How Much Should Content Writing Cost?

Writing by Nick Stamoulis

Many businesses don’t have the internal resources to fully commit to content marketing, so they look to hire a freelance copywriter to shoulder most of the work. If you don’t have the writing skills or time to devote to content marketing, this is a great idea! A good professional copywriter has the skills and know-how to craft great content for your website or blog and capture the attention of your target audience to get your brand noticed. But hiring a freelance SEO copywriter to handle your content writing begs the question, “How much should I be paying for my outsourced content?”

There really is no “right” answer for how much it costs to outsource your content. Factors like the length of the post, amount of research needed, the writer’s experience and skill level and deadlines all play a part in how much you could end up paying. In my experience, most companies should expect to be paying anywhere from $50 to $200 per article.

Now, $200 an article might be a little much if you’re looking to outsource your business blog entirely. At one post a day that’s $1000 a week just to keep your blog supplied with fresh content! If you have $1000 a week to throw at your business blog, by all means do so! If you’re operating on a smaller budget, I’d recommend taking that $1000 and hiring an SEO firm to handle your content marketing as well as the rest of your SEO. You can stretch that budget a lot farther and get more bang for your buck. For instance, not only would the SEO firm provide the content, but they would also handle the content promotion aspect to get more exposure for your content and drive links.

You could also take that $1000 (which is $4000 a month!) and hire a full-time employee with the writing skills and experience you’re looking for. You could also invest in a few writing courses to enhance your own writing skills. The point I’m trying to make is that you don’t have to be shelling out the big bucks for great content if you can’t afford to do so.

A few things to remember about outsourcing your content:
1. You never want to send your content overseas . It may be the cheaper option now, but it’s very unlikely you’ll get great content that can actually provide value for your brand and your readers.

2. Don’t rely on interns to write your content. They don’t have the in-depth knowledge about your business and industry to produce quality content. A professional copywriter will immerse themselves in your business until they know just as much as the rest of your employees.

3. You get what you pay for! A $5 article is a $5 article. How much effort would you put into something if you were only getting $5 for it?