Erin Balsaโ€™s Post

View profile for Erin Balsa

I build and execute content strategies for sales-led B2B SaaS startups that sell complex, enterprise-ready solutions.

What's fair pay for writing a 1,500-word article? I see some variation of this question asked again (and again and again). โšก ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ผ ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜† ๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜€๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—พ๐˜‚๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป. โšก Are you handling the whole enchilada/executing a content strategy you built? ๐Ÿ’ฒ๐Ÿ’ฒ๐Ÿ’ฒ Are you doing the front end work of identifying the topic and angle and building your own content brief? ๐Ÿ’ฒ๐Ÿ’ฒ Are you executing a brief someone else built? ๐Ÿ’ฒ (๐˜š๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ช๐˜ณ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฃ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜จ๐˜ด, ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜จ๐˜ฉ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฌ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ตโ€™๐˜ด ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ถ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฒ๐˜ถ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜บ ๐˜ท๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ๐˜ญ๐˜บ.) Are you speaking to C-level leaders? ๐Ÿ’ฒ๐Ÿ’ฒ๐Ÿ’ฒ Are you speaking to experienced knowledge workers? ๐Ÿ’ฒ๐Ÿ’ฒ Are you speaking to entry-level employees or a consumer audience? ๐Ÿ’ฒ (๐˜ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ'๐˜ต ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฃ ๐˜ฌ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ต ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ถ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ข๐˜ถ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด.) Are you securing external subject matter experts? ๐Ÿ’ฒ๐Ÿ’ฒ๐Ÿ’ฒ Are you interviewing internal subject matter experts? ๐Ÿ’ฒ๐Ÿ’ฒ Are you writing based on what you find online? ๐Ÿ’ฒ (๐˜ˆ๐˜ฏ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜จ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜จ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ ๐˜š๐˜Œ๐˜™๐˜— ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ต๐˜ด ... ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ˆ๐˜ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ฏ.) Are you writing about engineering or manufacturing? ๐Ÿ’ฒ๐Ÿ’ฒ๐Ÿ’ฒ Are you writing about management or MarTech? ๐Ÿ’ฒ๐Ÿ’ฒ Are you writing about makeup? ๐Ÿ’ฒ (๐˜๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜บ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ธ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ฃ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ธ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ?) Are you a subject matter expert with a big audience? ๐Ÿ’ฒ๐Ÿ’ฒ๐Ÿ’ฒ Are you a subject matter expert? ๐Ÿ’ฒ๐Ÿ’ฒ Are you neither of the above? ๐Ÿ’ฒ I could go on ... but you get the point. "Fair" could be $75, or it could be $3,000+.

Erin Balsa

I build and execute content strategies for sales-led B2B SaaS startups that sell complex, enterprise-ready solutions.

1y

And then of course: how much VALUE is this article expected to bring in over its lifetime? Is this going to drive solution aware prospects to raise their hand and request a demo? Is this going to drive a high volume of problem aware prospects to sign up for a freemium offer?

Kasper Siig

Making SEO easier @ Morningscore

1y

All of these reasons are why I hate per-word pricing (and hourly work for that matter). Value, value, value. Value is everything, and that's what should determine the price. There are topics that I've spent years on and have written tons of articles about. As such, I may be able to spend 4 hours writing 1,500 words about it, where someone else may need to spend 15 hours, as well as 2,000 words because they add fluff to mask a lack of experience. Should I be paid less in this case? Of course not! I don't price my services based on the "amount" of work I produce, or how long it takes me. I price it based on the value it brings to the customer.

Joe Zappa

Helping ad/martech companies with marketing strategy, content, and PR

1y

Well said. Good content takes time, subject matter expertise or research to glean those expertise, strategy, and skilled writers All of these combined are often time-consuming and somewhat expensive. Content marketing and PR firms often charge $150-250/hour or equivalent And a 1,500-word blog post may well take 10 hours to research, write, and edit, not to mention distribution and repurposing But too many firms get on the phone with me and say, "Our content is junk" Understandable โ€” maybe they paid for it at a time when they couldn't pay someone serious to do the job But if you do have the money โ€” and you spend that money on serious professionals when it comes to sales, engineering, and finance โ€” don't skimp when it comes to content Your prospects and customers will thank you. And the content will pay for itself

Bill Sherman

COO and Thought Leadership Practice Lead | Podcast Host

1y

In the world of thought leadership, one of the criteria that I see is whether the core ideas and supporting content (stories, data, examples) are already codified. Let's call that Option A: You have those pieces in place, and now you need a writer to stitch them together. It's still real work, but it's manageable. That's a totally different task than option B "we'd like a piece of thought leadership on 'topic x' can you research that, form an opinion, and write something super smart for us? Oh, and we really don't have SMEs on this topic you can interview." That's a headdesk scenario.

Frank Kalman

Content Strategist | Editor-in-Chief | Writing Coach | Editorial Consultant

1y

There's no such thing as "fair." The price for everything if whatever someone else is willing to pay.

Scott Luscombe

๐Ÿค˜Rockstar graphic designer and web developer with a backup singer price ๐Ÿ‘‹ Graphic Design ๐Ÿ‘ Shopify Website Development ๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ’ป Digital Marketing ๐Ÿซต Copywriting โœ๏ธ Coaching ๐Ÿ‘‰ creatibly.com

1y

$350/1000 words is the easiest way to price it.

Like
Reply
Aarushi Singh

Sr. Content Marketing Specialist @Uscreen | Product-led content for early stage startups in SaaS & Tech

1y

Such an interesting and nuanced breakdown of how different deliverables are priced and how writers can get paid fairly. Iโ€™ve observed a wide range from $200-$1,000 with a lot of inconsistencies in deliverables. Hope this helps writers charge what their services are worth ๐Ÿ’ช

Ashley Amber Sava

Content, Editorial & Employee Communications Leader | Recovering Journalist | Storyteller | The Editor | Unpopular Opinion Podcast Host | Incurably Cheerful

1y

I can tell you what's not fair...paying by word. It makes no sense.

Ayushi Anand

LSRโ€™26 | PR, Marketing and Comms Enthusiast

1y

I have had people offer me $25-$45 for a 1500-word post. Is that โ€˜fair payโ€™ by any standard?

Diana Mitchell

Founder @ Bump / SEO + Digital Marketing Agency / Home Care, Home Health and Hospice / Also SEO + Digital Marketing for All Local Businesses / Small Business Marketing Coach / Mom / Minimalist

1y

I really like this a lot, Erin, although I'd say that $75 is rarely, if ever, going to be fair for 1,500 words.

See more comments

To view or add a comment, sign in

Explore topics