed and complete requests to begin with and when asking for revisions. That way both of you can achieve your goals with no wasted effort, and you can expect the deliverables to need less revision as time goes on. If your content continues to need very extensive revision after you and the writer have had some time to work together and get familiar with your respective styles, the fit may not be right.
Outsourcing your content is a great way to save time and money while still offering your audience insight and value. Follow these tips as you establish a process, and you’ll soon get the best results from your decision to outsource, and be sure to let us know if we missed any strategies for success. Content creation doesn’t have to be a problem!
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Guest post by Sarah Warlick, content director at bbr marketing
The post Making Outsourced Content Work for You appeared first on BizActions | Thomson Reuters.
