• By Yuwanda Black
• Published 01/27/2011
• Article Writing

In traditional freelance writing jobs, there are long-standing guidelines for determining how to charge. For example, if you freelance for magazines, you’ll probably be charging by the word or get a set rate for whatever piece you’re commissioned to write. For online writing jobs though, there isn’t one set, adopted standard for how to charge. One type may be by the word, another by the job, and yet another by the hour (this tends to be rare). So, how do you decide what your freelance writing rates for various web writing jobs should be? As an SEO copywriter, I write various types of online content. Here, I’ll outline two factors I take into account when pricing blogging and other internet writing jobs. Setting Freelance Writing Rates for Blog Posts & Other Online Writing Jobs Here, I take two factors into consideration, eg, length and type of content. About Word Count: Anything less than 300 words, I consider a blog post. It doesn’t matter what the client calls it – to my mind, that’s what it is. That is, unless it’s something like an abstract or a product description. Then, of course, different rates would apply.

The reason I take word count into consideration is because the line is blurred when

it comes to the difference between what a blog post is as opposed to what an SEO article used for article marketing, for example, is. Some clients will commission “500-word” blog posts. So, to keep it fair for them – and me – I clearly define the length. Anything over 300 words is considered an SEO article; and anything over 700 words is considered a “double article” or “foundation content” and my freelance writing rates for these are higher because they take longer to write. About Type of Content: There are some subjects that it’s relatively easy to write on. This is because there’s a ton of info on the web about it, so you can quickly research it and knock out a good, informative 300-word post in no time. My freelance writing rates for this type of content type of content is reflected accordingly. Then, there are more complicated subjects, eg, legal, medical, tech, finance, etc. While there may be tons of info available on a topic within these niches, if you’re not schooled in it, it can take a bit more time to research, digest, then write knowledgeably on it. And, your freelance writing rates should reflect this.

If you take these two factors into consideration when pricing online writing jobs, you should have no problem setting freelance writing rates that are not only just for you – but for your clients as well.