Hire an Editor and a Writer for Your Website

The writer and editor work in tandem to give you high-quality B2B SaaS content writing. You should always hire an editor and a writer.

Most writers are good editors. Likewise, most editors are good writers. However, expecting a writer to edit their own work is asking for errors to creep into your copy. That’s why you should always hire and editor and a writer for your website.

Table of Contents

    The rise of content

    Content has become the main marketing strategy online. This is especially true for SaaS where long-term relationships are the best way to maximize income. However, most companies fail to hire an editor and a writer, and as such their content is of a lower quality, which can drag down their sales.

    Traditional copy (writing specifically for sales) is designed to convert visitors into sales today. Conversely, content (interesting and informative writing focusing on the needs of your target market) is about creating adoring fans who get value from what you write and want to come back again and again.

    Companies haven’t moved, and shouldn’t move, entirely from copy to content, but the majority of words found online can be classified as content. I say words, which is my focus here, but content also includes podcasts, videos, memes, and anything else that will drive engagement with your prospects.

    I’ll also be careful not to totally separate the words copy and content here because, as I’ll discuss more below, content writers and copywriters often do both jobs. In fact, it can be really hard to see where one role ends and the other begins.

    Content writers and copywriters are only the start

    Content writers and copywriters are only two of the roles found in most content marketing departments. There’s of course the content manager, who manages the department (or sub-department under the marketing manager), and the content strategist, who is planning the content map as well as drafting the content briefs. There’s also the copy editor, who does the QA check on the English. That’s one reason why you must always hire an editor and hire a writer.

    The content manager’s role is too often given to the marketing manager, while the content strategist’s jobs are often handed off to the content writers and copywriters. This is not an ideal situation, and it can often last even when startups grow to a large enough size to support both positions.

    The copy editor is indispensable

    Even worse is that most companies ignore an absolutely indispensable person—the copy editor. The copy editor is there for quality control, and without a skilled copy editor on the payroll, content will never rank as high on Google as it could.

    I say this full well knowing that I can’t afford to hire a copy editor for my personal blog—if you notice a typo please let me know! I’ve edited hundreds of millions of words and written hundreds of thousands professionally.

    I write about what I know. I write following very specific rules set out to guide writing for the web. Despite all that experience, I can firmly say I cannot edit my own work, and neither can you.

    There are secrets to make self-editing a bit less of a disaster and I use them all (look below for all the ones I know about), but it is still never going to be as good as hiring an editor.

    If you are selling a product, I promise you that many people consider poor writing, inconsistencies, and flat-out errors as red flags when shopping online. In fact, if I were a content manager with a tight budget, I’d push out the writing myself and hire an editor before investing in fancy tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush, before doing any PPC advertising, and before hiring a content strategist.

    First, let’s look at the five roles of content writer, copywriter, content strategist, content manager, and copy editor. Then, I’ll also compare them against each other to remove any confusion over who should be doing what.

    Finally, I’ll get into when and why you might need different roles filled, whether you should hire the positions in-house or rely on freelance, and offer some tips on how to self-edit your work (but, remember, it’ll never be as good as hiring an editor).

    What is a content writer?

    content writer is just that—someone who writes content for the Internet. The role is an offshoot of modern marketing strategies.

    Take marketing from the funnel to the flywheel

    Traditionally, marketing revolved around a funnel. At the top of the funnel, with a wide mouth, was all the people who would see your product. Most are not interested in the products, so they disappear, and the funnel grows narrower.

    Then, others are interested but maybe they don’t see the value or don’t like your offering, and there is a further narrowing of the funnel. Finally, the few people plop out the bottom of the funnel as your sales. This is a great way to get a sale, but it often leads to a negative customer experience and results in fewer sales in the long term.

    That’s why most modern companies now talk about the flywheel. A flywheel is a circular fan that catches the wind. The more wind that enters the flywheel, the faster it goes. In this perspective, the goal is to have people keep coming back to your site over and over. They are the wind that builds the momentum of the flywheel.

    Content beyond words

    You get people to your site by producing content that they like. Content can be podcasts, videos, memes, or writing, like this, which engages the viewer. The goal is to figure out what your audience—the people who would buy your product—like and then producing that content.

    Write content that provides value to your visitors

    Everything you produce brings value to your visitors so that eventually they use your services—and then use them again and again. Moreover, by turning visitors into your adoring fans, you build up advocates for your products.

    Those visitors will not only keep coming back to hire your services but also evangelize to their friends and colleagues. That word-of-mouth marketing becomes even more valuable than the content itself.

    Content writing is the core of modern marketing

    Content writing becomes the core of this work. It requires a certain skill and effort to take a buyer persona, understand what those prospective clients are looking for, and then provide accurate information that is simple and interesting.

    What is a copywriter?

    Copywriting is specifically writing for ads and sales. Copywriters know all the buzz words and secret tricks to get readers to press the “buy” button. This is everything from showcasing value to creating the feeling of a ticking clock on the offer.

    Email marketing

    One of the biggest segments of copywriting online today is writing emails. Sales emails come in a dozen varieties, and each requires a different voice to succeed.

    To produce a cold sales email that even one in twenty recipients will open is truly impressive. In addition to cold sales emails, where there is no previous communication, there are dozens of other sales email templates.

    If someone leaves their email address on your site, then the email they receive should be different from one after an abandoned shopping cart. If the prospect has requested a demo, you’ll want to give them different information than if they’ve just signed up the free trial but haven’t begun to use your platform.

    Drafting a perfect call to action

    The call to action (CTA) that you find throughout and at the bottom of most content is also ad copy. While content writers often also write CTAs in their posts, that’s really a different job. Sometimes the content manager or content strategist adds them in after.

    CTAs can be difficult, and it is really hard as a freelancer to actually know what is or is not converting. Personally, I have some clients who give me viewing privileges on Google Analytics. That can help me see whether my content writing is effective (e.g., it is competing in Google search engine results pages (SERPs)) as well as whether my copywriting is effective (e.g., low bounce rate and clicks are going to designated sales landing pages).

    What is a content strategist?

    A content strategist’s goal is to marry the desires of the business with those of the users, visitors, customers, etc. The company wants to increase their visitors, improve the targeting of the right visitors, and improve the conversion of visitors to leads, opportunities, sales, and users. The visitor wants to find value on the Internet.

    The content strategist is in charge of figuring out who the prospects are and what content they will find useful. The first step in this process involves developing a buyer persona. I’ve mentioned this once above, so let’s take a deeper look at them here.

    Develop your buyer persona(s)

    A buyer persona is a detailed, humanized description of your client base. If your clients are mostly young males in the tech industry, then you might name your buyer persona “Techy Tom”, make him a 30-year-old male, and give him a degree in software engineering.

    That’s a great start, but buyer personas should be as detailed as possible. If you know the shows this cohort likes, then you can start using those memes. Are they busy professionals who listen to podcasts during their morning run? Then, maybe a podcast is a good option.

    Go deep into a backstory as it will vastly improve your ability to target your content. Even if your potential customers are far more diverse, don’t just make a generic buyer person. It is better to have several specific buyer personas than one that is trying to be many things at once. You can even track the results for them separately.

    Once your content strategist has come up with a buyer persona, it is time for keyword search. This is the favorite job of every online marketer. Sorry, sarcasm doesn’t translate well to text—this is an incredibly difficult job.

    It is hard to know just how well your website can compete, what keywords are going to generate good traffic, how Google is going to judge your content, and everything else. That all leads to a lot of stress when it comes to generating new keywords.

    SEMrushAhrefs, etc. can help with giving you an idea of the difficulty of the keyword, how much traffic you can expect to find on that keyword, whether your competition values the keyword, and so on.

    Sometimes the most important part of keyword research is just providing realistic goals to your superiors. Not every keyword will rank, not every keyword will end up bringing in the targeted visitors, and not every keyword will keep visitors engaged on your site and clicking through to a sales page.

    Preparing content briefs and the content map

    The content strategist should also be writing content briefs. These are the article outlines given to content writers so that their writing matches the desired goals. Content strategists should also be checking the writing to confirm it is in line with the plan, there are necessary CTAs, and that any required interlinking with other content is done.

    Before that, the content strategist should create solid content map. The easiest way to do that is to use my content map templates.

    In a nutshell, the content strategist wants to confirm that the search engine optimization (SEO) aspects of the content are on point.

    Publishing the content

    The content strategist is also the person who will upload the content. The is usually done with a content management system (CMS). Personally, I have used ButterCMS and WordPress (which I am using here). They can be intimidating but are very simple in practice.

    Find the right channels—blogs, podcasts, and social media

    Finally, the content strategist should also be defining through which channels content should be distributed. This includes the blog, of course, but also social media. Generally, I post all of my content to LinkedIn as it is the single best channel I have found for client acquisition.

    If the company has a social media manager, they will be the ones to actually distribute the content, including writing the snippets to include with the links, but the content strategist should be defining where and when (which is at least as important) the content should drop on social media.

    What is a content manager?

    The content manager ensures that the content goes out to the right audience on schedule. Most companies large enough to have a content manager likely work with many freelancers, and it is the content manager who keeps them focused and meeting deadlines.

    Hire freelancers directly

    While most companies will end up using Scripted, Fiverr, Upwork, or some other content mill, I highly recommend against this. Content is too important to trust to the lowest bidder. The fact is, these companies keep most of the money that should be flowing to the actual content writer.

    That means you end up paying more for a writer who is incentivized to produce low-quality work! While it can be hard to find content writers directly, it is definitely worth it. Join a content writer group on LinkedIn and speak with a few of them. Start with a small, cheap 500- or 1000-word project and see how they go.

    The best part of hiring a content writer directly is that they will grow with you over time to embody the voice of the company. In the long run, you’ll get better content and the writer will be fairly compensated—that’s a win–win to me.

    Meetings and more meetings

    Along with managing the in-house (now mostly remote) and freelance team, the content manager has a lot of other administrative roles. In the office, they need to be a strong advocate for a continued content budget. It is their job to convince the marketing manager that content is king.

    Chase those KPIs

    They are also there to track key performance indicators (KPIs) using analytics software, first and foremost Google AnalyticsWoopra is another useful tool for this, especially if the marketing’s responsibility overlaps with the sales and success teams.

    Competition research

    While some companies lump it in with keyword research and content strategy, most would agree that competition research falls squarely on the content manager’s desk.

    Competition research is about finding your competitors, seeing their strengths and weaknesses, and compiling a list of the content that they are producing. This is the only way to produce content that directly competes with and beats the pages of your competition.

    If you competition is getting traffic from “topic A”, then you better also have a piece on “topic A”. Ideally, that piece will be longer, more interesting, more comprehensive, and better optimized to show up on Google.

    The content manager should be in charge of finding guest writer opportunities. They should also be focused on the company’s backlinking strategy. This includes PR strategies such as sending replying to queries on Help A B2B Writer.

    Given the nature of this work and its implication for SERPs, it is better for someone in management to perform the task. That’s because low-quality backlinks can actually be a detriment to the company.

    What is a copy editor?

    The copy editor is the quality controller of the entire operation. As an editor, I’ve edited work by native English speaking Harvard professors who still have typos. Some of them are even embarrassing.

    Typos matter

    If I had $1 for every time I had to change “asses” to “assess”, I’d have $126. That’s a necessary KPI in academic editing! Try not to write “it’s worth nothing” when you mean “it’s worth noting” either.

    While the content strategist should be confirming whether the content meets the brief—including any interlinking requirements and inclusion of CTAs—the editor is there to make sure the grammar, spelling, and punctuation are correct.

    Quality control

    The Internet has a lot of freedom in its writing conventions, but consistency is noticeable. The copy editor will make sure that the titles are or are not capitalized correctly. They can confirm that your company name is spelled correctly. (I had to do that today!)

    Voice management

    If your company has a general tone of voice—serious or friendly, technical or simple—the copy editor can make sure they match.

    Alternatively, if your company prefers “we” to “I”, then the copy editor can make any such changes as well as confirm the subject–verb agreement. (Note that you should always pick “I” because people are trusted more than companies.)

    If your company works with many freelancers but wants the byline of every article to be the CEO or Admin or Company Name, then the copy editor can make sure that all the articles sound like they are written by the same person.

    (Note that this called “ghost writing” and is usually more expensive as writers like credit for their work—and it is also valuable to them as it helps them find more work.)

    A smaller but necessary role

    While the copy editor job isn’t as involved as that of the copywriter or content writer, it is just as important. If you are selling something, you should be making sure the writing has been properly edited.

    Content writer vs. copywriter

    The content writer writes engaging articles designed to add value to your target population when they visit your site. The copywriter provides ad and sales text designed to get your visitors to perform some action. That action could be making a purchase or signing up for a demo or a newsletter.

    While the roles are distinct in theory, in practice they often overlap. As a content writer, I have been tasked with writing CTAs many times, as well as converting emails, sales-focused case studies, and more. I’ve also been hired with the title copywriter to mean content writer. I’ve even been hired with the title technical writer for the same.

    Since the jobs have become so intertwined, I too will use the terms interchangeably sometimes. Unless you are looking for a writer focused only on copy (for example, email marketing), I wouldn’t worry too much about whether their LinkedIn profile says copywriter or content editor. Chances are they do both.

    If you are looking to hire an agency, you should be a little more careful about which you choose. Copy agencies seems to be more reputable in general but also a lot more expensive.

    Content writer vs. copy editor 

    The writer writes and the editor edits. Most writers can edit and most editors can write, but neither should be left to edit their own writing. That’s how you get sentences like that one.

    While I am going to share my tips on being an okay self-editor, I don’t think you can expect much better than okay. If you don’t notice typos in this article, it is probably a sign that I wrote it years before you clicked on it and have since gone back and fixed things dozens of times. (Update: I’m on round 3 of that right now!)

    That’s okay here. This isn’t a monetized blog and I’m really just writing for personal enjoyment, although if it nets me some clients I won’t complain. On a website where you are looking for people to consider your product legitimate, typos will sink you. Yes, you should always hire an editor and a writer!

    Content writer vs. content strategist

    The content writer should really only be writing content. That means they should be receiving a detailed content brief and just writing based on that brief.

    A content brief should include the name of the article, the keyword, a meta description, all the section and subsection titles, the desired density of the keyword, any secondary keywords that should appear (e.g., long tail versions of the keyword), a link to the company’s style guide, any specific desired points to include, the CTAs, and links to any other post to which the content writer should link.

    The content strategist should be providing all of this to the content writer. They should also be finding the keywords, confirming that any competing content will be useful to the writer. Once the work is returned, they should do a quick review of the content before either returning it to the content writer if there are issues or sending it off to the editor.

    Content writer vs. content manager

    Just like above, the content writer should be performing a very specific and limited role. Their job is to take a content brief and turn it into engaging prose for the blog.

    The content manager should be doing two main tasks with regard to content writers. First, they should be interviewing and testing content writers and then making sure they are completing their work by the deadlines. Second, the content manager should be analyzing the impact of the content as well as tracking the related KPIs.

    Inside the office, the content manager is also responsible for fighting on behalf of the content team for their share of the budget. This is done by showing how much value they are providing and how much more they can provide.

    A good content manager should also set up new content to succeed. They do this by searching older, high-ranking blog posts for opportunities to insert links to new articles.

    Content strategist vs. content manager

    Many companies get by with the content manager also being the content strategist. Both are big jobs, but if the company has established their buyer persona and automated their impact tracking, then sometimes the job can be done well by a single person.

    When both roles exist in the department, then the content manager is responsible for competition research, which guides the keyword research done by the content strategist.

    The content manager does the administrative work, budgeting, and payroll functions. A department large enough to have both jobs likely has many content writers, too. The management of that personnel is also the content manager’s responsibility. That includes finding great freelancers on LinkedIn, vetting them with smaller projects, and then making sure they keep to a schedule.

    One of the most important things I have found as a content writer and content strategist in a content manager is coaching. The content manager should be coaching through meetings, emails, and comments on writing about how the writing is going and how best to develop the company’s voice.

    Just because a writer is freelance doesn’t mean they are disposable or that coaching and/or training is a sunk cost. These long relationships are absolutely mutually beneficial.

    Copy editing vs. copywriting

    Once the writing has finished and the content approved, the editing begins. While editing is less involved than writing, it is a necessary part of a successful content strategy and shouldn’t be rushed. Again, you should always hire an editor and a writer!

    My background is in academic publishing, which is uncommon for content writers, strategists, and managers. I have found that content strategists and managers often get left with the editing duties.

    That’s okay for a small company, but it isn’t ideal for a more productive content marketing department. Writing on averages takes me six times longer than editing. That means that, if you have six full-time writers on staff or are hiring out approximately 70,000 words of content to freelancers weekly, then you need one full-time copy editor on staff.

    If you do the math, you can see just how much of a time sink editing can be if you leave it to your content manager or strategist. Keep in mind that this is editing for native English speakers. If you are using a content mill like Scripted or Upwork, then you can expect it to take much longer to finish editing (and you’ll probably want to search for evidence of plagiarism too sadly).

    What happens when your marketing manager does not provide the budget for editing? In that case, the editing falls to the content manager or strategist. They quickly get overwhelmed and do a poor job. That leads to reduced rankings on Google due to SEO penalties and fewer sales. Management then reduces the content budget further as they don’t see it as valuable, which leads to employee churn.

    Content editing vs. line editing

    Content editing is making sure that the material covered is in line with the desires of the content strategist. This is basically making sure that the answer to the question “does this fit into our content strategy?” is yes.

    Line editing is making sure that the grammar, spelling, and punctuation is correct. Line editing also includes making sure that the writing has good flow, is readable, and meets the style guide.

    Content editing should largely be done in-house by the content strategist or content manager. Line editing can be done in-house or outsourced to a freelancer.

    Keep in mind that many of the large editing firms can charge more for copy editing than most freelancers charge for content writing! In this case as well, it is best to go in search of a copy editor on LinkedIn. There are loads of useful groups where copy editors will be eager to apply for any work.

    Do I need a content writer?

    If you are producing content, then you need a content writer. Whether you need a dedicated content writer comes down to how much content you aim to produce. Based on my experience, if the entire content department is the content manager, then you can expect about 3000 words per week of unedited content. If there is also a content strategist, then you can expect 7500 words per week of content that is edited. If your content goals are higher than that, then you need to consider hiring content writers.

    Do I need a content strategist?

    If I were tasked with creating the budget of a content department, a content strategist would either be my first hire (instead of a content manager) or not hired until the content writer and content editor pool is too large to manage without a second person.

    Keyword research is time consuming, and it becomes more time consuming every week. That’s because it is easy to come up with the first 100 topics that add value to your customer based. The next 100 takes twice as long. By the time you have 1000 articles on your blog, keyword research can be the most time-consuming task in the entire marketing department.

    The next most time-consuming task is writing content briefs. A good content brief is the best insurance against poor writing. I’ve worked for an overworked marketing manager before. That’s a recipe for outsourcing this task to the content writer.

    I’d like to think I did a good job, but I don’t have access to all the company’s key information, so there is no way the content was as well targeted as if a content strategist wrote the brief.

    You need a content strategist if you are aiming to generate a lot of content (>20,000 words/week). In addition, you need a content strategist if your company is long established and the easy keywords have all been covered. Finally, you need a content strategist if your business niche is competitive and specialized SEO tactics are mandatory.

    Do I need a content manager?

    The content manager should be the first person in the content marketing department. However, if the department is small, then the marketing manager might have more direct control over it. In that case, a content strategist would suffice.

    However, once content writers, copy editors, and copywriters enter the scene, there needs to be a content manager. If your company is serious about content marketing, then it should find a content manager to nurture the department.

    Do I need a copy editor?

    All writing should be edited. All writing by a profit-seeking enterprise must be edited. It is shocking that so many people find this idea controversial. If there is someone in-house capable of editing a small workload, then you probably do not need a dedicated editor.

    However, editing is a skill, and professional editors will make more and better changes than a random person in-house who happens to be a native English speaker. If you have a talented writer who makes very few mistakes, this might not matter.

    From a budgeting standpoint, consider the sunk cost in having someone do the editing. I offer editing services along with writing services, and they have proven valuable to many companies.

    For example, one of my client companies is predominantly made up of non-native English speakers. The only native English speaker in the company is the CEO. They quickly agreed that it would be better to purchase the writing + editing package from me to save the CEO from spending 4–8 hours per week doing low-grade work.

    Do I need a copywriter?

    While the roles of copywriters and content writers often overlap, there are times where it is worth paying the extra money for a copywriter. I work predominantly on content not copy, but I have drafted dozens of CTAs, written cold emails, etc.

    If the workload is more than 30% copy, you should consider a copywriter or going to a copywriting agency. They are more expensive, but sales copy is so important that, in that case, I would recommend paying extra to have the copy written by a copywriter.

    Otherwise, you should feel free to have your content writer(s) do some copywriting. You could even leave it to your content strategist if they are not too overworked doing keyword research and writing content briefs.

    Do I need a content writer and a copy editor?

    The point at which you need a content writer comes before the point when a copy editor becomes necessary. You should always have the writing and editing tasks separated, but you do not need to outsource both jobs or hire a content writer and a copy editor in-house.

    As a general rule, six full-time content writers produce enough text to keep one full-time copy editor busy.

    How should I hire a content writer?

    If you are sure that your current content strategy will continue for at least six months, then I would consider hiring a content writer in-house. Then, in six months, if you no longer need a full-time content writer, your content writer should have enough company knowledge and new skills to transition into a different job within the marketing department.

    If you are not sure about your budget in the next quarter or month, then freelance content writers are a safer bet. Keep in mind that freelancers will likely cost you two to three times as much per word. However, there are no hidden costs to hiring a freelancer—at least if you find them directly.

    I recommend that you always hire freelancers directly. There are many great content writer groups on LinkedIn. Don’t be afraid to cold message a freelancer—we love it!

    How should I hire a copy editor?

    While there are good reasons to train content writers in-house, copy editors should almost always be left to a freelance role. If you can find multiple writer/editors, then there is good value in having a team of content producers who edit each other’s work.

    The tempo of editing work is often feast or famine. The content manager and content strategist try to do as much editing as possible, but then they get busy with more important tasks. That doesn’t mean the writers stop writing though, and soon there is a backlog of editing. Having a group of four or five skilled editors means that you can send out a lot of work all at once and then save money doing it in-house during slower times.

    This flexibility is worth the extra cost of freelancers. Again, there are many great copy editor groups on LinkedIn. They also charge way less than the agencies. That’s because editing agencies keep up to 95% of the amount they charge for editing services!

    Even if you pay 20% the listed agency price, the editor will make four times the amount per word than they would at an agency. That big payday is a huge incentive to do a great job with a short turnaround time.

    Freelance vs. in-house

    Freelance is a fees-for-service arrangement. You pay a person per project for work, and they complete it. In-house employees are hired on by a company and have all the protections afforded to employees. The question of freelance vs. in-house is a common debate for some jobs. Writing and editing are commonly done under freelance contracts.

    Let’s take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of both freelance and in-house work arrangements. Whichever you choose, be sure to hire an editor and a writer!

    Freelance pros

    Freelance hiring is flexible. You can shift up the workload during busy times and then reduce it during slow times. That’s the major benefit of freelance workers. You can also often get discounts on first projects, as well as discounts on larger products or guaranteed workflows.

    Freelance cons

    Freelancers can be less reliable. An in-house worker will be more inclined to finish projects by deadlines. I personally take care to meet all deadlines, but that’s not the case for everyone. Going through freelancing websites means that third parties take a huge chunk of your budget. That means the freelancer is probably underpaid and incentivized to produce substandard work.

    In-house pros

    While I encourage management to treat freelancers as part of the team and offer them the same coaching as in-house team members, this is rarely the case. Therefore, in-house employees are likely to be better trained. They also feel some pride in the business and want it to succeed. That means they are going to work above and beyond for the benefit of the company.

    In-house cons

    Every country has its own regulatory environment. That makes it more difficult to expand an in-house employee search globally. The hidden costs from retirement matches and benefits to carrying salaries during slow periods can also add up. Combined, these issues often make it harder to justify hiring some positions in-house. It can also mean that star freelancers are unlikely to be interested in taking on a role within a company since they can make more than double the amount working as freelancers.

    Who should I hire in-house?

    A content manager should definitely be a full-time employee. While I have done content strategy work in a freelance role, I’d recommend it be brought in-house too. Larger companies should consider bringing at least some content writers in-house.

    This is especially the case if the writing work is varied. If you expect your writers to work on emails, educational materials for subscribers, content for the blog, ad copy, employee bulletins, and so on, then you need an in-house writer.

    Who should I hire freelance?

    For the most part, good content writers enjoy freelance work. That’s a good argument to keep them in a freelance position. If you have five full-time equivalent writers, four can be freelance for the flexibility, while the fifth could be in-house to do the more varied work.

    Copy editing can largely be done by freelancers or other internal employees during slow periods. It is important work, but the ups and downs in the amount of work to be done make it the ideal job to outsource to freelancers.

    Can I edit my own writing?

    No, but let me tell you how to anyways! The brain finds it difficult to find errors in the words you’ve written. That’s because it just fills in the errors and sees what it wants to. The trick to editing your own writing to even a semi-passable standard is to trick the brain into thinking that it isn’t your writing. I do that by changing it in four ways.

    First, I switch from dark mode to light mode. Since I wrote white on black, the black on white looks different and I can catch some errors.

    Second, I switch from Word to another program. Editing in Google Docs changes the location of the text and makes me more inclined to edit it correctly. Hemingway Editor is helpful too.

    Third, I change the font. I wrote in Calibri because I am boring and that’s the default. I edit in another font (Ariel, Palatino Linotype, Times New Roman, and Helvetica seem to be the most recent ones). That way the text looks different.

    Fourth, I change the day. While I won’t wait five days to post an article, I do revisit it five days later and give it a new read. Often the act of posting it reveals all the problems. I don’t know if that’s an anxiety thing or what, but it works!

    There you have it! Those are my tricks to edit your own work. In my experience, each one will help me catch a few more errors. By the end, I usually see that an editor has found a couple more errors. That’s not bad, but it isn’t perfect.

    If you find more errors, it means I haven’t done any of this yet! All of this is to say that you should always hire an editor and a writer.

    You always need to hire an editor and a writer

    Writers can be editors and editors can be writers, but they can’t be both at the same time. Not everyone has the budget to hire professional editing. I don’t here, but if you are trying to generate sales, then you need to hire and editor and a writer.

    Timothy Ware
    Timothy Ware

    Tim is a seasoned B2B SaaS content strategist. He brings his love of all things business to his writing. When he isn’t helping companies with their inbound marketing, you can find him playing one of his newest board games with friends and family.