Content writing is a skill that is highly valued by every organization. Some organizations or small business owners prefer to hire a freelance content writer rather hiring a CW agency. That’s why experienced Freelance content writers always are in the demand and are paid very well for their services, but some newbies out there in the industry, struggling with rates and payment issues.
So, In this article, I will discuss how much should a freelancer charge for Content Writing and which factors affect the price. And where should you approach higher ticket clients for your service?
But before that, I will share my experience with all of you. I have been a content writer for the first few years of my career. Initially, I was not sure how much should I charge my client. I struggled a lot with pricing. At the outset, I was underpaid and undervalued due to having no experience and knowledge of the industry pricing. Even, I had to work for free on the pretext of the internship program. The exploitation of fresher is common in any industry. I was seeking advice from an industry expert. I came across some best advice on LI on selling my words. Afterward, I set my price higher to provide the best quality work for my clients.
Bear these three points in your mind while quoting your service, You must know that your words help your client in three ways: No matter how bad your writing skill is. Your words benefit your customers.
1. It helps your clients to get more traffic on their websites or blog.
2. Your words help your clients to get more sales and as a result more revenue.
3. If suppose, nothing works in your case, neither your content brought more traffic nor more sales. Then at least, your customers get the visibility that helps them to build a strong personal brand. I will talk about personal brands later in this article. So, always be confident while setting up your price. It should be relevant to your experience. You can’t charge more than your experience and quality of content. In the first place, you might be successful if you charge high but if you don’t meet your client’s expectations then you will lose your client, forever.
So, if you are a newbie in the industry and willing to stay longer in the industry. I will suggest you keep reading this article and try to learn the pricing strategy in the writing industry.
You know, Selling your services at a higher price to your clients is tougher than setting a price higher.
As a freelance content writer, you may be wondering how much you should charge for your services. After all, you don’t want to undervalue your work or end up making less than you deserve. But at the same time, you don’t want to overprice yourself and lose out on potential clients. So how do you determine how much to charge? What is the best way to set your rates?
Here are a few factors to consider when setting your rates:
- The scope of the project.
- Professional Experience.
- Niche.
- Personal Brand.
- Language Skill.
- Writing Styles.
- Project Delivery Time.
- Customer and Location.
I spent only two years in the content writing industry. As far as my experience is concerned, I am not that experienced. So I present you the best advice on pricing by the pro content writers and copywriters. When I say pro it means having incredible writing skills and a strong personal brand in the industry. If you are an aspiring writer you must read the following article to understand the whole game of the industry.
In the end, I will share basic idea of current pricing for content writing services in different categories that will give an insight into CW pricing. So, first, let’s move on to the factors that affect pricing.
- The scope of the project- How much work will be involved? How much research will be required? How many pieces will you be writing? The more work involved, the higher your rate should be. For example, if you are a medical writer and will be writing a 300-page book, you will charge much higher than someone who will be writing 10 blog posts.
- Experience– Nothing can’t beat experience. Customers are wise enough. They don’t want to bet on freshers. Your service price depends on the level of experience required. If the project requires specialized knowledge or skills that you have, you can charge more than someone who doesn’t have those same qualifications. With more experience, you can charge high prices to your customers. So, have patience and gain some experience to match the earnings of experienced writers. Hang in there and enjoy the journey.
- Niche– I have already talked about the niche in a previous article. You can go through that article if you have no idea about a niche. In the writing industry, your price is decided by your niche. Some Niches are well-paid by the organization, content marketers, or CW agency. For stances, technical and health niches have a well-paid customer. I will suggest you not choose your niche for money. Analysis of your interest and writing style. So next, I will talk about the writing style that also affects the pricing.
- Writing style- It is the influence of your words on your readers. The way you write influences the reader’s mind differently. So, There are four types of writing styles. 1. Persuasive- In this style, the writer tries to persuade a reader to think or do as the writer wants. If you are good at it. You have that style. Money will follow you. 2. Expository- In this style, you just explain the concept and inform your reader about a certain topic based on statics and evidence 3. Descriptive- In this style, you talk about every small thing. You use metaphors and allegories. 4. Narrative- In this style, you try to explain the topic in the form of a story. I will suggest you go after your natural style that will reason with your readers or customers.
- Personal Brand- It makes more sense these days than anything else when it comes to pricing. PTBN, Many pro writers have no personal brand but are very high in demand and charge higher than those who have it. But, having a personal brand is far better than not having it. You write incredible content but how will you prove that to your customers? So, PB gives social proof that other people also employed you for your services and you got top feedback from all of them, so it helps your customer to bet on you. Work on your personal brand and don’t hesitate to charge high from your customers.
- Language skill- In this digital era- language is not a barrier. You can start writing in any language. But when it comes to pricing- higher chances are to be paid in those languages which have higher numbers of readers. You should not be worried about the no. of language readers. You can start writing in the language you are comfortable are.
- Project delivery time- Is this a rush job that needs to be done in a few days? Or do you have more time to complete the project? It is not a certain factor that affects the pricing but I believe that sometimes customers tend to agree with your pricing if they have urgency and you can deliver the projects on time. This happened to me most of the time. So yes, urgency plays a crucial role in setting up your pricing. It might be your USP based on you can charge higher than others. This is something wherein you can outperform experienced writers in the same field.
- Customers and Location- These two things also play an important role to affect pricing. You must know your customers and their location. Because a customer sitting abroad looking for your service tends to agree with your pricing more easily than a customer in your home country. And working for a direct customer from anywhere pays you more than working for an agency or any middleman. So, your pricing depends on your location and customers.
Always remember, As a freelancer, you have the freedom to set your own rates. So, you can charge whatever you want but you must be aware of current rates in the market.
From the Fresher to intermediate level of experience, a writer in India charge .5 to 1.5(INR) per word, and on an expert level, a writer charge 1.5 to 7.00 price per word(INR). I hope you got a basic idea that a newbie can easily charge .5 PPW.
The Source of this data is Linkedin.
Still, some ignorant writers are charging below the .5 PPW. did you know, why?
- They are not aware of the current rates of the service.
- They are approaching clients on the wrong platform.
Where you can find customers for a writing project?
To be honest, Linkedin is the best place where you demonstrate your skills and find a customer for a writing project.
I have tried to help you with pricing by explaining some factors that affect the pricing. I hope, this will help you to improve your pricing strategy. I also like to know your opinion on this.