Here's something you may not have asked yourself lately: How much time am I spending 
researching my blog?
If you still write your own blogs, there actually isn't a “good” answer to this question. If you're spending a lot of hours on research, it's great for your blog – but it probably means you could be spending that time more profitably on your own business instead. On the other hand, if you aren't taking the time to keep up with current online trends in your market, you're going to fall behind. Quickly.
Whichever camp you're in, outsourcing blog writing can do wonders for your content marketing. Professional bloggers don't have the same conflicts on their time schedules – staying current with SEO and content marketing trends is already their job!
Outsourcing Blog Writing: Doing The Leg Work You Can't
It's easy to look at outsourcing blog writing solely in terms of the end product: the content you receive. Outsourced bloggers bring you more benefits beyond that, and the time you can reclaim is chief among them.
That's not to say your content marketing will become hands-free, nor should it be. However, the amount of time you have to dedicate to it can be slashed. That's more time to dedicate to your core business, to your other employees, or just to yourself.
Doing research on current trends in inbound marketing and in your industry is just part of the job for an outsourced blog writer. Especially when you give them specific instructions on groups to target or key products to promote, they'll be doing online research to discover what they need to know.
Outsourcing Blog Writing Gives You a New Link To Your Customers
When your bloggers are specifically targeting a market group, they frequently do some research into that markets' views: blogs on the subject, message boards, social media, and soforth. That makes them in effect your man-on-the-street front line as well.
In practice, your bloggers may be the first to see potential ideas for your products, straight from the people using them. Customers generally complain and speculate among themselves far more often than they ever tell you about it. Plucking ideas straight from the user forums that are practical is a real coup – you look like a hero for listening to your customers, and they receive a new product or service that they eagerly buy.
Look into offering incentives to your bloggers, perhaps prizes on the side, for noticing new trends and reporting them for investigation. There's no easier way to stay ahead of the crowd than to simply be the first to give a market what it's openly saying it wants!
Blog writers can be a powerful intelligence source, as long as it's kept as a sideline and doesn't 
overshadow their content work.
Stay At The Front Of The Pack
To quote a long-time favorite movie of mine, “It's not about who has the most bullets. It's about who controls the information.” The Internet is an unfathomably vast sea of raw data just waiting to be sifted, sorted, and reorganized into patterns and trends that point towards marketing success. Outsourcing blog writing brings new eyes to your content marketing, and hands-on research from people who specialize in uncovering online knowledge.
Give yourself the gift of time, and give your blog writing the boost you've been seeking. Outsourced bloggers are an investment that pay off quickly in terms of higher pageviews, greater social shares, and more engagement from your visitors.
In the meantime, anyone disagree? I know there are still some staunch advocates for handcrafted blogs out there. Does it bring you better returns on your time investment?
image 1: http://pixabay.com/en/icon-orange-speech-bubble-follow-49004/
image 2: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nomadic_lass/5416543588/
