In life, there are always going to be some bumps in the road. And, for us in content, we’ve seen our share of ups and downs…

But you know what?

This is also one of the most exciting times in the content space. And, I’m so excited to come back into your inboxes today.

I’ve spent a ton of time lately, with my head down, working on our content sites and digging into the articles we’ve already published. I love getting my hands in the dirt, so to speak.

There is so much in our industry that we can’t control (Google updates, for example) but we can always control the quality of our content.

This quarter, I’ve really encouraged my team to lean into the fundamentals with renewed discipline. That means sticking to what we’re good at — hiring subject matter experts, creating valuable, helpful content written for fellow enthusiasts, and improving the content we’ve already created.

It takes a lot of discipline to focus on the fundamentals.

We, as creatives, always want to do more. We want to build. We want to test. We love shiny objects.

I’ve been distracted by side projects and ideas I want to test over the years.

And, yes, I still give myself some time to play around with some fun, test projects, but this is often not where the real growth comes from.

Growth comes from consistently doing the things we know to do.

It doesn’t matter if you are building a freelance career, or building a portfolio of sites of your own. The magic is in the fundamentals. That’s where so many of us lose focus.

If something is working, double down. Then, double down again. Put your energy into what works.

I’m still surprised how many people don’t get the fundamentals right. This is why I’m going to share some thoughts and insights about hiring writers or getting hired as a writer, or subject matter expert. There are still a lot of people that don’t do the bare minimum here, and I want to help!

If you are looking to build your team, or want to find some new opportunities out there, you’re going to want to keep reading.

I’ll also share some great resources, my fave tweets (yes, Twitter is still a valuable platform) and discuss the things on my mind.

Thousands of Job Applications Later

Over the past few months, I have seen a huge increase in applications we get for new writing roles. We really like to narrow down and target our writers, and even though the roles I’ve been hiring have been super specific, I have seen a flood of applicants.

But, it’s not all good news if you are looking or hiring.

When I posted a commercial coffee equipment writing role, we got a ton of responses, but it was still really tough to find the right writers for this role.

Here are the numbers:

• I posted the job 2x on Linkedin for a total of 5 days, and spent about 150.00 to promote that role there.

• I also posted on the Superpath job board (I am a Superpath Pro member, so I get to post boosted jobs for free. It’s 500.00 a year to join).

• We have received 150 applications for this role so far.

• Out of the 150 applications, we reached out to five people who had relevant experience. That is 6% of applicants.

• Out of those five people who applied, only two writers had everything we were looking for. We actually had to do some recruiting for this role (which means I had to hunt down subject matter experts that didn’t apply).

• A couple of writers with the right experience in this field didn’t have any updated or relevant writing samples to share.

What can we learn from this?

1. Most writers don’t personalize their applications. We ask candidates to tell us why they love this niche and got a ton of really vague answers to this question, like “I love writing about coffee” or “I love writing” or “I can write about any niche” or “it’s an exciting niche” — very vague and generic.

2. Watch out for buzzwords that don’t really sell you. There are a ton of really talented freelance writers out there that think we want to hire someone who knows SEO. SEO content or SEO-optimized has really become one of those buzzwords to avoid — if you are still selling yourself this way, stop.

3. Too many writing samples are generic. I hate to say this, but I have seen some really awful writing samples. Today’s writers have to, at a minimum, need to write something better than an article I could create in five minutes with AI. The bar for quality content has changed over the past few years. If you don’t have samples that you are proud of, don’t share.

4. Not enough writers choose a niche. There are still a ton of generalists out there.

5. If you are hiring writers, you still might have to dig deeper to find the real experts amongst the generalists. That’s why we still spend a lot of time recruiting. I don’t just want to hire writers who can write; they need niche experience and expertise.

6. If you are a writer that has a dedicated niche, you will stand out amongst the applications. Relevant writing samples will put you in the top 10% of applicants. You’ll be in the top 1% of the applicants if you can further demonstrate your experience and passion + send in a customized, tailored application.

There is so much noise about AI-created content out there. And, for good reason. AI technology is getting better at creating outputs every day. And, unlike a human creator, AI will always give you an output. I’ve been testing a lot of AI tools in recent months and have been surprised at the quality of the outputs.

But AI cannot do a lot of things that a real subject matter expert can do. AI can’t share personal experiences, or share anecdotes that back up a strong opinion. AI cannot fully produce a piece of content with all the little innuendos, insights and quirks that make a piece of content stand out.

My team still hires a ton of humans to create content. If you are struggling to find your next opportunity, I hope these tips are helpful.

Some Things to Read and Ponder

Here are some dig-in resources that I hope you’ll love!

First, the talented Faith Uzuebu created this great guide on how to become a content creator in 2023. I love her advice on choosing a niche — couldn’t agree more!

Next, is a clever piece I recently shared with my team on BBQ content — what is that? I love thinking about content this way. If you are concerned about the massive amounts of mediocre, AI-generated, SEO content that is flooding our world, this piece is worth a read!

Next is a short piece on building a collection of voices and personalities to bolster your brand from the oh-so-smart icon of content marketing, Robert Rose. If you want to stand out in the crowd, have a voice and bring that personality!

My Favorite Tweets

This thread from Tony Hill could be a playbook on how to improve a site that’s been hit by a core update. Some great tips if you are willing to do the work. I love that they decided not to publish new content but to improve and optimize the content they already had — again, the magic is in the fundamentals.

If you want to build your personality authority, doing some talks could be great. I love these tips from Aleyda Sollis on how to pitch your next talk!

My friend Michaela Mendes asks a great question for newbie freelancers, and there are some amazing responses!

That’s it from me this time. I’m hoping to create and send this newsletter out on a more frequent basis, but I would really love to hear from you on some of the topics you’d love for me to cover here.

I can nerd out about content sites, building content teams, anything to do with content marketing, or just the freelance world. I am also busy building out some resources for Content Forward, our content marketing site.

Let me know what you want me to dig into, and hopefully, I can feature it in a future issue!

All the best, Amy

Some Bonus Newsletters You’ll Love

If you really want to get into the weeds on these topics, here are a couple of newsletters to subscribe to.