How a good copywriting quote wins business
Compiling a copywriting quote can be a time consuming experience but one that is important to get right, for both the client and the copywriter.
Quoting for copywriting jobs, whether it’s a DL flyer or 10 page website is not always a straight forward exercise and the more complex the 
job, the longer it takes to write the quote. Sometimes smaller, straightforward jobs like writing a series of blog posts is a standard cost that you’ve got on your price list. But SEO copywriting for a 10 page website with a shopping cart, 12 blog posts and A5 flyer promoting the business is a different kettle of fish.
Regardless of the type and complexity of the job, at the end of the day, you want your quote to win the work: too cheap could mean your work is perceived as low quality and may not get the results the client is looking for; too expensive and you’ve potentially done yourself out of a job.
Getting the balance right is important which is why I prefer to spend a bit longer on the quote in the hope that I win the work.
How much information should you expect to see on a copywriting quote?
At the very least it should contain a brief description of the job, a cost to do it and an anticipated deadline. But to me this isn’t enough information: unless it’s a really straight forward job that I can quote from my price list, the (potential) client needs more to convince them that MY quote is the one they should choose over the competition.
I like to put myself in the customer’s shoes. I ask myself what would I expect to see in the quote that gives the client confidence that I know what I’m doing, and that the services outlined in my quote and the expected benefits they will receive are worth the client’s investment.
Here’s an example.
I recently sent a copywriting quote to a supplier for a new website she is coordinating for one of her clients. I spent around 2 hours preparing the quote which involves SEO copywriting for a 6 page website together with writing a series of blog posts. This may seem a straight forward job to quote for but because a lot of small business owners don’t understand what SEO is, I take the time to explain it in easy terms so that they can see the benefit it will have for their website. It also justifies the higher cost for an SEO copywriting job rather than just writing web copy from supplied keywords.
The supplier thanked me for the comprehensive quote (I don’t think she was expecting me to be quite so thorough) and the time and effort I had clearly put in. Now the ball is in the supplier’s court and I’m waiting to see if I will get the job. Even if I’m unsuccessful, I know that I’ve done my best to win the business.
Here’s a summary of what you can expect to see in a quote from Purple Chameleon Communications for a standard SEO copywriting job:-
Scope of work:
- research and identify keywords using Google Adwords
- analysis of competitor websites
- write meta page titles and descriptions (I explain that this is part of the site’s code that visitors won’t see within the website’s content and that the description is the snippet of text that shows up in SERPs, the Search Engine Results Page)
- write original, keyword driven copy for each page on the site, including Headers (H1, H2, etc)
Cost: Insert $ value to cover the above work, based on the number of pages
Success stories: Provide links to client websites where I’ve achieved a page one search engine ranking.
Terms of business:
- this states that a % deposit is required and a signed Terms of Business letter needs to be returned before commencement of work
- two rounds of revisions are included in the cost
- a completed briefing document needs to be returned before commencement of work
Et voila!