Outsourcing Content Production with Arnold San Miguel

Hi. Welcome to another episode of Outsource Accelerator. My name is Derek Gallimore. This is Episode 31. I’m joined again with Arnold San Miguel and we are discussing content production which is a massive subject and you know important for any online business these days and how outsourcing can help you with that. So, enjoy the episode.

Derek: Welcome back to another episode everybody This is. I’m Derek Gallimore of Outsource Accelerator. And I’m joined again by Arnold San Miguel. Hi Arnold.

Arnold: Hi Derek.

Derek: And today we are going to talk about content and content generation and the outsourcing of that. So as any slightly Web savvy person knows content is being pushed right to the top of importance because primarily of Google and because people want to be recognized as authoritative within the space. And Google values that as being such. There’s a huge need now to produce content via website but also in some offline avenues. I think that’s a good and bad thing because it means that people are producing untold amounts of content. And within that you know it just creates a lot of noise when you add to the fact that some people are really just trying to game the system by producing content for the sake of content, producing overly content keyword heavy content. You know there’s basically a hell of a lot of kind of content junk out there and noise. Hopefully the good quality content will rise above all else and from what a lot of content experts say that is really still the best practice that we should all aim for to produce content that provides value to the reader. Okay. And then that’s kind of provide a lot more value to you as the author also. So, in this massive push for content generation there is an opportunity and you know many businesses do this to have a lot of your content production outsourced. Now, that can be as little as getting someone to edit your document, they could actually write the document themselves. But it could actually extend all the way up to an entire content strategy and execution and deployment.

So, you know we’re going to discuss that a little bit today and the various opportunities there. So, Arnold you have quite significant experience in engaging with content outsources, content writers and things like that. What are your experiences with outsourcing content in that regard?

Arnold: Yeah, I’ve talked to a lot of outsourcing agencies or freelancers for the past year or so. So, the most consistent thing that they have in common is that they always tell you that one of the advantage of outsourcing content is that you get the additional management layer, you get an entire specialist team to help you produce you know the content that’s right for your business. It’s not as simple as writing a one-page document and completing the work. But in terms of ideation, designing and production of the actual content that’s part of the advantage of signing up with agencies or freelancers.

Derek: Right, right. And of course, the quality varies. I imagine if you go on Upwork and find an individual contractor then they are pretty much alone, cheap. Whereas if you go to the bigger more structured firms then they off the bat support structures.

Arnold: Yes, that’s correct. And it really boils down to the preference of the owner or the entrepreneur. And also, if you really find it easy to explain your business model and if your requirement is not that frequent in a monthly or weekly basis then spending time finding the right freelancer or a set of freelancers that could work for you is definitely something to consider.

Derek: Because it’s easier isn’t it if the content people really do need to be familiar with the content and be able to produce content that is relevant up to the level of skill that the content requires. So, if you are obviously producing content about open heart surgery that’s gonna be more difficult than content about today’s weather. And so, what about pricing Arnold how do the price structuring work? Is there’s obviously a range of prices? Yeah and in regards to the quality of production but then also how do the price structures work.

Arnold: Yeah well in terms of pricing first we have to determine what type of content you’re willing to produce and that ranges from blogs or articles from social media posts to podcasts or videos. So, if we’re talking about articles they normally charge you within three tiers or three levels which is they get a basic writer, an advanced writer and an expert writer And again the price varies per 100 words of produced and again on the difficulty of your industry. But the good thing with this one is you are able to set the budget and then it’s gonna make it easier for you to find the perfect outsourcing partner to provide this content to because everyone will have their own different proposal or budget to submit to you. But if you stick with what you think is reasonable and it’s if how you compute that it is that’s the that’s the value that makes the most sense then it should be easy to identify.

Derek: And I think commonly I mean there are there are different pricing structures but effectively a lot of them boil down to a per word basis, don’t they? Does the range for different qualities its about 3 cents per word up until about sort of 12 15 cents per word.

Arnold: Yeah. Yeah. So, the basic one and then the difference between the basic one and then the most advanced or the highest level is quadruple that one.

Derek: Right. Okay. So, a big range that and again you know sophisticated websites might have a blend of those so you can have some quicker lighter cheaper articles and then you would obviously then want some you know higher quality, higher value articles that cost more to produce. Okay, and I think it’s fair to say with outsourcing of content unless you build your team unless you know train them yourself and take them under your wing and show them your culture. Then there is if it takes a little bit of kissing a few frogs before you find your prince or princess. Content production can be a bit of a hit and miss because you know there’s so many nuances with it. And so, you know it can sometimes take a while to find that person that really resonates with the voice you want, the sound you want, that put the messages that you are trying to convey. And so, if you don’t get it right the first time don’t give up and it maybe just takes a little bit of iterating a little bit of retraining and a little bit of looking around. But once it clicks then you know it’s a great opportunity to produce content for a cost-effective rate.

Okay, I think we’re done today and we will be back. We will. We are revisiting content because it is such a big topic and also one that is an ideal opportunity for outsourcing. So, do stay tuned for further episodes. And thank you. Arnold.

Arnold: Thanks, Derek.

Okay. Hope you enjoyed that. If you want any of the show notes go outsourceaccelerator.com/podcast/episode31. And if you have any questions please drop us a line Okay. We will answer any of your questions. Just e-mail us at [email protected]. See you next time.