How to Hire a Food Blog Ghostwriter
Learn How to Hire a Food Blog Ghostwriter before outsourcing SEO writing for your food blog. This guide will show you what to look for in a writer, where to find writers for hire, recruiting and hiring tips, and how to have a seamless working relationship with your writer.
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Have you decided that it’s the right time to outsource SEO writing for your food blog? Congratulations!
But how does it work? What is it like to work with a food blog ghostwriter? How do they describe the recipes without trying them? Will they write in my voice?
There’s more to working with a food blog writer than handing over your recipes and waiting to receive the blog post of your dreams back. In order to learn how to hire a food blog ghostwriter, you need to make your goals and expectations clear from the get-go.
This guide will teach you everything you need to know and expect before and during the hiring process. Let’s dive in:
What is a food blog ghostwriter?
Food blog ghostwriters are freelance writers who help food bloggers with their content. This can include anything from writing a recipe blog post and rewriting an existing one, to helping with social media content and website copy. Ghostwriters are typically self-employed online business owners either operating as freelance writers, virtual assistants, or food bloggers.
When you hire a food blog ghostwriter, you're hiring someone who has experience in writing, marketing, and blogging. They aren’t necessarily chefs or experts on cooking techniques; they’re exercising their passion for food and writing in one convenient service offering.
Why you should outsource your blog writing
The “food blogger” job description is a long one. It isn’t uncommon to be a food blogger with almost no free time because it takes so much time to test recipes, promote your content, write blog posts, tweak your website, etc.
Hiring a writer to help you has endless benefits, including:
Save hours or even days by delegating content creation and editing tasks to someone else.
Focus on what you do best—testing and delivering recipes that your audience is obsessed with.
Your credibility increases as you work with writers who have experience writing SEO-optimized and Google-approved content.
Having a website full of well-researched and informative blog posts increases trust among your audience.
Factors to consider before hiring a ghostwriter
There are many factors to consider when looking for the right person to work with. Here are some things to keep in mind:
Experience
It's important to hire a ghostwriter who has experience writing blog posts or online content. This ensures they know what they’re doing when it comes to SEO and keyword research and can provide you with high-quality work.
The higher their experience, the more expensive the writer will cost. It is a worthwhile investment because they’ll provide you with well-researched and expertly written content that doesn’t require many edits.
Writing style
One of the most important skills a ghostwriter can have is the ability to write in another person’s voice. By using your format and mimicking your personality within the bulk of the post, your readers won’t be able to tell you’re outsourcing the writing!
Before you hire a writer, make sure their existing style and tone align with your own or they don’t have a problem adapting. You’ll be able to see if they’re capable of this in their writing samples or in a test post (more on this below).
Cost
Determine how much you want to spend on outsourcing before you start hiring (either weekly, monthly, or quarterly). The cost to hire a food blog ghostwriter varies so much, which means you shouldn’t have trouble finding someone in your budget. Scroll down to get an idea of how much it costs to hire a food blog ghostwriter.
Turnover time
How often are you publishing content? Is publishing consistently a priority of yours? Think of the days you like to post or how many posts you want to publish in a month.
Make sure your writer can adapt to your deadlines. Ask them how long it usually takes them to write a blog post so you can ensure that your content will be published on time.
Communication
How do you prefer to communicate with your team members? Through email? Video calls? Slack? Asana? Decide how you want to communicate with your writer and how you want to receive the completed work from them.
Where to find writers for hire
I have some great news for you: finding a writer to write your blog posts isn’t hard! There are several online resources you can use to find one:
Referral
One of the best ways to find writers for hire is to ask the other bloggers in your community. Send a few emails to your online blogger friends or head to the Food Bloggers Central Facebook group. There, you can ask for recommendations, reviews, about pricing and hiring, and more.
Social media
Search for “food blog writer”, “ghostwriter”, “content writer”, etc. on Instagram. Often, these writers are operating businesses and promoting their services on their accounts. If you aren’t sure if they would be a good fit, follow or subscribe to them first to see what they’re all about.
“For hire” Facebook groups are excellent places to hang out, too. Check out VA for Hire - Content for Bloggers, Virtual Assistant Savvies, and Food Bloggers Virtual Assistants. Post a job opp with the requirements you determined above, and make it clear how to apply (via DM’s, email, etc.).
A classic! Type in "food blog ghostwriters" on Google and some great options will pop up right away.
How much does it cost to hire a ghostwriter?
Typically, writers base their pricing on the number of blog posts needed or the number of words in the post. For example, one 1,000 word blog post could cost between $60 to $200+ depending on the writer's level of experience and your requirements.
The cost of hiring a writer will depend on several other factors:
Recurring or one-time projects: If you’re hiring a writer on a recurring monthly basis, it will be less expensive than a one-time or rushed project.
Their level of experience: The more experienced they are, the better deal you'll get. An experienced writer specializing in food blog posts will provide you with SEO-optimized content that needs very few edits on a timely schedule. AKA, they’ll save you a bunch of time and money in the long run.
Your requirements and materials: You’ll save money by only sending your recipe to the writer and nothing else. While this saves you time, it means the writer will have to perform a majority of the research and can leave you with having to conduct edits if they didn’t include what you were looking for. Avoid this by including recipe notes and keywords, and request that they write the META and social media copy and format the blog post on your website. It costs more, but it’s worth it!
4 steps to hiring a food blog ghostwriter
You have everything you need ready and it’s time to start recruiting. There are a few things you can do to make this process go smoothly:
Step 1: Post a job opp
Send out a job opportunity on social media or in a Facebook group with all of the qualifications and requirements you’re looking for in a writer. You can collect applications seamlessly using Google Forms. Include all of these in the form for the writers to fill out:
Name
Email
Portfolio link
Level of experience
Cost per blog post
What is your average turnaround time for a blog post?
Use this Google Form job application template if you aren’t sure about what to include:
Step 2: Review writing samples
Take the time to carefully review the applicants’ writing samples before you reach out to them Take note of the:
Voice and tone - Are all of the samples using the same tone of voice?
Writing quality - Are they overusing adjectives? Is the content engaging and easy to understand? Are they answering questions a reader may ask?
Keyword placement - Is the primary keyword overused? Are secondary keywords being used effectively? Are they keyword stuffing?
Spelling and grammar - Are there spelling mistakes? Does the writing flow well?
Format of the post - Are they breaking up sentences with bullet points, headlines, etc.? Is the format helping or hurting the post?
Step 3: Request a test post
If you’ve found a handful of good candidates, you can narrow it down to 1 or 2 great options by requesting a test post. A test post can give you an idea of the type of working relationship you may have with the writer, their communication style, how quickly they can write for you, and, of course, the quality of their work.
Be prepared that this is typically a paid offering, so make sure you adjust your budget accordingly.
Step 4: Hire!
You found a writer for your food blog! That’s amazing!
All you have to do now is send them an email or request a video call and tell them the good news. What they’ll do next is send over a contract with the agreed-upon terms, then you’re free to get started.
What materials does a food blog ghostwriter need?
The writer will likely tell you what they need from you before you begin the working relationship. Be prepared to provide any of the following:
Recipe and helpful notes
This is the most important! The writer absolutely needs a copy of each recipe they’ll be writing about, with a list of ingredients and directions (basically, everything that will be in the recipe card on your blog).
Sometimes, it can help if you include helpful recipe notes or tips, especially if you want them in the body of the post.
If you’re working with the writer on a monthly basis, send the recipes to them early in the month so they have plenty of time to get the posts done.
Blog post outline
Think about which headlines you prefer to have in each of your posts and the corresponding content. Make a list with notes or provide a sample blog post they can use as a template. This can be a one-time thing or you can provide a detailed outline for every recipe.
Keywords
While it isn’t always necessary to have a list of short and long-form secondary keywords and/or questions, it can be quite helpful. If anything, provide them with the primary keyword you’re hoping to rank for. This way, the writer can perform their own keyword research and include as many relevant keywords and content that could help the recipe rank on Google.
Timeline
Tell the writer well in advance when you need the blog post finished. To make sure they never miss a deadline, work with your writer in a shared Asana, ClickUp, or Trello project. These project management tools make communication, sharing materials, and setting deadlines easy.
Images
Photos of the recipe process, finished product, and/or ingredients can help a writer capture the essence of your recipe. Feel free to pass along a folder of the recipe images when you share the recipe. The more materials your writer has, the better quality the blog post will be!
Overall…
After all this, you should have a better idea of the benefits of outsourcing your blog writing. Familiarizing yourself with the step-by-step process and having a seamless recruiting and hiring strategy in place only makes it that much more exciting!