Copywriting Process

Project Fee or Hourly Rate

Write Content usually work on an hourly rate. However, some clients prefer a project fee or a per page rate if they want SEO copywriting and/or meta tags written as part of their project. Either way, you will receive a written estimate of project costs from Write Content before we begin. In order to develop that for you, we must prescribe the scope of work which involves you answering a few simple questions during what we call the client discovery process. Some of the answers we need are:

Who is your target audience?
Goal of the project?
How many pages do you need copy for?
What kind of pages are they (website, staff profiles, brochures, articles, e-newsletters, etc)?
What are the pages (e.g. home, about us, products, catalogue descriptions etc.)?
Do you have a desired word length or limit? (or you can stick with our recommendation)
Will you be relying on traffic from the search engines (i.e. will you need your site optimised for search engines)?
What is your timeframe for the project? Do you have a specific deadline?

We take this knowledge then prepare and send you a written quote with project contract and terms and conditions.

Project Contract

Quotes from Write Content detail the scope of a project. They cover things like the number of pages and/or word count, the approximate timeframe, specific deadlines, the number of drafts, project inclusions, exclusions, etc

This may sound a bit ‘formal’ but when everything is written down and agreed to at the beginning, we both know what’s going to happen and everyone is clear.

Payment – 50% Up-front, Strict 7 day terms

Write Content charge all clients an upfront, non-negotiable 50% deposit before beginning work on any project. The deposit helps cover the costs and time incurred during research and proof of style development. Sure, it works to protect Write Content; however experience has taught us that it benefits our clients as well. We have found deposits work to motivate clients, similar to the way paying gym membership motivates them to exercise. Financial contribution towards your copywriting project from outset gives clients a stronger bond and commitment to the project and quicker response and project completion times result.

Direct Deposit, Paypal or Cash

Write Content prefer direct deposit payments. You can also pay by Paypal using MasterCard or Visa. (Paypal processing fee applies – 2.4% of total value)

Timeframe

Writing original, professional copy takes time and Write Content is usually booked out 2-3 weeks in advance. If you have a very small job, we might be able to fit you in around existing commitments, but please don’t expect us to be able to start writing your content tomorrow and be finished by the end of the week.

But You Really Need it NOW!

We know that sometimes even the best laid plans can go awry. Emergencies and unexpected events can crop up and you need a press release or urgent e-newsletter written, we will try to help, even work all night if necessary.

Just like taking your dog to the vet on Sundays, please understand that this kind of service is outside normal business and can be quite costly. Urgent, emergency or last-minute jobs requiring immediate ‘drop everything’ effort are likely to require twice the investment.

Get to Know Your Brand & Business

In order to create original, credible, copy Write Content need to get to know your business and write for it like it was our own. It’s important we ask you a lot of questions because we can’t do the job without absolutely knowing the answers. We can’t and won’t just guess, we need to get information from the source – YOU – the person who knows your business best.

Write Content ask questions about:

The value or benefits in your offering (i.e. product, service, event etc)
Why it’s unique or better than similar or competing offers
What claims you want to make about it
Your brand identity and personality
Your target audience characteristics, e.g. their needs, wants, dislikes etc
Their motivation for reading your publication/visiting your site (which may be unrelated to their needs and wants)
Why customers should do business with you and trust your company
Your call to action

Keywords & SEO Copywriting

If you need SEO copy for your blog or website, you’ll need to supply Write Content the lists of keywords you want to target for each page before we can start writing. If you don’t know what keywords you need or are just embarking on SEO for the first time, check out our blog or consult the team at Radar Media.

Meta Tags Are Not In Standard Quote

As web copywriting specialists we can write your meta description and meta title tags for you (this is part of SEO). Writing meta tags takes extra time on top of regular copywriting services. We can include meta tag writing in your quote, just ask.

Content Writing Process

For all jobs over 1000 words, Write Content write and supply a proof of style. We do this to ensure writing projects don’t progress to final draft or completion only to find a client doesn’t like the tone or angle. We can’t stress enough that it is important to agree and sign off on the style at this stage, because it’ll take Write Content longer, and cost you extra to change style once the all of the copy has been written.

After you sign off on the proof of style and pay your remaining account balance, we write the copy and complete the final project. There are several drafts, worked, polished and re-worked until the copy is spot on. That is when we email it to you as an MS Word (.doc or .docx) document with track changes enabled for review.

Content Review Process

All clients are entitled to one free round of edits/changes with all work from Write Content. We send you your copy with Track Changes enabled so you can make notes and or changes directly in the document exactly like you would write onto a piece of paper if the copy was printed out.

We do it this way so we both have an electronic copy of exactly where and what changes are made. (And it saves having to decipher handwriting)

This by no means suggests you have to write part or any of the copy yourself. Our experience dealing with many different clients has taught us that most of the time clients want to make little notes, delete things, or change certain words, product colours/volumes etc, rather than emailing instructions or trying to make changes over the phone.

The Review Involves You

Content review cannot be completed without your input and it’s usual for this to take quite a bit of your time. Please expect this and set some time aside within 7 days of receiving your proof of style and draft so you can review your copy thoroughly, free from distraction.

Excellent, spot on copy comes from clever writing and great reviewing. You’ll need to read every line of the copy to ensure that it meets all of your goals and you like the way it reads.

Deadline

Write Content will confirm a solid deadline date for proof of style as soon as we receive:

your signed project approval form (included in your project quote)
50% deposit payment
all of relevant materials, images and the background information needed. (Please refer the briefing Terms & Conditions attached to your project quote)

After we receive your sign off on the proof of style and remaining payment, we will then be able to confirm the date your first, polished draft will arrive in your inbox.

Without knowing the specifics of your project it’s impossible to give exact timeframes. To try and give you a bit of an idea, on average for a 5 page website with 300 words/page it takes about 5 days to supply a proof of style and about 10 business days to write the copy to first draft.

Turnaround

Turnaround time can be affected by a lot of things, including:

How long it takes you to sign and send back your quote approval form and pay your 50% deposit
How long it takes you to provide all the background information and materials
How long it takes Write Content to research and write each proof of style (usually 2-5 days)
How long it takes you to review your proof of style (we ask this is done within 7 days)
How long it takes Write Content to write subsequent drafts (e.g. a five page website takes on average 10 business days to write the first draft and about 1-2 days to write the final draft incorporating your changes if you need any)
How long it takes you to review and approve these drafts

Invoicing

Write Content will send your final invoice upon receipt of your proof of style approval form. The invoice is payable within 7 days and before progression from proof of style can commence.

Copyright

When you commission and pay Write Content to write your copy you own full legal right to use, share and reproduce it only within the medium for which it was originally written.

For example, when we write your website copy, we are writing it for your website. Should you wish reproduce this copy (in whole or part) in any other medium such as in advertisements, or in a printed brochure you need pay for full exclusive rights to the copyright for your copy or contact Write Content and commence a new project to re-work your website copy for the offline environment. Vice versa for projects that start in print.