Web Copywriting
How Much Does Website Copywriting Cost?
Per word, per page or per project — three pricing models, what each one hides, and what a real site rebuild actually comes to.
Copywriting is quoted three ways, and the model matters more than the number — because each one hides a different cost.
The Three Pricing Models
- Per word: transparent and easy to compare, and it quietly rewards length. A writer paid by the word has no reason to cut the paragraph that should go.
- Per page: predictable per unit, and it aligns the incentive correctly — a shorter, sharper page pays the same as a bloated one. It needs a shared definition of "page".
- Per project: one number for the whole site. Best for budgeting, worst for scope creep, and only safe when the scope is written down.
Any of the three can be fair. The problems start when the model is chosen to obscure something — a per-word rate that looks low until you see the word count, or a project price with no page list attached.
What a Real Site Comes To
Working from our own published rate of $12.95 per 100 words, and the word count ranges most service-business pages actually land in:
- Homepage, 600 words: $77.70
- Service page, 1,200 words: $155.40
- About page, 700 words: $90.65
- Landing page, 900 words: $116.55
- Eight-page site averaging 800 words a page — 6,400 words: $828.80
That is the writing. It does not include the research call, and it does not include the strategy work of deciding which pages should exist in the first place — which, on a badly structured site, is worth more than the copy.
A useful sanity check: copy is usually the cheapest line on a website project and the one that determines whether the rest of it earns anything. Sites routinely spend five figures on design and three on the words the design exists to present.
What Moves the Number
- Research depth: customer interviews and competitor teardowns cost more and are the single biggest quality lever.
- Subject complexity: regulated, technical or niche categories take longer to write correctly and are worth paying for.
- Source material: a clear brief, existing sales calls and real case studies cut the cost. Starting from nothing does not.
- Revisions: the difference between "two rounds" and "until the brief is met" is real money on a difficult project.
- Ownership: find out whether you own the copy outright. It is not always a given.
The cheapest quote is usually the most expensive outcome. Pages written by a subcontractor working from a template read like the rest of the category, which means the page has to be rewritten later — and the second write costs full price on top of the first.
What Should Be in the Price
Ask directly, before you compare numbers, because these are where quotes stop being comparable:
- A briefing conversation before anything is written, not a form.
- The writer's name, and whether the work is subcontracted. Ours is not — the team is in-house.
- Revisions until the brief is met, rather than a fixed count that runs out mid-project.
- Titles, meta descriptions and headings, or you will be writing them yourself.
- A stated turnaround. Ours is typically two business days.
- Whether you are locked in. On our standard services you are not.
Questions Worth Asking Before You Pay
Ask for two pages the writer has written in your sector, and ask what happened to the enquiry rate. Anyone who has done the work has an answer. Ask what they would need from you, too — a writer who wants nothing from you is planning to write something generic.
Our own pricing and what it covers are set out on the website copywriting service page, and if you are still sizing the job, the word count ranges by page type will get you to a realistic total.
Questions
Questions about this article
Still unsure about something? Talk to a specialist — no script, no sales pitch.
Rates vary widely by market and by writer. Our own published rate is $12.95 per 100 words, which puts a 600-word homepage at $77.70 and a 1,200-word service page at $155.40. Rates well below that usually mean a subcontracted writer and a brief nobody read.
It is more predictable, and it removes the incentive to pad. The risk is the opposite one: an unclear scope means either you or the writer absorbs the difference. Ask what a project price includes — how many pages, how many revisions, what happens if the brief changes.
Almost always because the work is subcontracted at a fraction of the quoted rate, or generated and lightly edited. Both produce pages that read like every other page in the category, which is the one thing copy cannot afford to do.