Dear Tig: Content Development Rates, Dissing Competitors, and Do Brands Have a Shelf Life?
by Tig Tillinghast

** Tig's weekly column fields questions from and for marketers. **

Dear Tig,

I was wondering if there are some established rates for web content development. I need to submit a quote to a client who wants me to maintain their content.

Regards, Mystery Bidder

Dear Bidder,

If you are running one of your first projects in this area, I strongly recommend billing a client at an hourly rate, with frequent updates of time used. Only after a lot of experience can you begin to make price quotes based on the scope of the task or the level of service.

In addition to learning about your own time requirements and staff needs, the particular client--and the client's working habits--will have a great deal of influence on what you will need to charge to make a fair profit.

That said, the rates vary a great deal from region to region and firm to firm. In Boston, a copywriter will charge $120 an hour for what would cost someone $60 in Kansas City. A larger firm that is able to have people with more focused specializations might charge 50% more than a freelancer doing everything on his or her own.

Rates will often vary greatly depending on the scope of the project. If a freelancer is employed for three months, he might charge half the rate he would if he were being hired for a single day.

After you compete against other vendors a few times, you will get a sense of where the marketplace stands in your region. Fortunately, the heady “bubble” days have ended, where we had to bid against startups that weren't worried about profits and sustainable rates.

_______________________________________

Dear Tig,

Do brands have a life expectancy? Or should we assume that they last forever?

Thanks, Long-term Brand Caregiver

Dear Long-term,

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tig Tillinghast tiggy@mac.com writes from the banks of the Elk River near Chesapeake City, Maryland. He consults with major brands and ad agency holding companies, helping marketing groups find the right resources for their needs. He is the author of The Tactical Guide to Online Marketing as well as several terrible fiction manuscripts.