There are a lot of busy executives who would like to write blog posts and articles but either they don’t have the time or writing isn’t their strong suit.

On the flip side, there are quite a few terrific professionals for whom writing various kinds of business content comes easy who would be happy to help these busy professionals write content as “ghostwriters.”

What’s the simplest and most efficient solution for businesses when they don’t have a skilled writer on staff? Utilize the services of an outside consultant to help them make your writing aspirations a reality.

I’m not talking about ghostwriters for a book in this article but rather for any type of businesses’ personal brand-building content such as:

  • Third-party guest posts
  • Blog posts
  • Articles
  • Client alerts
  • Op-eds
  • Social media content (think LinkedIn articles and posts)
  • Emails (internal and external)
  • Client-facing content
  • Award submissions
  • Serve as a general proofreader

Skilled ghostwriters can save you time, provide you with ideas, help you crystallize your thoughts onto paper, enable you to build awareness quicker, build SEO for your organization by sprinkling in keywords into your content and much more.

I ghostwrite quite often for law firms and high-profile business figures. I love writing, I’m able to write quickly, and so it’s something that is well suited for my skill set, it takes some time to correctly capture someone else’s voice, tone and style.

Being a successful ghostwriter means that you can write content that naturally reads as if it was written by them.

The way I’ve been able to work best with the professionals who need my writing services is to read some of their other blog posts, social media posts or published works to get a sense of their writing style.

Then I interview them at length on the topic as well as ask more general questions about their background and career path, so that I can get a sense of their voice and tone, look for themes. I then create a lengthy outline on the topic at hand for the client to review and approve.

Once they have agreed upon the themes, I start to create the first draft, which we review together and revise as necessary. I find that not having a law background is actually an asset because I don’t get too technical, and I don’t write in “legalese” terms, which again is a good thing, because many clients aren’t lawyers themselves .

When you’re interviewing the person for whom you’re ghostwriting, it’s important to think about the narrative and structure of the piece you’re writing.

Not many people move from one point to the next with perfectly crafted segues. Instead, they jump back and forth, interrupt themselves or abruptly change directions. That means it’s up to the ghostwriter to add the nice transitions. Ask them for past samples of their work.

The kind of ghostwriter you want today should be trained in SEO best practices. It’s imperative that they know how to not only write engaging and quality content, but how to make sure this content is easily found online.

Utilizing the services of a ghostwriter for certain projects can make sense for busy executives and companies. Contact me if you’d like to learn more about the ghostwriting services I provide for clients.