A blog post that’s intended to convert casual readers into consumers or meant to link a potential customer to an online shop or an affiliate link needs one important component: SEO. When you begin to write content for your blog, you cannot depend alone on your writing skills. You actually need someone who knows what he’s doing and that someone is an SEO writer.

An SEO writer is cut from the rest of the pack by his ability to fit in keywords harmoniously into the copy. These keywords have been researched and have been proven to be the top phrases or words that internet users look for in Google and other search engines. These are the words that they use the most to find links, shop for products, and read product reviews.

Finding an SEO writer can be tricky because not everybody is learned at this game. Some are good writers, yes, but they don’t have the necessary skill to make an SEO keyword flow naturally within a copy. Some are good at identifying the right SEO but cannot write a full sentence to save their lives. Finding someone who can do both—use SEO effectively and write an engaging copy—is tricky and difficult.

Ask them about their SEO experience

You will know by talking to people whether they are familiar with using search engine optimization. Ask them about their previous experiences in dealing with SEO and using keywords to help the web pages rank higher. How many times have they written copies that are SEO-focused? What kind of blog posts have they written about and how did these posts fare in the search engine?

Read their sample articles

Don’t hesitate to ask for sample articles. If they have already done this before, they surely have a copy or two of their previous works. It is okay if they document cannot be edited and is locked. This only means they are protecting themselves from copyright infringement. They can also show you directly the post by sending you a link where the article is posted.

Make them take a test

You can always make them take a test. This will tell you if they are suited for the job you have in mind and for what your business needs. If you like their work and think they can improve your business’ chances to rank higher in search engines then, by all means, cut a deal and have them write the content you need.