If you’re looking to have the content on your website updated or revamped, you’re probably wondering how much a professional copywriter or content marketer will charge. Here at LionShark we write content for clients every day, which means that we have the inside scoop on what a project like that will cost.
So, check out this guide to pricing out your website rewrite and if you don’t get your questions answered, let us know! (We’d be happy to provide you with a custom quote based on your specific needs.)
So, check out this guide to pricing out your website rewrite and if you don’t get your questions answered, let us know! (We’d be happy to provide you with a custom quote based on your specific needs.)
Why You Should Have Your Content Re-Written
Before we jump into how much a rewrite will cost, let’s look at why the content on your website might need to be rewritten. The most common reasons for redoing your web content are:
- To replace outdated information (product information, offerings, promotions, etc.)
- Give stale content a fresh new spin
- Change branding tone and verbiage
How the Work Will Be Priced
These are the most common pricing structures for writing website content:
Per Word
Truthfully, I can’t think of any legitimate companies that charge clients by the word to have content written for product pages, category pages, homepages, or any other areas of a website. (Sometimes blog posts are priced this way, but that’s a whole different topic for a different day.) Independent contractors are typically the only ones use this method of pricing, especially contractors located overseas. I would never recommend hiring someone that’s going to charge you by the word because the finished product that you’ll receive will likely be much longer than necessary and you’ll be left paying for this superfluous junk.
Per Hour
Many copywriters and marketing agencies charge by the hour for content projects, especially those that do ongoing work for clients. The benefit to using this pricing system is that you know exactly how long the work is taking so that you can evaluate whether it makes sense to do it in-house versus hiring it out externally (but keep in mind that it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison because you spending 3 hours on something versus a professional writer spending 3 hours on something will likely yield different results). The drawback is that unless you agree upon a set number of hours of work ahead of time, you don’t always know exactly what the final cost will be until you’re billed for the work and estimating the cost ahead of time can be tricky if you’re not used to do this type of work yourself.
Per Page
Lots of other companies (us included) price out work on a per page basis. The upside here is that you know exactly how much the project will cost before you agree to it and if it ends up taking longer than expected, it’s not your problem to worry about. What you should understand, however, is that the marketing professionals or companies using this method of pricing are likely using an hourly rate and then just multiplying that by the number of hours they estimate your project will take. So, for instance, you may get a quote that says that your website rewrite will be $50 per page times 12 pages for a total of $600 because the company providing it has already looked at your existing content and speculated that it will take an hour per page and their hourly rate is $50. This is a really clean way to do pricing, and we’ve found that many customers prefer this method, which is why we use it by default.
Per Project
Some companies will just provide you with an overall project price without breaking it down. My advice if you encounter this would be to ask follow-up questions and request that the quote be itemized further. Otherwise, you won’t have a clear sense of how much work needs to be done, and you won’t have any leverage to scale the project up or down as needed to suit your needs and budget limitations.
Important Elements to Consider
When selecting someone to write your content, determine whether they really “get” your business. Convey the brand voice that you want used, provide information about your target audience, explain how the content will be used and what its purpose will be, and outline your value proposition and place in the market. This is where branding guidelines come in handy, but don’t feel like you need formal documents to be an advocate for your business.
You can always ask for some samples of work as well to get a sense of their writing style and form, but don’t be put off if they can’t provide any examples in your industry because they may be bound by confidentiality agreements with current or former clients.
Kate Pierce is the owner of LionShark Digital Marketing LLC, a West Michigan internet marketing company. Her areas of expertise include Paid Search, Search Engine Optimization, Business Blogging and Web Copywriting. She lives in the Grand Rapids area with her husband and son and enjoys cooking, watching sports, and spending time together as a family. Like a true digital marketing expert (i.e. geek), she loves talking about current marketing trends… so don’t say you weren’t warned!
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