Is buying pre-written articles for content marketing worth it? With the adoption of content marketing by brands from all industries has been steadily increasing in the past few years. In 2018, 57 percent of B2C marketers were planning to increase their content marketing spending in the following 12 months.

The most commonly used type of content – after videos and whitepapers – is blog posts, used by more than 80 percent of marketers. That’s a lot of companies buying articles to meet content demand.

Many of these articles are pre-written, which can benefit businesses that are looking to jumpstart content campaigns or cover gaps in their content calendar. But is buying ready-made content a long-term, viable option?

In this article, we’ll look at buying pre-written articles for content marketing, and offer several tips on making the most out of ready-made content.

The Benefits of Pre-Written Articles

Many companies rely on custom-created content for all their content needs, but there are some advantages to buying pre-written articles. Here are some of the benefits:

Less Waiting Time 

Many content marketing platforms provide a database of already-written articles waiting to be bought. You can simply browse the catalog without needing to create a content brief or search for a writer. This means you can quickly find an appropriate article, buy it, and publish it immediately.

See Samples 

As these articles are already written, you often get to see a sample of the content, so you can make sure the writing suits your brand’s style.

Find Evergreen Content 

Many pre-written articles have a longer shelf life, as they tend to focus on more general topics. As these types of articles remain relevant for longer, you can add them to your website without worrying about them becoming obsolete.

Repurpose Longer Articles 

You can give a quick boost to your content marketing efforts by buying one in-depth article and then repurposing it. Turn it into several different content formats and then share the supporting content pieces across appropriate online channels.

Related Reading: 15 Creative Ways to Repurpose Your Content

The Drawbacks of Pre-Written Articles

Buying pre-written articles can help you fill your content calendar more quickly, but there are some potential disadvantages:

Less Targeted 

Pre-written content wasn’t created specifically for your business, so it’s unlikely to speak directly to your target audience. This means you’ll need to have them rewritten by staff or a freelance writer to make them more brand-specific.

Less SEO Focus 

There are SEO benefits from publishing pre-written content, but it will be less likely to be custom-created content. To maximize your online visibility, you need content that is optimized specifically for your business and aligned with customer-focused search engine queries. In reality, you’ll need to add links and appropriate keywords to pre-written articles to make them more valuable in terms of SEO.

Time Consuming 

While pre-written articles do save time, there is the potential of having to reread and modify the article to your particular focus and liking. 

Related Reading: Content Optimization: How to Optimize Content for SEO

Outdated 

Pre-written content is created to meet potential demand, so they’re often weeks or months old. As a result, you’ll find it more difficult to find articles that focus on trending topics and news stories.

Tips on Buying Pre-Written Articles

Choose a Quality Content Delivery Service

There are a lot of online platforms selling pre-written content, but only a few sources have high standards when it comes to content quality. If you’re going to buy content from sources offering the lowest prices, it’s unlikely to be quality content. Usually, you’ll end up buying articles from writers who just rewrite existing articles, or who aren’t completely fluent in the English language.

All articles for sale on Constant Content have been submitted to plagiarism detection tool Copyscape and checked by our team of editors for originality and quality.

Aim for Consistency 

It’s important to have a consistent brand voice, but this can be hard to maintain if you’re buying articles from different writers. Try to choose articles that are similar in tone, or that match the style you’re looking for. When possible, take the time to make small edits to pre-written content to suit your brand’s tone of voice and personality.

Develop an Editorial Calendar 

Publishing a diverse range of content is key to engaging different sections of your audience. This is why creating and maintaining an editorial calendar is so important.

With an editorial calendar, you can: 

• Plan your content schedule for months in advance. 

• Avoid buying duplicate or similar content. 

• Quickly buy pre-written content to fill in any gaps in your content calendar. 

Don’t Buy More Than You Need 

You don’t have to publish a new article every day for content marketing success. Some of the best blogs publish once per week or less, aiming for quality rather than quantity. So if you have $75 to spend on content, it may make more sense to buy one quality article for $75, rather than three lower quality ones for $25 each.

Check the Links 

Buying articles with links to sources can add credibility to your content, but only if the links are genuinely useful. Make sure the links that feature in any articles you publish are from high-quality sources and are relevant to the article. Poor-quality links aren’t useful to your readers and will only damage your search engine rankings.

Final Thoughts

There are pros and cons to purchasing pre-written content, however it’s overall a simple and easy way to push content out when you have limited time and resources. When you purchase full rights, you can even put your name to the content.

Still, you have to make sure that any content you buy is relevant to your audience. Don’t publish new content just because you can. Have a clear goal in mind. If an article lacks purpose, tweak it to suit your marketing goals. Add calls-to-action to encourage readers to take whatever action you want them to take.

With so many companies buying pre-written articles, the competition has never been higher. This is why many companies are choosing to order custom content that is written with their business and target audience in mind. Finding freelance writers that will create unique content for you may cost slightly more, but it’s a sensible marketing investment.

If you’re unsure, try ordering both pre-written and custom content and see what works best. You may find that it’s a combination of both that suits your business in the long term.

Further Reading: Custom Content: Why Your Business Needs Custom Content