How to Hire a Best of Breed Cybersecurity Content Writer
If you are looking to hire a cyber security content writer in 2023 or 2024, you need to find someone with a specific list of skills.
Note: this article originally appeared on our Linkedin page.
When we look at hiring freelancers to help with client work, we divide these skills into three content writer service levels
Level 1. Writing well to a brief
You give a writer a specific brief, and they deliver an article that hits the points you want to cover. They are also there to do a reasonable amount of edits.
This writer:
Can interview SMEs with questions you provide.
Should provide error-free copy that is factually correct.
A writer at this level is worth around $0.25 - $0.40 per word.
Level 2. Creating new insights and driving product-led content
A cybersecurity content writer at this level can write without a brief or outline provided by you. They can develop their own outlines based on specific goals (i.e., write an article that ranks for a keyword and matches a certain intent or promotes a webinar).
This writer:
Understands market trends.
Is able to do their own research.
Can manage SME interviews themselves.
Pitches you ideas for how your solution fits current buyer challenges.
Understands the space well enough to link together different tech.
You should be prepared to pay around $0.50 - $0.80 per word or an hourly rate of $70 (based on a time of 10 hours for a 1000-word blog post) for a person or agency who can do the above.
Level 3. Developing content that helps you achieve business goals
This is where real value happens, but it's more of a blur between a cybersecurity content writer and a content manager.
This person:
Finds opportunities for interlinking content clusters.
Thinks about CRO and developing funnels that make sense.
Looks at your content in relation to your competitors and their performance.
Can repurpose content and find opportunities for distribution, i.e., a guest post on a website or magazine.
These skills have a going rate of at least $1 per word/ $100/hr++. They are also extremely hard to find in a single freelancer and are what agencies like ours specialize in delivering.
AI vs Human Cybersecurity Content Writing
If you are considering hiring a cybersecurity content writer versus using AI, know this.
AI is great for generic top-of-the-funnel (TOF) content.
But since everyone started generating lots of the same content, and Google switched its ranking system in response (and is trying to get this traffic through SGE), generic TOF content will not cut it anymore.
Unless you are IBM, Microsoft, or some other household name (or writing about bleeding edge tech or threat reports), no one is going to your site for generic "what is x technology" answers.
Google isn't showing your top-of-the-funnel pages to searchers as much as they used to.
For generic top-of-the-funnel content, use AI alongside a human writer/editor.
For MOF and BOF product-led and technical content, use a cybersecurity content writer.
Google’s helpful content update killed top-of-the-funnel content SEO for anyone who isn't a top brand.
But one place you can win with cybersecurity content is in the middle of the funnel (MOF) and bottom of the funnel (BOF) content.
To create MOF and BOF content, you need a cybersecurity content writer.
Specifically, you need a person or content agency to understand market trends, capture your buyer's attention, and weave your product into a solution-orientated content asset.
Where to find a cybersecurity content writer
Aside from posting a job advertisement on your website, you can look for a cybersecurity content writer in five places:
Your network. 82% of B2B decision-makers say that the buying process should involve a referral. Ask your colleagues, email list, LinkedIn connections etc., for recommendations.
Marketplaces like Upwork and Fiverr. These are actually not great places to hire someone. High competition and a pay-to-play model means that your chances of finding a talented individual who can perform at any of the abovementioned levels is low.
Reddit. The Reddit forum r/hireawriter is a great place to find entry-level writing talent at reasonable rates. We've had success here in the past.
The open web. Search for "cybersecurity content writer" on Google, but be wary. Even if someone shows up in a top position, their ability to deliver across the three levels mentioned above is not guaranteed. It just means their web pages' SEO meets your search intent. You still need to assess their skills carefully.
A content mill. Websites that offer content in bulk at a fixed per-word or monthly price. In our experience, these are to be avoided at all costs and are essentially redundant in the age of AI.
Hiring a Cybersecurity Content Agency
If you have the budget, content agencies are the way to go. Boutique agencies focusing on cybersecurity content creation can provide you with an end-to-end cybersecurity content marketing package that spans the three writer service levels outlined above.
One agency you should consider is Content Visit.
Content Visit helps highly technical businesses in the security space plan and create content by combining expert interviews with original research and aiming for measurable results.
We work best with companies with a small internal marketing team already (this could be one person) and are keen to link content to business metrics like SEO visibility and rankings or conversions.
You lean on us to take over the entire content channel as a fractional asset or plug us into your marketing team to scale content production.
Written by Laura Martisiute