Whether you need email marketing, advertisement scripts, or blog content, a freelance writer can help you bring in more money to your brand and connect you with more customers.
A freelance writer is a self-employed professional who writes content for a living. They can work for news outlets, NGOs, periodicals, and brands, among other clients. Whatever industry you are part of, you need a freelance writer to ensure you are releasing the best-written content.
The Importance of Freelance Writers
With more than 7.6 million people working in the industry, freelancing is on the rise. A lot of businesses hiring their first freelance writer may be tempted to hire those who offer the cheapest rate since they think they are saving money. However, you will get what you pay for. There are tons of writers you can find on websites, and these professionals are all bidding for their next client.
When you hire a content writer just depending on their price and not the quality of their work, chances are, you will be hiring someone who doesn’t care about your brand. Therefore, you will end up with sub-par content.
Instead of paying very little for a freelance writer, it is recommended to reach out to people who have already proven their skills in your industry. Browsing through the portfolios of writers may be tiresome, but this will give you a clue on who the best fit for your team is.
Qualities of a Good Freelance Writers
Writing is truly an art, and to find a good freelance writer, you have to work hard. Here are some of the qualities you need to look for in a great writer.
Adaptability
The writing tone and style vary for every freelance writer in the market. However, adaptability is something they should have. For example, you cannot expect a lifestyle writer to write a very technical article. Choosing a writer who already has experience in different niches and can adapt to different assignments is a plus.
Clients also need to look for a writer that can meet deadlines. A freelance writer may work on different projects at the same time, and they should not bite off more than what they can chew.
SEO knowledge
A great written piece contains excellent writing and SEO. Freelance writers should have a decent working knowledge of SEO trends and knowing how to craft an article that will do well on SEO. After all, there really is no point in creating a great piece if it’s not found by the right target audience. For brands hiring writers, they need to discuss this with the writer, so do not forget to discuss this.
Communication skills
Communication is such a big part of the relationship between freelance writers and their clients. Companies communicate with their target audience through engaging content such as newsletters, press releases, blogs, as well as other collaterals that convey a brand’s message and values. A freelance writer should write content in a way that conveys the message like it was supposed to.
Research skills
A brilliant piece of content is only as good as the research done on it. This makes your ability to research a vital skill that will add credibility to your content. Any written piece that uses legitimate sources to give its users important information will be appreciated by everyone.
Editing
Effective editing is a skilled freelance writer should have. Some writers even spend more time editing compared to writing. Writers usually have a great eye for details to rectify all redundancies as well as grammatical and punctuation errors.
About Hiring a Freelance Writer
Getting a freelance writer for an important project does not work similarly to hiring any other person for your company where you simply interview them, and the work is done. When you hire a freelance writer, you need to review their work so you can avoid employee turnover and save time. Any professional can claim they can write amazing content for you, but you have to see their work for yourself.
There are tons of ways you can pre-screen candidates, such as checking out their portfolio or googling their name to see the pieces they have written. If you have narrowed down your list, you can also ask them for work samples that are related to your niche. When reviewing their work, always use a plagiarism tracker to ensure that they did not just copy their output. It is also important to check for grammatical and spelling errors, as well as examine if their research is accurate. If the article is easy to read and entertaining, that’s a sign that it can be a good fit for your project.
Once you find a professional that impressed you with their writing, you still need to interview them to know whether or not they can meet your requirements. Some of the questions you can ask them to include what type of content do they enjoy creating, what their work schedule is like, and how many words they can write per day. If you’re hiring for a project that needs polishing, you can also ask them about the ideas they have for your content. Lastly, you need to ask them about their rates – more about that in the next section.
Salary of Freelance Writers
When you research the rates of freelance writers, you will most likely find a range that is so broad. According to Payscale, freelance writers earn up to $53.33 per hour, but there are also numbers that suggest these professionals earn from $5.29 to $193 per hour.
On average, the pay of freelance writers typically falls between $23 to $35 per hour. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a $29.89 hourly range.
Salary According to Writers
Around 91 percent of freelance writers say that their rates fall between $21 to $100 per hour, and 9 percent earn $20 or less per hour.
A beginner freelance writer with zero to three years of experience usually earns $20 to $40 per hour, and a small majority earns more than $100 per hour, mostly with niche writers.
Intermediate writers, or those with three to seven years of experience, usually earn $41 to $60 per hour, while there are also freelance writers that earn $100 or more per hour.
For professional writers, those that have seven to 15 years of experience under their belt, the common pay range is $81 to $100 per hour. Finally, expert writers that have 15 years of experience or more earn $100 or more per hour.
The Type of Content Matters
The income of a freelance writer can also depend on the type of content they specialize in. White papers usually have the highest salary rate of $100 to $200 per hour, followed by ghostwriting, technical writing, and ad copywriting, which pay between $45 to $100 per hour.
It’s challenging to make comparisons because there are tons of writing projects that are not billed by the hour. Instead, writers have a rate per work. Meaning, a freelance writer who works quickly and charges per word can make more money.
Per Word and Per Project Rates
A freelancer usually follows their client’s preference on whether a writing project pays by the hour or amount of words that need to be written. Most beginner writers charge $.10 per word, and more experienced writers charge $0.76 to $1 per word. It is also very common for experts to charge more than $1 per word.
Charging clients per word is a smart decision because it makes a freelance writer work more efficiently. Not only that, but it also frees professionals from having to rigorously document their work hours instead of simply tying their rate with their performance.
There are also clients that prefer to pay writers by the project. This is very common for writing projects like email campaigns, website landing pages, and pay-per-click ads, where the profitability of the output will determine the value of the content. For instance, a freelance writer that specializes in SEO strategy development can earn between up to $3,600 for writing five or size pages of content.
A full campaign can cost $2,500 for 10 ads, including the landing and welcome pages, as well as other materials. Sales emails can run anywhere between $250 to $2,000, and newsletters can charge as much as $750. The same range is also true for websites.
Lucrative pages or those related to lead conversion and sales, such as subscription pages, can cost between $400 to $4,500 depending on the intricacy of the project and the experience of the writer. On the other hand, an information page will not cost more than $750.
Why do Sales Copy Freelance Writers Earn More?
A lot of writers confuse copywriting with content writing, but knowing the clear distinction between the two is integral to raising their income. A freelance copywriter is someone who creates promotional text that includes slogans, catalogs, and emails. Compared to a freelance writer who writes content that is not sales-focused, copywriters earn more.
The reason why copywriting brings in so much money is that it has a big impact on sales. When a brand is directly tied to the output of a copywriter, they would naturally pay more just to achieve great results. For expert copywriters, they earn upwards of $100,000, and there are also others that earn as much as $200,000.
Did We Answer Your Questions About Freelance Writers?
When you’re first starting out looking for a freelance writer, you may be discouraged because nobody may seem to fit your requirements. But if you know what to look for in writers and you’re willing to pay them well for their talent, your company can reap tons of benefits.
BunnyStudio has a wide range of experienced freelance writers available that can handle any project.
