Freelance Writers: Team Up to Learn Pricing
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Chipping Away at the Mystery of Pricing - Part 3
Whew! No more math this week! We’ll take one last look at pricing, and then move on. Here’s a great way to get some guidance on your fee schedule – team up with other writers!
Now the idea here is not to undercut other writers. “He charges $25 for an article – so I’ll charge $23.50!” – not at all what I’ve got in mind. In fact, if you do that, you’ll find yourself working for pennies pretty quickly, which is definitely not among the reasons you start a writing business.
The goal is to learn the typical fees for projects you do often. Use them as a guide. It’s likely you’ll be shocked at how little you’re charging, compared to other freelance writers.
So how do you get this information? Just ask. Or, do a little Googling. Some writers post their prices on their sites – and though I don’t recommend doing that, it’s an easy way to do some sleuthing. Keep a spreadsheet of the prices you find, updating them every time you hear or see what another writer is charging. You’ll quickly get a good picture of how your rates compare.
What do you do with the pricing information you find? You use it to make some decisions. Without information like this, you’re at the mercy of whatever projects come your way. Armed with info, you know a lot more about fair pricing.
Funny story – the very first freelance writing project I did was an SEO article gig. I had to use the client’s special article-posting template. It counted my words, made sure I’d used the keyword enough times, checked for plagiarism, and made it a snap for them to publish the articles. The gig was this: 600+ word articles, original content, built on 100 different keywords – one per article. The deadline was tight – and the pay: a whopping $2 per article. And I was pretty proud to have landed the gig! I remember telling some relatives about it, when my step-brother started laughing. He said I needed to get an agent, because I was obviously on the losing end of this deal. I was shocked! Wait a minute – are you telling me that my words are actually worth something more than $.003 each? It was a turning point!
Raise your prices if they’re too low. You’re probably thinking, “My clients will FLIP if I raise prices on them!” And you may be right. It’ll take some discernment on your part. You should consider doing incremental increases in some cases. In other cases, you’d be surprised at how okay they really are with your increases – if you’ve provided excellent writing services, they’ll be happy to pay your new rate because it’s easier than finding another writer they like. Obviously, the easiest situation is to raise your prices for all new clients. It’s also good business to continually evaluate your client base, and fire the ones who are least profitable.
More articles from this pro: http://www.ArticlePros.com/author.php?Sue LaPointe
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