The Word Wrangler

In the last post we talked a little about how to set your rates by getting the facts regarding your living expenses.

Now, we’re going to discuss value, and what a writer is really worth.

I prefer to deal with tangibles, which is why I shy away from ideas like: “I’m not worth as much as a doctor, so my fees have to be low.”

Worth and value are like beauty - they lie in the eye of the beholder. I guarantee you that there are people out there who value a copywriter who write sales letters that bring in thousands of dollars just as much as they value their doctor. And some maybe more so.

So how do you add value?

Try to think of yourself as a chef and your specialty is hamburgers. A slab of meat on a plain bun, that’s it. That hamburger represents the lowest level of service you provide, whatever that is. It might be basic article writing or whatever. Now let’s assume that a client wants a hamburger with extras. He wants lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles, a sesame seed bun, AND special sauce.

As a businessperson, you have several options. You can sell the hamburger and give away the extras for free; you can charge more for the hamburger because of the extras and the time involved preparing it; or you can refuse to add the extras to the order and continue to sell the plain hamburger. There’s no right or wrong answer, and every option is legitimate in the business world.

The point is that if you want to make more money with your writing skills, and separate yourself from the pack, then consider offering more value to your clients. A writer who is willing to manage a site’s entire content over the course of a year can legitimately charge more than a writer who is just writing articles can. There’s more work involved, a greater attention to detail has to be paid, and outsourcing is often required.

Value can also be added by offering writing that accomplishes something. A writer who writes copy that persuades people to do something - like spend money - can charge more for their services because they offer tangible results.

Your experience, education and expertise can also boost your value in the eyes of your customers. To use the doctor analogy: would you rather pay for a physician with a medical degree and decades of experience or a pay a guy who scans the web to learn how to do kidney surgery?

What do you think? Are these legitimate ways to charge more for your services or is The Word Wrangler full of it?