When I first started working with freelancers, I felt a sense of frustration when a first draft landed in my inbox. Would be this piece any Good? Or would I rewrite an entire article myself to get something useful?
Or maybe I found a gem – a freelancer who would make my day with light editing, strong copy, and a feel for the subject at hand.
I would do everything in my power to make her happy. Please don’t leave me, I whispered into my laptop as I typed a praising thank you email.
Four years later I cracked the code. I now run HubSpot’s Freelance Network, a contract program with over 40 writers.
My team makes over 800 pieces every year. I feel like I have a collection of rare gems, each with their own special insights that can help our audience grow.
The best part? I’m finally ready to share how I made this program a reality.
But first a little about me. My name is Kaitlin. I am a journalist by profession and have entered the wonderful world of content marketing. So my first freelance work role in my previous life was at business publications.
In 2022, I was recruited by HubSpot for a brand new challenge. My mission was to build a strong group of freelancers to serve HubSpot’s entire portfolio of English-language blogs.
Infrastructure is everything.
When I first started at HubSpot, I met 11 freelance writers. I also inherited a standard operating procedure (SOP) document that describes how to write new posts and update existing ones. I had to build the rest myself.
I’ve spent most of my time building the foundation for supporting freelancers at scale.
Before I joined the team, freelancing was an additional role that our writers and blog managers only used when necessary. Infrastructure was required to standardize these processes.
Here’s what I’ve been working on.
Invest in personal training
The SOP document I received on my first day was crucial in orienting me to my role. However, the document was 21 pages long.
Of course, all the information was helpful, but I knew our authors would skim the document at best. They had dozens of customers each and wouldn’t spend the afternoon reading the text carefully over coffee.
So we had to adapt. I’ve split the SOP into two shorter documents – one for updates and the other for new posts. I then built a learning management system with an onboarding course.
New writers must log in and watch short videos on how to write for HubSpot, who our personas are, and how to use management tools like our invoicing system.
I was able to see who actually completed the course and remind others that this video series was an essential part of onboarding.
The result was much faster than reading the document and I was able to ensure compliance. I also continued to include SOP documents so that the authors could review them at any time.
Then I took the training one step further. I created an individual one for each new author loom Video about their first posts. In it, I would review every element of their assignment Asanaour project management platform, explains any HubSpot-specific jargon and how we expect submissions to be formatted.
As I began this process, I noticed that I was receiving fewer email inquiries about simple questions. Instead, we were able to focus on urgent editorial needs.
Additionally, several authors have told me that this was the most organized onboarding process they have ever experienced, which always gives me a warm fuzzy feeling.
Make processes easy
Freelance writers are busy people who are always on top of an article or blog post. As a program manager, I want to ensure that they can focus on what they love – writing – and handle all administrative challenges with ease.
I began to standardize our tasks. I’ve linked everything our writers need, like relevant documents and resources, in an email we send at the beginning of each month. Each task had a clearly marked prize, a link to an Asana task card with instructions, and a link to a Google Doc for them to write in.
Authors no longer had to copy, paste, and format walls of text when working on updates. There was no need to search through the annals of our website for relevant data points. You could look through the information in one place and then start writing.
Pro tip: This may seem like a simple step, but as a manager, you should relieve your writers of redundant, unnecessary tasks. You know your internal systems best. Make it as simple and straightforward as possible for your freelancers.
Rethink content briefings
Finally, I completely changed the way we wrote content briefs.
As a team, we have tracked our blogging tasks in Asana since the beginning.
However, in the past, task instructions were short bullet points intended for internal authors. For example, we would ask them to shorten introductions, write new sections, or add links to relevant product mentions.
These simple briefs worked for internal writers who spent months outside of their onboarding role. However, freelancers needed more detail to do their best work.
I started translating posts for our external team. If a statement had jargon, like “Remove additional parameters for internal links,” I would reformat the bullet into standard language, like “Remove UTM tracking codes from links.”
I have also started creating suggested outlines for new posts. This included how long the introductions should be, what subheadings we wanted to include and how each section should be formatted.
The result? The first drafts arrived in better condition and required fewer edits and fewer rounds of revisions from the authors.
With these elements in place, I was able to focus on staffing the program. I searched for authors on LinkedIn and reviewed their portfolio posts.
As the number of assignments I received increased, I brought on board writers with relevant B2B experience.
Here are the ratios I used:
- 40 pieces for 11 freelance authors
- 60 pieces for 30 freelance authors
- 80 pieces for 50 freelance authors
This growth would have created chaos without a strong foundation.
The rise of AI – and the suppression of get-rich-quick schemes
In November 2022, ChatGPT was introduced to the public. Anyone could write a short text prompt and generate… well, anything. This includes full-length blog posts with the right headings.
Yes, the AI was hallucinating and making up false facts. At times the output sounded stilted, but that never stops Grifter.
Shortly after launching ChatGPT, my TikTok was full of get-rich-quick gurus selling courses on how to make passive income through freelance writing. Just enter a prompt, let the AI generate an article, and send it to program managers like me.
In fact, I started receiving pieces that were a little fishy.
The company in this source could not be named “ABC Web Design Company.” The text seemed too general, without a clear voice.
I started pouring in submissions Copy leaksa plagiarism and AI content checker.
And guess what I found? Between 60 and 90% of the text in these posts was generated by AI.
In March 2023, I sent a memo to our writers saying that AI should only be used in the research and brainstorming phases of writing.
For articles that have already been submitted, I reported if more than 10% of the text was marked as AI-generated. The authors had seven days to make changes to the AI portions of their writing.
If changes were not made within this period, our editors would intervene and rewrite the sections. In these cases, the editor received the byline for the article and not the author.
For all papers assigned since March 2023, we have introduced a zero-tolerance policy for AI-generated or plagiarized papers. If an item came back with a mark, we had to rewrite the post before payment could be made. We then removed the author from our squad.
To many this may seem strict. However, I believe that retaining human insight is crucial to generating traffic.
Everyone two dayscreate people Enough content to surpass the world populationaccording to Neil Patel’s session with us last time ENTER Conference.
About that 94% of websites that rank on Google receive no traffic. AI exacerbates this challenge.
We’ve created a program that fairly compensates people for their human writing and is filled with real tips and helpful advice.
AI-generated content could never be remarkable. It is the average sum of all texts on the Internet. I know we need that human touch to engage.
Freelance Network 2.0: Switch to EEAT
In April 2023, the content marketing space changed again, this time with an update to Google’s core algorithm.
One of the biggest changes has been a greater emphasis on EEAT – or expertise, experience, authority and trustworthiness.
Instead of AI-driven content, Google began prioritizing work based on lived experience. That means lots of “I” statements, personal anecdotes, and pro tips that a content generalist could never reproduce.
Sites across the internet have lost massive amounts of traffic, including your site – the HubSpot Blog. In response, we had to completely redesign the Freelance Network.
First, I had to find out who on the team was a classified topic expert (SME). That is, I looked for freelancers who had a job as a marketer, customer service representative, salesperson, or web developer.
To this end, I sent out a survey to our current authors asking in which areas they had previously worked and for how long.
I noticed that some of our writers had previous experience working with SMEs. One of our writers worked as a support representative for years, making him a great candidate for service blog articles.
Another had worked at a marketing agency for eight years, specializing in public relations and crisis management.
With this information, I was able to assign our authors tasks that corresponded to their life experiences. You could then include relevant stories and helpful tips that a general content writer wouldn’t know.
Next, I shared the importance of getting quotes. We still had a number of great writers who could convey complex ideas, but who lacked direct, professional experience in the topics we covered.
To close this gap, these authors would have to act like journalists and obtain quotes from experts in the field.
I asked who feels comfortable looking for deals.
Our team began connecting with internal HubSpotters who could contribute their perspectives as sources in posts.
Additionally, we shared our favorite resources (like Help a B2B writer And Highlighted) to help our writers make the transition.
After that, I had to find new, active authors for the blog. While quotes are helpful, there’s still a real place for thought leadership and how-to articles from people who do lived the experience. I set up a meeting with the senior editors of each blog to ask what they want from an SME.
Let’s take our sales blog as an example. Jay Fuchs, sales blog editor at HubSpot, said his ideal SME spent time as a business development representative and account manager. Management experience in B2B was a bonus.
To avoid hiring bias, I turned our conversation into a scorecard and put out a call for writers.
That’s how we found Mark Burdon and Michael Welch, two of our SMEs, in the Sales Blog. They can share their experiences tracking sales metrics and leading teams. They complement our staff’s journalistic efforts with wisdom straight from the source.
My 5 biggest learnings
So far, I’ve covered the comprehensive steps we took to build the freelance network. But I learned So a lot in the last two and a half years. Here are the top five lessons that I think can help anyone running a freelance program.
1. You have to pay fairly.
In the world of freelance writing, you often get what you pay for. In my experience, a low price leads to shoddy work. Or worse, your authors could leave. That’s why we need to pay competitively and keep up with industry trends.
If you need to test tools for an in-depth review or get quotes, I would budget a higher price. I also encourage my writers to let me know if a post requires more work or is much longer than we expect. This allows me to adjust the price accordingly.
2. Editors decide everything.
I am very fortunate to work with a team of great freelancers. However, even the best authors make mistakes. This can range from clunky sentences to typos to missing alt text to incorrect formatting.
This is where editing comes into play.
In addition to our freelance writers, the Freelance Network has two contract editors: Taylor Cromwell and Margaret Cousino. They ensure that all requirements of the brief are met and the final drafts are error-free.
In addition, our internal Freelance Network team carries out a quality check.
All of our freelancers – writers and editors – have multiple clients with different style guides. I advocate having one final pair of eyes in your organization.
Trust me, your internal team will catch those last little things that others might miss.
3. Don’t hire people you don’t know.
In 2022, I was tasked with finding writers who could create coding tutorials for our website blog. I made a call on LinkedIn and found a few developers.
your work seemed good enough for me. The problem? I can’t program and couldn’t fact check their texts.
This was my biggest failure as a program director. We had poor quality content that we had to shelve. Some of it was never published.
My biggest insight: Don’t find authors on topics you know nothing about around.
I’ve started taking on this challenge again and focused on becoming technical writers for HTML and CSS. However, I work hand in hand with Jamie Juviler, the editor in chief of the website blog.
I play the role of a recruiter and approach potential candidates. Jamie Strictly speaking reviews their work and decides who is competent enough to stay.
4. Feedback makes the world go round.
My program includes at least 60 tasks per month. Recently we have distributed more than 100 pieces. I always found it difficult to give feedback when the goals were so high. That’s why I’m so grateful to my colleague Marja Vitti.
Marja joined our team in March 2024. Since then, she has implemented a feedback program that allows us to praise great work and correct discrepancies early.
Our editors now write comments throughout the submitted Google Doc and tag the author for review. We then create another clean copy and send it to our internal blog team managers to upload.
The authors receive helpful feedback. Our property owners receive an easy-to-read and easy-to-upload version of the text internally. It’s a win-win situation.
This system has proven to be particularly helpful for our subject matter experts. They are great authors with unique insights into their field. However, they often do not have a technical SEO background.
This commenting system allows them to learn as they grow with us.
5. Sometimes you have to break up.
Not every author is the right one. In today’s landscape, you may need to say goodbye to your content generalists in favor of subject matter experts.
I had to write a lot of breakup emails in this role. It’s my least favorite part of my job, but sometimes it’s essential.
You may have a writer who is always late. Or perhaps, despite all your training resources, they can’t adapt to your new EEAT-driven strategy.
Your team should be lean and full of great writers. You have to say goodbye to those who don’t make it. And that’s okay.
They don’t run a farm
If I wanted to farm, I would buy chickens! Terrible jokes aside, running a content farm sounds appealing on paper. You can find content generalists, pay them bare minimum, and play the volume game. For me this is a big mistake.
Your audience wants human insights from subject matter experts – preferably people who have worked for years in the field you cover.
We also know that Google rewards expertise as part of its EEAT formula. So even if you work with a smaller volume, what you create will have a greater impact.
If you need your own freelance network on a tight budget, here’s how to do it:
- Find SMBs in your industry who are writing insightful LinkedIn articles or posts for their company blog.
- Have them write pieces based on their experiences, with anecdotes and their pro tips.
- Publish and promote your work.
- (Leave fully AI-generated posts behind.)
I’m not thinking about creating content with freelancers like farming. Instead, I see myself as a museum curator, finding valuable treasures and displaying them to the world.
Good luck! I hope you enjoy curating your own museum as much as I do.