In this video, you’ll learn some tips and tricks for figuring out what to charge your freelance SEO writing clients when you’re brand new to UpWork.
(Video transcript is below, in case you prefer reading to watching video.)
Hey, everybody. It’s Avery. This week’s question involves how to figure out what to charge when you’re just getting started. Here are some of the important things you need to take into consideration when deciding what to charge for your SEO articles.
3 important things to consider when choosing your rates
The first thing is your experience level. The second thing is your writing skill level. The last main thing you need to consider, especially on a platform like Upwork, is the number of reviews on your profile, because those are a huge factor in whether or not a client will decide to hire you for a job.
How I chose my freelancing rates when starting out
Here’s what I did. When I first started out, I was charging $5 for a 500-word article on Upwork. The reason I charged so little was because I had no experience. I had no credentials. I really had no good reason for anyone to hire me other than my samples, which, for all they know, could have been fake. For that reason, I found it a lot easier to get jobs when I worked for just $5 an article.
Now, before you press the stop button and go do something else in disgust because this is such a low wage, just bear with me. You’ve got to keep in mind that this whole $5 an article business isn’t going to last forever. Honestly, I recommend that you do it at most for five articles. No more than that. As long as you do a really good job on the articles, and you get five-star reviews from those clients, and they’re really happy about it, you should be able to safely move onto better paying articles after that.
The reasoning behind it all
The purpose of starting with $5 articles on a platform like Upwork is just to make sure you can get some reviews because you’ll see that many of the jobs that pay more require someone to have a minimum review score on their profile. That’s why I say, “Suck it up,” and just do a few of those really cheap $5 jobs. Now, don’t go and pick a job that’s going to take you days to slave over for $5, but do pick a job like a 500-word article that’s not going to take you all that long to write. Do a really good job on it, get your review, and then get out of there and move onto another client.
How to know when to raise your freelancing rates
Once you’ve done that for a few clients, and you’ve got some reviews on your profile it’s safe to move on and start doing a little better with what you’re earning. Next after you’ve gotten those reviews under your belt, and you’ve done a few really cheap articles, move onto $10 articles and see how that goes. If clients are happy with your work, you’re getting good reviews, you’re not having too much trouble landing jobs, then you know it’s probably safe to move onto $15 articles, and just keep increasing your rates gradually, little by little from there.
Now, granted, it’s not that exciting to move up your rates really slowly, but the advantage of doing that is that all along, you’re getting positive feedback, and you’re getting positive reinforcement that can help encourage you to keep going. I don’t know about you, but a lot of people find it hard to start off in a brand new career, put themselves out there pitching their skills, especially when they don’t have the formal credentials to back them up. If you start off by pitching too high and get rejected, there’s a higher chance that you’re going to call it quits, throw in the towel, and assume this has all been a failure. Whereas if you start low and you work your way up, I think you’re much more likely to have success. So that’s my recommendation to you.
Now, how fast you move up definitely depends on your skill level. If your writing skills needs a lot of work, then by all means, do those $5 articles for longer until you’re a much better writer. And only then move onto the $10 articles. Just don’t move up too soon. If your writing needs improvement, take the time to improve it. The way I’d look at it is that $5 an article while you’re practicing is better than nothing.
Now, on the other hand, if you are a fantastic writer already, you’re going to move up the ranks in terms of pay much more quickly. You’ll do just your bare minimum number of $5 articles, get your good reviews, and get out of there. Then you’ll move onto $10 articles, and $15 articles. Really, it’s a trial and error process because until you’ve actually tried to get clients to pay you for your work, it’s hard to know exactly what you’re worth. Some of you guys might already know that you’re an amazing writer. Some of you might already know that you’re just a so-so writer and you need work. Others may not be sure at all. By gradually working your way up, you give yourself an easy way to find out what you’re worth without having to go through a ton rejections on the way there.
Summing up
I’m going to wrap this up now, but please do send me your questions for next week. You can either leave them in the comments to this video, or if you prefer, just send me an email, and I’ll keep track of them all. Like I said before, I won’t be able to answer everybody’s questions one-on-one by email, but I will read them all and whatever seems to be the most common question of the week, I’ll answer in the next video. I’ll see you guys soon. Bye.
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