When you need to hire a writer, you need to set a budget. This is important. If you don’t have a budget in mind, you don’t know if you can afford the writer rates of those you’re in contact with. You don’t know if you need to negotiate down a little or whether you need to find a different writer entirely.
But just how much should you budget for your writer hire needs?
This isn’t one of those questions that has a simple answer. There are various factors that goes into budgeting and writing costs. There are writers out there who will charge $5 for a 500 word blog post and others who will charge $300 for the same piece.
What’s the difference? Well, it could be a lot!
You’re Not Just Purchasing a Word Count
Whenever I get people looking for extremely low rates (you won’t find the $5 blog posts with me) I make it very clear that you’re not just paying me for a word count. You’re paying for my time to craft a unique, interesting, high quality article.
It can take hours for some pieces, especially when it comes to drafting, creating the piece to send to you and then any revisions that you want afterwards. It can take hours to find the perfect images if you’re wanting them or to do the research into something very specific.
Writing isn’t just a case of putting a few words together on a page and clicking the publish button. There’s the SEO that needs working out, tags that need choosing, and a description that needs creating. In some cases, I will need to do the publishing and social media work afterwards.
So, you can’t really budget just based on a word count. If you do want to do this, I would suggest budgeting at least $0.05 per word. That’s the equivalent to $25 for a 500 word piece and that’s just a bare minimum for writing online. Most writers for hire will charge around $0.10 per word, so you’d be looking at $50 for your 500 word blog post.
Purchasing From Writers Around the World
With the time it takes, a writer in the USA, Canada, UK, and any other first world country wouldn’t be able to survive on the $5 per 500 word rate. At least not when you want all the other work that goes into writing. There are some who offer it, but there are other reasons they may do that and we’ll get into the why later.
Writers in the developing world can charge less. Their cost of living is low and the exchange rates work heavily in their favour.
You may find that someone living in Thailand, Pakistan, India, and other similar countries charge $5-$10. Does that mean they’re bad? Not necessarily. There are some excellent ESL writers out there. There are also some bad ones. You may also find native English speakers living in these countries.
If you have a small budget available for your writer hire needs, then look into writers in the developing world. Don’t initially write them off, but ask for samples and check to see what their work is like. If they have a strong grasp of the language then by all means hire them for a couple of posts. You’re not losing out on too much, and you can also opt for a larger budget in the future on another writer if you find that you want different/better content.
Budget for the Experience You Want
Like in other areas of work, writers come with different experience levels. Those who have more experience will want more money for their work.
With writers for hire you can’t just judge experience by years. There may be some who have worked in specific industries and bring that experience to the table with their writing. For writing within those industries they may charge a little more. Just think of the quality that you will get.
The experience may be within certain types of writing, such as sales copy or blog writing. You’ll find that you have to pay more where these writers have the most experience because it will mean better content for you.
Of course, years of experience within writing as a whole is something to consider. Someone who has just started may be good, but someone who has five years experience knows how Google changes its algorithms and the latest rules when it comes to SEO.
Good Writers With Low Rates
There are some excellent writers with low rates. Why? Do they not value their work or believe in their abilities?
Some writers will off discounted rates for bulk orders. This is because they are guaranteed the work. Others will offer low rates because they are just getting started professionally and may be doing it around a fulltime job.
There are writers who want to supplement their income, making enough just to buy Christmas presents or afford summer vacations. Other writers don’t believe in themselves and are starting with lower rates to get the base to then start charging more.
Low rates don’t necessarily mean bad. I will suggest that you see samples first to make sure the writing is up to scratch.
Budgeting for the Use of Writing Agencies
There are so many writing agencies out there. They charge small amounts for your content, so you can hire writers without the hassle of negotiating and on a small budget.
Are they any good though? I’ve written about writing agencies, bidding sites, micro-jobs sites, and more in the past. I don’t want to completely reiterate all the points, so I’ll focus right now on those who are creating the content. The agencies need to take a cut of the income. If you’re only paying $5-$10 for a 500 word article, just what is the writer actually making? It’s likely between $3 and $6. Is this really enough to live on?
There’s so much more to writing than just throwing together a few words. You’re not necessarily going to get experience writers creating compelling, high quality content.
Think carefully about your budget for your writer hire needs. I wish I could tell you a set amount, but there are too many factors. What I will suggest is $0.05 per word just as a basic rate. The rest is up to the writer and just how much you want.