What a treat it’s been gathering posts from some of the best writers I know. I feel so much better leaving you for so long given the great content provided by my chums.
Let’s end the week with a super post by my favorite CatalystBlogger Jennifer Williamson. Jen’s primer to business owners is a must-read for everyone – writers included. New writers, take note – Jen’s tips for businesses are great guideposts to use in your own careers and especially in setting your prices.
Getting What You Pay For
by Jennifer Williamson
So, you’re a new business owner looking for someone to write you a website or brochure, blog or series of articles. You research the freelance writing scene, get a few quotes, and notice one thing: some writers charge a lot. And other writers charge a little. Some charge pennies on the word.
The right way to get the most for your money isn’t to go back to the expensive writers and try to persuade them to meet pennies-on-the-word prices. These two types of writers are vastly different and serve different business needs. Here’s what you’re paying for when you hire writers with more realistic pricing structures:
You’re paying for a track record. A funny thing happens to writers as they get experience. They see the immense benefits their writing brings to their clients’ bottom line, and they think, I’m worth way more than I’m charging.
So you might ask a writer like this to write you a single sales page, thinking “Well, it’s just a page, so how expensive can it be?” Don’t be surprised if the experienced writer with a great track record comes back at you with a quote in the hundreds—or even the thousands. If they’re charging that much, it’s likely you have a good chance of making back many times more than you paid for that page. Most writers don’t get the confidence to charge that much overnight. With more expensive writers, you don’t have a guarantee that you’ll make fabulous profits from that new brochure or squeeze page–nobody can make such a promise for sure–but you’re more likely to.
You’re paying for marketing expertise. Professional commercial writers aren’t just writers. They also understand marketing. They know the questions to ask to discern where you are in the market, how you compare to your competitors, and exactly how you should be positioning yourself in your marketing collateral. Many of them will do outside research on your competitors and industry if the scope of the project allows it–to find out how your competitors advertise, what they’re not offering, and where you fill the gap in customer expectation.
You’re paying for sales expertise. Professional writers with professional rates don’t just know marketing. They also know how to write to sell. They know how to express your benefits in the most compelling way possible, create demand and build credibility. That’s why effective copy can boost your sales dramatically.
You’re paying for time. Cheap writers often brag that they can crank out dozens of articles in an hour. Expensive writers know they have to take their time to get the message right–and with all there is to consider in terms of audience, tone, competitor positioning and product benefits, you can’t put a rush on good copy. Professional writers understand that their time is money, and when you hire them, you’re paying for them to put in whatever time is needed to get it right. A $5 article writer can’t afford to spend a few hours on a single article, even if it’s on a complex subject–you’re just not paying enough for it, and you can’t expect that kind of quality.
Really cheap writers generally write grist for the search engine mills–these are articles designed to throw keywords at Google first, and to inform, persuade or sell second–if at all. More expensive writers are also sales, marketing and research partners, working with you to improve your customer outreach and boost your bottom line–in addition to improving your SEO rankings. So when looking for a writer, know what you need–and expect to get what you pay for.
I absolutely agree. It's happened more than once that a potential client went with a cheaper writer, only to come back to me to hire me — at my rate — to do the job properly when the cheap writer didn't have the chops to execute the job effectively.
Amen!
Yep, that's happened to me too. And it's happened the other way, when prospects have asked me why I charge so much when they could get someone on Guru to do it for .001 cents per word.
I had a store owner contact me and ask if I could blog about his store. Long story short, I agreed and told him what I charged. He got back to me and asked "since when do bloggers charge a fee?"
I do agree with you and I also wanted to pose a question. How do you feel about bloggers writing for well known websites to gain some credibility and recognition without the perks of being paid?
I'm not against doing occasional writing work for free when it benefits you. BUT, I think if you're going to make it a long-term deal, it's smarter to write for your own blog and gain credibility and recognition through that. It will benefit your brand and business much more quickly than doing a slew of free work for someone else. If you want to do free work for a well-known blog, make it occasional and use it to drive traffic to your own business blog.
Jennifer, thank you so much for your advice.
You're welcome!