How Much To Charge For Seo Blog Post

In preparation for Freelance Writer's Technology Month, I spent a solid week doing research into how to really make money online. It was eye opening on several levels.

One of the areas I read about in great detail was content development. Of course, the discussions covered SEO writing.

But it was what I discovered about SEO writing rates that surprised me the most. And, it's all good news for online writers. Has been for years — with no slow-down in sight.

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Why SEO Writing Rates Have Increased Over the Years

This post was first published on Nov 26, 2007; it has been updated. This was just around the time I started my SEO writing career; I'd been dong it for about 2 months at that time.

How to Find High-Paying Writing Jobs on Upwork Thanks to the advent of content marketing, online writing rates have gone up — in some cases significantly.

Back then, $35 to $50 per article was "top dollar" for a lot of firms. Nowadays, it's somewhat bottom-of-the-barrel rates for 500-600 word articles. My how times have changed.

Content marketing agencies (aka digital marketing agencies, SEO firms) have sprung up like weeds — hundreds of them. Many of them pay $50 to $200 or more for 500-750 word articles.

And so-called content mills (eg, Upwork) are even getting in on the "better-paying" action. While low-paying, sucky jobs can still be found on them – there are also good-paying ones to be found too, as this six-figure freelancer proves.

She had her first $20,000 month (yes, in one month!) in the summer of 2017, mostly due to clients she landed on retainer via Upwork. So what happened? Why have rates trended up so much?

In my opinion, it's because content marketing dominates now. According to online marketing experts, over 80% of consumers conduct some form of research before making a purchase.

Where do they start their searches? Six in 10 of them do so online. What are they looking for? Reviews, testimonials, white papers, case studies, product descriptions, etc.

In short, ANY information to help them become more informed so they can make a better buying decision. Who provides a lot of this content? Freelance writers.

A Look Back: What to Charge for SEO Content Writing

FYI, this is Part #8 of what was covered in the Freelance Writer's Technology Month.

SEO Content Writing: No Longer Bottom-of-the-Barrel Rates?

We have mostly emerged from the days where website developers (at least, those serious about their brand) want to pay bottom-of-the-barrel rates for content.

Many of them have wizened up to the fact that in order to make money online, you must have informative, well-written, unique content.

Guess what? This means paying skilled writers. This is good news for freelance writers, especially those who specialize in online content.

Even at lower rates, some freelancers embraced SEO writing from the start (eg, me!).

Freelance SEO writer and blogger Jennifer over at CatalystBlogger.com gave five reasons in her 10/8/07 post that a freelance writer might want to consider taking on these types of projects.

While you will still find ads on bid-for-pay sites wanting to pay $100 for 50 articles, they are becoming a minority.

Cheap SEO writing gigs will always be around, but as the industry has matured, you don't have to think twice about them because there are enough good, high-paying SEO writing gigs out there.

So, how much should you charge as a SEO copywriter?

How to Determine What to Charge as a SEO Content Writer

Following is what my research revealed about SEO article writing rates.

$2-$25 Per Article: The blogger at WriteNonsense had this to say about SEO article writing rates: "SEO articles can go for anything from $2 to $25 each or more, but most of us seem to find ourselves working on the bottom end of this scale. Like any other industry, web content writing has vast earnings disparity. So what makes some article writers well paid, and others not?"

.02 Cents Per Word: This post was found on SEO1.net's forum in response to a poster's request for an SEO article writer: "I can write seo related articles for you if you want, you can see example at estebanpanzera.com all blog posts there were written by me, I would charge $0.02 per word."

This works out to $10 for a 500-word article (a common length for a SEO article).

$5-$15 Per Article: On the other side of the coin is a website owner proposing a rate to SEO article writers. The following ad was found in DigitalPoint.com's forum.

It read, "I am in need of SEO articles. About 20-50. Willing to pay up to $15 Per Article. Must be completely unique and accurate to SEO. Will check copyscape for verification. Post your work here and PM with price."

The article length requested was a minimum of 400 words.

$50-$75 Per Article: The rate depends on the article length, as outlined below.

This quote was taken from a question on Quora where a freelancer asked, "What are the proper rates to charge for SEO/content writing for a developing website (best to charge per page w/max 1000-1300 wds? Per word? Other?). It is for a Bay Area attorney's independent firm (small-med company)."

One response was, "I'd say you can charge $50 -75 per article, if you or someone on your staff is doing the writing. That would include SEO-friendly title & text and formatting with images."

$200 to $500+/Article: This is in line with what many content / digital marketing agencies pay/charge these days, as the listing below demonstrates.

$60 to $950/Blog Post: Content marketing agency wrote, "For our regular SEO blog posts, we charge between $80 and $950 each, depending on the length and how many you want."

FYI, as I wrote in the article 5 Ways to Get a Job Writing SEO Articles , forum lurking (and Facebook copywriting groups) is a great way to find SEO writing gigs – and find out about going rates. Also, social media platforms like Facebook copywriting and LinkedIn writing groups. Lots of first-hand info gets shared in these spaces.

As you can see from these examples, SEO article writing rates are all over the place. This is true in every other aspect of freelance writing as well, so you'll have to find what works for you.

Learn How to Land High-Paying SEO Writing Clients Who Will Pay You a (Juicy!) Monthly Retainer.

Why SEO Writing Is STILL "Hot" for Freelance Writers

I once spoke with two SEO specialists about rates. One was a marketing director for a major marketing firm; the other runs an digital marketing (SEO) company.

The owner of the SEO company told me that he pays writers half of what he bills clients. And, his rates were above what most SEO content buyers pay. For example, the least you could make was $10 with is firm because he charged clients a minimum of $20 for a 400-600 word article.

How to Set Your Rates for Online Writing Jobs His firm offered a multitude of services, eg, web content in HTML format, web content in MS Word format, blogging, forum posting, etc.

Each service had different prices, eg, delivering content in HTML format paid from $25-$50/page; blogging paid from $100-$150/month for daily posting (250-400 word posts); premium article development paid $20/article.

Premium article development included researching, editing and fine-tuning articles for clients.

The owner of this firm told me also that his clients rarely ordered less than 10 articles, and that quite a few of them ordered articles by the thousand, eg, he had one client who had ordered 1,000 articles for three months running.

The marketing director told me that they routinely give new writers a chance because they had such a need for fresh content across a variety of spectrums, and that it was difficult to find good, dependable writers.

I sent them my rate card, along with my areas of specialty and a few samples. They were impressed and sent some projects my way.

My point in relaying all of this is that SEO writing is hotter than ever, as the uptick in rates over the years prove.

Why SEO Writing Rates Have Risen Over the Years

Following are two of the major reasons SEO writers can charge more these days.

Freelance Burnout

The two industry specialists told me that they had a hard time finding dependable writers. I think this is because rates were so low. Sure, someone may take on a few projects for $3, $4 or $5 an article.

But eventually, they are going to get tired of working for such low rates and move on after figuring out that "Yeah, I may be able to make a living writing for such low rates, but I don't want to have to work 14, 15 or 16 hours a day to make a decent living."

Industry Maturity

SEO writers starts with the web surfers, ie, people who go online to search for information.

Once they started skipping over sites that were obviously just there to sell something — eg, those sites with one badly written article and 20 ads urging them to buy something (aka Made for AdSense (MFA) sites) – those website owners saw a decline in revenue and a lot of them disappeared from the web altogether.

Also, search engines like Google got hip to these types of sites and started banning them altogether. All of this meant that sites with relevant, meaningful, well-written content will rise to the top.

And, to get relevant, meaningful, well-written content, web entrepreneurs eventually had to pay writers a decent rate.

No skilled writer is going to slave over a detailed, well-put-together 500 or 600-word article, and sell it for $4.

The marketing director at the marketing firm told me that they find it very hard to find skilled , dependable writers.

In spite of what many think, good writing is a skill. And, not everyone can do it. I surfed a lot of forums when I was researching this article, and was pleasantly surprised at the number of website owners who said they'd gladly pay more for good writing.

Now, don't get me wrong, many were almost always willing to give a lowballer a shot. But, many lamented at how disappointed they were in the quality of writing from some of the lowballers.

They soon realized that it simply wasn't worth their time to outsource major content writing needs because they couldn't depend on consistent quality, ie, the first one or two pieces would be fine, but then the quality of the writing would fall off at a certain point.

At $4/article, was this not to be expected?

How to Succeed as a Freelance SEO Copywriter

It's SEO writers who realize the value they bring to clients who succeed over the long haul. And although the genre has matured, the field is still wide open for writers who: i) realize their talent; ii) price their services correctly; and iii) learn how to market effectively — and consistently.

Never forget this.

Sincerely,
Yuwanda
P.S.:Following is a link to every post in the Freelance Writer's Technology Month series.
Intro Post : New Series – Freelance Writer's Technology Month
Post #1: The 4 Fundamentals of Making Money Online
Post #2: SEO Content Development: How to Drive More Traffic to Your Website
Post #3: Niche Marketing: How to Choose a Profitable Niche
Post #4: Software Tools for Niche Websites
Post #5: Turn $1/Day into an Online Empire: How to Make Money with Minisites
Post #6: 4 Controversial Ways to Get More Traffic for Your Website
Post #7: 5 Ways to Get a Job Writing SEO Articles
Post #8: How to Determine What to Charge as an SEO Article Writer
Post #9: How to Optimize Your Website to Get More Traffic
Post #10: Social Bookmarking Software & 9 Money-Making Conclusions from Freelance Writer's Technology Month

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P.S.: FREE Training — Start a High-Paying Freelance Writing Career.