There is a large variance even within the industry standard for copywriting. When setting rates, you have to look at several different factors including amount of work to complete the project, size of the project, your experience, and the budget of the client.

It’s possible to make up to $100 an hour copywriting, but that doesn’t mean that all of your projects can justify that kind of income. You will need to look at each project as a separate entity, and not as an entirety. You are not going to charge the same price for a 500-word web content article as you do for a complete advertising package.

Another you have to consider when setting rates is whether you are going to be doing the work yourself or outsourcing it. If you are doing to hire other writers to assist with the job, that will have a bearing on your rate, especially if you are going to pay your writers a fair rate.

If this is a client who is going to provide a large amount of work, you might be expected to develop a bulk rate based upon that. This sometimes becomes more difficult because you want to accommodate your client’s needs and continue to pay your writers a fair rate for their work as well.

When you quote a price for a client you have to take into consideration how much work is involved to complete the project. A complete advertising package is going to take more time, and you want to price it accordingly.

You may be willing to negotiate within reason, but sometimes you will find a client who is trying to get by as cheaply as possible, so you want to make sure that you don’t undercut your costs in order to provide for an unreasonable client.

Allow yourself to have the last word, even if it means that you may have to decline some projects because the client’s budget and yours just don’t seem to see eye to eye. Remember, if you take on a client who wants cheap rates, and you take on another project that pays more, you are going to put the lower paying project on the back burner to finish the one that pays more.

In order to avoid that, stay away from projects that fall too far beneath your minimum rates. If you stand your ground, the clients will soon learn how much you will go and will adjust their budgets accordingly.

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Whether you are working for yourself as a freelancer or working for a company, you still need to be able to develop yourself into a successful copywriter. After all, you are going to be selling a product or service, and even if you work for a company, your talent and creativity will make that business a success or failure. Listed below are some of the most important tips for being a success copywriter.

1. Put your client first.

This is one of the most important things that you can do in any business, and copywriting is a business whether you are working for yourself or for someone else. Your client is the meat of that business, so you need to be able to meet his or her needs 100%. Take the time you need to work with your client, and if it’s a new client, take some time to learn to know him or her and what their needs and expectations are.

2. Make sure you understand your client’s needs on each project.

Whether you converse with a client over the telephone, in person, or via email, make sure that you understand fully what they need for the project that you are about to undertake. If possible, have your client provide samples of what he wants so that there is no question about it. Of course, if you are providing web content or other writing that doesn’t require the inclusion or art, it is less explanation that may be necessary.

3. Make your rates competitive with the industry standard.

Everyone wants to make as much as possible in the copywriting business, but you want to make sure that you follow the industry standard or come close. Do not attempt to underbid the next person at the expense of your writers, and even if you do the work yourself, don’t attempt to become rich at the expense of your clients.

4. Always provide quality work.

This can never be stressed too many times, and it is the one thing that will make or break your business. If you outsource work, it is your responsibility to make sure that everything follows your high standards before you send anything to your clients. Don’t let your client be the one to find an error that one of your writers missed—you should be the one to do that.
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5. Always meet deadlines.

Sometimes things go wrong, but don’t make it a habit to turn in projects late. Make sure your writers know this as well, and allow for emergencies by giving your writers a deadline that is at least a day or two ahead of when you actually need the work. That gives you time to allow for extensions or to find another writer in case the original one is unable to complete the project.

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Although some people believe that you must have formal training to be a copywriter, but that is not always the case.

Many courses are available online for those who are unfamiliar with how to write copy that will sell something, but you have to keep in mind that this courses are not cheap—prices usually run in the area of $350-$1,000 depending on the program that you choose. Of course, when you look at it in terms of the future income that you will earn, the money you invest is certainly well spent.

On the other hand, most people can learn to be a copywriter with nothing more than the experience of doing something repetitively. The more times you write a piece of advertising copy, the more proficient you will become.

In addition, if you follow the way other advertisements, both written and verbal, are presented, it should not be difficult for you to learn the type of words and terminology that you need in order to write successful advertising content.

This, of course, will depend upon the type of copy that your client or company needs for you to produce. You do need to be a good writer, creative, and be able to write sales copy that is catchy and effective. Sometimes it helps to think of it in terms of what would catch your eye or tempt you to buy the product or service that you are attempting to promote.

A copywriter must be a team player since it will be necessary to work with an art director to develop the art that goes along with the advertising, especially in the case of brochures, flyers, and sometimes even direct mail campaigns.

This is not something that you can learn with any copywriting course, but is something you must already be able to do. Learning on the job is more effective in this profession than any kind of formal training because each contract will be different, so you need to be able to learn how to recognize what each client’s needs are. Thus, working directly with the client and other people within your organization (if you work for a company) is the most effective kind of training for a copywriter.

If you lack the skills to write effective advertising copy, by all means obtain some formal training before you consider a career as a copywriter. However, if you can write an effective sales letter, you can learn the other skills you need as you progress in your freelancing business or within your company.

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