It’s a common question: What does content creation cost? It seems like there should be a simple answer: This many words, that many pages, here’s the $$. But it’s not quite that simple. There are multiple factors involved, including length, of course, but that’s not even necessarily the biggest factor. A short article or blog psot is not automatically much less expensive than a longer case study or whitepaper. Here are other things that affect the overall cost.
Content Background Work
How much work does the content provider have to do before even beginning to write? A client who needs a 500-word blog post and sends the writer a bullet list of what to include will accrue significantly fewer hours than a client who needs a 500-word blog post that requires the writer to conduct interviews with multiple people and extensive background research before even beginning to write.
The same holds true with revisions and updates. The more revisions requested, the more the piece is likely to cost. Pro tip: It may sound like a good idea to have all stakeholders weigh in on content, but in the end, writing and editing by committee is probably one of the most expensive things you can do—because everyone will have different ideas and suggestions, and revisions usually go into multiple iterations without noticeable improvement. I once worked on a blog post that had a limited shelf life due to its being related to breaking news. It never published, because nearly 15 people were involved in reviewing it, many of whom contradicted each other. The manager finally noted that the right time for posting it had passed. It was a very expensive post that never saw the light of day. Whenever possible, keeping the review team to no more than three helps speed up the process–and keeps costs down.
Rush Jobs
Projects that need an unusually quick turnaround, one that might involve the content provider putting in overtime and/or working nights and weekends, usually come with a premium.
Know Your Editing
People often use terms like proofreading, editing, and copyediting interchangeably. But they’re actually different things, and editing itself has several different subcategories. These all require varying levels of expertise and training, and accordingly, you’ll pay more for some than others. Strictly speaking, proofreading is a simple check of grammar, spelling, and punctuation. The varying levels of editing continue from there, with some of the more complex forms involving examining the overall text for continuity, coherence, and relevance—and that takes more time.
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