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Successful freelance copywriters can make more than $100,000 a year.
- Freelance copywriters make about $81,000 a year on average, but that can vary greatly and stretch well into six figures if you play your cards right.
- Two six-figure freelance copywriters told Business Insider the key to making more is to explore what niches suit you, then stick to them.
- They recommended bolstering your image online, using lead generation services, and continually raising your rates.
- To raise rates and keep existing clients, include a solid reason for why your services are worth the extra cash in an email.
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Freelance copywriters make, on average, around $81,000 a year, according to job search and review site Glassdoor. But the income range can vary widely for this hardworking sector of freelancers, and knowing how to stand out can help you make more money.
Business Insider tapped two freelance copywriters who currently bill their clients enough to make over $100,000 a year to find out what they're doing right, and how you can do it, too.
Brand yourself online
Dayana Mayfield started freelancing in 2015 and hit six figures her second year as a full-time freelancer. She's sustained that level of income for the past three years, making $126,000 in revenue in 2018 and $155,000 in revenue in 2019. She told Business Insider that last year, she made six figures not only after expenses, which average about $2,000 a month and include health coverage for her family of four, but after taxes as well.
Dayana Mayfield
Dayana Mayfield.
Mayfield - who started her career in the field with a paid internship as an editorial assistant, which led to her first freelance client - explained that while it may feel like a tall order to worry about personal branding on top of your freelance work, a minimalist approach can be effective.
"Your brand doesn't have to be fancy, complicated, or expensive in terms of design, but it does need to be consistent on your website, LinkedIn, and other social media platforms you use to attract clients." Mayfield said. "For me, my brand is very simple and effective. I use the title 'B2B SaaS Copywriter' on my LinkedIn and website, and the style of my LinkedIn header image and site both feature bold black font, plenty of white space, and the color green."
She added that it's best to keep it simple to start, meaning you don't need to invest a lot in design. What's more important, according to Mayfield, is backing up whatever tagline you use or whatever you say about yourself and your services. To do this, she recommended getting testimonials, creating case studies, and building a portfolio that reflects the brand and niche you're carving out for yourself.
"The best clients want to work with copywriters who are trained, experienced, and are proven to deliver," Mayfield said. "Keep sharing what you've worked on and seek to build a brand over time that can vouch for you. Your website has the power to pre-sell clients so when they come to you, they're already decided you're their top choice."
Mayfield believes that her income shooting up to six figures corresponded not only with her growing expertise, but with her owning her unique tone of voice. She leveraged her expertise about software as a service (SaaS) to help create her brand in an impactful way, speaking to clients in their language through her branding materials.
"If you want to be a six-figure copywriter, know what your ideal client wants to hear and don't be shy," Mayfield said.
Mayfield also suggested announcing your most important successes publicly. For example, when she hooks a big-name client, she lists them on her LinkedIn profile as a job - just as one would do with a staff position - noting "independent contractor" next to the position. She also includes logos of key clients on her website, and creates case studies and before-and-after videos to showcase the value of her work.
"This shows leads who are looking at my profile that I have worked with established businesses," Mayfield explained. "I have heard from many entrepreneurs that they were interested in working with me in part because I have collaborated with successful businesses they recognize."
Try out different niches before picking the ones that you enjoy and are profitable
Another early step that Mayfield took was to "niche down," selecting to focus her copywriting services on SaaS and marketing technology - both for financial and personal reasons.
"Working with more profitable businesses allows me to charge professional rates for my services," Mayfield said. "This would have been hard working with small businesses. Plus, I truly love the B2B tech industry."
To home in on her niche, Mayfield followed her talents as well as market demand.
"The best niche isn't just about what you want; it's also about who wants you," she said. "Follow where the demand is, as long as you also enjoy the work."
Through her work with software testing and QA services company Testlio, she discovered that she had a knack for writing engaging copy for the tech industry. Although she also test-drove beauty and home renovation as niches, she recognized that there was a huge demand for writers who could understand technology and software and then effectively communicate their value to customers.
"To find your niche, the only way forward is to try different things," Mayfield said. "Start out with two or four niches. Pick things you enjoy or things that are relevant to your previous job experience. Then work with different companies and see how it goes."
Dan Gower was an IT business analyst at the marketing firm Ansira for six years before setting his sights on a more independent career choice in 2017.
Dan Gower
Dan Gower.
"A friend's agency needed a freelance writer, and I jumped at the opportunity to do some more creative work than what I was used to at the day job," Gower said.
While the newbie copywriter didn't make much at this initial gig (about 3.5 cents per word) he enjoyed it, so he initially took low-paying copywriting jobs (in the $20 to $30 an hour range) to build experience, always going above and beyond to deliver exceptional work.
From there, referrals started rolling in, and today Gower can boast being a low-six-figure freelance copywriter at the age of 29, as well as owner of his own business that offers an array of copywriting services through Buddy Gardner Advertising.
Like Mayfield, Gower also found specializing in niche industries to be key to his financial success. His chosen industries were automotive, web development, and cannabis - an eclectic mix, but chosen based on his professional experience and interests.
"I know a lot about the automotive industry and web development from previous work experience, and I've also been following the cannabis industry because the legal and social implications fascinate me," Gower said, confirming that he has been able to rake in a steady stream of work writing about all three topics.
To help identify your own lucrative niche, Gower recommended paying attention to which assignments come naturally to you as you gain more experience as a freelance copywriter.
"You may be surprised to find that companies need freelancers to write about a broad variety of topics you already know about," he said. "I even have friends who have been paid handsomely to write about their hobbies like cooking or traveling."
Raise your rates to account for freelance expenses - and keep raising them
With a long list of happy clients and the ability to pitch himself as an expert in his three niche industries, Gower's pay rate started to rise. He now averages $50 to $60 per hour, occasionally netting work that pays upward of $100 per hour.
But the income bump didn't come without considerable effort on his part to intentionally raise his rates. He shared that a company has never offered him more than what he has asked for (which means it's important to ask for enough from the get-go), and emphasized that clients will definitely chime in if they feel your rate is too high.
Gower explained that asking for higher rates can be easiest when you first begin working with a new client, because you have a fresh slate when it comes to establishing your fees. When thinking about how much to ask for, the freelancer offered that it's always best to go into any negotiation with a rock-bottom price in mind that you'll accept - but that it's smart to start by shooting for a higher rate that gets you really excited.
"Make this price something that you can live with, then don't budge," Gower said. "If they won't get up to the minimum rate you have in mind, walk away. In my experience, the cheapest clients are also the hardest to work with because they don't really respect what you do."
Sometimes, though, you'll want to raise your rates on an existing client, and Gower suggested using something like the email below to communicate your request:
Hi [client's name],
I've been meaning to reach out to you about my rate. I know we agreed on [current rate] some time ago, but I'm requesting that you raise that to [new rate].
I believe this new rate is fair because of [your experience, past work, industry knowledge, etc.]. Most of my newer clients are paying me at least [new rate], and it would be easier to continue prioritizing your projects if you would match this rate.
Please let me know.
Thank you,
[Your name]
Over the past four years since Mayfield launched her freelance business, she too continually raised her rates to match the demand for her services and her increasing skill and experience. She pointed out that the combination of her proven expertise in her niche, along with leveraging her successes through her branding, helps justify her rates as a "no brainer."
When first starting out, Mayfield sold copyediting services on Upwork for $14 per hour, before transitioning her Upwork profile to copywriting services and slowly raising her rates to $23 an hour as the gigs multiplied. But even at that rate, a friend with industry experience convinced her that she was undercharging and needed to charge double or triple the amount that an employee would make per hour in order to make the same.
"By doubling or tripling the typical hourly rate, you account for expenses, time off, health insurance, and the time you must devote to your own administrative and marketing tasks [as a freelancer]," Mayfield said.
This tip helped her eventually boost her rate on Upwork to $175 per hour. But even with that sum, Mayfield realized that she was becoming too reliant on the platform, and that the types of companies and entrepreneurs that hired there weren't the best fit for her.
"They tended to be smaller, less experienced, and less organized than clients that came to me via LinkedIn or referral," she said.
So Mayfield decided to stop submitting Upwork applications and commit to systematizing her email outreach process (described below) so she could get off of Upwork once and for all. As a result, she was able to up her rates with better targeted, higher-paying clients.
Identify a lead-generation system that works for you and outsource it
Early on in Mayfield's freelance copywriting journey, she hired a virtual assistant and tasked her with running her Twitter and Instagram accounts for lead generation. But she wasn't getting the results that she wanted.
"I would get maybe one lead a quarter, and it was always random and not in my SaaS niche," she shared. "I even got a lead for writing a bong website!"
So she ultimately shifted gears to email outreach for lead generation, and switched her assistant's priorities to this instead, which allowed for emailing about 10 to 25 prospects a week consistently. Her assistant handled prospect research and email finding, and sent emails using Mayfield's templates.
It was a smart move. "My leads skyrocketed!" Mayfield said.
She explained that while it's possible to get leads from social media (especially LinkedIn), she believes that most freelance copywriters can benefit from email outreach. Mayfield offered the following tips to fellow freelancers, to whom she now teaches these strategies:
- Create a system for finding profitable companies in your niche, and discovering which ones are most likely to need your services.
- Use email-finding tools like Clearbit and Hunter.io to quickly find email addresses; you can also find the right companies for your specialty using a LinkedIn Sales Navigator account and search filters that match your niche.
- Find the right person to contact (the person who, based on their job title, is most likely to manage the kind of work you do), and send them a friendly email.
"Contrary to popular belief, people don't hate receiving cold email," Mayfield concluded. "Many entrepreneurs and executives are too busy to create freelance job postings and sort through applications. By emailing the right companies at the right time, you can get clients before they go looking for a freelancer."