When it comes to determining the cost of content, it’s a bit like asking ‘how long is a piece of string?’ This is because different writers charge their own individual rates though in general, you won’t see particularly good results for your business if you go down the ‘cheap route’.
Additionally, there are a multitude of content types, each of which has their own cost bracket. Keep reading for a brief overview of what you can expect to pay when looking to hire a professional.
Landing Pages
As a landing page is your 24/7 salesman, it is one area where you may have to pay a significant sum. Poorly written landing pages equal low conversion rates and ensures your business is as popular as a beach resort during monsoon season. Some websites try to create their own pages and the result is complete crap that looks as if it was written by an infant.
Apparently, the top professionals offer their services for no less than $1,500 per landing page. Bear in mind a landing page can be comprised of thousands of words depending on your specific needs. Generally speaking, you’ll need more content if you’re trying to sell an expensive product since you need to overcome more customer objections. On the extreme end of the scale you could pay up to $20,000 but if this results in $200,000 of sales, isn’t it a worthwhile investment?
Incidentally, I charge a more reasonable fee (hint, hint!)
SEO Blogs
Again, this depends on what you’re after. Short, concise content of 500 words or thereabouts may cost you $50 as a bare minimum while in-depth posts of 2,000+ words can set you back as much as $500. Typically, writers are willing to offer discounts for bulk orders or consistent work.
Linkbait Articles
These particular pieces take a little longer to craft than SEO blogs since they are designed to get as many websites as possible to link back to you. The end result should be more web traffic and a lot more customers. Most professionals will hit you with a $500 bill but SEO experts such as Christopher Angus (you can read an interview with him here by the way) believes they should cost $2,000 apiece.
Other Services
This would consist of press releases and email newsletters. A professional press release writer can conjure up a sparkling headline and knows how to format it. Agencies that specialise in this sort of thing will charge you $1,500 per press release.
Email newsletters may also cost in the $1,500+ region and talents required include an ability to craft a subject line that compels people to buy, body copy that holds their attention and a call to action that gets the job done. Additionally, emails need to be created to bypass spam filters or else it’s a waste of time writing them.
From a personal standpoint, I specialise in all of the above and charge fees my clients all agree are reasonable. Ultimately, you do need to pay up or shut up because your competitors want results and are happy to ‘shop at Harrods’ to find the best content writers in the business.