Setting Your Freelance Writing Rates

When you are first starting out as a freelance writer, one of the most common questions is "how much should I charge?" The answer often varies depending on the type of work you do. SEO content has the potential to bring in more money than a general blog post for a client so be sure you are setting rates according to the amount of research or professional, specialized knowledge required.

On another note, you may live beneath your means and not technically NEED more money. That's not to say you shouldn't still charge more. It just means you can probably work less for higher pay then those of use who have unnatural obsessions with religious icon kitch, the art of buying books (as opposed to checking them out of a library), weird gadgets you don't really need, or IKEA.

For those of you who live beyond your means, be prepared to set your rates a little higher and work a little more. It's your business, you can set the rates you want to set. There are no rules and there are people and companies out there willing to pay more than you think for their content.
Plumbers can charge around $100 just to come in your house for 5 minutes and tell you that you need to go down to Target and buy a plunger, or worse, they will unclog your toilet for you for another $100 rather than telling you to get a $3 plunger. But we pay it, right? A clear toilet is what we need and a plumber can help us achieve it if we're willing to pay.

Now consider this...how suspicious would you be if your plumber charged only $5 for the whole shebang? He took the time and gas to come to your house, take a look at your pipes, give a diagnosis and fix the clog...and he's only charging $5???? There are many writers out there perfectly willing to do a job for $5 and many companies who offer the same. Well, they'll get what they pay for.
Keep in mind that there are always people willing to pay higher rates for a good writer. If it's website content, their company's image is on the line so naturally they want great content from someone who knows what they are doing.

A Handy Tool from freelanceswitch.com to help you calculate your rates.
http://freelanceswitch.com/rates/


This link was given to me by another freelance writer awhile ago. I don't follow it exactly, but it gave me a great basis of where to start, then I increased the suggested hourly rate to nearly double. Plus, it's SO easy to use.