You’ve probably heard the adage “words are worth exactly what you pay for them.” Although this may be true in general, it doesn’t apply to everything. When writing for advertising, for example, you may find that your words are worth a lot more than you’re being paid for them. This is especially true if you’re in a competitive niche like copywriting or content marketing.
In today’s world, customers are more likely to view an ad or marketing email that contains rich, well-written copy than they are to view an identical ad or email that simply contains a bunch of bland, stock phrases.
In this article, we will examine some aspects of copywriting and how much you should charge for a particular copywriting project.
Your Price Is Your Problem
The first step to successfully charging for your work is to figure out what your price should be. This is a difficult question to answer because it depends on a number of factors. Your price should not only reflect the value you generate for your client. It should also account for the following:
- Your time
- The difficulty you had in coming up with the content (If you’re using your own personal resource to come up with the content, it’s worth considering whether you should be charging more or less for it)
- The cost of the paper and the ink used to create the document
- The design of the document
- How long it took you to create the document (If you’re a fast typer, you may want to consider charging less if you can produce the same content quickly)
- Any additional costs required to deliver the document (postage, travel, etc)
How Much Should You Charge for a Blog Post?
Blogs are a great place to park some content for free. After all, you’re essentially gifting your audience with free material. Therefore, many content marketers will produce long-form content (like blogs) to promote their services and gain recognition.
If you’re interested in monetizing your blog, you have a few options. The first is to use a tool like Google Adsense to display ads on your site. The second is to integrate your blog with a payment platform like Stripe to accept small payments from readers who want to support your work.
Content Marketing Is The Future
If you’re entering the content marketing world, you’ll notice that the lines between marketing and content are becoming increasingly blurred. Content creators now have to consider the needs of both their reader and their advertiser when coming up with content. Your role as a content marketer will be to create content that is both educational and valuable.
As a copywriter, you’ll be responsible for generating original content that can be used to promote a business or product. When designing content for an advertiser, you need to consider what will grab their attention and make them interested in your content. After all, you’re competing for limited advertising dollars with a number of other content creators.
To be effective, your content has to be valuable. If the person reading it is interested in the subject matter, they’ll hopefully appreciate your efforts. However, you must remember that value does not solely lie in what your content is worth to your reader. Value also includes the effort that went into creating it. Your ability to write persuasively and entertainingly about a particular subject matter is what will make your content valuable to your audience. If your content is not valuable, no one will want to read it and you’ll have wasted your time (and the time of your audience). It’s important to keep in mind that no two piece of content are ever going to be exactly alike. Each one has value, depending on its uniqueness. Think of all the content that you’ve ever read and how much you remember from it. This is what makes each one unique and valuable.
The Bottom Line
When you’re approached by a potential client, the first thing they’re going to want to do is look at your portfolio. This is why it’s important to have a diverse portfolio and to be armed with a number of real-world examples of your work. If they can’t see exactly what you can bring to the table, they may be hesitant to work with you. If this is the case, you may want to consider offering them a free trial project or a discounted rate.
To get started, simply create a website with a portfolio page. Include a sampling of your work, a short bio, and contact information. As you gain experience, you can continue to update your website with more content.