FFreelance copywriting fees range all over the map really. Some people charge mind-bogglingly low fees and some charge such switchblade-openingly high fees that upon reading them, most buyers' hearts skip a few beats and they desperately gasp for air.
Some high-end writers, especially the ones with subject matter expertise and practical experience in their clients' industries, charge high fees because they know the value of effective copy. They know that good sales copy can far outsell even a top-notch sales force, and all without the headache and aggravation of managing that sales force.
They know copy can make their clients rise or fall.
So, it's not just about writing copy that raises your business to new heights of success, but also not to write copy that could bury your shop.
Just imagine that your newsletter sign-up page brings in 2,000 subscribers per year, and, at a very conservative 2%, 40 become clients. The lifetime value of a client is $15,000.
So, that page generates a potential $600,000 income for you year in year out.
And smart clients who pay royalties to their copywriters get even better results due to ongoing tweaking.
At the low end you can come across writers who charge $1,000 or even less for a web page, $3,000 for a white paper or willing to write any sales copy without asking for royalties above and beyond their fix fees.
And if you outsource your writing, you can find "writers" who can write your online articles for $5 or less per piece.
It's like surgery really...
If you need a heart operation, you can go to a cardiac surgeon, a medical student freshly out of medical school or a high school kid who is dreaming about becoming a doctor.
So, which option to take?
It depends on what you're seeking. Low price or high payoff.
A $5 article on your website is cheap, but how do you think buyers react to it when they read it?
Now consider that most of your buyers have advanced degrees in technology and/or business. During their education, they wrote several essays, theses, report and various other bits and bobs.
They may not be expert copywriters, but they sure recognise crap when they see it.
And what sort of opinion will that buyer form in her mind about the company that has published such a literary excrement of an article.
The phrase "third rate punk" comes to mind.
Some may say, anyone can put words on paper or websites?
Yes, but which words?
The phrase "Let's eat, grandpa" or "Let's eat grandpa." They seem very similar on the surface. But from grandpa's perspective their meanings are drastically different. And it's all because of that tiny, little comma.
The other issue is what you want your copy to achieve.
New sales leads, new newsletter subscribers, arses in seats for a seminar, increased conversions, etc. You probably have a potential payoff in your mind.
And while any writer can put words on paper, only a few can do it in such a way that results in profit at the end of the day.
But only you know how important profit is for you.
When you depend on a large sales force to generate sales, then copy is a cost which must be minimised or even eliminated. So you can ignore copy altogether.
But when you depend on copy to generate revenue for you, your copy becomes an investment and you may want to maximise that. So then you may not want to hire the cheapest writer somewhere in Zululand.
Actually, you may consider a writer with your subject matter expertise and significant industrial experience, so he can translate server room-level technical features to boardroom-level business benefits and values.
No one buys technical features. Buyers buy business benefits.
Business is the end. Technology is means to the end.
Don't sell means; sell ends.
So what are you looking for in a copywriter?
Low price and words on a page or screen?
Or high payoff and crisp, clear copy that generates revenue?
Now the ball is in your court?
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