Finding the best content writing service for your business is one of the most, in fact, the most significant part of initiating an effective content marketing strategy.

A big problem on the Internet is, although you can find lots of information, often it is very difficult to find the information you actually need, the information you can use to grow your business.

The same applies to finding the right content writing and SEO copywriting service for your business.

Whom do you hire?

How do you decide?

Sometimes a company looks lousy but delivers great content.

Sometimes a company looks great but delivers lousy content.

A great problem is you cannot find that out unless you have worked with the service provider for some time.

Content marketing, although is the strongest marketing tool available on the Internet, also takes its own good time to give you results and by the time these results manifest, it is a bit late to realize whether you should have hired this particular content writing service or not.

The same goes with SEO copywriting services. Any decent SEO effort takes anywhere between 4-5 months before it begins to show even small results (especially when you face lots of competition).

By the time you realize that you haven’t partnered with a competent SEO copywriting service, you may have spent lots of time and money.

Is there a sure shot way of finding the best content writing service for your business?

Is there a set formula that helps you find the best SEO copywriting service to improve your search engine rankings?

No, there is not. But of course you can minimize the chances of ending up with a lousy service.

What are the best ways to find the right content writing service  or the best SEO copywriting service for your business?

Your business is unique, your customers and clients are unique, so your content requirements are also unique.

Why so much stress on being unique?

It is your USP – unique selling proposition.

This is what sets you apart.

With thousands of people offering almost the same sort of service or the same sort of product, especially on the Internet where one website is just a click away from another, how do your prospective customers and clients decide whether they should do business with you or with someone else?

You need to provide something that they cannot get from someone else or at least it is very difficult to get it from somewhere else, or at least, comparatively much more expensive, or whatever.

The thing is, there must be something that should draw them to you rather than to someone else.

Once this is decided and settled, let us explore some ways to find the best content writing or SEO copywriting service for your business.

The service – whether content writing or SEO copywriting – has a website

For a long-term business partnership this is a must.

Yes, you can find good content writers from niche business directories and portals, they are not very reliable because most of them don’t have much stake in being consistent.

Since most of these business directories accept listings for free or at a nominal fee, you don’t find very dedicated and serious people in these directories (I don’t intend to paint everyone with the same stroke).

Of course, if the very same people also have websites running legitimate businesses, things become different.

When a content writing service has a business website it means it is serious and it has invested time and effort establishing shop on the Internet.

The website looks professional

If they have a website, the website should look decent and professional.

It doesn’t mean it should be able to compete in design contests, but it should have a clean design with all the needed information available on the website.

The homepage copy should clearly explain all the services that are being provided.

There should be terms and conditions.

An FAQs is a must.

All the contact details must be available on a separate, dedicated page.

The SEO copywriting service also has a blog

What’s the use of working with a content writing service if it does not promote its services via content?

Most of my business comes from my blog.

My business also comes from LinkedIn and Google, but even traffic from these websites is drawn to my blog so that is the main attraction.

On my blog regularly sharing tips, guides and my thoughts on content writing an SEO copywriting..

Just imagine, a content writing and SEO copywriting service not being able to promote its own services through its own content.

There should be a business blog that is regularly updated.

The content writing service has a mailing list

This is because no matter what people claim, email marketing still rules the roost when it comes to promoting your services and products on the Internet.

500 people subscribing to your email updates are far better than 5000 people “Liking” your Facebook page or following you on Twitter.

So yes, a serious content writing service would obviously have a newsletter subscription box on the website and if it doesn’t, it isn’t serious about content marketing.

Every best content writing and SEO copywriting service publishes a newsletter.

Here, I’m using the superlative “best” as a category. I know there cannot be multiple best services.

It has a solid social media presence

Most of the world these days spends time on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn (just to name a few).

It is also a good way to attract people.

Want to find someone?

Want to find the best products and services recommended by people you interact with on daily basis?

There is a great chance that you will find its reference on Facebook or Twitter (or whatever social networking platform is in vogue when you are reading this).

Also, if the content writing service can be easily reached on Twitter you can get a response faster in case you have some problem.

Your best content writing or SEO copywriting service puts greater stress on quality than quantity

If you have quality content on your website or blog, your search engine rankings automatically improve.

So if a content writing and SEO copywriting service says that you should have lots of content to cover all your keywords so that your search engine rankings can improve, you are being shortchanged.

Of course you need to cover your keywords but that is secondary.

The first priority should be the quality.

The content writing service has a strict policy on plagiarism

Just because text is digitally present everywhere on the Internet it becomes very easy to copy/paste it and then slightly spin it to pretend as if you have unique content at hand.

This is what those $ 5-per-article services do.

It’s a sure shot way of nipping your content marketing strategy in the bud.

The service you’re planning to hire for your business must have a strict policy about how to handle plagiarism and how it controls its content writers in case it has multiple content writers.

Its content writing an SEO copywriting charges are reasonable

Actually what’s reasonable differs from business to business, but you can find out what the industry rates are and do the calculations accordingly.

As I have mentioned above, those $ 5-per-article services can wreak havoc with your content marketing campaign for your SEO strategy, but in the rarest of rare cases, they can also work to your advantage.

If your content writing service is charging pittance try to figure out how it sustains itself.

Take for example charging $ 5 for an article or a blog post.

If I charge you this rate, try to figure out how much money can realistically make.

Even if I write 10 articles or blog posts in a day I will only be able to make $ 50.

How much can I be worried about providing you quality content this way?

It also sends me a signal that if you desire cheap content then maybe you aren’t even interested in quality that much.

It works both ways.

You get what you pay for.

So if a content writing service or an SEO copywriting service charges a very low rate, always be cynical about their offer.

The charges should be reasonable from both ends of the spectrum.

It can scale according to your requirements

It isn’t always about how much content writing and SEO copywriting the service you’re planning on hiring can do, it’s also about how much content you need.

Perhaps you require 10 blog posts or articles everyday but your content writing service can only supply 2-3 at the most.

This deal is not going to work for you.

Similarly, if in a package they offer 20 blog posts every month but you require only 5, and they don’t have an alternative package for you.

Again, it’s a no-deal.

So you should look for a service that can scale according to your business.

Many businesses and individuals vouch for it

Recommendations and testimonials tell you that the agency has provided excellent services – services that have actually helped businesses grow.

Simply writing content doesn’t help much.

The content must be able to take a business forward.

It isn’t also just about improving your SEO.

Your content should also be able to improve your conversion rate and in fact, this is much more important compared to your SEO.

So if a content writing service has actually helped businesses, they will readily provide testimonials and recommendations.

Despite taking care of the above-mentioned 10 attributes that can help you find a content writing & SEO copywriting service for your business you can end up with a lousy service provider, but then this can happen in any industry, in any service and with any product.

Taking care of these 10 things will just reduce the chances of ending up with an inferior service.