by Rachel Smith
18 June 2014
Hi Rachel. I wonder if either you or Leo have done much content marketing? I’ve just been asked about my rates and as I haven’t done much web writing I wondered if there was a standard. Do either of you have any thoughts on how much to charge per blog post (for an average 4-5 paragraph post), and how much if I needed to interview an expert? Also, how long to get the content ready? (I’m guessing around 2-3 hours if it was a new subject, less if I was familiar with it.) Looking forward to your thoughts. Love your posts as usual! C
Really interesting question and I’m sure everyone would have a different answer – so I’m just going to give you my particular experience.
For digital agencies I find that content marketing articles are commissioned around the 500 word mark and pay somewhere between 50-60c/word (this has included writing about topics I know well, such as health, career and travel). These aren’t heavy pieces and many clients provide a detailed brief, source material and occasionally experts they’d like quoted. I don’t generally go below 60c/word and often the rate can be much higher if it falls under ‘advertorial’. For the 50-60c/rate I would expect to include quotes from one expert, but if they want more experts I’d ask for a higher word rate. I do consider this rate pretty low considering it’s technically corporate writing, but after working for a number of different outlets it seems to be the benchmark. Also, I’ll usually be commissioned 3-4 pieces at a time and often, so I tend to agree to the slightly lower rate in return for regular and relatively easy work.
I also write blog posts for a number of SMEs and these are between 350-500 words. If no expert quotes are required I tend to charge between $200-300 depending on how regular the work is and if it’s packaged with other services (such as pic research, social media, newsletters, WordPress admin and so on – which I do as well). These posts may take me 2-3 hours to complete if I’m familiar with the subject matter. It’s not huge money but it adds up if you can get a weekly gig and if the subject matter’s interesting, I really enjoy weaving these smaller gigs in with more substantial copywriting projects and features.
I hope that helps, but just so you know it is an issue we’ll be tackling in the upcoming Show Me The Money survey (last year’s results are here).
List members: do you do a lot of content writing or blog writing? If you’re comfortable sharing what you charge – even anonymously – I’m sure it would be of great interest to those edging into the digital marketplace.
I tend not to charge, I get offered a rate and I accept or reject the gig.
I generally accept a $200-300 offer for writing content of around 400-600 words, depending on the difficulty of the material. I’m quick, so this works out to be $150-200 per hour. It’s usually $300-400 per piece if an interviewee is involved (more time and effort for me).
For SME clients I charge between $60-80/hour (the lower rate is for regular work) and take about 2 hours to do a blog post where the material is fairly familiar.
I charge similar rates and it seems to work well. Having said that, I’m often happy to drop a little bit off it if it’s a regular client.
This is great, thanks so much for providing your rates Leo. I am currently working on my own rate-card, so this is super handy.