Ghostwriting might seem like an infrequently practice, but news flash: much of the content out there is actually ghostwritten. There are even popular authors who hire ghostwriters to occasionally write on their behalves. In other words, everyone from bloggers to businesses outsource their content writing.

How common is outsourcing content?

If you don’t believe me when I say it happens all the time, get this: 44% of marketers outsource their content, as do 65% of corporations. That’s a lot of outsourced content.

Outsourcing content is nothing new, and there are rules to doing it wisely. One of those rules is actually why you’ll never know whether or not someone is a ghostwriter; ghostwriters are sworn to secrecy. Their contracts almost always stipulate that they refrain from letting anyone know that they wrote specific pieces of content for particular clients.

What does it take to find a good ghostwriter?

Finding good ghostwriters is not easy. After all, one of the reasons you might opt to hire ghostwriters is because you don’t have the time or resources to write the piece yourself. To help you avoid wasting time by picking subpar writers and then having to search a second time for more skilled ones, we’ve compiled some advice for getting it right on the first go.

Here are our best practices for outsourcing high-quality content:

1- Choose wisely.

Look for people who have experience writing the type of content you want to create. Don’t ever forget to ask for samples.

Always remember that you’ve never worked with these people before, so you need something to guarantee that their standards of quality meets yours.

There are a lot of ghostwriting agencies out there, many of which have reliable rating systems and make client reviews available for subscribers. You can give those a shot if you can’t find writers on your own.

2- Be extra specific.

This is so important and doesn’t only apply to ghostwriters but to every single content creator you hire. You need to make sure your needs are clear and understood by your writers.

What’s the topic? How do we plan to approach it? What’s the style we’re going to use? What’s the tone we’re aiming for? What is critical information do we need to convey through this piece of content? What’s the emotion we want readers to experience? Who is our target audience? What are their preferences? What are the sources we’re going to cite for this article?

These are just the tip of the iceberg of questions whose answers you need to provide. Always remember: well-informed writers are better writers.

3- Provide sufficient resources.

Your writers shouldn’t waste most of their time researching if you already have relevant data on hand. This way, you can rest assured that your writers will incorporate the correct information, the statistics you want, etc. Provide such data to the writers and you’ll be making everyone’s life easier. Hopefully, your writers will spend the time you’ve freed up editing their work.

Not only do you need to provide data for the article, but don’t forget to provide background information on yourself, on your company, and on the industry. Make available sufficient resources for the writers to read and absorb everything you’re company is about. Present them with past projects or pieces of content that worked well for the company.

4- Don’t forget the editor.

Never forget the editing stage. Your writers are hired to pour all of their talent into that piece of content, and, unless specified, there ends their role.

If you didn’t hire writers to compose and edit text, then it’s not their job to edit. The ball is in your court; you’ve got to hire a good editor to make sure that your content lives up to your desired quality, standard, and expectations.

Some freelance writers are perfectly comfortable editing their own work, and if that’s the case, as long as they don’t charge and arm and a leg for editing services, it’s simpler to hire them to do both.

Writing never ends with the first draft. Always remember that, and keep someone ready to polish the final draft.

5- Keep it up-to-date.

Ensure that your piece of content is up-to-date and trendy. Newsjacking is a very popular technique that always works to grab attention, so use it to your advantage. If possible, make your content trendy and relatable.

Make sure it’s possible for the writers to relate the content to recent news so that readers can find something they relate to or something that spurs them to read on.

And there you have it! With this list of best practices, you’re sure to make the best use of any ghostwriter you hire.