Ghost written blogs are a fantastic way to produce and publish regular content without burdening your business. Read this article to learn:
đ§What is a ghost written blog?
đ§How do I find a ghostwriter for my blog?
đ§Can you ghost write a blog?
đ§Ghost writer pricing
đ§Blog ghost writers for hire
Letâs beginâŠ
What is a ghost written blog?
A ghost written blog is a piece of copy you outsource to a professional copywriter. Blogs are great for boosting your SEO, sharing your skills/knowledge/experience, commenting on industry trends and more. A ghost written blog enables you to share your insights without the need to write a single word. Your ghost blog writer will produce your content for you â in your tone of voice and in line with your brand standards.
What is the difference between blogging and content writing?
The difference between blogging and content writing is that blogging is a very specific deliverable, whereas content writing covers a range of marketing assets that includes blogging, as well as articles, brochures, PDFs, social, and many more. Both blogging and content writing rely on the same copywriting techniques, and will follow a similar process. Whether you decide to write a blog or other piece of copy depends on what youâre looking to achieve, and where your customer is in the buying cycle.
How do I find a ghostwriter for my blog?
Finding the right ghostwriter for your business is a very personal decision. You may find someone with great skill, knowledge and experience but for whatever reason, you donât âclickâ. And thatâs because your article ghostwriter is an extension of you/your people. Eventually, that content will be by-lined to an individual who needs to feel confident about sharing it with their professional network.
In addition, the briefing process can feel daunting â especially if you havenât been interviewed before. The ghostwriter needs to not just understand the subject matter, they also need to understand the individual, so they can write with that same tone of voice. This could require the ghostwriter to ask questions that might not feel relevant to the piece, or to ask for information you donât want to publish. For example:
đ§Why did you choose a career in X?
đ§What are the weaknesses in your product/service/company?
đ§Whatâs the worst project youâve worked on?
In essence, you need to feel comfortable to share everything with your ghostwriter and trust them to show you in your best light.
Therefore, the best way to find a ghostwriter for your blog, LinkedIn article or white paper is via word of mouth.
Ghostwriters â and by extension copywriters â are a tight knit community. If we donât feel like weâre a good fit for a project, donât have availability, or know someone who is better placed, weâre more than happy to make introductions to writers we know and trust.
How to get a ghost writer?
Key questions to ask/answer before deciding:
đ§What experience does your ghostwriter have?
đ§Does your ghostwriter have domain knowledge?
đ§What is your ghostwriterâs working process?
đ§What is your ghostwriterâs turnaround time?
đ§Will your ghostwriter perform research?
đ§How much does your ghostwriter charge?
đ§Will your ghostwriter transfer the copyright to you upon payment?
And perhaps most importantly:
đ§Does your ghostwriter feel like a good fit?
Can you ghost write a blog?
Short answer: yes!
I have made a significant investment in my professional development to better understand the world of B2B blogging. Iâve even written a book about it! My experience is primarily based in IT and tech, but Iâve expanded out into management consultancies and work with marketing agencies to support their clientsâ blogs.
Ghost written blog examples
Blog content writing ideas
You can literally blog about anything. For example:
đ§A day in the life ofâŠ
đ§10 ways toâŠ
đ§How toâŠ.
đ§Problem solving (can be more technical)
đ§What does xx mean for xx?
đ§Motivations for a career in [your industry]
đ§Case studies
đ§Predictions
đ§Launching a survey / survey results
đ§Response to industry trends
đ§New applications / functionality
In addition, itâs important to consider where your customer is in their buying cycle because this can influence the type of blog content you should produce. For example:
đ§Controversial posts: perfect for establishing yourself as a thought leader.
đ§Guides or âultimateâ posts: perfect for establishing expertise in your topic.
đ§Mistakes: perfect for getting your readers to sit up and take notice.
đ§Trends: perfect for establishing authority.
đ§Curated content / roundup posts: perfect for raising awareness.
đ§Case studies: perfect for creating desire for your call-to-action.
đ§Useful tools: perfect for building trust
đ§Questions: perfect for raising interest in the topic.
How do you write content for a blog?
In my experience there are 3 essential components when you write content for a blog:
Effective planning
Rather than sit down and think, âWhat shall I write about today?â, you want to have a pipeline of possible ideas to explore. Start by stepping into your customerâs/prospectâs shoes and ask yourself:
đ§What information would they find useful?
đ§What do they need to help them move to the next step in the sales cycle?
đ§How can you help them get the most from your product/service?
đ§How can you make their lives easier? Or their job simpler?
đ§And what can you do thatâs fun to show off your personality?
Then take a look around. What are your competitors talking about? Whatâs the latest commentary from the industry analysts, media and industry associations? Whatâs trending on social media? Talk to your sales team, your colleagues â even your clients!
You should (hopefully!) end up with a range of different themes that you can start to brainstorm around. Write down every thing you can think of â good and bad â and then shortlist the ones that would be most interesting/useful to your audience. Then wrap them up in a working title, schedule them (otherwise theyâll never get written!) and engage the necessary resource to get them drafted.
A great blog opening
The sole purpose of your first sentence is to get your audience to read the second sentence because then you have them hooked in.
Top tips:
đ§Keep it short
đ§Ask a question
đ§Make the audience nod âyesâ to something
A compelling (non-threatening) call-to action
You want your audience to take an action because of your blog content â and this action could be anything:
đ§âRead this blogâ
đ§âDownload a white paperâ
đ§âRegister for a webinarâ
đ§âSay hello!â
In performing your CTA, your content has converted your audience within your nurture flow and strengthened your bond with them.
However, think about where your audience is in the buying cycle. If this blog is the first time theyâve encountered your organisation, going in with a hard CTA like âBook a demoâ is going to be a scary idea. A softer CTA like âWatch a videoâ is more likely to convert.
Blog writing format
With each blog, think about the story you want to tell your audience. As a rule of thumb, I use the following structure in all my copy:
đ§Problem/opportunity
đ§Anticipated outcome
đ§âSolutionâ overview
đ§Evidence
đ§Call-to-action
However, the beauty of the blog is that it can be whatever you want it to be. And youâre not forced to stick to a specific length â so think about mixing short, sharp 500-word pieces with longer 1,500-word pieces.
âUsers often turn to Google to answer a quick question, but research suggests that up to 10% of usersâ daily information needs involve learning about a broad topic. Thatâs why today weâre introducing new search results to help users find in-depth articles.â
Pandu Nayak, a Google engineer who created the Panda algorithm update
Then think about how to add visual interest to your blogs:
đ§Header images
đ§Graphics
đ§Word clouds
đ§Videos
đ§Infographics
đ§Illustrations
đ§âBox-outâ sections
đ§Diagrams
Blog post writing tips
Blog with a purpose
Why are you doing this? What do you want them to do as a result of reading your blog content?
Commit to blogging regularly
Blogging should never be a case of chucking some content on your site when you have some time to spare. Itâs a marketing tactic that needs to be executed against a plan.
Mix it up
đ§Short pieces with long copy
đ§Opinions with research-lead pieces
đ§Round up blogs with thought leadership
đ§Thought leadership with tactical SEO pieces
đ§Words with pictures, video or infographics
đ§Pieces bylined to the company with pieces produced by subject matter experts
Make it part of something bigger
A stand-alone blog doesnât deliver as much value as a series of blogs that centre on a specific theme or topic. In addition, case studies, white papers and guides are great examples of content that you can break down or expand out. By re-spinning and repurposing that content, you can elaborate more on specific elements to demonstrate your expertise or thought leadership.
Share your content
People donât wake up and automatically know youâve shared something new. You must tell them. Be sure to include links to your blogs in your social content, newsletters, email signatures â and anywhere else it feels appropriate.
Ghost writer pricing
Blog ghost writers for hire
If youâre looking to hire a blog ghost writer, why not get in touch? Iâd love to hear about your project, and even if I canât help, I can introduce you to a fellow fabulous freelancer who can!
