Deciding to work with a website copywriter isn’t always an easy ‘hell yes’ for everyone (despite how much I wish it were). There’s a lot that goes into choosing the right writer for you, and selecting who you decide to work with—if you decide to work with one of us at all!—is a not a decision to take lightly.

The first thing you’ll need to consider is arguably the most important, because if you and your copywriter don’t align on this one thing, everything else is irrelevant.

Consider Your Budget

Hopefully, every website copywriter you’re interested in potentially working with has some way for you to view their pricing, whether it’s readily available on their site (like mine!), or accessible via a pricing guide or welcome handbook you have to download.

I’m a big proponent of “pre-qualifying leads” – aka giving any interested party all of the basic information they need to know before they inquire, so as not to waste their time or my own. (Who wants to go through a whole ass email exchange, discovery meeting, and proposal creation, only to find out after the fact that you can’t afford it?)

For this reason, you can find all of my baseline—or “starting at”—prices on my services page, as well as (pretty much) every single deliverable included with all of my website copywriting, launch copywriting, and email marketing packages.

I’d recommend shopping around a little bit to see what (or, in this case, I suppose who) your options are, and what the general price point is for the type of work you’re looking for.

You can find website copywriters who charge $1,000 for a full website, and you can find website copywriters who charge $15,000+ or more. Pricing is so nuanced, but it’s usually based on experience, expertise, demand, process, availability.

Of course, someone who has less experience will charge less money. And, on the flip side, someone with more experience, who is more in demand, and puts more effort into their client experience will charge more.

It’s up to you to decide how much you’re willing to spend, because you’re the only one who can determine how worth it website copywriting is to you.

Ahem, if you’d like a website copywriter’s opinion, though, I’m happy to tell you that the ROI on this particular investment is insane, because of how connected your readers feel to your copy, the impact it has on their decision to take action.

And, of course, the longevity of your site plays a huge role—if you invest in quality website copy now, that same investment could still be earning you cold hard cash years later.

Consider Their Experience

The next thing you’ll want to find out is which type of copy they specialize in. If you’re seeking help with your website, you’ll want to seek out someone who classifies themself as a website copywriter, so you can feel confident that they’re an expert on the subject.

It’s also important to ask yourself what it is that you’re looking for in a collaborator, because your copywriter is someone you’ll work with closely in terms of communication—the nature of your relationship will call for honest conversations, candid feedback, and trust.

So, what’s important to you?

How much expertise are you hoping this person will have? Is it a ‘must’ for them to have at least 1 year under their belt? 5 years? 10 years? Or would you be cool with ignoring how long they’ve been working in the field as long as they write bomb copy?

Do you care if they specialize in your niche (like my friend Rachel who leads a team of website copywriters who only write for photographers), or would you prefer to work with someone who has an wide range of experience writing website copy for all sorts of different industries and personalities?

What do they know about putting their clients first? Is the experience of working with them something you’re looking forward to, or do you only care about your deliverables?

As I mentioned earlier, stalking copywriters’ websites will tell you a lot about their skills, specialties, experience, and priorities, so keeping your options open is a good idea when you’re first starting your search for a copywriter to work with!

Do you even need a website copywriter?

You may find, through all of this scrolling, stalking, and shopping around, that maybe working with a website copywriter isn’t for you.

Maybe you can’t find anyone whose website copywriting services fit your budget, and you can’t justify spending thousands of dollars on your site because you’ve got bills to pay.

Maybe you found lots of experienced website copywriters you’d love to work with, but we’re all booked up for the next 4 months, and you want to launch right freaking now.

Maybe you’ve learned a lot about what website copywriters offer, but think it would be more valuable for you to learn about copywriting yourself and try to write your site on your own.

All are completely valid situations, and all may result in not working with a website copywriter. So… what do you do instead?

You DIY it! And you’ve got lots of options.

• Teach yourself for free. There are millions of copywriting blogs to scour, and they’re full of information about how to write your site—if you had the time, you could literally teach yourself every single thing you need to know about website copywriting from blog posts and video tutorials alone (although it may take you quite a while).
• Purchase a web copy template. Allow me to recommend my Wicked Easy Web Copy Guide for, as the name boasts, a wicked easy experience writing your site.
• Take a website copywriting course. Preferably one that also teaches you how to leverage SEO, blogging, and email marketing to help you attract the right audience, so your website copy can do its job of converting readers into dream clients. I happen to know just the one. 😉

I can’t speak for other copywriters, but I have a feeling they’d agree—if you’re not willing to budge on your budget, and you’re not open to shifting your timeline, DIY-ing is a better option.

I’m not able to adjust my prices or my availability or my schedule, but at the end of the day, I’m just one person – and I can’t accommodate everyone.

However, because of that, I make an effort I have resources that can at least help everyone (or, at least, everyone interested in learning about website copy), which is why I’m committed to consistently posting blogs about website copywriting, I have a website copy template for the do-it-yourself-ers, and I teach a website copywriting and content marketing course for the business owners who want to learn about writing web copy in more detail.

Deciding who to choose

Now, let’s say you do decide to work with a website copywriter—yay! All that’s left to do is decide who to choose… but how the frick do you do that when there are so many awesome options?

I promise I’ll give you a more concrete answer in a sec, but my honest advice is: choose the one you vibe with.

About a year and a half ago, I worked with a dream client to craft her brand messaging, revamp her website, write all of her sales emails for 5 different funnels, plan all of her blog and social content, and advise on strategy…

And it’s safe to say we got pretty close, and became good friends over the course of the project.

So, when she brought up the subject of a resource from a different copywriter, I figured it was my *in* to finally ask her the question I’d been wondering since she inquired: WHY did she choose ME?!

On our discovery call, she’d shared that she liked the other copywriter a lot—same!—and ever since, I’d been wondering why she chose me.

To be honest, I’d assumed it was because the other person wasn’t available. And in all seriousness, that was fine with me! When choosing a copywriter to work with, they have to tick all your boxes.

When I finally did ask her why she chose me over this other copywriter—who, by the way, offers the same exact services as me for a very similar price—she said:

“I liked the personality in your web copy! I can’t explain it, I just resonated with YOU as a person – I liked your vibe, and that made my decision really easy!”

It had nothing to do with the other person. It didn’t even have anything to do with my experience, my pricing, my offerings… just “my vibe.” That’s not something I can give you helpful tips about, other than to trust your gut.

What have made people choose to work with me in the past?

Because “they liked my vibe” isn’t exactly the best answer, I decided to round up 9 of my recent clients’ answers to the question of: why did you choose to work with a copywriter, and what are your goals for our partnership?

(I selfishly ask this on my onboarding questionnaire, half because I want to make sure I exceed their expectations—and I can’t know what those are unless I ask, right?!—and half because it’s great research; content straight from my community’s mouth! 😉)

“NOT MY STRENGTH”

“I fully recognize that creating copy for a website is not my strength. I found it hard to explain to people not in PR what I do and how I help without sounding too industry jargon like. Your writing is compelling, interesting and I find myself wanting to read more. That’s exactly what I’m looking for! My goal is to be able to effectively communicate what my program is about, who I am, what my experience is, etc. in a fun and informative way without feeling boring or too corporate like.” — Nikki Rachelson, PR Specialist

“NEEDED HELP INFUSING MYSELF INTO MY COPY”

I chose to work with you specifically because your work is amazing. I have a hard time infusing myself into the copy of my brand and so I knew I needed someone to come on board to help me with that.

My goals for the partnership is for me to walk away with a strong understanding of my brand messaging and have some incredible words that sound and FEEL like me. I want people to land on my website and instantly know and feel like they won’t be only paying $500 for a logo. I want people to land on my page and immediately understand what I do and who I am – I want them to feel like we’re sitting down for a coffee just joking around. I want them to never want to leave my website and be dying to work with me immediately.

I want them to laugh, feel seen and heard and basically walk away thinking “if I don’t hire her, I’m gonna regret it.”

At the end of the day though, the biggest goal is to just have copy that I resonate with and also that resonates with my ideal client.” — Cahlia Southon, Brand Design Expert

“I’M NOT A WORDS PERSON”

“I’m not a words person and in the past I’ve truly stressed myself out with subpar website copy. If I want my clients to invest the big bucks in me, I want to give the m the best fucking experience I truly can and that starts with my website.” — Jemima Richards, Wedding Photographer

“I NEED YOU TO MAKE MY COPY MORE CLEAR”

“I have so many ideas, but I need you to make it clear, concise and appealing, so people will take the next step in becoming a member. A professionally written and designed website is very important to me. I know what I am doing, but I need help getting that across to potential members!” — Stacy Vinge, Indoor Cycling Studio Owner, Nutrition Coach, & Personal Trainer

“I LOVE WRITING, BUT WHEN IT COMES TO WRITING ABOUT ME, I HIT A WALL”

“I love writing and could write blog posts for days but when it comes to my own website and writing about me, I hit a massive brick wall. I continually felt like I was writing the same thing over and over again and would almost get anxious trying to do intro posts on social or spice up the about page.

I’m not an expert in copy and as I enter another year of entrepreneurship, I’m learning to let go of this need to control everything and to look to those who are experts in their respective fields. Asking for help is not a bad thing or means that I’ve failed.” — Stepfanie McCaffrey, Website Designer + SEO Specialist

“WRITING MY OWN COPY ENDED IN TEARS EVERY TIME”

“I tried to write my own copy, and it ended in tears every time. I love writing copy for social, but not my own website. And I’m at the point in my business where I want to put my absolute best foot forward and I have the cash to do so. I want to feel confident and in love with my website and I think knowing a pro did the copy will help a lot.

AND the reason I wanted to update my site’s copy is because I’m getting inquiries, but they’re not my ideal client. I need to do a better job of attracting my ideal client.” — Sarah Price, Social Media Manager

“YOUR WRITING IS WARM, CLEAR, AND HONEST”

“I loved Wilda’s new site when she launched and she mentioned you did the copy. Your writing is so warm, clear and honest. I want to sound as good as that. Warm, clear and honest.” — Marlo Biasutti, Brand Designer

“I WAS COPYING EVERYONE IN MY INDUSTRY, EVEN THOUGH IT MADE ME CRINGE”

“I speak in visuals and have no way with words. I find myself sort of copying what everyone else writes in the industry even though it makes me cringe. I thought that’s what my clients wanted to hear. But I’m ready now to stand out with more than just my photos.

I want to be able to be more of MY true self with my couples to give them the best experience and I want them to feel like they know and get me as a person before they inquire to hire me. I want to strengthen my website & subsequent marketing to it so that most people who inquire are already like yes please, you’re my woman, I want you!” —Allie Dowd, NYC Wedding Photographer

“WE WANTED CLEAR COPY THAT’LL RANK ON GOOGLE”

We know what we are good at… copy ain’t it! haha. We want copy that speaks and resonates with our audience, is clear and not overwhelming and ranks on Google with great keywords! And you, girlfriend, are the lady to make that happen! :)” —Abbey Oslin, Organic Marketing Expert

In conclusion…

You don’t need a website copywriter, thanks to all of the different resources online—ranging in price from zero dollars to a zillion dollars—to help you learn how to do it on your own, but we’re definitely nice to have if writing isn’t your thing 😉

(Or, if writing is your thing, but writing about yourself isn’t, or if writing for conversion with real results in mind doesn’t tickle your fancy.)

If we haven’t had the chance to *virtually* meet yet, hi! I’m Sara Noel—website copywriter and marketing mentor for creatives, copywriters, and all-around cool people. If you like my content and you want even more BTL in your life, here are a few ways you can connect with me:

Subscribe to my newsletter! I send one marketing tip, once a week – and, according to my subscribers, it’s “the best marketing newsletter on the Internet” and “the only reason to wake up on Tuesday mornings.” So… yeah. You’ll love ‘er. 😏 Click here to subscribe!

Check out my services. I write website copy, sales pages, email sequences, blog posts, and brand messaging guides for entrepreneurs of all kinds! Maybe you’re my next favorite client.

Read the rest of my blog. It’s home to everything from copywriting tips, to marketing education, to freelance advice, to portfolio-worthy projects… if you like this post, you’ll love the blog. Here’s a quick roundup of my most popular posts.

Sign up for my web copy course. Actually, it’s not *only* about website copywriting—I also teach modules on copywriting basics, developing your target audience, search engine optimization, blogging, and email marketing.

Enlist me as your mentor. I have an entire in-depth blog post about my one-on-one consulting process for new and aspiring copywriters, if you’re interested in having a big-sis-style mentor to help you grow your freelance copywriting business & get results.

To get in touch with me directly, send me a DM or email sara@betweenthelinescopy.com. Have a great day!