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There's a blog post over at ClearVoice entitled "15 Scenarios When to Pay Freelance Writers Higher Rates."
I wanted to respond to the post right in the comments but, alas, the comments were closed.
So I'm writing my reply here as a blog post.
ClearVoice lays out the value of freelance writers, average freelance writer rates, and, as promised, 15 scenarios in which you should expect freelance writers to charge a premium.
Here's a quick recap of those 15 scenarios:
Those scenarios are right on.
I concur!
But ... two scenarios in which you should expect to pay higher rates for a freelance writer seem loudly absent:
You see, an experienced writer is like a conductor, listening, leading, conveying an interpretation, and acting as a conduit between what your company does and what your reader hears.
That analogy comes from a piece in the BBC's culture section, which explains the operations of a conductor this way:
The conductor is there to bring a musical score to life, communicating their own highly refined sense of the work through an individual language of gestures, which might sculpt the musical line, tease out nuances, emphasise certain musical elements while controlling others, and essentially re-imagine an old piece anew.
Similarly, an experienced, talented writer brings your offerings to life, communicating her refined sense of the value and benefits of your company through an arrangement of words, which might sculpt the argument, tease out hidden benefits, emphasize certain messages while holding back others, and essentially re-imaging how your company is portrayed to prospects and customers.
Think of it this way: just as a conductor has a high-resolution experience of music that lets her see things in a piece you and I can't, an experienced writer has a high-resolution experience of your content, a view that has been developed over years and years of training and practice.
In my mind, that experience and talent is worth more than the "average," unless "average" is all you're looking for.
Do you sweat the small stuff? Do you want your online presence to inspire trust and confidence? Do you grit your teeth when others don't care enough about YOUR web experience? Are you all about creating an excellent website and excellent content that makes it easy for people to get to know, like, and trust you and buy your stuff?
I think we might be soul mates. And I'd love for you to join my tribe.
When you do, I'll alert you to new blog posts, new programs and products, and new ways for you to create excellent, frictionless, online experiences that lead more people to YES! I promise to be relevant and real, and to send only thoughtful content and advice.
Renae Gregoire works with passionate people who need help capturing their brilliance and conveying it clearly, concisely, and effectively. She pulls out the bits of knowledge and wisdom that live inside you, organizes those bits into coherent, reader-focused messages, and then builds on those messages to create anything from a piece to a suite of marketing content designed to lead people to say YES to your offers.
