Pro Copywriting Tips – How To Get Paid What You’re Worth As A Freelancer

The copywriting professional can be VERY rewarding, but it can also be a lot of grunt work. It all depends on whether or not you’re getting paid what you’re worth. I’ve seen some poor, poor (literally) freelancers working for $5 an article…or less. Dude, that’s got to be less than minimum wage. I can imagine a lot of them feel that they have to do this to get started…but you don’t. The problem is that a lot of them work for this kind of pay and NEVER learn how to make the jump and start asking for more money.
Okay, I’ll have mercy on you poor freelancer copywriters, designers etc. and tell you how you can start earning what you’re worth. Here are three things you must do to start commanding reasonable copwriting fees…
First, Really Be Worth It
Sorry, couldn’t resist.  But seriously, work on your craft and really get good at what you do. Start writing some articles and monitoring how people respond to them, start testing what works and refine your copywriting skills. There’s no point in asking for more money unless you’re creating good work, even if you get it, you aren’t likely to get it twice. As a good rule of thumb, commit one hour a day to refining your skills as a copywriter.
Second, Get Rid of Low Paying Clients
If you want to make good money in the field of copywriting, you need to get rid of the clients who are still paying you chump change. Working for low fees does a number of your confidence, not to mention that when you’re making less you have less time to spend on each project (unless you have a lot of money in savings). If you think you might have a hard time getting rid of your low paying clients, just “price them out.”
In other words, increase your rates to something reasonable…most cheap clients will simply move on to the next “cheap” copywriter. This will make room in your schedule for you to start taking on some more high caliber clients.
Third, Know How to Identify Good Clients
Getting paid what you’re worth is all about identifying the clients who already know the value of a good writer and who are willing to pay for it. Fat chance of getting a cheap client to change the way they pay, start going after the big fish who value a good writer and pay them what they’re worth. How do you know who these clients are? Easy, they’re the most low maintenance and they’re always very clear about what they want up front. It’s the clients who pay very little who are the hardest to deal with. They change their minds the most, they micromanage and they take their sweet time in paying when a project has been completed.
The more of these types of clients you work with, the easier it will be for you to focus your energy on doing a great job and the easier it will be to keep providing value and charging what you’re worth.