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Have you ever thought, “I’m not getting paid enough to do this work?” I recently read an article by Perth copywriter Aaron Bloxsome of Clear Copywriting titled, “Beware of the Monster Clients of the Deep”. Aaron detailed several indicators for recognising a potentially troublesome client. The striking thing about his story was that nearly every one of his warning signs would cause me to increase my fees. That got me thinking.

What things do prospective clients do to ensure they’re going to pay top dollar for copywriting services?

As fair warning to all my readers who may consider hiring me in the future, I developed a list. It’s not a matter of me being grumpy. It’s a matter of economics. I doubt you’ll find an experienced writer who won’t agree with me and follow suit.

1) No brief: If you can’t tell me what you want or if you’re vague about the project, it’s going to cost you. You need to provide enough detail, even if it’s in bullet-point format, to give me some guidance on what you want.

2) Rush job: It’s been my experience when people are in a hurry for written content that it’s usually because they haven’t planned well. If you expect me to drop everything and make you a priority over all my other clients and my own work, expect to pay extra.

3) Difficult people: I had a prospective client tell me, “My web designer is a Nazi.” Her quote for website copy carried a premium.

4) You don’t know your business: As strange as it sounds, I’ve had clients who can’t articulate what makes them different or what their competitive advantage is. I once had a client who got no further than “We’re all about fun.” If your copywriting services require a strategic consultation, you’ll be charged consultants’ fees in addition to the writing.

5) Work I don’t enjoy: Let’s face it; we all have projects we’d rather not do. If it’s work I don’t like, I increase the rate.

6) Full workload: If my schedule is tight and you can’t wait for it to free up, I increase my fees for work done on weekends and evenings.

7) Rewrites of rewrites: Occasionally a client is inspired by something I’ve written and decides to “improve” it. I have no problem with that until they come back and ask me to “fix” what they’ve done. If I have to rewrite content that someone else improved upon, don’t expect to get a bargain from me.

What situations cause you to raise your fees?