When I price online writing jobs, here are some factors I keep in mind to achieve freelance writing rates, make sure I’m getting paid enough for my time, and be honest with clients at the same time.
Topics: Some topics are easy to write about because there is a wealth of information about them on the internet. For others, it may be impossible to write at all because you won’t find much information about it and will have to do extensive research.
The longer it takes to write an article, the more you “pay” and the higher your freelance writing rate should be. At my SEO writing company, I divide content into two categories: “technical” and “non-technical.” Technology spans medical, legal, financial and other fields. This type of content is more expensive because it is more professional.
Word Count: Blog posts and SEO articles/web articles are two very popular forms of online content. I point this out because they are usually (but not always) distinguished by word count alone.
Blog posts generally range from 50 to 300 words. Anything longer than 250-300 words is considered an article. Also, anything over 500-600 words is considered a longer piece of article/web content and should be priced for content in the 350-500 word range.
However, the fact that a piece of content is short (e.g. 250-300 words) does not automatically mean that it should be priced lower. This depends on many factors such as subject matter, use, copyright holder, etc.
Types of Content: Blog posts are different from SEO articles, different from SEO press releases, different from social media posts, etc.
Each type of content serves a different purpose and is measured by different metrics; therefore their freelance writing rates will vary.
Lead time/delivery time: do you have one week, two days, three weeks, one month? If it’s an urgent job that requires you to interrupt your normal workflow, make sure your freelance writing pace reflects this. If it’s something that comes monthly and you can do it at your leisure, you might want to lower that a bit.
Copyright: This affects the freelance writing rate you have to charge, because if you “own” an item, you can sell it again and again. But with online writing, the client you are writing for will usually own the work (for example, it will be a “work for hire”). And I won’t charge you for it anymore. However, some freelancers do that just to let you know.
Note: In case you don’t know, “work for hire” simply means that the client has full ownership of the content (blog posts, articles, web content, etc.) you provide them.
As you can see, there are many requirements for setting up a freelance writing rate to ensure you are fully compensated for your time. If you misjudge any of these factors, you might be working for Peanuts – that’s not why you’re freelancing, is it?
