At this point, everyone that owns a website or a blog recognizes the truth behind the motto, “Content is King.”

You can have the best SEO strategy in the world, the ultimate website theme and the coolest ideas - but unless you can produce consistent, valuable content - you might as well pack up and go home.

If you’re not a writer yourself, then it’s critical that you find a good web content provider.

Good Content is Timely and Updated

The nature of the Internet is changing rapidly. Half a decade ago, webmasters could get by just putting together a well-optimized website consisting of a few interesting pages, and it would actually perform pretty well in the search engines and in terms of overall traffic, even over the long term.

However, these days it’s all about being current, timely and updated. People don’t want to read about information that was written back in the 1990s. The Internet is fast becoming a place where information is constantly updated, and it’s updated fast.

Just like a Facebook or Twitter status - information is current for a day. You’re on top after a new article is published on your site for about 24 hours.

If you don’t publish anything else, on your site, then you better hope that you don’t have any competition. Because that’s the only time that you’ll remain on top - if you’re the only relevant website with valuable content about a topic.

Characteristics of an Excellent Web Content Provider

This doesn’t mean that you have to kill yourself writing ten blog entries a day, but it does mean that your website should somehow get updated in some way just about every day. This may be an updated sidebar, new images, or a new blog entry.

New content will almost always generate new visitors, so if you invest in hiring a web content provider, then you’re well on your way to achieving a significant advantage from making such an investment. But what kind of writer do you invest in?

Whether you advertise on Monster.com, Craigslist or on Problogger, the following list will help you identify a blogger or writer that will lead your website to success.

• Dependable - The writer can assure you that he or she has the time to consistently submit the number of posts that you need every week. Consistency is key or you’ll always find yourself left short.
• High Quality - I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, you get what you pay for. If you want to pay some dude sitting in a cube in India that can barely speak English $2 an article, well guess what…your site is going to come across like it’s a worthless dump. Your bounce rate will be nearly 100 percent and no one will ever link to your site. Offer fair pay and you’ll get high quality writers. Avoid all applicants that can’t even spell correctly in their emails to you.
• Intelligent - You can tell in emails alone whether a person is intelligent. How is their grammar? Do they write fluently and using intelligent wordage? There are a lot of clues in writing applicant emails that will tell you how well they write and whether they’ll produce thoughtful and high quality content for your site.

If you pay close attention to those three characteristics, you’ll identify a high quality writer. Offer fair pay, and simply ask for the number of articles a week that you know you can afford. In time, your site will start earning more as the traffic starts to climb.

Be fair and increase the writer’s payscale - this will lead to greater loyalty and even better quality.

Remember, these days, owning a website isn’t about churning out garbage just to have something new published on the site - it’s about producing the highest quality content using the most intelligent web content provider you can find.

Trust me - the investment will pay off in the end. You’ll have a site that your visitors will enjoy and return to, and you’ll have a website you can actually be proud of.

*****

Ryan is a technology writer and investigative blogger. He has been working as an online writer for numerous clients for over 5 years, and now consults webmasters and blog owners about effective SEO optimization. Ryan has 53 post(s) at Free Writing Center