Why hire a freelance writer?
Hello. If we haven’t met before—I’m Christina, a freelance writer in the wellness & productive living sect. I got my start as a CBD writer but today I write for all types of businesses who fit under this umbrella of topics.
Businesses, small business owners, and website managers hire me to create all types of written content. If you’ve never hired a freelancer before you may be wondering what we do and why you need us.
So, I put together this blog post to help.
If you are a small business owner (like me) then you need to know what freelancers can do—for your bottom line.
Today, we’ll cover:
- What is a freelancer? What do freelancers do?
- What types of freelancers you may need to find for your small business
- How much do freelancing services cost?
- 10 ways freelance writers can help you to increase sales and traffic for your small business
Let’s get to it.
What is a freelancer?
A freelancer is an independent contract worker who works on a job-by-job basis either earning a fee or hourly wages. These gig-economy workers handle the business end of their work as well as doing the work for each job, unless, of course, they hire other people to work for them. (It happens.)
Most freelancers, however, work alone. Some are very transient in their lifestyles— we call these country-hoppers digital nomads! Others flood coffee shops and libraries to use the free wi-fi. And then you’ve got folks like me, with a full home office complete with fancy computer and printer, huge oak writing desk, and way, waaaay too many books on AP-style editing, poetry manuals, and self-help and productivity books galore.
In other words—there are a lot of us, we are all quite different and it’s important for you to find the right freelancer(s) with whom you can vibe and work well.
Fun fact: 47% of workers worldwide are freelancers!
I help people and businesses to…do. life. better.
Where do I find a freelancer?
Find them through websites just like mine, where help is only one email away.
Find them on platforms such as Fiverr and UpWork, where the rates scrape the bottom of the barrel…this is because freelancers who are new and looking to get their first portfolio pieces take advantage of the ease of using these hosting sites. (I maintain a presence on both as a steady stream of potential new clients.)
The downfall for you when you are looking to hire a long-term freelancer is that these platform rates are only a step up for the freelancer. You’ll find someone you like and then they disappear or begin charging higher and higher rates as they climb the ladder (they are building) to their own success. For one-off orders, Fiverr and UpWork are easy to use and get what you need. (Both sites take a cut of the payment.)
How much do freelancers cost?
Speaking of fees and costs and payments—what kind of money are you looking at here?
Let’s say you need an About Me section for your website. What you currently have looks pretty awful. You decide to hire someone to write it for you (good idea!).
Fees for this are widely variable! You might pay five bucks for a newbie to do it on a website like Fiverr, or find someone charging by the hour (make sure you get a guestimate from the writer about how long they expect the job to take) or pay a few hundred dollars to get an industry professional with experience.
Professional blogs may be 10 bucks on Fiverr or UpWork, but you’ll most likely get a newb. For high-quality SEO content you’re looking at $0.25-$1.00 per word, which translates to:
- 500 word blog: $125.00 – $500.00
- 800 Word blog: $200.00 – $800.00
- 1K blog: $250.00 -.$ 1000.00
- 2K blog: $500.00 – $2000.00
- 3K blog: $750.00 – $3000.00
Why are the prices so variable? Well, payment is commensurate upon experience and expertise for other jobs; this is also true for freelancers.
Note: My prices are on the lower end of those ranges because I “ONLY” have 3 years of experience. Freelancers with a decade of experience will charge much more. They’ve earned that level of income.
Here's my portfolio—in case you are wondering what my work looks like at the $200.00-$400.00 SEO blog range—Christina M. Ward PORTFOLIO.
Freelancers also do larger projects. Say you need the copy done for your whole website. A freelancer may charge you $500.00 on the low end and a few thousand on the higher (more professional) end. In fact, you can hire a freelancer to design the website’s layout, as well! That’s usually a few thousand dollars, depending on the experience level of the freelancer you hire.
TIP: Consider your budget and how well-written you want your content to be. Hire the best you can afford. Quality content serves you far longer.
Let’s take a look at the list I promised you!
10 Ways Your Small Business Needs a Freelancer
#1 To get content blogs.
Content blogs and articles keep your website filled with fresh and timely content for your website visitors.
Example: You own a parenting blog. You may hire a content writer to produce parenting-related articles and blogs to post regularly on your site. This helps you to build your branding and the “voice” of your website for the existing and potential readers that visit your site each day.
#2 To write sales-driven content.
Similarly, sales-driven blogs are content pieces that build your branding and voice, build rapport with your readers, and educate your readers on the perks and benefits of the products or services you sell.
Example: You work in real estate. You hire a writer to produce an article on “How to Get Ready to Buy Your First Home” and it plugs (places links to) your services as a real estate agent throughout the article.
Or You are a candle maker. You may hire a blogger to write about how candles are made and some of the most popular scents. The blogger would place links to candles you have for sale and highlight the benefits of purchasing your candles.
#3 To write product descriptions and landing pages.
Landing pages are the pages on your website that feature a particular product or service that people can buy. A freelance writer would write these pages, highlighting features, benefits, and full product descriptions, along with pricing and other pertinent information.
Example: You own a CBD company and have created a new higher-dose CBD. You’d have a freelancer write a new landing page for this product with all of the most important information. The landing page would need to be consistent (in terms of branding voice, appearance and layout) with all of your other landing pages to maintain your site’s integrity and appearance.
#4 To write newsletters and emails.
Newsletters are an important part of many businesses. Freelancers can help you to write them, send them, and build your email contacts for your business. Similarly, your company may want to send out regular informative, advertising, or announcement emails. Freelancers help to write these.
Example: You have to keep your email subscribers up to date on company news, upcoming product launches, and sales or performance reports. This is an example of B2B writing (business to business). A freelancer might prepare these important newsletters on a monthly or quarterly basis.
A B2C (business to consumer) email or newsletter would inform buyers of new products, sales, and special codes to use for purchases. These might be once or twice weekly to keep those sales rolling on your website.
#5 To write SEO-driven content.
Instead of relying on the chance that people will find your site organically, SEO-driven content are blogs and articles which use Search Engine Optimization strategy to drive traffic to your site and to your landing pages.
SEO-trained bloggers typically cost a little more, but the trade-off comes with increased potential sales and support from Google traffic to your site.
Example: You are a small business owner in the food service industry. You hire an SEO freelancer to write travel-specific blogs that are SEO optimized, hoping to rank on Google SERPs (search engine results pages) so that potential visitors to your area may find your restaurant and want to visit. For these potential travelers to find you, your article on “Best Restaurants in DC” would need to pop up high on the SERP page.
#6 To write the copy for your website.
Copy is a blanket term for all the words on your website’s pages. The About Us section, the Services Offered section, and other tabs on your website. This type of writing is a little different than blogs and articles because it must be tight, concise, and very targeted to building your brand voice. This type of writing may cost more, as well, but this creates a baseline of success for your brand. And typically, once in place, the copy on your site is fairly stationary.
Example: You create a new website for teachers and educators. The goal is to help them find grants and support monies for their work in the community, plus to maintain a blog community and a series of course work. Your core messaging targets a particular audience and potential community members or buyers. The About Us section must, in a few hundred short words, summarize your entire core purpose for your potential ideal audience.
#7 To create documents you need for your business.
Businesses often need white papers, case studies, onboarding materials, FAQs, or forms. Freelancers can help you to design and write these documents for you to use at your discretion.
Example: Your company wants a case study they can use to impress stockholders and potential investors. You hire a freelancer to do a case study that demonstrates, from start to finish, a successful example of your services at work.
#8 To help you with social media marketing.
Social media marketing is imperative in the online world and freelancers can do this legwork for you. Many freelancers specialize in social media marketing strategy.
Example: You hire a social media marketing freelancer to write and schedule your Twitter and Instagram posts for your business.
#9 To create digital products you can sell.
Some freelancers specialize in creating digital materials you can sell, like eBooks or courses. Though these may be priced a little higher than other freelancing services, the payoff comes in having a digital product you can sell for years to come.
Example: You are a health and wellness company. You hire a freelancer to write an eBook on gut health, which you then use as a sales tool on your website. The end result…you sell more gut health supplements.
#10 To create digital materials for your event.
Events need flyers, invitations, thank you messaging and more. For your next fundraising event—or even personal event like a bereavement document highlighting the life of a lost loved one—freelancers can get what you need to say into words you can use.
Example: I recently was hired to write up the last days of a woman who died of Covid complications. This document was distributed to the family members as a way to honor their lost loved one, but also as a way to find peace and healing.
There are so many types of freelancers—
- Ones that specialize in creating winning resumes
- Ones that create digital media for your website
- Ones that help you plan and execute an SEO strategy for your blog
- Ones that support the lines of communication with your clients and buyers
- Ones that help you get your messaging out into the web-world
— that you need to consider what your business needs and find a few freelancers you trust and love working with. These are supportive services that can help you get your blog up and running or help you get your business to that next level of achievement.
With freelancers at your fingertips—the sky’s the limit!
If you need SEO content work, emails, newsletters, announcements, landing pages, website copy or more, send me an email to fiddleheadsnfloss@gmail.com
subject: freelance inquiryNote: My poetry and poetry manuscript editing services are handled on Fiverr.
For poetry manuscript editing.
For general editing of small creative writing pieces send me a message here.
Thanks for reading!
Christina M. Ward
Fiddleheads & Floss Writing Services | Since 2019
Christina M. Ward 
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