The only difference between website copywriting rates is the difference between writing a startup website from scratch and rewriting an existing website that has broken down.
Let’s look at each of these in turn to find out why.
Website copywriting rates for startups
If you’re a startup – and you’ve hired a talented designer – you need a professional copywriter to start you off in the right direction.
This is vital for two reasons:
You’re only a startup once so your site needs to make the right noises from the get-go
Great copy will convince customers, investors, and employees that your startup will be around long term
The rub is that writing a new website – with a fresh new original voice – from scratch – takes the copywriter longer than it takes to rewrite an existing site.
It has to. The copywriter has to get under the skin of your customers (which you don’t yet have) and find your unique voice. Create your brand story and package up your benefits for the first time.
And they have to work alongside a web designer on a similarly steep learning curve – and work similarly unfriendly hours.
What I charge to write your startup website
A typical startup site takes ten days to write. This includes competitor and customer research and working any hours needed to meet the launch date.
I charge £400 exc VAT a day. So the total cost is £4,000 exc VAT.
Website copywriting rates for website rewrites
What do I mean by a ‘rewrite’? Let’s take an example.
An IT company had a problem: Google. Their store sold IT products, but the product descriptions weren’t original.
So without compromising the necessary technical jargon, I rewrote every product description in their store to make them unique and Google friendly.
The only other weak spot was the About Us page. They were a great bunch and their extra-mile customer service was their advantage, but the page sucked.
So I humanised it. And I did all of this fast to meet a design refresh.
You can read the case study here.
What I charge to rewrite your existing website
A standard rewrite takes five days. Where needed, this includes competitor analysis if the goal is to change the tone-of-voice or style of the content.
I charge £400 exc VAT a day. So the total cost is £2,000 exc VAT.
Please note here that if you need to start again and rediscover your Mojo, then you will be charged startup website copywriting rates (see above).
Yes, you’ll undoubtedly have material I can work with and I will recycle anything that still works, but the purpose of a new site is to say something new.