How to source low-cost, quality SEO content

Are you wondering how your company can actually afford quality SEO content?

You’re not alone.

Companies are drowning in content needs. The existing marketing department (assuming there is one) may be too swamped to consistently write articles and blog posts.

Finding outsourced vendors can be equally frustrating. Companies are often looking for Cadillac-level SEO content when they have Yugo-level budgets.

The results are rarely positive. Especially with how Google has tightened down on content (see Eric Enge’s article for more information.)

I’ve chatted with many frustrated marketing managers who are faced with this dilemma. They don’t have the budget for a top-notch outsourced vendor. Yet they are looking for a certain quality of writer – one who understands their industry, understands their customers and can speak their language.

The answer?

Look internally for your SEO content producers. And by “internally,” I mean your sales people, project managers, engineers and other people with product, service and customer knowledge. These people are already passionate about your product/service, your customers and your company mission. Why not let that passion shine through?

I’m aware of the myriad of objections. For instance:

– Not everyone is a good writer

– Non-writers have no business writing sales pages.

– People won’t do it. They say they will – but they’ll flake out.

– They don’t know how.

Let’s break down those objections.

Not everyone is a good SEO writer

True. However, I bet you have people on your team who are good writers. Or they are OK writers with a lot of potential. The goal isn’t to push someone into writing who hates it. It’s to help someone grow who wants to learn how to do it better.

Non-writers have no business writing sales pages.

I totally agree. It takes a skilled copywriter to write a high-converting sales page. However, you don’t need someone with 10 years of copywriting experience to write a blog post. You can train internal staff to do that.

People won’t do it. They say they will – but they’ll flake out.

People will do it if they have a sense of ownership, understand the process and there are realistic expectations. If you tell someone to “Write a blog post on anything and have it by tomorrow,” you probably won’t see very good results. If you take the time to work with them, assign topics and provide feedback, magical things can happen.

They don’t know how.

You can teach your team how to write SEO content (or bring in someone who can teach them.) Plus, you can hire an outsourced SEO editor who can assign topics, set reasonable deadlines and optimize the content.

Existing team members can be transformed into fantastic article and blog writers. Yes, it takes some negotiation. No, it won’t happen overnight. But the final results can be incredible, with team members happily producing content every month.

And that allows you to focus your SEO content budget on other important things – like fixing those stale sales pages that haven’t been updated in years.

Next week, I’ll discuss how to set up a happy, healthy internal content team. In the meantime, what are your biggest obstacles around sourcing content from existing team members? Please leave your comments below, or you can respond on Google+. Thanks!