Before I started calling myself a ghostwriter, I was a full-time ghostblogger (though I didn’t call myself that either).
I wrote blogs for everyone from a charter yacht company, to a flower wholesaler, to a language translation company, to real estate agents, to sales coaches, to a company that rented high-end porta johns (I’m not even kidding).
Niche? What’s a niche?
Writing for such a wide variety of companies gave me a unique window into the business world and taught me many valuable lessons — both about how to run my business and about creating content.
I loved writing blog articles and I still do. But now, as I begin to build my own “writing department,” I’m being invited to think harder about my process.
To be clear, I’ve always had a ghostblogging process. It just hasn’t always been easy for me to talk about. Sure, I could talk with prospects and clients about how my ghostblogging service works, but that’s a different conversation from having to teach someone else my process and explain why I do things the way I do, which is where my head has been lately.
So, I wanted to share my process here publicly to gain even more clarity and to give you a glimpse into how we work.
What is Ghostblogging?
In case you’re unfamiliar with the idea and haven’t gotten the full picture from the context above, a ghostblogger is a writer who is hired by someone else to create blog articles. The articles are then posted on the blog of the person or company who paid for them, rather than under the name of the person who wrote them.
It happens all the time in the content marketing world. Because all companies, regardless of their size or industry, need to publish fresh content in the form of professional articles, blog posts, videos, social media posts, ads, etc. it’s common to outsource content creation.
In fact, this form of ghostwriting or content creation happens so regularly within marketing departments that it’s not even thought of as ghostwriting or ghostblogging. It’s just marketing.
How Does it Work?
Every ghostblogger has their own process, so obviously, I can’t speak for others. I can only tell you how my process works. And while I’m about to explain how my current process works, it has evolved over the years and I won’t be surprised if it evolves further.
The first thing to know is that The Pocket PhD’s ghostblogging package includes two blog articles per month (along with 12 corresponding LinkedIn posts and a newsletter).
Here’s how we deliver for our clients:
- Once we decide to work together, my team and I meet with the client to brainstorm blog topics.
- In 30 minutes or less, we come up with 12 blog topics, which gives us six months of ideas to work with.
- From here, we decide on what order makes sense and we have our content calendar all set.
- Each month, the client fills out the blog information template for two blog articles.
- My team and I write and deliver your blog articles.
- We repeat the blog topic brainstorming process every six months.
Here’s why it works:
It’s a simple process that continues to serve our clients and our team well because it accomplishes two key goals:
- Asking clients the right questions and prompting them to think about their content in a way that…
- Gives us the information we need to write great content in their voice.
In addition to getting great results with the blog articles we write, when clients think through their blog topics and blog ideas with us, something magical happens. They start to have more and better ideas.
The clarity that comes from taking the time to think about long form content, whether you’re writing it yourself or using a ghostblogger, is really unmatched. So if you’re on the fence about whether blogging would be beneficial for your business, ask yourself whether you would benefit from having more, clearer ideas. From where I’m sitting, it’s a no-brainer.
And the star of my process is really the blog information template, which asks three main questions:
- What’s your angle/opinion on this topic?
- What are the key 3-5 bullet points your audience needs to know?
- What is the call-to-action for this article? (i.e., what action do you want your audience to take?)
Here’s a little secret: All the blog articles I write follow this basic formula (with some variation).
So there you have it. If you have a blog and have been curious about ghostblogging, I hope this article answers some of your questions. And if you’ve been curious about starting a blog, but can’t imagine finding the time, ghostblogging might be the answer you’ve been looking for.
Want to talk about your ghostblogging and content marketing needs? Contact us today and let’s find some time to chat!
Photo credit: https://www.123rf.com/profile_jomkwan7