Editor for The Blogsmith
Freelance B2B Technology Blog Editor
Please watch before applying:
The SEO Content Blog Editor will help produce content for The Blogsmith’s clients as a proofreader, fact checker, and copy editor. You’ll work with a team of writers to fine-tune their content for clients across multiple rounds of editing as necessary. You will work in tandem with an account manager, content manager, and project manager to accomplish relevant tasks.
What It’s Like Working With The Blogsmith
The Blogsmith is a process-oriented business where each individual works together with the team to create a high-quality piece of content. Editors serve as our gatekeepers of quality, ensuring the work is well-written and optimized that ultimately serves the client’s needs.
In the interest of ensuring our content is unique and high-quality, editors will need to:
- Proofread for grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
- Edit for clarity and communication, with a focus on simplicity.
- Read through each piece to ensure proper flow and agreement.
- Ensure SEO keywords have been implemented properly. Editors also need to be able to finesse keyword usage within articles so that they are exact but not awkward.
- Run each article through an anti-plagiarism software (provided by The Blogsmith), and make changes to written content to ensure it’s original.
- Review assignment briefs to make sure all client requests have been included.
- Compare articles with sources and top related search results to ensure content is truly unique rather than re-worded.
- Check sources and linked content to verify that information is contemporary and trustworthy.
- Review content to ensure any products or services writers recommend are of good quality.
- Ensure that everything asked for in a content brief has been addressed.
- Follow our style guide and any client style guides we’re provided to check for formatting, audience, voice/tone, etc.
- Commit to producing unique content that doesn’t rehash the top SERPs.
- Occasionally assess content writer applicants.
Assignments are typically 1000+ words in length and often fall under these niches:
- Financial
- B2B technology SaaS clients
- Small business and e-commerce
You can work whenever you want as long as you can respond to team communications within 24 hours on Monday–Friday and consistently meet deadlines without micromanaging.
Why The B2B Technology Blog Editor Role Matters for The Blogsmith
The Blogsmith helps B2B technology companies connect with their target audience via search.
You’ll be helping us edit relevant, high-quality content that matches the technical use of SEO keywords with the fulfillment of expectations based on the assumptions behind search intent. Understanding search intent involves asking why someone used a certain keyword phrase and predicting what they’d expect to find when clicking through on a relevant search result.
The editor helps ensure that writers have found the right balance between incorporating SEO requirements while ultimately focusing on the needs of the human reader over search spiders. After all, it’s the human reader who helps us achieve conversion-related business goals.
Here’s the bottom line:
We don’t just want to create content for content’s sake — we explore topics with a unique stance to provide a unique benefit (compared to similar content) for anyone who reads the work we produce.
Technical Skill Requirements
- Expert knowledge of American English spelling, punctuation, and grammar. A degree in English, communications, or journalism is ideal but not required.
- Familiarity with AP style (or a willingness to learn).
- Experience editing for a publication that’s not your own. You should be able to follow our company style guide and any additional style guides provided by clients. We are not looking for someone who only has self-editing experience.
- Demonstrated experience with online content writing and/or editing process and formatting. It will be hard to be successful in this role if you’ve never created or edited an article for the web, even if you have some editing experience.
- Comfortable formatting and working collaboratively in Google Docs.
- Understanding a wide variety of topics, particularly those that are technology-related, including WordPress, e-commerce, SaaS, and SEO. Additionally, some knowledge of digital sales, small business workings, and marketing concepts will help you understand our clients and the writing process.
- A strong skill set in fact-checking, including robust Googling skills, verifying sources, etc. And holding a high bar for quality facts and information.
- The ability to go beyond basic copyediting and proofreading. You’ll be expected to work with writers on developmental edits as the final gatekeeper of quality before a piece is shared with a client.
Soft Skill + Availability Requirements
- Good communication skills: You’ll be working with fellow team members to accomplish tasks related to producing great content. We have tight internal and external deadlines, so timely responsiveness during the workweek is necessary to work on this team. This mostly happens over Slack and email, so organizational skills are vital.
- Good interpersonal skills: In addition to being able to communicate clearly, editors should be good at managing relationships with the writers they work with. We encourage editors to give extensive feedback to writers, and it’s helpful if you’re able to do this in a way that is kind and considerate but without dancing around issues. A straightforward approach is best for ensuring high-quality deliverables.
- Problem-solving skills: When there’s an issue, Blogsmith teammates use their resources and each other to get it solved before it becomes a bigger issue. You’ll have access to our intranet in Notion, which contains answers to most questions.
- Organization/planning skills: A successful editor won’t wait until their edits are due to get in contact with a writer that hasn’t submitted their work yet. Editors should be able to manage their task load and ask for help if they need it.
- Write “Hi Maddy” (in addition to any questions or comments you have) at the end of the application form so that I know you’re paying attention to detail.
- A passion for writing and editing: To create great content, the whole team needs to take an interest in the process. You should have a genuine interest in creating great content that’s not only grammatically correct but formatted for optimum clarity and readability.
- Attention to detail: You’ll be expected to follow a detailed style guide and consistent enforcement of this style guide is necessary for producing high-quality content.
- Flexibility: We’re constantly striving to improve, so we shake up our processes regularly.
Benefits and Compensation
- $20/hour for 10+ hours/week (with the potential for more). There will be an opportunity to review the rate at three months based on performance.
- Work 100% remote.
- Mentorship and training around the important parts of the content processes — we’re here to help you get better.
- Opportunities for growth as we grow.
- Learn well-tested processes for content editing that you can apply to other writing work. We provide:
- Step-by-step checklists for content success
- Video walk-throughs and explainers
- Internal educational resources for SEO, style, and image guidelines
- Work whenever you want while meeting weekday deadlines for planned assignments.
- Weekly payout via Gusto so you don’t have to pay processing fees or other services like Payoneer or Wise to minimize foreign transaction fees.
- Up to one hour per week continuing education credit: we’ll pay your hourly rate to learn about something related to content marketing.
- Startup-esque environment - we’re interested in tools, processes, staying up to date with best practices. We don’t settle, we’re always striving and many writers comment on that, that they like it.
