How One Article Was Responsible for $15 Million in Sales
Big ups to Karen Axelton for this one! At a recent marketing conference, one of the speakers, the owner of a pool company, mentioned he used content marketing to become the #1 pool website in the US. Turns out through tracking his content’s analytics, one of the company's online articles was responsible for $15 million in annual sales. WHOA!
With that, in today’s livestream we’re talking about the long-term value of freelance writing content, how content marketing and blog post value works, the feeling freelance writers have that they may be charging too much, what you should think about the next time you write a potential client proposal, and Marcus Sheridan’s speech about brand and web content honest and transparency.
Article about Marcus Sheridan’s speech
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How One Article Was Responsible for $15 Million in Sales
So, this is why content marketing matters. We are gonna talk about an article that, uh, Karen Axelton recommended. So thank you Karen, for this topic. So Karen Axelton sent me this, um, she had gone to a conference and she came back and it turns out that this guy who owned a pool company, um, Marcus Sheridan had have his stuff right here, um, was talking about an article, one piece of content marketing, one article that they posted online that got them 15 million worth of sales. And there's a bunch of things that we're gonna talk about here in terms of their content marketing efforts, why content matters. And then also, um, the and transparency aspect to what Marcus Sheridan was talking about. And you may have already heard this story, but this was the first time I heard it. And Karen sent over. She's like, you gotta know this.
The Long-Term Value of Freelance Writing Content
Uh, so thank you, Karen. So we're gonna talk about that today. The deal is that when we're talking about content, a lot of times as freelance writers, we feel like we should, um, undercharge for our content. So this is the number one point. So this is our first thing. Hey, Vicky, welcome in. I always love the wave. Glad you're here. So this is number one. This is the first thing we're talking about is like the long term value of your content. And then we're gonna talk about other things like pricing, and we're gonna talk about, um, value and all this stuff. So the deal is that when you are creating content, it lives for a long time. I think this is something that freelance writers forget. They get in this head space of thinking that their work is transactional. That they're like, yeah, I'm just giving you a blog post.
You're giving me $400. I'm going about my day, whatever. That's not what happens. <laugh> the deal is the, the work continues to bring them stuff. So that's why this story is so important. That 15 million from one article that article was created and it lives forever pretty much unless they take down the website or delete the article. But the article keeps bringing in leads and sales and people who care about working with them, right? Because it lives there that one time transaction, where they pay you for doing the work, the work pays for itself over and over and over again. So this is something I think a lot of freelance writers forget, Hey buddy, hi, are you having a great day? You stuck? I think this is something that, um, freelance writers forget a lot of the time is that, um, your content drives web traffic.
Your content drives leads, your content drives sales, your content drives brand awareness, clicks, shares, likes all the stuff. Speaking engagements. Sometimes people read those articles. If they're ghost written and they're like, you should come speak for us. They're like, okay, <laugh> so all of that stuff lives our, after you stop working with that client, as long as your content lives on their website or lives on their LinkedIn, like on their, um, LinkedIn pulse, or as long as your content lives, somewhere for them, it's working for them. It's helping with SEO. It's helping with all this stuff. So this is something that we forget about. I find that freelance writers are like, oh my gosh, I'm so worried. I don't wanna overcharge. Like, I hope that they say yes. And it's like that one piece of content is so small compared to the value that it provides.
Like just doing that piece of content that is such small step in the amount of things that that content can do. And this is something that is really important to remember when you're working on projects, when you're doing quality content, right? Quality content pays for itself over and over and over again. And when you're pricing projects, and when you're thinking about the long term value to your clients, right? They're not just paying blog post or a case study or whatever. Like there are case studies that live for years and years and years, right? There's blog posts that live for years and years and years. And we all know that Google is well currently the Google, like spiders are prioritizing like older content too. Like the older your content, like the better Google's like, yeah, you've been creating a content for a while. Good job. So the deal here is that we need to remember that our content, when we create it as freelance writers has very long term value, like your content can live on for long periods of time.
For example, I don't know if this has happened to you, but when I have been researching articles, I will find things on the internet from like 1992 or like 20 2001, or like things that are 20, 30, 40 years old sometimes. And they'll be ranking on the first page of Google it's because that content is still driving. Like it's still driving value and it's still driving people there. It has enough stuff, right? Like maybe it's a super FA famous magazine story or whatever, but that content is still driving traffic to that place. Right. It's still, whatever's on the first page of Google. It's still driving traffic. So even if it's from 1993, <laugh> that thing that shows up on the first page of Google is still working. And that's something that we have to put in our minds. So this $15 million from one article, right. That's like crazy.
Right. That's crazy. But it shows the value of content marketing. Like if you create good content and we'll talk about the honesty and transparency thing, Hey, Getty. Welcome in. Yay. Yeah. Welcome to the, the livestream team. Hey, veno. Welcome in. We're glad you're here. So that's the thing. We have to remember the long term value of this content, right? So that 15 million like that content, they didn't pay a million dollars. They didn't pay a hundred thousand dollars. They didn't pay like $10,000 for that one piece of content. They might have even created it in house and paid someone hourly to create it. Right. Um, but the, all of the long term value that you get from that is really important. And there are times right, where people often talk about writing sales letter or sales pages. And they're like, yeah. You know, um, that brings in money.
And, um, that's where the copywriting is, where the money is, but there is long term value in content marketing. And we all know that. I just wanna kind of remind you that when you're sweating over pricing a project or you're worried about overcharging, or you're worried about like, oh my gosh, should I charge a hundred dollars less or a hundred dollars more? That is very inconsequential to the value that content brings a business bar, none that's point number one, then we're gonna talk about point number two.
Content Marketing Value, Overall Content Value, and How Freelance Writers Bring Value to Clients
And if you have questions, you can always pop 'em in the, or if you have questions about this topic, you can always pop them below in the comments. I always answer my comments. And, um, if you feel like this has been helpful, give it a thumbs up. If you feel like you wanna learn more about creating high quality content and building a hiring freelance writing business subscribe.
So let's talk about the content marketing and the blog posting. So this is how it works. Content marketing basically just means all of the content you're using for Mar marketing purposes. Right? So content marketing is like how you are using content to get to an end goal, which is usually like, by my <laugh> so content marketing, when you do it for your clients, right? It's like, yeah. Brand awareness. Yeah. Clicks like shares. Yes. Down unloads. Yes. All like building an audience, all that stuff. But the end goal for your clients is to make money. Like that's why they're creating content. It's part of marketing. Marketing makes money. That's the whole point. Well, marketing brings in sales, which then makes money. So the whole point is that when we're doing our content marketing, the whole scope of thinking of that content is part of the marketing department, right?
And our content is gonna be leveraging a whole bunch of different things. So even if a client comes to you and says like, yes, we need to get our name out there. Right. We need more brand awareness, or we need to build more brand value, like building out a content library or, um, we need to build more brand trust. So we need to create all of this, these different types of content, like, um, a downloadable, like an ebook or a guide, and two case studies in a white paper and like four blog posts a month for the next six months. Like we need to do all this stuff. All of those things, those content marketing efforts are really important to building out the content library that then brings trust and information to the brand and the audience. So think of it this way. Um, there is a stat that is like a, a well known prevalent stat.
I don't remember if it was HubSpot or somebody else, but 80% of people, I think it is HubSpot 80% of people read and participate in all the online content before they ever either make a sale or reach out to a company or talk to them or talk to us to sales person. So eight outta 10 people are reading the content marketing efforts. That's really important. Okay. The value in that is like crazy. So more and more people are taking the process upon themselves, right? This is a trend that we've known for a long time, but it's just very, very strong. Um, in terms of freelance writers, thinking about the value of their content, the pricing of their content, and like how their content actually converts one article is 15 million in sales. Like that's really good conversion. So when we're thinking about all of this stuff, right?
Our content marketing efforts are, um, a critical piece to this brand, doing all of the spider legs in their business. So when you are, um, thinking about it, it's, it's this really important thing that makes their audience understand why they should work with that brand. Right? So if 80% of people are online, looking at their website, looking at their LinkedIn, looking at their blog, posts, reading their, their content, whatever that is, downloading their content, getting the newsletter, whatever that means that stuff is crazy important to them actually converting sales. So don't ever forget that a lot of times people want to not talk to a person anymore. Right. That's why we have so many automated calls, right? Like press one for so blah, blah, blah. Um, we have all of these things because people just wanna kind of do it themselves. They wanna research a company and learn about a company and see what a company does before they contact them.
Like, I'm sure, I'm sure you've been on Yelp or next door or, um, Angie's list or anywhere they have reviews, like any type of place where they have reviews before you've hired someone like all, everybody does that. Right. And there's this multi cross effort that people go through, right? They don't just check review. They actually read the content. They're like, who are these people that I'm gonna work with? What types of things are they doing? And then when you become a trusted source, right? That, that is a natural flow of the content. If youre keep creating quality content that actually delivers results for your audience or, uh, the content helps them do the stuff they wanna do, or you become a place where they're like, yeah. Um, you know, this roofing company has this really great blog and it's helped me solve so many problems.
So I knew that when I needed to get my don't sit on her, why do you sit on her? She hates that. So anyways, the roofing company, right? Um, you'd be like, yeah, they helped me. So many times they, they gave so many helpful articles that when I had a really big roof problem, I just hired them. Cuz I already trusted them. I knew that they knew what they were doing because when I implemented the steps that they gave me in that blog post, it worked right. All of those things are really important. So our content not only lives for a long time, it has crazy value in that 80% of people. Right. And it's probably gonna be even higher. Right? There's a lot of changes that have happened over the last few years. And um, <laugh>, I think that that's only gonna grow. I think that the presence of people like the more websites you go to, they have more online chats like robots that people talk to to get immediate answers or they have have like the, the escalation rate of you actually talking to a human is getting further and further away.
So I think that that number of 80% of people is only gonna grow. That's my opinion. Uh, I think people wanna do their own research. They wanna formula their own opinion about stuff. They, they double check reviews. They, um, want to understand where a company is coming from. And this relates to that honesty and transparency part that, um, was in Marcus Sheridan's speech that Karen sent me. So let's move on to 0.3. All right. Let's move on to point. Let's do a puff date. Let's do a quick puff date. The good news is that <laugh> see. Okay. You can't sit on her. She hates it. When
You sit on her like that, go back to your own Haba hole, go back to your own Haba hole.
She's like, don't do this to me. I
Hate it. Well, go over there. Go find that trio over there. I already threw it. It's behind you. <laugh>
At this age with Bo, if I fake throw a treat after I've already
Thrown a treat, good job mini.
He will go find it. <laugh> the deal is that if I, if he can't see it and I pretend to throw it again, he'll just magically find it.
All right. Good job buddy. Ready? 1, 2, 3. Do good job. All right, MI let's do a high five. Good job. Other one other, one other one. Nope. Other one. Good job. Good job. Other one. We missed it. There we go. Good job.
All right. All right, buddy. One more ready?
1, 2, 3 dog. Oh,
You still got it. You didn't quite catch it, but you were close.
Good job.
What to do as a Freelance Writer When You’re Worried About Overcharging or Charging Too Much, and What to Think About When Creating Your Proposals
All right. So let's talk about three here. Let's talk about number three. And if you have questions you can pop 'em in the chat. So number three here is that we wanna talk about, um, charging money. We wanna talk about money, um, which can be an awkward topic, but we need to talk about money and proposal. So here's a fun story that I rarely tell that I think is really important. So if you are a freelance writer or you want to become one, write this down. I have only known one writer in 10 years who crazy overcharge for their work. There was someone that decided they wanted to be a six figure freelance or writer, and they wanted to charge $30,000 a month for four blog posts <laugh>, which is not right. So they decided that in order to become a six figure freelance writer, they wanted to charge $30,000 a month or whatever it was, uh, four blog posts and four blog blog posts.
Yeah. And that's the only person I have ever known. The only writer I've ever come up against that. I thought that's probably overcharging for four blog posts. Like even if they were real research blog posts like, Hmm, probably not. Right. So if you are sitting at home and you're wondering if I'm over are charging for this work, the chances that you're overcharging are very low. <laugh> almost every writer. I know, like every writer I meet besides the people who are like killing it, right. They've figured it out. They've like gotten over the mindset hump. They've gotten over all these other roadblocks to actually pricing what that work is worth. Right? The majority of freelance writers are like, oh my gosh, I'm quibbling over a hundred dollars. Like, should I charge 400 or four 50 for this blog post? I don't wanna scare them away with $50.
It's $50 does not matter. Okay. The amount that your content does, the work that your content is, $50 is inconsequential a hundred dollars. It's inconsequential. If you're doing a big project, $500, a thousand dollars is inconsequential to the value that your content provides. Now we wanna be respectful of budgets. Of course. And we also wanna be, um, paying attention to what that of content does, right? The complexity of the content, how much research are we doing? Are we doing interviews? Like, what is that? So we need to charge appropriately, but I'm telling you that there is nobody. There is essentially nobody that I know that's a freelance writer that gets all big in their bris and overcharges for their work. Like it's just not possible. Like it, it is unless you charge 15 million for one article, which you wouldn't do. Right. But the deal is that it is very, very, extremely rare that freelance writers overcharge for their work. Now it's not rare at all. Oh goodness. You go. It's not rare at all that you end up with. Um, you know, sometimes you end
Up buddy, you want one ready? 1, 2, 3 dog,
Close enough. Uh, it's not rare that you end up with red light clients that tell you that you're overcharging or tell you that the value's not there or tell you that they, if you, uh, work an hour less, does it cost a hundred dollars less? That's red light client business. And that's not, we're not dealing with that. We are gonna work with people who see the value in our content and they wanna pay for the right writer to get results, to do the right stuff. So that's what we're paying attention to. There are lots of people who will tell you, oh my gosh, I can't believe you charged a thousand. Do like a dollar, a word, excuse me. Or I can't believe you charged $2 a word for that thing. Like that's so small in the amount of value that your content can drive. Put this in your, put this in your noodle.
It is the chance that you would overcharge is super rare and overcharging would be like, you charge them five or $10,000 more. Or maybe like, I don't know, some crazy number, like $25,000 over the, of value of that project. A hundred dollars, $50, $200. That's that's play money. That's like monopoly money. It's such a small value to not only the content itself, but the long term benefits that company gets. Right? So let's say, let's say you decide, all right, I'm gonna go up from $200. A blog post I'm charging, 200 for, or a blog post. I'm gonna go for $500 a blog post. I'm gonna get closer to 80 cents to a dollar, a word I'm going for it. Whole hog. Right? So someone gives you $500 for a blog post, or let's say you were writing four blog posts a month. They give you $2,000 a month.
They have a product that's $5,000. Someone buys one product from all the content you've created. They have now made way more money, buy a long shot. Okay. So the deal is that when we are thinking about, um, our proposals, when we're putting things together, when we are thinking about pricing, we are, um, getting all of our ducks in a row. The deal is that you have to remember the long term value of your content and REM like put this in your noodle. The chance that you will overcharge is, is like so slim. And the chance that someone will come back and be like, oh my gosh, you're gouging people. That's a red light client. Walk the away. <laugh> that's wrong. Like we are working with people who see the value in content and they say things like that makes sense. Like when you send your pricing or you send a proposal or you tell them like, yeah, you, I normally charge this.
They're like, that totally makes sense. There's very few times where you actually roll up in there and you're like, I'm charging $5,000 for this, for this 200 do 200 word thing. Like it just, it doesn't happen. Writers. Most of the time come from a place of having low self worth, low self confidence, a lot of roadblocks. And we are creative. We, we want to write, we wanna share our, our writing and help people do things, right? Our writing is a very valuable and very valuable skill. That's hard to find. That's why they're hiring so many content writers. Now, like I talk about this all the time. Yeah. S I'm glad business says, I definitely need this kick in the SNA. Yes. Stop worrying about overcharging. So here's the deal. I talk about this all the time writing is what of the oldest jobs in the world.
We all know what the oldest job in the world is. Writing is basically number two. There are all different types of creative writing style expression that go back since forever, right? Writing is, is something that everybody does, but very small, a very small amount of people can do well. You should be charging for the fact that you have a valuable skill with long term impact. That brings results. And you are charging well for that. The, the opportunity that you are creating by giving someone a proposal and giving them the opportunity to get web traffic and SEO and all these things and long term clients, and that all builds on itself. So let's, let me give you like a more example of this. So here
You go, buddy. Ready? 1, 2, 3 dog. Oh,
You were so close. All right. I'm gonna fake throw it to you. Bear. And I bet
You're gonna find it, buddy. Ready? It's right there. <laugh> so close you high pack. Good job. Good job. Oh my gosh. That was a nice
Cork noise
Bear. It's right there, buddy. It's right there.
Oh gosh. Sometimes,
Sometimes here, buddy, here you go.
You can lead a geriatric dog to a trio, but it doesn't mean that he's going to eat it. <laugh> so here's the deal. You have to think about all of these things when you're putting a proposal together. Okay. The chance that you over would overcharge is small. The value of that content is incredible. The ah, on my foot, um, the value that you create is incredible. The amount of opportunities for that content to eye roll or take off or build an audience is big. The opportunity that you are continuing to build trust for that brand is invaluable. The amount of clicks like shares, downloads, um, interactions, sales, all that stuff. It go, it continues on when you stop working for that brand, it continues on as long as your content is live, all of that stuff is really important, right? That's why we're doing this with writing, being the oldest profession, one of the oldest professions and people just don't do it.
Well, people write all the time. They write emails, they write garbage stuff and they think that means they can write, well, they wouldn't hire you if they could actually write. And it actually worked, right. That's the point. There is a misstep there where people were like, oh yeah, it should only take you an hour. Or like I tried to do it. It only took me two hours. Well, what you made in two hours was garbage. We all know it was hot, garbage, it was terrible. And we all know that that's why you're hiring us because we have a very specific skill. That's hard to find. And just because like 99% or 90% of the world writes every day, writing emails, writing reports, you, you know, texting, posting, whatever that doesn't mean they're good at <laugh>. That doesn't mean they actually make content that makes people wanna keep reading. That makes people wanna click and share and download and be part of their brand and trust them. And then there's a bigger ripple effect than that. So let's talk about super fans a little bit. So pat fly, who I love, love, love. I have worn his little, um, team Flyn shirt before I haven't worn it in a while. I should wear it. But pat Flyn has a book called super fans. You should read it because this applies to content marketing.
SA go back here, go back here. All
Right. So the deal with pat Flyn and super fans is the idea. Good job, buddy. You caught it. All right, MI
Can you gimme high five? Good job. Other one good job.
All right. Is that you only need a thousand true fans and you're basically set for life. Like your business will continue to, to percolate and do it stuff with a thousand true fans. Okay. So if you write blog posts or you write a case study, or have a downloadable that builds subscribers, if you can build a thousand true fans, this isn't a thousand subscribers. This isn't a thousand people, just in general. These are people who are like evangelical and super into your brand. This is something that is, people are super passionate about your brand and they share it with everybody. They know that's a thousand true fans, right? Like I talk about pat affluent all the time. <laugh> um, and I, I just love his brand. I love his podcast. Like if you guys haven't listened to the smart, passive income podcast, do that. Um, he Al he has a ton of podcasts.
Um, anyways, the whole point is that you need a thousand true fans and you're set for life. So if your content is helping people get a thousand true fans and they're set for life, that's super valuable, right? So the more content you create, the more, the more con the more quality content that you create as a freelance writer, the more people fall in love with that brand. The more people trust that brand, the more will buy from that bear end. And the more people who are doing all of those things, right, who are falling in love, they tell people, and then those people tell people, and then they create so many super fans that their business is set. And they're good to go, right? So the deal here is that all of this content you're creating is rip and rip and rip. And there's this disconnect right?
Between like red light that are like, it should only take you this amount of time. And like knowing the ripple effect, the important thing here that I'm hoping to press upon you today is that you need to know the ripple effect of your content. You need to know that one article can bring 15 million. You need to know that with a thousand true fans, that brand is based set for life. Essentially. Like, you need to know that because when you write proposals and when you do pricing, that will make you feel like a super confident, powerful freelance writer, not like, oh, this client told me I should take less time to do it. Or, uh, I, 50 extra dollars was too much like we're quibbling over pennies. Like that's pennies in the course of the value that content can provide. And it's also pennies in terms of income, right?
Like how many times you go to the grocery store and you're like, quibbling over like $50 on your grocery bill being like, oh my gosh, like, I can't believe HEB charged this. Like, it's, it's just, it's not a thing you budget, right. You have a grocery bill. And you're like, we would like to spend, and, you know, three to $400 a month, or whatever on groceries, you have a budget that you personally stick to, but you don't go to HEV. And you're like, huh? This thing like you, you can't negotiate. Like in the, at least in this country, you can't like negotiate your grocery bill at Walmart or, uh, you know, sprouts or, you know, my love Wegmans. I will never let go of my love of Wegmans. I really wish they weren't just in upstate New York. Nobody gets it. When you tell them, like, when people tell me that at HEB is just as good as we like is the best grocery tour.
Like you've never been to a Wegmans, Madam. No, <laugh> no, anyways, tangent. So these are, this is really important. You have to know, have put this in the noodle. You have to know that your ripple effect is super valuable. So when someone comes up against you and giving you the trio of work, right, they're giving you the trio of work. And they're saying like, you're charging too much money. Like, first of all, you should have a budget. <laugh> right. You should have a budget for this content because you know how valuable it is client, right? Having that budget is super important. So if they don't have a budget and then they're coming to you saying it's too expensive, like, mm, well, it sounds like you didn't have a budget. And now you're telling me it's too expensive. So I wasn't able to like work within your budget help.
So then the other part of that, right? This is our trio example. Everybody enjoy. So the deal is that you and your client, right, they should be on the same page. And you need to know that ripple effect of your value. You need to understand when you're pricing a project, you are pricing for the value of that project, to the client, to them getting sale to the ripple effect, to the super fans, to the brand value, to the brand, trust, to the brand loyalty, all that stuff. That's what you're creating. You're not gonna charge them $30,000 for one blog post, but you're definitely gonna charge them well for that content in the context that you're making it right. How much research, how much interviews do you have to make an infographic? Do you have to find images? Do you have to do a bunch of SEO stuff?
Um, you're gonna charge well for that, but that is like a drop in the bucket, right? That is pennies compared to the long term value of that content. And like I said, even if they have a budget project product, right, let's say they don't sell equipment, or they don't sell something. That's 5,000, 10,000, 30,000, $50,000. Let's say they sell soft. And the subscription is $20 a month or $9 a month, or whatever those subscriptions roll in. When you have super fans, you get more subscriptions by having the content roll out where people can still like, understand what the product does and how it helps them. And those subscriptions are scalable. They don't have to like, do anything extra, right. Subscriptions are really easy to scale. Like selling equipment itself is a little bit harder, right? So, but software, right? It's a lot easier to scale. And if you're creating content, then you're pulling people in and they're getting more subscriptions. And the content creation cost is so much lower than that. Even if the product is a $10, um, a month subscription for soft. Okay. If you guys go back to your ha holes,
Well ready, go back to your ha holes. There we go.
So this
Is something that good job.
This is something that I think all freelance writers need to understand. It's not that you're just writing. You are participating in the sales cycle. This super important you are part of the funnel. Content marketing serves the top of the funnel, which is called tofu, right? Top of funnel, T O F F U tofu, middle of funnel, MOFU, bottom of funnel BOFU. You can serve all parts of the funnel with your content, and you need to understand that, which part of the funnel really, that you're creating in. Right? But then also you need to understand the value of that and the super fans and the ripple effect. This is super important. So don't forget this. Um, this is something that I think when we talk about the actual writing, this is running your business right? Running your business means understanding pricing and how you actually come up with that pricing and how your work actually lives out in the wild.
Like the ripple effect, the, the, um, downloads clicks like shares, all that stuff. You need to understand that that's running a good business, physically writing the content and high quality client, uh, content is a different beast, but still needs to be tamed, right? But these are the pieces of actually running your business. Right? You have to know these things in order to run a business. And I think that most of the time when freelance writers don't understand these things, when they don't get that, um, this is, this is how the content lives in the wild, not just them writing it at home and submitting it, waiting for edits. That's not it. The lifetime of the content is it like you creating it the time that you spend and the payment and all that stuff that is so small to the content's lifetime. So don't forget that.
Marcus Sheridan’s Speech About The One Article That Brought $15 Million in Sales, and Honesty and Transparency in Content Marketing and Web Content
All right, let's go to number four. Let's go to number four. And, um, if this has been helpful so far, give it a thumbs up. If you wanna subscribe to, um, get more tips on Billy high earning for that writing business feel free. I always love having subscribers <laugh>. Um, and then, all right, let's talk about, so let's talk about Marcus Sheridan. Let's talk about Marcus Sheridan and his speech. Um, and this is like him to talking about his business. So Marcus Sheridan runs this pool company. Oh my gosh. Why do you look so cute? You look so cute. Ready, buddy.
1, 2, 3 dog. Oh, you're so close.
Can you gimme a pack? Good job.
All right. So Marcus, Sheridan owned a pool company at the time that happen. So he had a pool company and he was doing content marketing and checking his analytics, right? So the whole point of him doing all of this stuff was to bring in sales and customers obviously do all the things I said, brand trust, brand value, super fans, loyalty, all that stuff. Um, and then now he runs a marketing company. So at the time he ran a pool company, he was creating content for that pool company. And what really set his con set his content apart was the honesty and transparency of his content. Right? So I linked below in the description, the article that talks about what he talked about at the time. Um, and this also, when he talked about the article that was, um, Karen brought that she was like, Hey, I went to this conference and he talked about this one article.
Um, the article that I linked below is kind of like a general recap of what he talked about, but the deal is that you need to create honest and transparent quality content. That's the whole point. And this is something that I have believed in for a very long time, and I'm glad everybody's getting on board. And that like someone like Mar Sheridan is like, she it out to everybody, right? This is something that, um, I think is really changing. Like how people sell things. Like the more honest you're you are about it. And the more transparent where one of the things that Marcus Sheridan did was he made like, basically comparisons, like, Hey, my competitors are good at this, but their weaknesses are this, my strengths are this, my weaknesses are this like, was very transparent about how he, his like pool company did things.
And, um, he was honest about the process and honest about pricing. And there was no like click here to get a quote stuff. Right. Um, it was basically just like telling people what to expect and how things would go and why it is this way and why his competitors did stuff in a certain way and why he did it in a certain way. That's the whole point <laugh> like, there is there's no, I just find that for me, that's there's no like secret selling tactic where you're just like, yeah. And then I got 'em like, they bought it and it's just like, what? I don't think that works. Like I just don't. I think that's really outdated for when you try to like oversell someone, something like when someone asks about freelance writer, wealth lab, I just tell them what's in it. Here's what's in it.
Here's what you get here. The, uh, here's all the seven modules. Um, here's what they go over here. The, I tell them about the live Q and A's the six figure freelance writer call the, um, community aspect. What they get when they pay in full with the one-on-one coaching and the reviews. Like I tell them all that stuff. There's no secrets, right? And that's that honesty and transparency like you can't, can't buy it. You can only create it. Like you, you, as a writer need to create honest, transparent content. And anytime you feel like it's too salesy and too weird, the reader feels that and they go away. That's why that 80%, right. We talked about this 80% of people are reading that content for honesty and transparency. Can I trust them? Do I understand in what they're saying? Do they seem like people, I like, like I wanna work with, do they know about the process?
Can they explain the process? Right. Cause there's that quote from Albert Einstein that says like, if you can't explain it simply enough, or if you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough. So that's kind of the, the honesty and transparency piece that kind of mark shared it is talking about when you create content that honesty and transparency is like you taking something complicated and explaining it simply enough, you understand it at a super complex level, right? Let's say there is this. I'm gonna put them on for a sec. So cuz they're, she's making noise, buddy. You ready? 1, 2, 3 dog. Good job.
Ready? Good job. Other one other, one other, one other one. Good job.
So the deal is that, um, if you can, like, let's say there's a super comp, like you work in SAS, right? SAS, a a S software as a service. Let's say you are, you work in SAS or FinTech or food or whatever it is. You need to take a com complicated process and explain it in a transparent, honest way so that people get it. So then they buy into that thing. Right? So even if it's a super complicated SAS or software product or piece of equipment, you need to understand that well enough to translate that to someone who's never heard of that thing before, and then they will get it right. That comes through honesty and transparency. It, of course we need to pay attention to word choice and how we phrase things and how we talk about them. And yes, there is definitely marketing in like how we glowingly talk about it.
Right? That's part of it. But when you're writing content, you need to kind of balance those things. Like, yes, we're gonna talk about the product, but maybe we'll create blog posts that are like how to articles, how to do this, how to do that. And then maybe other parts of the website will be more salesy or more Mar like heavy on marketing language. The whole point though, is that everywhere you go forward, that company, all the content that's created is honest and transparent. There's no guessing there's no like magic stuff you have to do. It's not like complicated and weird. This is something that, um, the more products I work with, like in the niches that I'm in, the more they talk about honesty and transparency, especially when it comes to real estate and prop tech and hospitality, tech, they're like, here are our fees.
Here's what you need to know. Here's what it's like to work with us. Here are our happy customers who have worked with us, you know, case studies, but they give you the roadmap. They tell you all this stuff so that there's no surprises. You know, that's what people off when they get a product or a service or they buy something and it's not as advertised. Right. Or like they feel regret from buying it. Cause they were kind of pushed into it or it wasn't the right fit for them. And you know what, it's interesting just as like a tidbit it's humans have a weird thing with rejection. So like, if you came to me and you were like, Hey, I'm having really a hard, hard time paying for kibbles. Like I, I don't have enough money to pay for kibbles for my dogs, but I wanna join your course.
And like, you know, like, let me just like figure this out. Like you're not a good fit right now. You should wait like me, that's me telling you if you can't pay for kibbles, there's other things going on. My course is not the thing. You should be spending money on. You gotta pay for the kibbles. Right? That's the honesty and transparency. Like there would never be a time where I would be like, yeah, you, you have to do this. Forget about the kibble, like kibble, like let your dog starve. No, the whole piece is that there's like a bumper, like the honesty and transparency are the bumpers to the sales cycle. There's no one being like, well, you know, if you just put it on your credit card and rack up crazy amounts of debt, then you can make it work. And then if you go do this other thing, you can pay for kibble by doing X, Y no, no. It's about like, thinking about the end user, right? The audience, the buyer, whoever this is, they shouldn't be getting into situations where they feel regret or shame or, um, where they feel like they have to make a choice between like getting kibbles and doing something else. Like, no, I hear you. I hear you.
I hear you a, a fury.
Do you wanna come up here and be on
Camera? I bet the answer is no, I bet. You're like, don't, don't pick me up. <laugh> so all of that stuff is super important. Right? And this is part of understanding the sales part of your writing is that whenever you feel like let's say you're working on a project and you start feeling, we weird about how overly salesy it is. And you start getting like, you're reading about the product and you're like, this doesn't sound like it actually does what they say. It does. Like that's a problem. That's a big red flag. Okay. Pay attention to that. But when you're creating this content, I always try to verge on being as clear as possible. So when I create content about a complicated product, I need to understand that product at a super deep level. Most of the time, um, well, not a super deep level, but a deep enough level that I can explain it.
Someone else. Right. I know at, at a complex enough level to explain it simply, right? The whole point is that we are communicating these things simply honestly, and transparently to the audience. And that's why this succeeded, that's really the, the truth, the truth. Like when you read that article and you hear about what he's talking about with one article, making $15 million to the company that all has to do with the vibe of his website, the vibe of his brand and people like immediate trust that because he is being forthcoming. Like there's nothing else. He can tell them. He's already told them all the stuff. There's no secret. Oh my gosh, stop
Making noise. Don't make a noise. I'm gonna pick you up. I'll pick you up and I'm gonna squeeze you.
So there's nothing. There's no like weird stuff that happens.
Ready, buddy. 1, 2, 3 doc. Good job. Try you gotta back up, back up. Good girl. And I
There's no magic button. They have to press and then talk to three different people before they buy it. There's no like weird sales process. There's there is an immediate thing that happens when they read that content. You can tell like humans, humans can tell when someone being truthful or when someone's fully explaining something or when they're leaving something out or making it sketchy and weird, like that's part of the spitey sense of being an animal, right? Like humans are still kind of like animals and they have senses where like, Ugh, you know, um, that kind of stuff perks up. So for me, when I look at Marcus Sheridan's speech and his, his word, like when he is talking about this article, it's because he just like put it all out there. And then that easily creates super fans. Those super fans then go ripple off and tell everybody else. And then that, that P that article keeps getting more traffic. And there's more people. And the more traffic it has, the more sales you can get. Right. All of those things work together. Don't send her
<laugh>, don't sit on her. She doesn't like it. Sit,
Okay. We got some wild friends. So I'm hoping that you take away from this live stream, that there are a lot of things you need to think about.
Here you go, buddy,
When you are putting your
Stuff together,
But you don't need to sweat about overcharging. You need to remember, or that this one article can bring in huge piles of money for them. You won't see any of that money most of the time, unless you have some sort of royalties agreement, like, um, some copywriter write sales emails, or write sales pages. And they get like a percentage because that's right, like they're writing sales material. So there's that. But most of the time, if you write a blog post,
You know,
If you write a blog post or you write a case study or whatever, and that case study brings in 10 million worth of business, you're not gonna get a big check for a million dollars because you wrote it. Like that's not gonna happen, but you need to put that in your noodle for when you're quibbling over charging this or that. Like, most of the time I find that freelance writers quibble over $50, a hundred dollars or like $500. It's not like the difference between 10 and $15,000. It's like the difference between 10 and $11,000 or, um, nine and $10,000, or like, should I charge 14, 500 or 15? Like, it's just weird. It's weird little numbers. And it doesn't matter when you find the right client and you know, that you're charging the worth of that work. You're not like the, like I said, it's very rare that you would go in there whole hog and be like, give me $30,000 for one blog post that just wouldn't happen.
Um, but most of the time you're charging on 0.0, it brings me two pricing. So if you're worried about your pricing, um, I update this all the time. I'm actually just about to update it. So if you get this version and, um, this will add you to my email list where I also send out tips and tricks. Um, if you get it, you'll get the new version that I'm updating. You'll get it soon. Um, but if you go to Mandy ellis.com/pricing guide, you can get my free pricing guide and that will help you figure out your ballpark ranges for what is fair and worth it in the writing world. And I have done this for 10 years. I take the pricing guide and I update it because I ask my friends and I ask everybody like, what are you charging for this? Or what would you charge for this project?
Or what do you think about this rate? And I update it because I think that's what we need. We need like playing field where we understand the value of the work, what other people are charging at different levels, all that good stuff. So when you're creating this content and I'll just kind of leave you with this. So this is our last little thing we're gonna talk about. Oops. Would be helpful if I turn the right one off. There we go. So the last little thing I'm gonna leave here. Um, and if you have to share, like, if you found this really interesting or you, um, didn't think about your writing this way, or think about your writing in terms of the sales cycle, pop a comment below. Like, I I'd love to hear your thoughts, but as you're writing your freelance writing business, remember that this is not just about writing.
It's not the time that it takes you to do something. It is the ripple effect, vow you, the super fans, the traffic, the SEO, all of the things that your content does. Like even if someone posts a, a piece of content and it doesn't show up on the first page of Google, if their website shows up somewhere else or whatever, all of these things converge together, right? And eventually if you create enough good content, like, um, if you consistently post on a blog or post videos or update your web copy or update your site all the time, your site gains a lot of traction. Um, so just remember that, just remember that your blog posts are not just giving them content that helps their audience. It's also like updating all their stuff for SEO. It's giving Google new information, um, building brand loyalty and brand awareness and all this good stuff that they really need to keep going as a business.
And as much as sometimes red light clients will downplay that, right? Oh, well, it's just a blog pose or it's just this. No, it's not, you wouldn't be coming to me for just a blog post. That would be crazy. Like you see that some kind of situation in there, but we wanna just note here, you wanna go with people who are coming to you, cuz they already see the value in content and in working with you so that, but um, anytime you feel any weird pressure about like, oh, well it's just a blog post or oh, well can you do it for $50 less? Or I should get a discount run away. That's red client territory, understanding the sales cycle and the long term value of your content and how one article can bring 15 million and how content marketing works. Um, and how we price these projects, all of this stuff comes together.
So, um, the next time you think you're worried about an charging, don't just, don't worry about it. Pick a number that you feel like kind of a little bit nervous about it. It doesn't, it feels good, but you feel a little nervous. That's how, you know, you found the right number is like you're charging a number where it's like, well normally I would charge, uh, you know, like one of my students, normally I charge $500 for a blog post, but I've really done a lot of work. I'm bringing a lot of value. Now I'm moving up. I'm gonna charge $800 minimum. Like instead of charging 500 for a thousand words, I'm gonna charge 800 for a thousand words. Right. And when you find the right clients, they're like, yep, that totally makes sense. We see your other work. We love it. Let's go. Um, that $800 right.
Is so small to what that company is gonna get. Um, and the $300 means a lot to us. Right. But the companies, right. That's usually not that much in terms of how they're running their business. Right? Like, and the value that they're getting out of that is way higher than 300 bucks. It's way more than that in how long that content lives. So pick a number where you're like, okay, I feel a little bit nervous at 800, but I feel good about it. Like I'm kind of nervous to tell someone, but I feel good about it. That's how you know, that you found the right number. Um, and don't, don't place your value on what random people say. <laugh> so if someone's coming to you saying like, well, you're writing, like they start nitpicking things and try to like nickel and dime. You like walk away.
We are looking to, um, build our own value, right. And our work and our portfolios and how we present ourselves online, all that stuff. And then we are looking for people to get that, to read our web site, to read our clips and be like, I want that. And you're like, in order to get that, it costs this much money. And they're like, cool, sounds good. That's what we want. We don't, we're not gonna nickel and dime it. It's just like the chances of us overcharging are so small. Um, and the, like I said, the long term value is vast. So I hope this was helpful. This I think was a topic. Um, that's really important to talk about, uh, especially in learning the full scope of content and really understanding that it's more than just the writing process and it's more than creating high quality content. It's like understanding the life cycle. So I hope this was helpful and we'll do one more cup date and then we'll hop off. I don't see any questions in there. So we'll do one more cup date and then we're gonna enjoy our Friday. All right. Ready
Buddy. One, three dog. Oh buddy. You're so close. It's over in the corner.
Can you get it?
Good job, buddy. All right. MI you look super cute and funny.
Yeah. Good job. Other one. Good job.
All right, one more,
Buddy. You ready? You look like an owl bear.
Can you sit? All right, buddy. This? Oh, that's close enough. Ready? 1, 2, 3 dogs. Good job.
You did it. All right. Let's see if we can get you both on camera, which never happens.
Okay. Good job. Other one other one other one other one. Good job.
Good job. All right. Cool. Well, thank you so much for hanging out everybody. I hope this was helpful. S says, thanks, Mandy. This was great. Sweet, good. Put this in the noodle. SNA. <laugh> put this in the noodle. Um, this is super important. All right. So I hope God, this was helpful. And if you ever have any questions or anything, you can always pop 'em in the comments. I'm happy to answer. 'em uh, if you feel like you wanna give this a thumbs up, cuz it was really useful, feel free. Um, if you feel like you wanna learn more about building a hiring freelance writing business or understand how to actually run and build your freelance writing business subscribe, I'm here every Friday at noon central. And so are these guys they're here every day. Every Friday with me. Um, my gosh, Charlotte Barry, you look like an owl, like why? Um, and we hang out and we have a good time. So I hope everybody has a good Friday and I will see you next week. Bye.
________
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