Ten Reasons Why You Should Hire a Professional Writer
How can a professional writer help your writing project? Why shouldn’t you just use in-house staff or write copy for yourself.
Yvonne, at Grow Your Writing Business, points out that writers add value to projects. Lillie at a Writer’s Words, An Editor’s Eye points out that writers should charge a fair rate for their work, and provides some rate statistics.
Here are ten reasons why a professional writer can add value to your business:
1. They will take the time to do the job right.
Sure, maybe you can write well or somebody on your staff can write well. If writing is not your full-time career, do you really have the time to write what you need? A professional will make the time for your project.
If you let Joe from the accounting department write your copy, guess when the copy is going to get written? That’s right, it will get done after Joe finishes all of his accounting work. (Is Joe ever finished with his accounting work?)
2. They will use their skill and knowledge to your advantage.
Okay, maybe grammar and spelling are not your strongest areas. Maybe you were absent the day that they covered punctuation and capitalization at your school. You’re afraid the copy that you produce will make you look stupid.
With a professional writer, there’s no need to have these fears. A writer will clean up your copy and give it a polished, professional appearance.
3. They can help you target your writing for your intended audience.
Do you know who needs to read your copy? Let a writer help you find out.
Maybe you have a complex concept that you need to explain to the general public? A good writer can create copy that can be easily understood by anyone. Maybe you need to reach a specific group. A writer can help you hone in on the individuals that you need.
4. A professional writer can help you develop ideas.
You know what you need to have written, but you just can’t put it into words. You’ve started and stopped your writing project a dozen times, or more.
A writer can help you develop that idea and turn it into exactly the copy that you need.
5. They can help you avoid cliches and overworked angles and find a fresh way of describing your information.
Can you recognize if a copywriting angle has been used too often? Ideas and words that are used too often lose their effectiveness.
A writing professional can recognize overused and overworked ideas and help you find a fresh and unique slant for your specific needs. Don’t let yourself get stuck with the same old thing.
6. A writer provides a second set of eyes.
It’s easy to make a mistake when you are working alone. A professional writer is trained to look for mistakes and for sentences that can be misunderstood.
You don’t want mistakes in your copy. Even a single misplaced decimal point can hurt your business. There’s a big difference between $25.00 and $250.00!
7. A good writer can identify missing material.
You know what you want to say by heart. Maybe you know it too well. Maybe you’ve left something out.
Let’s say that you need copy that explains how to do something. If a step is missing from your material, a writer can point it out and correct it for you.
8. A good writer can suggest ways to streamline your writing process.
You’re trying to gather information “the old fashioned way,” but it seems that you are always behind. A good writer can suggest ways to streamline your copywriting process and help you stay ahead of the information flood.
9. A good writer can help you project a consistent image through your writing.
Does every document you produce look like it comes from a different source? Does your copy stand out from the rest?
A good writer can suggest a unique style that is right for your business. Having a unique voice in your writing can help you brand your business.
10. A good writer is familiar with all of the media available to communicate your ideas.
Do you want to produce printed copy for mail outs? Would online materials work best for you? Do you know?
With the variety of media available today, it’s easy to be confused about what’s best for your needs. A good writer can suggest the appropriate media for your needs.
A good writer may be just the edge that you need to stay ahead of your competition.
Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.
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About the Author: I am a successful freelance writer with 20 years of copy writing experience. I am available for consulting, business writing, copy writing, editing, technical writing, and web content writing. In addition, I have written an ebook, 
Walter Burek | Jun 21, 2007 | Reply
Well said, Laura!
Lillie Ammann | Jun 21, 2007 | Reply
Excellent points, Laura.
#1 is often overlooked, but one of the most important skills of a good manager is to focus on planning and growing a business and delegate the rest. Some of my clients are excllent writers, but they are slow. The time it would take them to write something could be better spent doing something more productive.
Laura | Jun 21, 2007 | Reply
Thanks Walter!
Lillie, you are so right. People are busy. If writing isn’t their job they usually don’t get around to it.
Yvonne Russell | Jun 21, 2007 | Reply
Every one of these points would be good to include in a “What I can do for you” services section of a writer’s promotion.
As a writer I also found this very affirming. Thanks Laura.
Laura | Jun 22, 2007 | Reply
Yvonne,
I’m really glad that you found this helpful. I have a feeling that I’ll be using this piece often.
Mihaela Lica | Jun 23, 2007 | Reply
Excellent!
Laura | Jun 25, 2007 | Reply
Thanks Mihaela!
Vivienne Quek | Jun 25, 2007 | Reply
Over the years, I have came across some clients who would not pay for a professional copywriter. They would simply asked us to edit the grammar. It was a challenging but necessary process to highlight that a make-over and a surgery yield different results. For clients who are willing, they somehow do not know how to brief a copywriter . And that prompted me to use another professional writer’s 24 questions as a guide. Let me know, in your professional opinions, whether more questions should be included to elicit better answers from a client.
I’m going to link this article to my post. Thanks for an insightful post.
Laura | Jun 25, 2007 | Reply
Vivienne Quek, I’m headed over to your blog to take a look at your piece.
Kristy | Apr 22, 2008 | Reply
Even if you are good on writing “killer content” or good web copy it doesn’t mean that you can do it the way you really want it to be. You do have a lot of ideas but then you can’t really put it into words just like the professionals. Having them around you will have a copy that is understandable by the readers and have the tone that is appropriate for the type of writing that you need.
Jim Bessey | Oct 21, 2008 | Reply
Great post, Laura.
Found you via Write to Done. You’re bookmarked now — good stuff!
~Jim
David Decker | Apr 30, 2009 | Reply
Hi — I sure hope that you can give me some advice. For the past two years
Ive been writting a book, and now it’s almost finished. Since I never did
this before, I have no idea who to send it to who to have it rewritten,
check mistakes, the cost, and so on.
Title - A book about life
It has five chaptures and will have around 250 pages
please heip me with this matter.
thank you
email deckerdavid52@yahoo.com
Candice | Jun 19, 2009 | Reply
Hi Laura,
I came across this post recently. Well said! I’ve reposted the article on my blog with credit to you and a link to Writing Thoughts. I hope that’s okay.
Cheers!
Laura Spencer | Jun 19, 2009 | Reply
Candice,
I’m glad you enjoyed the post. Thanks for asking permission.
Also, thanks for acknowledging my authorship. However, I would prefer that you not post the entire article on your blog. Instead, please post only the first few paragraphs with a link to my blog for the rest?
Thanks for your attention to this matter.
Paul Lesieur | Jun 27, 2009 | Reply
In regards to hiring a pro, I have been told my writing is fun because its obvious I’m not a pro. Thanks to the internet people like me who did not go to school can get an education on writing for fun or profit. I have been paid for articles and I have been hired to conduct a seminar in my area of expertise (home improvement),in part because I am able to get tips from pro writers.
Lesly Bazelais | Mar 20, 2010 | Reply
Hi,
I have collected materials from different sources which I tried to reword, but, I am a non English native speaker. Could you please give me an estimate for editing the attached? What will be the deadline?
If you need to visit the web site, please let me know and I will give you a username and password. You can contact me on my cell at 954 732 1162
Thank you
Laura Spencer | Mar 20, 2010 | Reply
Hi Lesly,
I am sending you an e-mail with a few questions.
Andrew | May 3, 2010 | Reply
I have a story. How do I engage your service of writing a book?
Andrew
Laura Spencer | May 3, 2010 | Reply
Andrew,
Contact me at laura@writingthoughts.com to receive a free custom proposal for your next writing project. (Be sure to put the phrase “writing project” in the subject line so that my spam filter doesn’t stop your message.)