Last updated on February 2, 2023
There was an awkward silence on the other end of the line. My client was dumbfounded. “How could a web page cost so much? It’s only three paragraphs!”
I hate having this conversation. It’s not that I can’t justify my rates – oh believe me, I can, mostly because I’m far from the most expensive in my field. What’s disturbing is the impression that short equals easy. With my technically or clinically complex clients, that is rarely the case. The time needed to put words on paper is often just a fraction of the total time that needs to be invested in a project.
Let’s say, for example, that you’re releasing a new, fancy Widget. There are a dozen different ways that you can introduce and promote the Widget. You could put information on a web page. You could create a brochure. You could use a datasheet or a whitepaper, an email or a newsletter. It could be a presentation at a trade show. The possibilities are endless.
But to get the information for any one of these items, there are some fundamental things that always need to take place. There’s the introductory call with the client contact, usually upwards of an hour, plus weekly progress calls with product managers, designers and developers to ensure that the project remains on track. There are the individual interviews that need to be scheduled and conducted with key stakeholders (people who are rarely there when you call at the agreed-upon time), the background information that needs to be read, digested and integrated with the information received from the stakeholders. Then, and only then, can I start actually writing something.
The process is the same whether I’m writing a three-paragraph web page, a four-page brochure, an eight-page white paper or a 16-slide presentation.
Some clients realize this and capitalize on the economies of scale by arranging for me to do several different projects for the launch of their Widget. Others want just one web page and see just the three-paragraph output and not the six hours of behind-the-scenes work that was needed just to get to that point.
So next time you wonder why your writer is charging “so much,” consider the background work involved and invest in the economies of scale. I guarantee you that you’ll get a better value for multiple projects than you will with just one.
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