So you’re getting started in the copywriting industry and wondering how to become a copywriter, but simply having the skills typically needed in copywriting isn’t enough. Knowing how to become a copywriter requires an understanding of charging for services, managing time, setting expectations, and receiving payment.
Here are our top four things you need to do when getting started.
#1: Decide how you want to charge for your services
When considering how to become a copywriter, you should evaluate how much you’ll charge for your services.
At the beginning of your copywriting career, you’ll likely set your rates lower than market standards because you don’t have the experience to back your rate. As you continue to gain experience, your rates should increase to reflect that experience level. However, suppose you have extensive experience in a particular area of copywriting or marketing. In that case, you’ll want to price those services accordingly.
There are various ways you can charge for your work as a freelance copywriter; we’ll dive into the two most common: hourly and project-based.
Hourly
If you’re planning to charge hourly, you’ll have to determine how much you’d ideally like to earn. And then figure out how many hours you’d need to work at that rate to make that amount in a year, week, or month, depending on how you set your budget. You’ll also have to estimate how many hours you’ll need for a given task. As a whole, hourly rates have various pros and cons.
Pros
- You have the potential to make more money because you’re not limited by per-word or project-based pricing, especially when your project requires extra labor outside of just writing the piece.
- Hourly pricing gives your clients a clear metric for cost. Hourly rates often make more sense to clients because they see the connection between hours of work and the cost of their results.
- The value of your time is reinforced by attributing a cost to the time you spend doing different tasks associated with a project.
Cons
- Familiarity with clients can lead to efficiency and thus less income for more experienced writers. For example, while a blog post might take you 5 hours to write when you first start for a client, over time, that same blog post might only take you one or two hours to write.
- Time tracking can be labor intensive when interviews, editing, and other aspects come into play (especially if your client requires an itemized invoice).
- There’s a “ceiling” to how high you can charge—high hourly rates will likely turn off clients. For example, $200 per hour might seem like a lot for an hourly rate but will seem like nothing when presented as a project-based rate.
Project-Based
Suppose you’re planning to charge by the project. In that case, you’ll have to consider how to attribute value to a specific deliverable. One method is to look at the average number of hours it takes to complete a project, multiply that by your hourly rate, and then add a buffer to account for unforeseen circumstances.
Pros
- The client understands up front how much a specific type of content will cost.
- You can create a menu of content types with prices for each type, so clients can “order” a combination of deliverables from you with a clear sense of how much it will cost them.
- If you take less time to write the deliverable, or it comes in under your targeted word count, your bottom line isn’t affected.
Cons
- Variability of deliverables can make setting a set price for a scope of work difficult. For example, to some clients, an eBook might be 7-10 pages of content, while to another, it might be 20+ pages. As the writer, you’ll be responsible for setting clear parameters for each deliverable.
- You’ll have to explain to clients the difference in cost between deliverables that might seem of equal value. For example, you’ll have to explain why a regular 1,200-word blog post costs less than an SEO-optimized blog post of the same length.
- While you’ll sometimes spend less time on a project, some projects may take significantly longer to complete, which means your per-hour earnings will drop.
In all these cases, your best bet for setting your rate is selecting the one that feels right for you and where you are in your copywriting journey. To learn more about setting your rates, check out our Freelance Copywriting Rate Guide.
#2: Make a plan for how you will track your work
Knowing how to become a copywriter also means clearly understanding how you spend your time working. So, once you’ve set your rates, you should make a plan for yourself, including clear-cut ways to track your progress and time spent on various projects.
Tracking your hours
When first getting started as a copywriter, tracking your hours can be essential, especially for invoicing accuracy if you’re charging by the hour. On the other hand, if you’re charging by the project, consider tracking your hours in the beginning to help determine if you are undercharging for different projects.
You can track your hours easily using free and paid versions of time tracking programs or Excel spreadsheet templates.
The big plus side to time tracking apps is easily tracking your time in one place. The best time tracking apps make it easy to “clock in and out” of work. When checking out a time tracking app, here are some key features to look for:
- Tracking by project and by the client. The ability to track not only the hours you are working but also the client you are working for and the project for that client will make creating your invoices a breeze. +1 if the app allows you to assign an hourly rate to your work.
- A built-in stopwatch or timer to start and stop when you’re actively working. Think of this feature as the ability to clock in and clock out.
- The ability to manually add time slots since a stopwatch isn’t practical for every situation.
If you’re a spreadsheet fan, you can find countless templates that help you track your hours manually. Or you can build your own table in Excel or Google Sheets and use equations to help calculate your income or hours worked across a project or client.
Spreadsheets are super helpful for creating and tracking invoices when it’s time to get paid. The downside is that you’ll have to keep an eye on the clock to help you track your hours or set a stopwatch to keep track of your time.
Tracking your projects
Aside from time tracking, you’ll also want to employ certain project management techniques or invest in apps that help manage your projects. Mastering project management is essential when learning how to become a copywriter. Good project management skills allow you to:
- Keep track of your deadlines. Whether you use a physical calendar, a digital calendar, or a project management app, finding a clear-cut way to manage your deadlines will be essential to your success.
- Better plan how you distribute your time across projects, deadlines, and clients. Balancing your time is particularly important as you grow your copywriting business and obtain more projects and clients.
- Prevent overworking or overbooking yourself. When you have all of your projects and workload outlined in one place, you’ll be able to see your capacity to take on more projects.
#3: Have a standard contract
Contract writing might not be a skill you’ve considered when learning how to become a copywriter. Yet it’s important to always have a solid contract in place when working with clients. A contract protects you and helps manage expectations for your project. Standardizing your contract will be helpful for you to keep things straight and leave little room for questions and errors.
We recommend starting with a template rather than writing one from scratch. However, if you choose to write your contract from scratch, you should have it looked over by a lawyer. Regardless of if you use a template or write your own, make sure your contract includes:
- A description of your services with a clear beginning and end dates. You should include deadlines, expectations for revisions, and clear parameters for the work you will complete.
- Payment terms and methods of payments accepted. These terms should outline how you would like to be paid and the window for payment (i.e., Net 15 days after receipt of invoice).
- Terms for cancellations of the contract or an out clause. This protects you if your client tries to cancel your contract without notice or cause.
#4: Set up invoicing procedures
Just as you should be using a standardized model for contracts, a standard procedure for invoices will be essential for helping you run your copywriting business smoothly. Consider creating a schedule for when you’ll send your invoices to your clients, e.g., the first of the month or 24 hours after completion.
Regardless of when you plan to invoice your clients, you should use or create a template for your invoices that includes:
- Important dates. At the top of your invoice, you should include the date you send the invoice to the client and the date that payment is due per your contract.
- An itemized list of tasks or projects. Some clients might want all subtasks for a project subsumed under the project’s umbrella. In contrast, others might want to know how you used your time within the project.
- Rate, either hourly or by the project. For each line item, include the hours worked for that item (if applicable) and the cost for that line item.
Bonus Tip: Put your plan into action
Once you’ve figured out your rates, set up your time tracking and project management, drafted a standardized contract, and created a procedure for invoicing clients, all that’s left is to put your plan for how to become a copywriter into action and get your first copywriting client.
Join The Exchange and check out our gig listings to get your first copywriting job.
Author Bio
Christina Rowell, Ph.D., is a content strategist at Content Workshop and a former college writing instructor. She has over ten years of experience writing, editing, and creating content for healthcare, mental health, cybersecurity, and manufacturing clients.
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