Are you planning to hire a professional content writer for your business? If you totally understand the overwhelming significance of the text on your website, it is but natural that you would like to hire somebody who is not only proficient in writing, but who can also create content that reflects the image of your business, engages your customers and clients and articulates your message in such a manner that it hits the nail.

There are thousands of content writers on the Internet and many of them are quite good. But there are also some who are not that good. And there are some who are outright awful (and strangely, have good search engine visibility).

Anyway, the point is you would like to hire a good content writer, a capable, professional person who can really deliver. There are some obvious benchmarks that you can look for before taking a decision. Some of them are listed below.

Being a good writer is a must

Anybody who can write a paragraph calls himself or herself a “content writer” these days. I’m sorry, I don’t mean to sound condescending, but writing content is not about your ability to write, it’s about how well you write, or how well you express yourself and how convincingly you can convey your client’s message to his or her audience. Writing in a convincing manner takes more than being able to write.

Not always, but experience definitely counts

Malcolm Gladwell says that it takes you 10 hours of practice to make you a master. What does that say? It says that experience matters. The more varied content writing assignments your content writer has worked on, better equipped he or she is to do justice to your work. Experience tells us what to do and what not to do, what to embrace and what to avoid, and especially as a content writer, it tells you what language works and what doesn’t in terms of conversion rate as well as search engine rankings. A novice writer might be a prodigy but if he or she goes on his or her own literary tangent without paying heed to your business concerns you’re not getting your money’s worth.

Does your content writer have enough time for you?

This is one of the main reasons why I don’t appreciate working with clients looking for “excellent work at cheapest rates” because this doesn’t leave me enough time to do my best. If all I’m worried about is how much work I can do in the next 60 minutes my focus is definitely not going to be the quality of your content. On the other hand, if I’m free to spend as much time as required on your assignment I can definitely deliver great work.

So first, make sure that your content writer has enough time for you, and second, create an environment that he or she should be able to give their time to you. Don’t act miserly. If your budget is small, go for less content but don’t make your content writer create 50 pages if your budget allows just 10.

If you get approached by such writers ($ 5 per article types) avoid them if you are really serious about the quality of your content because they are definitely not going to have enough time for you. Why? Just do the math.

Does your content writer have a vibrant online presence?

Well, this is not necessary, but it can help you gauge the abilities of your content writer. Does he or she publish a regular blog? Is he or she active on Twitter and other social networking websites? No, I’m not saying that you should go for a writer who spends most of his or her time on social networking and doesn’t have much time for professional commitments, it’s just that his or her public profiles can give you some insight into the ways he or she likes to communicate and express himself or herself.

Is your content writer communicative?

Fast communication is very critical when you are working on the Internet because often you don’t meet people face to face. Than there is also the time difference. You might be sleeping when your content writer is working or frolicking with the birds. Unless there are crunch times, these things don’t matter but your content writer should be able to respond fast, at least within eight hours if you have a concern. If each time you write to him or her and he or she responds after two days there is going to be some problem.

Finally, how much can you spend on your content writer?

Your content writer needs to make a living, whether he lives in India, Philippines or Ghana or London. With some research you can easily find out what are the industry standards and pay according to that. You can find content writers for every conceivable rate – some will also work for you for free. You have to decide what you’re looking for. If you’re getting a great content writer for peanuts, great for you. But if you’re compromising on quality just to cut cost believe me, it is going to cost you more eventually. Most of the businesses cannot take off because they don’t invest much in content.

Basically its the value you must pay for and not for documents and words. Documents and words don’t matter, what matters is how well your audience is engaged. It’s the ability of your content to get you more business that finally decides its value for you. Pay according to that.

Hiring a good content writer is going to be one of the most important business decisions you make because no matter how snazzy a website you get for yourself and how awesome the product or service you offer, unless you can communicate to your visitors through your content, nothing really matters.