Freelance content support for agencies
When your agency wins new work but doesn’t want to hire full-time content writers or strategists — get hands-on content support that actually performs in search.
Spending two thirds of my career in digital marketing agencies taught me what agencies really need: content writers who understand SEO, can hit deadlines, and deliver work you’re proud to put in front of your key client.
10.5
years agency experience
SEO
consultancy available
White-label
available as an option
63%
of agencies have outsourced content production in the last 12 months (source)
The agency resource dilemma
In agencies, winning work is great. Ring the bell, high fives all round. Resourcing it, isn’t. With stretched workloads, a constant battle against tools, clients, automation, and spinning a dozen other plates, it can be tough to balance incoming work with the right level of resource to be profitable. Working with me makes that less stressful for you.
“We don’t have the time”
I know, you’re running the team at 95% capacity. There isn’t time to devise a strategy and write all of this stuff as well. Focus on what you do best, and get support where you need it.
“We don’t have resource”
Hiring even junior staff in this market is a commitment. A full-time hire needs a consistent workload, training, and management, before they’ve even written a word.
“We don’t have the skills”
Whether a skills gap internally, or you’ve used freelancers before who say they write SEO content… but you’ve had to rip it up and start again. I’ve been there and done it.
Outsource your content from a freelancer who knows agency life inside and out
Some of the most common reasons that agencies choose external freelance content support are:
Agencies 🫱🏼🫲🏽 Freelancers
- Not ready to hire full-time position
- Short-term project work
- Don’t have or need long-term access to specialist expertise
- Require flexibility when growing or scaling
- Currently scaling/relocating, or otherwise adapting the business
- Need someone with specific industry experience
- Adding SEO activity to a wider marketing retainer
- Want to upskill internal staff
- Need to lower operational costs
- Require wider geographic coverage
- Team is at 100% capacity on other projects
- Just need a ‘fresh pair of eyes’
- Need access outside of 9–5
I’m well-versed in your agency toolkit
Having worked for agencies for so long, I’m super familiar with your workflows, the need for visibility and keeping project management tools current. I love using the Google ecosystem, but if you fly with Microsoft, Dropbox, Notion, Basecamp, or something else, that’s cool. I’m also pretty handy* with the usual agency SEO tools:
*I love all of these tools and use them every single day
The most-requested agency services
While requests from agencies can range from bread-and-butter, to off the wall and highly specialised, there are three core areas where agencies most commonly need support:
Content writing / production
Every day work — you might have senior strategists to brief in work and you need someone to produce it.
Or when you win new business, but aren’t quite ready for permanent hires, or an unexpected ad-hoc requests comes in, or hiring is tougher than expected. A reliable extra pair of hands to cover blog posts, web copy, case studies, and everything else that agencies deal with day-to-day. Driven by deadlines, and SEO-ready if required.
Content strategy / planning
For some businesses, this expertise doesn’t exist in-house, or is a new opportunity with a client: in-depth content audits, keyword-driven editorial calendars, development of content pillars, competitive content analysis, and strategic content planning. ‘More than just blogs’.
Reporting & measurement
Some specialist teams have the nuts and bolts in place, and just need a little seasoning. Tracking of individual or mass content performance, goal setting or ROI measurement, and client reporting when your team lacks the time or the expertise. Clear metrics and reporting that prove your value to your clients.
Smooth collaboration for busy agencies to make your life easier
1. Scope of work
I’m happy to come to you, or on a quick call/email — what exactly do you need, when by, and who for?
With my agency experience, even the most drastic or time-sensitive of scenarios probably makes complete sense.
I’ll give you a transparent proposal with scope, timeline, and costs.
2. Content provided
Once agreed, expect delivery as if it was one of your staff members — with minimal back-and-forth, and to the standard required.
Depending on the nature of your request, this can range from giving me a content brief and getting back 500 words in a Google Doc, to a keyword and competitor-researched, keyword-optimised, EEAT-rich full category worth of content. It’s up to you.
I can supply this within your project management parameters, ahead of your deadlines, with change tracking, content trackers filled out, is dotted and ts crossed, and even upload it to the site — whatever helps make you more efficient.
3. Edits made, lessons learned
Hopefully the first draft blows you away. If not, let’s revise, and test, and learn.
We can then make the required edits, measure performance, and move onto the next item on your to-do list. These learnings will be applied to the next project, making us more efficient and effective together.
4. Project basis or monthly retainer
Flexibility and cashflow is key for agencies, so I’m happy to work on fixed a project basis, or retained on a flexible amount of hours per month — whatever works best for where your agency is right now.
Frequently asked questions
If you’ve still got questions, I’d love to chat about your needs. Book a call here, or leave me a message and I’ll get back to you.
Do you have experience writing in [specific industry/vertical/audience]?
Likely. Check out my past work page for a flavour of some of the work I’ve done while at agencies in the past. If it’s not on that page, I still might have done it, and just not been able to talk about it (you know what agencies are like!)
Can you be involved in the content publication process too?
Absolutely — often this is a preferred way of working because getting content live can be a real hurdle between agency and client teams. If there’s not yet a process to make this work, let’s develop one.
We have specific turnaround times / SLAs / requirements, can you agree to these?
I absolutely understand that clients can be demanding, so yes. (Within reason!)
We use [PM/CMS/other tool] here for our agency, can you use that?
I’m actually highly nerdy about project management tools and processes, so yes, whatever your agency uses to manage projects, files, or communications, I’ve likely already seen it, used it, and have an account already. Happy to go incognito or being client-facing, whatever works best for you.
We’ve worked with freelancers before who said they’ve understood SEO but have disappointed.
I’ve worked in organic search roles for at least thirteen years of my career so far. If I can’t make the SEO side of your content work, there’s probably something else at play. In fact if you’re producing content on behalf of yourself or clients and not paying attention to organic performance, let’s talk about how to improve that. Everyone wins.
Can you mange content from end-to-end including keyword research and internal linking?
It’s my preferred way to work. Although I’m happy to take a brief one of your strategists has provided and make the words happen, I’d love to be more involved in the performance of the piece.
How do we know you won’t just use ChatGPT?
I certainly will be using generative AI tools. Perhaps not in the way you might expect, but they’re definitely part of my workflow (and they should be yours). This is such a nuanced, topical, and interesting area at the moment, let’s chat?
How do you handle contracts, NDAs, etc.?
Not an issue — happy to work completely discreetly, sign NDAs, or whatever will make life easier for you.