As a copywriter, how much can a person make?
- Thread starter AF-Roger
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Oh, boy. There's a HUGE range since it became so readily available online. I've seen people offer to write articles for $1 or $3 but they seldom had English as their first language, or they were spinning.
I used to get $25-$50/hr, depending on the job, quantity and client but some of the real pros get $150 to write a stellar article. Sometimes more. There is one rock star of a copywriter who gets thousands for a sales page and there is a waiting list to hire her. Can't remember her name though, would have to hunt it up.
I used to get $25-$50/hr, depending on the job, quantity and client but some of the real pros get $150 to write a stellar article. Sometimes more. There is one rock star of a copywriter who gets thousands for a sales page and there is a waiting list to hire her. Can't remember her name though, would have to hunt it up.
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robaxe
Guest
It depends a lot for which language. Nordics are the most expensive as far as I know. I know copywriters that earn around 3000-4000 dollar/month after tax. Know a really good one who writes in Norwegian. Earns a lot. Otherwise a niched articled in English (500 words) that requires more research and industry knowledge goes for around 30-50 dollar/article. It all depends of the quality of the content you need.
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robaxe
Guest
I find that copywriters normally wants to do some research so that they know that niche. If you write about igaming for example, you don´t have to research every day. You learn as you go along. But yes, I agree, if it was only for one article and that´s it, then 30-50 dollars is not enough.
I agree with you dear... as now copy writing has become a trend all over the world... but the professional don't do that type of work... there are many people that do scam... they just copy the contents of other people n just few minutes hardly try to change them and earn more than $200.... but the originals don't earn that much amount of work.. We should be aware of the scamers... As far as i am concerned... if i have to do that i can earn a lot.. it depends on the quality of the content... if you are willing to provide good content you can earn a lot but if you want to just copy paste then you can earn far more than that if the client is good.......
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robaxe
Guest
How aware are the clients buying content today? Checking for duplicate content is very easy. Many of them spin them, but usually if you just skim through the article you see that the language doesn´t add up. Also how is Google checking for good spun articles?
Dear only the professional will come to know that whether the content in 100% original or it is copied... if a person who is not that much professional how can he or she be able to see whether it is genuine or not?? Google doesn't check for spun articles.... it all depends on SEO... if the SEO of that copied content is higher than the original one then obviously google will pick the copied content.. For now SEO is must and i have heared that most people who sell copied content just do SEO of that content better so that their copied content comes first than the original... That's the reason i said that....
Well, I charge .06 for general articles, such as "Ten Tips for Healthy Weight Loss" and I charge up to .10 per word for more technical articles, such as "How Weight Loss Changes Are Associated with Telomere Length in Cancer Survivors." Then, I offer discounts for orders of 25 or more, as well as for ongoing orders. There are content writers working for .01 per word, but these are usually non-native speaking writers and the content will need a lot of editing. Then, there are writers who charge hundreds of dollars for a general article. They are excellent writers, but they're hard to get in with and can have longer turnarounds if they already have a full plate. The middle of the road writers charging anywhere from .04 to .10 per word tend to have more availability, and can also be excellent writers. However, I suggest starting out with a small order the first time, to make sure you like their work and how they handle their business. I also suggest Copyscaping all articles at first, and run smaller portions of long articles through Copyscape, or it may not catch plagiarism. For example, run every 500 words of a 3,000 word article through the checker.
Or hungry ones.
Problem is, they get stuck there at that price level, I think.Agreed. They may be good writers but can they meet your deadline and handle large orders? Writers trade time, eye strain and brain power for money and there is only so much of each available per day. Burnout is a very real possibility.
Plus, I usually got paid up front, so if it was a new client, they were taking a chance with me. They had no way of knowing whether or not I'd take the money and run. Another good reason to start with a small order.
H
HighProxies
Guest
It simply depends on how good you are. The better you are, the more you will make. Starting out, you might not be able to make that much, but over time, you can increase your prices.
I will say that this is a variable factor and thus keeps on changing form one person to the other. I will give my personal experience. When I began doing the content creation, I was being paid $2 for every 500 words article that I would submit. There at the same time I got a company that was paying me $50 per 500 word article. It is a good place since you have to agree with the client. In the industry you will always have the high end and low end clients.
It really depends on the month and if you work on fixed price or per hour. You can take 5000 dollars for one project for example ...
The highest-paid copywriters are typically those who bring more than just writing to their work. They are consultants as much as they are writers. They offer experience in positioning and audience targeting. They will receive your input and fire back with critical insight. They will, in many cases, even go so far as to improve your actual product - not just rehash the first few USPs that you could come up with and leave it at that.
This is the path I'm on:
I used to write content for small business websites. Plumbers, doctors, etc. Usually 5-10 pages each; low expectations, minimal input from the client. I could bust out 30-40 pages of 100% unique content per day after a few months of getting all the different angles down (there are only so many when you're only given a company name and keyword list to work from). At 7-12 euros a page, I could make 400 euros on a good day; 200 on a slow one.
Anyone with a decent amount of writing talent can do this. But inevitably... you'll start to burn out. You realize your efforts are being under-utilized. This factory line approach gets frustrating quickly. You start to feel like you can do more. Even with steady income and a tool belt of USPs for each vertical making the writing almost automatic, you find it harder to write. You start to wonder what you could do if your writing was put to better use. If there was more riding on it.
You start looking at what you do well and why it works. You pay attention to your failures. You get a sense of the big picture: the words are everything, yet nothing. They are a means to an end. There's so much more under the hood. It's the message, the psychology, the context, the strategy, the approach, the angle - many factors are involved in top-notch copywriting.
You notice this, and you practice, and you pay attention and read and practice again and get disappointed because it's a big sea out there and no matter how big a fish you are, you'll never compare to the whales swimming elegant loops around you. You can only get better. And you will - but you won't notice it unless you're trying hard to do so, which I don't recommend.
It will take time. Focus on getting better, not how much better you've become. Learn. Don't worry - the sea won't get smaller, but you'll grow. At some point, it will hit you: you're ready to take on bigger challenges. You're ready to be held accountable for more than just the words. You have something to offer that is far more valuable than your peers.
The money will follow. Don't focus on that - focus on improving your core product. As a copywriter, you have one, and if you don't have it defined - or if it's just "pretty words" or "I can capture interest!" - then you're missing the point. And, over time, lots of money and opportunity to improve yourself. You have to define your box before you can start thinking outside it.
That's the path - bit by bit, you add more value to the words you sell. You can start tracking and linking ROI directly to your work. You can start catching bigger fish; and soon enough, you'll be the whale yourself. Or the shark. This wasn't meant to be a tight metaphor, sorry. Point is: don't look down! Keep climbing. That's how the highest-paid copywriters got to where they are. They improved more than just their words; they improved their ability to use them as an effective sales tool.
For anyone looking to hire a copywriter, don't scoff at high prices with good ones. They know you're paying them a lot because you want that money back ten times over. And good ones will deliver that and more. Find a writer who considers everything about your product/service/company and won't let you settle with "good enough" as a result.
That's the value solid copywriting provides, and it's why copywriter salaries have such a huge range. Content spinners and automated tools will never defeat the real thing because they focus on the paint job; copywriters focus on the engine.
This is the path I'm on:
I used to write content for small business websites. Plumbers, doctors, etc. Usually 5-10 pages each; low expectations, minimal input from the client. I could bust out 30-40 pages of 100% unique content per day after a few months of getting all the different angles down (there are only so many when you're only given a company name and keyword list to work from). At 7-12 euros a page, I could make 400 euros on a good day; 200 on a slow one.
Anyone with a decent amount of writing talent can do this. But inevitably... you'll start to burn out. You realize your efforts are being under-utilized. This factory line approach gets frustrating quickly. You start to feel like you can do more. Even with steady income and a tool belt of USPs for each vertical making the writing almost automatic, you find it harder to write. You start to wonder what you could do if your writing was put to better use. If there was more riding on it.
You start looking at what you do well and why it works. You pay attention to your failures. You get a sense of the big picture: the words are everything, yet nothing. They are a means to an end. There's so much more under the hood. It's the message, the psychology, the context, the strategy, the approach, the angle - many factors are involved in top-notch copywriting.
You notice this, and you practice, and you pay attention and read and practice again and get disappointed because it's a big sea out there and no matter how big a fish you are, you'll never compare to the whales swimming elegant loops around you. You can only get better. And you will - but you won't notice it unless you're trying hard to do so, which I don't recommend.
It will take time. Focus on getting better, not how much better you've become. Learn. Don't worry - the sea won't get smaller, but you'll grow. At some point, it will hit you: you're ready to take on bigger challenges. You're ready to be held accountable for more than just the words. You have something to offer that is far more valuable than your peers.
The money will follow. Don't focus on that - focus on improving your core product. As a copywriter, you have one, and if you don't have it defined - or if it's just "pretty words" or "I can capture interest!" - then you're missing the point. And, over time, lots of money and opportunity to improve yourself. You have to define your box before you can start thinking outside it.
That's the path - bit by bit, you add more value to the words you sell. You can start tracking and linking ROI directly to your work. You can start catching bigger fish; and soon enough, you'll be the whale yourself. Or the shark. This wasn't meant to be a tight metaphor, sorry. Point is: don't look down! Keep climbing. That's how the highest-paid copywriters got to where they are. They improved more than just their words; they improved their ability to use them as an effective sales tool.
For anyone looking to hire a copywriter, don't scoff at high prices with good ones. They know you're paying them a lot because you want that money back ten times over. And good ones will deliver that and more. Find a writer who considers everything about your product/service/company and won't let you settle with "good enough" as a result.
That's the value solid copywriting provides, and it's why copywriter salaries have such a huge range. Content spinners and automated tools will never defeat the real thing because they focus on the paint job; copywriters focus on the engine.
Wow! That's a LOT!
I did. Then got very sick. This is something that new writers need to monitor. You get so mentally drained that you start dreading your work, or struggle with it, even though it was easy for you previously.
Yes and yet, for me, it's the words that I love most. The reason that I did it in the first place, even though I couldn't always use them the way I wanted in order to fulfill an order.
I think you have to have the drive, or at least the willingness to learn these things. Very seldom are they inherent to a writer. A working knowledge of NLP and the like compliment SEO/KW strategies nicely.
And while you're doing that, you'll gain more clients and loyal, repeat clients.
Love your post, @Ben@Advidi! So, so on target with how it is and how it should be.
As far as I know, the current rate for a copywriter goes somewhere between $7-$8/hour or $490-$520/month. But the terms of the payment could also vary depending on the nature of services needed... I have tried copywriting once and I made about 500 bucks a month (that was 3 years ago)...
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