Freelance Website Copywriter

What is a Freelance Website Copywriter?

Your website is full of words. And anyone can write words.

So, surely anyone can be a Website Copywriter.

But have you ever attempted to fill your website with words?

Words that engage, encourage, inspire and convince your audience. Words that tick all the right boxes for the search engines.

Difficult, innit.

A Freelance Website Copywriter is the person who gets to grips with your brand, your audiences and those pesky Google bots. He or she knows how to get the balance right, so that people can find your website and once there, they don’t run a mile.

Lots of copywriters understand the empathetic human bit. Nowadays, many get the technical Googly bit.

What you need is someone who can effortlessly marry the two.

And that’s where I come in.

How do we go about this?

Some clients of mine know the web copy creation process inside out. Others may just be contemplating the first website for their new start-up.

Where you are on your website owner’s journey will dictate the process we go through.

I can help with:

– Site maps
– Page structure
– Researching the competition
– Setting the copy tone
– Writing on-page copy
– Writing title tags, page descriptions and image alt tags
– Writing blog posts

Where we start and end on that list will be down to your individual circumstances.

What I don’t (directly) help with:

– Site design
– Website development
– Hosting
– Keyword research

Getting started

For the sake of argument, let’s assume that all you need is copy content written to an already defined sitemap.

There are two ways, generally speaking, that we can approach this:

1) The streamlined way
You supply draft copy for each page. It may be hugely over-written and supplied by different team members in an inconsistent tone of voice. It may be peppered with links to other sources for me to squeeze facts out of.

It doesn’t matter, as long as I have all of the relevant information from which to weave a story.

2) The not-so-streamlined way
You say something like, “we’ve agreed a sitemap, but I haven’t got anything much more for you to work with”.

This means I’m going to have to ask questions.

Lots of questions.

I may have to come over to your office. I may have to interview your team or chat to your clients. I may have to rummage through your sales presenters, corporate brochures and newsletters.

All do-able of course, but it means more time on my side and therefore a larger fee.

The approach we go with is ultimately up to you.

How is copy supplied?

I understand the WordPress Content Management System pretty well (good job, seeing as that’s what this site’s built in) and I’ve had a bit of experience with Drupal, Joomla and GatherContent.

But I far prefer to supply copy documents as separate website pages in Microsoft Word.

Each page will typically include heading types, title tags, page descriptions and links. This sort of thing:

– – – – – – – – –

MEET THE TEAM

Title Tag: Xxxxxxxxxx | Team
Meta: Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

H1: Team headline goes here

Brilliant bit of web copywriting goes here.

H2: Meet the team sub-heading goes here

Big Boss – Head of important things (link to sub-page)
Big Boss’ intro copy. (rollover text)

Junior Boss – Deputy Head of important things (link to sub-page)
Junior Boss’ intro copy. (rollover text)

– – – – – – – – –

How much might this cost?

Word count, site size, the amount of research time… there are so many variables that it’s difficult to start talking ballpark figures.

But that doesn’t help anyone.

So, as long as you don’t quote me on this, I can tell you that over the last 12 months I’ve charged between £2500 for creating the sitemap and copy for a relatively small website, and £7500 for writing a larger website (40+ pages) and several blog posts.

These figures really should only be taken as a very rough guide. Every project is completely different and is estimated accordingly.

Before you commit to anything, you’ll receive a firm proposal – occasionally with a contingency allowance if the project includes an element of ifs and buts.

Once the fee’s agreed, 9 times out of 10 I’ll ask for a 50% deposit before starting work. The balance will either be paid at project stages or on completion, depending on the nature of the work.

What do my clients say?

“Jonathan is an absolute delight to work with. He’s an incredible writer with great knowledge on varying topics. The whole process was seamless which is testament not only to his fantastic skill but also to how organised, efficient and professional he is.”
Kathleen Arthurs – Project Manager, Six Two Design

You can find more client testimonials here.

And here are a few recent website writing projects:

MCM. – a London-based architectural practice.
Mountgrange Heritage – an independent estate agency.
Rabbit & Hare – a digital design agency.
UNL Studios – a Bristol-based landscaping company.

Loads more web copywriting examples here.

If you’d like to discuss a website copywriting project, please get in touch.

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