What Value Should You Put on Your Copywriting Services?

October 16^th 2012 Sally Ormond copywriting fees, how to price your copywriting services, pricing copywriting, the cost of copywriting

When starting out as a professional freelance copywriter one question will cause you sleepless nights (other than how to attract clients): how do you price your services?

One of the most popular ways of answering this particular quandary is to charge for the time it takes to write the copy. But is that the best way?

Apart from the fact that you’ll be severely restricting your potential income as there are only so many hours in the day (and I doubt anyone wants to work 24/7 just to get a decent income), it isn’t an option that really takes in the bigger picture.

Look at it this way, you wouldn’t pay a plastic surgeon by the hour, would you?

Of course you wouldn’t and that’s because it’s their experience and expertise that you’re paying for, not how long it takes them to finish the operation. In other words, you’re paying them for the end result and the benefits it will bring you.

Get paid for the difference your work makes

Let’s turn this on its head for a moment.

A company will look for a copywriter because they need expert help from someone who can:

Generate more sales
Attract more leads
Increase the number of visitors to their website
Create engaging sales materials

Just because it may only take you 3 hours (for example) to write a cracking sales letter, its your experience your client should be paying for. Think about how many years you’ve been honing your craft; how many courses have you done to polish your technique; how many hours you’ve spent practising over and over. Are you beginning to see why an hourly rate simply doesn’t cover it?

Copywriting should be seen as an investment. It’s not just about sitting down and writing; it’s about understanding your audience and the techniques needed to grab their attention and persuade them to take an action. Your client isn’t paying for your time, they’re paying for your experience, expertise and aptitude.

Fixed fees

The best way to go is with fixed fees.

Once you have seen a detailed brief, create a proposal and quote that outlines exactly what your fee covers, but make sure you add in there a clear message that should the brief change in any way from the original, an extra fee will be payable. That way, your client knows exactly what the cost is (provided they don’t make last minute changes).