Choosing a content writer comes down to two things: how well they understand your field, and whether they can turn your own information into a page that answers a real customer question. Style matters third. The only test that settles it is a short paid task on a page your site actually needs.
A content writer, a copywriter and a translator are three jobs
Mixing the three is the first mistake in choosing a content writer. Someone who writes a sharp advert may produce a weak service page full of technical detail, and the reverse happens just as often.
| Role | What they write | How you judge the work |
|---|---|---|
| Content writer | Service pages and articles that answer questions | Clarity of the answer, and the page reaching searchers |
| Copywriter | Short text that pushes an action: ads, landing pages, email | How readers respond to the ask |
| Translator | Moves existing text from one language to another | Faithfulness and correct terminology |
Why does field knowledge come before good prose?
A page selling an engineering service does not win on an elegant sentence. It wins on knowing what a buyer asks before paying. A writer with no grasp of your field produces clean text with no detail that builds trust, and sometimes gets a term wrong that every customer knows, which costs the page its credibility.
This does not mean hiring an engineer who writes. It means a writer who asks plenty of questions and reads what you send beats one who delivers fast without asking anything.
It also means you supply the facts. The writer supplies structure, phrasing and the order of the questions, while you supply the specification, timelines, conditions, what you do not do, and the questions your customers repeat. Expecting anyone to write about you out of thin air means accepting a page that reads like your competitors’.
Put that material in one file and every writing task afterwards gets shorter. Read how to distinguish your site for what makes a page different.
How do you test a candidate when choosing a content writer?
- Pick a real page your site needs.
- Send your own reference material: the specification, your customers’ repeated questions, the limits of what you offer.
- State the reader and the goal: who reads the page, and what you want them to do next.
- Pay for the task. Free trials attract whoever has too little work.
- Watch the questions before the text. A candidate who comes back with two sharp questions beats one who starts writing immediately.
- Judge the result on one measure: does this page answer a question a customer is asking today?
What gives away weak writing?
The trial piece settles most of choosing a content writer. What to look for:
- Text that would suit any company. Swap your name for a competitor’s: if it still reads correctly, it is not about you.
- Translated sentences. English structure wearing another language, the sort that says innovative solutions tailored to your needs.
- Claims with no source. Percentages and market figures with no named publisher, the fastest way to lose a reader’s trust.
- Keyword stuffing. The phrase repeated in every paragraph, irritating the reader and doing nothing for search.
- No operational detail. No timeline, no steps, no conditions, no limits to the service.
Arabic content and the machine translation trap
A great deal of Arabic website text is machine translated from English and skimmed once before publishing. The result reads grammatically while its terms are foreign to the market: words your customer never uses and nobody searches for, inside long sentences that circle a meaning without stating it.
The same trap runs the other way for an Arabic business selling in English. When choosing a content writer for either language, ask for a sample written in it from scratch, then read a paragraph aloud. The sentence you stumble over is usually translated or padded.
Where does AI generated content fit?
Current tools are genuinely useful for a first draft, for ordering headings, and for pulling out the questions people ask. They do not know your prices, what you refuse to take on, or a customer story you lived through. Publishing without human review and without real information from the owner produces tidy pages that answer nothing.
The moderate position is the right one in choosing a content writer: there is nothing wrong with a tool that helps a writer, and everything wrong with handing over the tool’s output untouched. Ask a candidate plainly what they use, because a straight answer is a good sign. Google’s guidance judges content by its usefulness rather than the tool behind it, as set out in its note on AI generated content.
How do you review text when you are not a writer?
- Read the opening paragraph alone. If it does not answer the title’s question, the page needs another pass.
- Replace your company name with a competitor’s. If the text still holds, it is generic.
- Mark every number and ask where it came from. Delete whatever has no source.
- Ask what question this page answers. If you cannot name one clearly, the page has no job.
- Check every service name and technical term against your own market’s wording.
What belongs in the agreement when choosing a content writer?
- The unit of work. Agreeing on a page or an article beats a word count, because counting words rewards padding.
- Revision rounds. A stated number, plus what counts as a revision and what as a new request.
- Ownership. The text is yours once paid for, written in a plain sentence.
- Who puts the text on the site and who sets the titles, descriptions and images.
- The delivery date and your own review window, since delays usually start on your side.
On money in choosing a content writer, read the pricing page instead of comparing bare figures, and see how to benefit from your site to tie the writing to a commercial goal.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most important criterion in choosing a content writer?
Their ability to turn real information from you into a page that answers one specific customer question. Field knowledge comes next, then style. A writer who asks detailed questions about your service delivers more than one with prettier prose who asks nothing.
Should I ask for a free trial piece?
A short paid task on a real page from your site, with reference material from you, works better. Free trials push good writers away and attract whoever needs any work. The fee is far smaller than the cost of pages written twice.
Is content written with AI acceptable?
Google’s published guidance assesses content on usefulness and quality rather than the tool used to produce it. The practical problem is not the tool. It is publishing without human review and without real information from the owner, which produces pages that answer nothing.
What does website content cost?
It moves with the number of pages, the depth of the field, how much material you have, and the language. Comparing on price alone misleads, since a cheap generic page gets written twice. Read the pricing page, then ask for an itemised offer.
Do I need a writer or a translator for my second language?
If the first version is strong and both markets ask the same questions, a specialist translator is enough. If the second market asks different questions and uses different terms, you need someone writing in that language from scratch, since literal translation answers nobody.
We can write your content or review what you have
Send your site address and the list of pages that need writing. You will get a written opinion on what each page is missing and what we would write first, on the same method for choosing a content writer set out here. What we deliver is described on the web design and development page.
Request a quote · Message us on WhatsApp · Call us
Arqam Web
44 Central Axis, Al Saraya Mall, Lower Ground, Entrance 2, Sheikh Zayed, Giza, Egypt
Phone and WhatsApp: +20 111 872 1404 · Email: info@arqamweb.com
