When a potential client lands on your freelance writer website, what’s the one thing you want them to do?
Contact you, right? Get in touch and let you know what they’re looking for. After all, you need to negotiate the project scope, the timescales… there’s a lot to do before you can finalise that sale, and you need the client to give you a ton of information before you can even guesstimate your fee.
Or, you could make the sale faster and simpler. Let your clients buy your services there and then, if you want.
All you have to do is package them appropriately and set up an automated sales process to handle the transactions for you. Once that’s done, a visitor can land on your website and buy your blogging services even while you’re asleep. 🙂
If that sounds like it’s easier said than done, well, it takes a little time —mostly thinking time— but it isn’t difficult to set up.
I’ll walk you through the whole process in this post, so you can get going with this idea immediately.
OK, here’s what you’ll need to do if you want to let your clients buy your services live on your website even while you sleep:
- Create popular packages
- Put a price on each package
- Enable online payments
- Show off your packages
- Draw attention to your best
- Create paths to your packages
- Take a nap
Let’s work through this process one step at a time.
Step 1: Create Popular Packages
To decide how to package your services for instant sale, look at three things:
- Which service frequencies, types or combinations do your clients buy the most?
- Which services earn you the most money per hour of your time (even if you don’t charge by the hour)?
- Which services do you most enjoy providing?
Find the sweet spots: the service frequencies, categories or combinations your clients often buy and that earn you a good rate for your time.
Those are the foundations of your most lucrative packages. Now all you need to do is work out the finer details. For a start, if you particularly dislike a certain task, don’t include it in your packages!
If you want clients who’ll hire you for frequent, regular work, make that more likely to happen by offering a straightforward choice of packages like “1 post per week”, “2 posts per week” and “3 posts per week”.
If your clients often ask you to work on their social media as well as their blog [and you *want* to work on social media] then it makes sense to offer packages like “1 blog post and 2 hours of social media management per week”.
Or if you’re happy to take on rush work, could you make extra money by offering a package of “1 blog post delivered within 5 days” and another of “1 blog post delivered within 48 hours” at a higher price?
A lot of my clients start out wanting a weekly blog post plus help with their monthly email newsletter, so I could offer a package that gives them precisely that combination. [I could also offer a package that includes a 1-hour consultation each month, and use that time to teach the client more about how email supports their blog and business.]
Before you move on to the next step, we need to define precisely what is and isn’t included in each of your packages. For example,
- Will you upload blog posts to the client’s CMS (Content Management System) or send them as email attachments?
- Will the posts you deliver be 300 to 500 words long? 500 to 1000 words? More than 1000 words?
- Will you come up with blog post ideas and pitch them to the client, or wait for them to assign ideas to you?
- Will you interview experts or conduct other in-depth research?
- Will you deliver posts within 3 days? 5 days? 7 days? Does that include weekend days?
- Will you respond to reader comments after your posts are published? For how long a period?
- How many times —and within what time frame— will you revise a post if the client wants you to make changes?
To sell a service package without talking to the client first, you’ll need to make all the details clear at the point of sale. And those details should also determine the amount you charge for each package.
Step 2: Put a Price on Each Package
The objective of setting up ready-made service packages is to appeal to clients who already know what they want, and give it to them as swiftly and painlessly as possible. That means making your prices clear and the price structure easy to understand.
If your packages are in a logical progression of value, such as a choice of 1, 2 or 3 posts per week, then it’s fairly easy to price them accordingly. So your “1 post per week” package might be priced at $600 per month, your “2 posts per week” at $1200 per month and your “3 posts per week” at $1800 per month. Or you could price a package of short posts at $500 per month, mid-length posts at $1000 per month and longer posts at $1500 per month.
You can also make the larger packages better value for money than the smaller packages if you want to encourage people to think big when they buy. To use the example above, you’d make your “1 post per week” package $600 per month, your “2 posts per week” $1000 per month, and your “3 posts per week” $1300 per month. Yes, you’re taking slightly less money per post on the bigger packages, but if it means you get your $1300 up front every month then it’s worth it!
You don’t have to price your packages by the month, but there are two good reasons to take a monthly-budget view instead of a post-by-post view.
- By offering packages for immediate sale, you’ll be taking payment in advance of delivery. So you may as well take a whole month in advance — that way, you know you’re set for the month and you don’t have to keep track of so many payments.
- With these packages, you’re appealing to businesses that have a budget set aside for marketing (which includes content marketing such as blogging). They already know they want regular blog posts rather than a one-off, so let them reserve your time for their project by buying it in monthly chunks.
Still want to offer individual services outside of your new packages? No problem: include a line near the end of your packages page that says something like, “If you don’t see what you need here, contact me to discuss your requirements.” Give your email address or phone number so potential clients can get in touch for a quote just like they do now.
Want to promote even more lucrative custom packages to big-budget clients? Create a package that gives minimum specifications rather than fixed ones —for example, “More than 5 posts per week” or “In-depth posts of 1500+ words”, and write “Contact me for pricing” instead of a fixed monthly fee.
Step 3: Enable Online Payments
To use this instant-sale tactic, you’ll need an online payments system like PayPal, Selz or E-junkie to create payment buttons you can put on your website. When a visitor clicks the payment button [yep, even if you’re asleep!] the payments system will process the transaction and send your new client’s money to you.
**Full disclosure: The people at Selz liked my earlier post about online payment systems so much, they asked if they could pay me for the work I put into writing this second post. I told them they’re welcome to pay me as long as (1) they don’t mind me telling everyone about the offer of payment and (2) they don’t interfere with what I choose to write.**
To use Selz, you’ll still need a PayPal account where Selz can send your payments (unless you live in Australia, where they can pay you direct to your bank). To create payment buttons with E-junkie, you’ll need an account with either PayPal, ClickBank, 2CheckOut, or Authorize.Net.
Selz, Paypal and E-junkie aren’t the only 3 online payment systems in existence; they’re just the ones I use myself. I use these 3 systems for different purposes:
- Selz is the fastest for getting a nice-looking sales button or widget onto my site, and it lets people buy without leaving the site at all, but Selz only sends payments to its users once per week.
- PayPal gives me the ability to withdraw money instantly, but the PayPal payment button creation process is less intuitive so it takes longer to complete each button.
- My E-junkie payment buttons let me know when graduates and supporters of The Freelance Blogger’s Client Hunting Masterclass have referred a new student to the training program. I don’t use E-junkie to receive payments from my freelance writing clients, so I can’t give an opinion on that specific process, but the E-junkie features I have used were kinda fiddly to set up.
Another reason you might want to use an online payments service other than PayPal is that PayPal doesn’t let you give your clients a discount. In general, giving out discounts is a Very Bad Idea, but there are some situations where it can benefit you.
For example, if you’re keen to get new clients signed up to your packages, you could offer a 10% discount on their first month. Or if you want to encourage new and continuing clients to buy bigger packages, you could set up an ongoing $100 discount on your “3 posts per week” package.
Now, I’m not recommending that you offer a huge discount on your blogging services! A 10% discount is enough to make a difference.
You don’t want to devalue your services, so only offer a discount when you have a specific objective in mind and you’ve planned the discount to help you achieve that objective. You can also phrase your discounts as bonuses instead, which may make them more compelling: so you might present a $100 discount on the $1200 cost of your “3 posts per week” package as “1 post free when you buy 12”.
Selz and E-junkie both let you create discounts. You don’t have to make it a public offer — there are ways to make a discount private if you want, for example via its own URL that you can share where you see fit.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s rewind a bit and talk about how you display your packages and payment buttons on your site.
Step 4: Show Off Your Packages
Add your package titles, descriptions and prices to your website, either on the homepage or on a separate page titled something like “Services” or “Hire Me”.
Arrange them neatly on the page and insert the HTML code that adds your payment button to each package. [This isn’t as complex as it sounds to non-techies, I promise! You just copy the code and paste it into your website’s text editor. You must use the text editor and not the “visual editor” when you edit your packages page, though, otherwise the HTML code won’t work.]
If you’re using Selz, you can get detailed widgets via the Selz dashboard for individual packages, or embed your whole selection of packages by copying and pasting just one piece of HTML code for a neat layout.
Step 5: Draw Attention to Your Best
Your website visitors’ decisions are guided by you. That means you have the opportunity to direct them toward the package you most want to sell. All you have to do is give them their cue:
- Add a note like “Featured”, “Recommended” or “Best Value” to the title or description of the package you’d like to sell the most. [If you say “Best Value” or “Most Popular”, make sure it’s true!]
- Display your favourite package first under a separate heading, then follow it with your other available packages grouped together further down the page.
- Make your favourite package stand out with a colour title, a graphic [even if it’s only a generic image such as a star or rosette] or any other visual clue that this is the one to focus on.
- Display a small number of your favourite packages in the sidebar or footer of your website, with links to the full descriptions.
If you’d much rather work with daily posts than weekly ones, draw attention to your “5 posts per week” package. If you prefer writing longer posts, draw attention to your “in-depth articles” package.
It’s up to you to show the client the packages you’d like them to buy, and to make sure you’ve created packages they’ll want to buy.
Step 6: Create Paths to Your Packages
Stating the obvious first to get it out of the way:
If you’ve chosen not to display any packages on your website’s homepage, sidebar or footer, make sure your website’s navigation menu includes a clearly labelled link to your packages page. Otherwise nobody will be able to find it from the other pages of your site!
To bring new clients to buy your packages, you’ll have to leave links around the Internet to your website and your packages page.
Give your packages page URL in your LinkedIn profile, mention it in your author bio on blog posts, print it on your business cards, email it to your friends and ask them to pass it on to anyone they meet who might hire freelance bloggers. I’m sure you can think of a few other ways to share that link in a non-spammy way.
The paths you create to bring clients to your packages won’t all be of equal use; some will be used often, some rarely or not at all.
But the more ways a new client can discover those payment buttons, the more you can sell while you sleep. 😉
Raspal Seni says
Sophie –
Very nice post about selling services and you’ve looked at all possible sides of it. I couldn’t have even imagined. Thank you – this will help me in creating and updating my hire me and services page. Came at the right time for me, it seems. 🙂
Say you’re busy with serving 3-4 clients for most of the week, and someone asks to hire you. What do you do in such a situation? Do you just tell them, you’re busy and can’t accept new clients till such and such date?
I didn’t understand what you meant by making the discount URL private. I understand the technical aspect of this, but don’t understand why this would be needed and for whom. Can you please explain?
Thanks for mentioning selz. I hadn’t even heard about it, nor did I know paypal doesn’t allow us to offer discounts.
Need to print out this post. 🙂
Sophie Lizard says
Hi Raspal!
When I’ve got a full schedule, yep, I respond to potential new clients with a quick note letting them know I’m interested but not available until such-and-such date.
The idea behind keeping your discount at a private URL is that you can offer it exclusively to your chosen people rather than letting every visitor to your site access the same discount. For example if you wanted to boost referrals, you could send your current & past clients the discount URL in an email they can forward to their business contacts.
Jenn Mattern says
I love this idea overall, and it could be adapted to work with many types of freelance services.
I already take payments in full in advance for freelance writing work, so I know what a benefit that can be. But like Raspal, I was curious about scheduling. Sometimes I can squeeze someone in next week; sometimes I’m not available for as much as two months because of long-term contracts. While I’m not sure how you’d go about it, it would be great if writers could do this by tying their orders to an availability calendar of some kind (such as making the client choose a deadline from your calendar which shows y our availability). This way they’re not paying only to find out you can’t work them in, and they don’t have to wait around on a refund if they decide to go with someone available right away.
Any thoughts on a way something like that might be possible?
Sophie Lizard says
Hmm… tying your payment buttons in to a calendar so that you don’t have to manually switch them on and off would be awesome! It can be done (I’ve seen other websites with that kind of integration) but I have *no* idea how it works.
All I do with my packages is make them invisible if I’m busy, then switch them back on when I’m open to new clients. Some people keep them visible but labelled “Sold Out”, so that they can show off how in demand they are. 😀
Diana says
Great post, Sophie! If someone wants to automate the selling process on their site – this is an excellent post to help them do just that – sending you some social media love!
However, i have 2 questions regarding potential flaws of the process – and that’s just that – questions (to see how you’d handle the flaws i see – maybe they aren’t flaws for you).
The first one – when you are busy. Like Raspal asked, what do you do if you are overloaded with work? Sure you tell the client you are interested but not available until a certain date. However, what if the client has bought a blog post delivered within 48 hours and has paid you already the higher price for that? This is a potential crisis and you never have a chance for a second first impression – is it really a good idea to automate this type of freelance services? Training courses, ebooks, etc. – sure; but writing or any other type of “immediate” assignments?
and the second (more important to me) flaw is the inability to choose your clients – they choose you. The moment you put “buy now” button and automatically process the payment – they have hired you. And what if you don’t like the person or the project or the subject – what do you do them? Do you sacrifice your preferences only because that client already paid you? And if not – how do you not ruin your reputation by returning the money due to i-dont-like-you type of reasoning…
I would love to hear your thoughts on both counts 🙂
Sophie Lizard says
Great questions, Diana!
If you’re busy, you can “switch off” your packages — either by editing your packages page, or by changing the settings in your Selz / E-junkie account. You can even do it selectively, so you can temporarily remove any packages that specify 48-hour delivery while leaving up those that promise delivery within 2 weeks.
The clients you get through this instant-sales tactic will still come from the pool of your website visitors, so they aren’t any different to the clients your website normally attracts. The only difference is in the options you give them for making a purchase; a buy-it-now option cuts through a lot of the fuss and therefore wins clients who want a straightforward solution.
You shouldn’t have any problem of not liking the project or the topic, because those are things you can specify in your packages. Remember, you only create packages for things you *want* to do, and be clear about what is and isn’t included.
As for not liking the person, that can happen in any working relationship even if you got along OK during the initial negotiations. With a prepaid monthly package, at least your reason for disliking the client WON’T be “they didn’t pay me”! And as your package description is essentially a service agreement, you can include points intended to reduce personal incompatibility — for example, pushy clients are less of a problem if you’ve already specified the things the package *doesn’t* include, and the working hours during which you respond to client communications.
joycollado says
I just want to add something. 🙂 If you’re worried about not liking the person, the client who bought your services might also be worried about the same thing. So if he took his chances and bought a package I think that’s good enough. 🙂 If he didn’t book a package at least there’s the “contact me for more info” or something to that effect, for you to get on the same page.
I like the switching off the package if your busy, but don’t remove the package altogether. Let the clients see that some of your packages are fully booked, if you’re busy that is. This can tell the client that you’re a good writer because you have a lot of clients working with you.
But, I’m getting ahead of myself. This type of marketing is not for me..yet. I’ll have to fix my website first and set up that portfolio!
Sophie Lizard says
Good point, Joy! Yep, every new client –no matter how they find you or how they pay you– is worried that they might choose the wrong freelancer. Detailed package descriptions go a long way to reassure them that you’re a professional who won’t let them down. 🙂
Diana says
Right, superbly handled the questions. 🙂 It all makes sense, yes. I am glad i could add value to your blog through the Q&A “session”
But since i am a marketer, not a writer per se, there’s no way of knowing what client will approach me and what their product or business would be. It’s my personal moto to never market a product which i won’t myself use, or which i find misleading, or dull, etc. – so personal vetting of clients and project is still preferred.
Great food for thought nonetheless – thanks! 🙂
tapit says
Hi Sophie- Great post. I am just now considering marketing blogging skills to various companies and groups, so have to “packages” to show. What would you suggest?
Thanks for this great post!
Sophie Lizard says
Get some experience first, Tapit. The key to creating good packages is that you need to have some information from past projects to analyse, so that you can figure out which packages are most in demand and most profitable. After you’ve been freelance blogging for a few months, come back to this post and walk through the steps. 🙂
Mel Wicks says
Thanks for the post and your very useful answers to a couple of great questions. This is definitely something I’ve been thinking about because it gives potential clients the comfort of knowing what they are going to spend before they commit (which is often a stumbling block) as well as generating income ‘while you sleep’, so it works both ways. Now I have a blueprint for how to achieve it. Thanks again, Mel
Sophie Lizard says
You’re welcome, Mel. I’m a big believer in giving website visitors information about your rates before they commit to contacting you — it saves a lot of negotiation. 🙂
Alexis Grant says
SUPER well done post, Sophie!
Sophie Lizard says
Thanks, Lexi!
JR John says
Hi Sophie,
I tried something like this a while back, but I got zero sales as a result. 🙂 I didn’t setup the packages properly (that’s one reason), but the main problem with this kind of scheme is that you could end up taking a lot more work for very little payment.
For example, if someone bought a 3 blog posts per week plan for $250/week for their finance blog, the project will obviously take quite a few more hours to complete than someone who bought the same plan for their fitness blog.
Your hourly rates would vary a LOT.
Just my opinion. 🙂
Regards,
JR John
joycollado says
Good point JR John. Probably this technique is great for specialized writers. If you only write for business and finance then you don’t have to worry about clients ordering blog posts for their fitness blog and vice versa. It will surely help to be clear and state the description of the packages – who is it for, what it is or what it is not.
It might also help to set a maximum number of orders per package. So that when that number is reached, clients can longer order them and they’ll see it’s fully booked.
Anyway, that’s just my opinion, too. 🙂
Sophie Lizard says
What Joy said. 😀
There are a few ways to handle this — you can create packages for the specific topics you blog about, so that you can set a different price for finance than for fitness. You can also specify the topics you cover at the top of the packages page, with a note that visitors who want a quote on other topics should contact you.
IMO, though, it isn’t the topic that determines the difficulty of writing a blog post or the number of hours it’ll take. A finance post written by a non-specialist with minimal research [it happens –I’ve seen plenty of them!] doesn’t take long, whereas a fitness post written by a specialist health blogger based on 5 medical journal articles and 2 expert interviews will take a lot longer. 😉
joycollado says
Thanks! 🙂
J says
Is this course for the novice. I just started a blog and I have no clients.
Sophie Lizard says
Yep, the Get Started for Freelance Blogging Success training program is designed for complete beginners to get their business up and running. 🙂
Joel says
Hi Sophie,
Great post! This seems much less painful than I would thought. Thanks!
Sophie Lizard says
The brain work is the most painful part, Joel. 😉
Lorraine Reguly says
This is an excellent post, Sophie. Truly top-notch stuff! Thank you. 🙂
Sophie Lizard says
You’re welcome, Lorraine! Thanks for checking it out.
Lorraine Reguly says
No prob. I’ll likely be referring to this again in the future!
Margaret McGriff says
This is a great idea! I know I’ve played around with setting packages but didn’t think to sell them directly on my site. That really makes things easier for potential clients. The hardest part for me is figuring out the prices and standardizing everything. Up until now, I’ve been giving personalized proposals, especially when it comes to the social media services.
Sophie Lizard says
You must have some rough guidelines that you use to calculate your fee for those personalised proposals, right? All you need to do is write those rules-of-thumb down and formalise them — it comes in very handy when you get requests for service combinations other than your set packages, too. 🙂
Chadrack says
Hi Sophie,
Thanks so much for this information. I’ve been thinking of redoing my services website and I must say you have just given me so much to incorporate into it! I’m checking out Selz right away!
Btw. Why not make the link to Selz target=”blank”? That is better than leaving your site when trying to go to that site 🙂
Razwana says
Well … hasn’t this post come at EXACTLY the right time I needed it to ?! Having a sales page for my copywriting services has been on my mind for a while – and now I don’t need to Google around for what payment options are open to me. Yey!
Oh, and thank you 🙂
Sophie Lizard says
You’re welcome, Razwana!
Allen Taylor says
This is a great post. My questions are more along the lines of “how-to.”
1) How does page design affect your sales? You hinted at it with your featured services and images tidbits, but do you suggest a landing page with no sidebars and links to other pages, a multi-column layout, or other elements to attract eyeballs to particular parts of the page?
2) If you want to get specific post topics or keywords to target from your customers during the sales process, what’s the best way to do that? PayPal doesn’t offer a form (that I know of) for input to send along with payment. If you ask for an e-mail with the information, you may not get it. If you ask for the information first and payment second, then you’re likely to lose a few sales.
Sophie Lizard says
Hi Allen, great questions!
1) Yep, using a landing page layout to reduce distraction typically increases sales. Layout of the packages themselves should be determined by your site’s body width and by the nature of the packages. There are so many variables that I can’t make blanket recommendations — the best thing you can do is set things up one way to get started, then test alternatives one at a time for a month or two each. After a while, you’ll have some sales data to compare so you can see what works for *your* site.
2) Paypal has a small “message to seller” type of box within the checkout process, but asking people to leave a message there doesn’t guarantee they will. However, there are a couple of alternatives:
(a) Set up an info-gathering form on your site, then set your payment button to redirect buyers to that page when they complete checkout.
(b) Set your packages up with links to the info-gathering page, then redirect people to a payment page after they complete the form. Like you said, this may lose you a few sales from people who feel they don’t have time to fill in a form right now — those are the same people who’ll close your form without completing it *after* they’ve paid.
Julie says
Sophie,
There is so much information available on-line for prospective bloggers and freelancers, but I can honestly say that I keep coming back to your site because you seem to have the most valuable information, and are more than willing to share your knowledge with anyone who needs it……more credit to you.
Lauren Tharp, BAFB Community Helper says
Sophie’s the best, isn’t she? 🙂
Thanks for stopping by, Julie!
Kerry says
LOVE this post. But although I think this idea is fab for selling training/coaching/courses etc (which I’m about to delve into), I’d be concerned that potential blogging clients might be put off and not get in touch just because the price is too high or even too low…
Let me explain…I’ve got a corp client who pays me a pretty high rate (great for paying the bills, but I often want to rip my eyes out of their sockets after a days work!) On the other hand I have an editorial client that pays me less than half the corp rate but offers unlimited pay-per-view commissions which usually adds another third to my end payment. I work for this client as their name and website gets me great exposure. I think I’d be uncomfortable putting these two potential rates side-by-side.
Whilst I think it’s important to draw a line in the sand regarding how little I’m prepared to be paid, I also think flexibility is really important to writers, especially those just starting out.
Could this work for me? I’d love to be able to offer blogging packages but my initial thoughts are a bit… wah!
Lauren Tharp, BAFB Community Helper says
Great question, Kerry!
Each freelancer’s business is their own and has to be adjusted to their own needs. In the end, you’ll choose what works best for YOU. Just because a piece of advice is out there, and it’s great advice, doesn’t mean it’s right for you or that you have to take it. 🙂
That said, I think you can still try out different “packages.” If you’re uncomfortable testing it out on your business website, try testing the waters elsewhere — like peopleperhour.com!
Set up a couple of gigs based on your best-selling services at a set price and see if you get any nibbles. If it turns out to be a successful venture, you can take that formula and use it on your official site!
Nell says
Oh I love this post. My mind is already thinking about the possibilities. And thanks for sharing Selz as well. I’ve been looking for an Australian based site as an alternative to PayPal. I’ll definitely check them out.
Lauren Tharp, BAFB Community Helper says
Doesn’t this post just make you want to leap into action? haha. I started writing down notes about all the things I might want to do in the coming months after I read this one… 😉
Glad you found it useful. Let us know how Selz works out for you if you do end up using them.
Thanks for commenting!
Benjamin says
Hey Sophie, been using packages, but I’d often lose clients after I shared the info with them (had it in a PDF after pitching to use as a follow-up tool).
You def took it to the next level though, and I’m going to refine mine with your tips on defining exactly what is in each package. Very helpful, thanks
Lauren Tharp, BAFB Community Helper says
Let us know how it goes for you, Benjamin. 🙂
Alicia Rades says
Sophie, when you do this, do you work without a contract? Would a contract even be necessary given that you’re getting full payment up front?
Sophie Lizard says
A contract is less important in terms of getting paid, because you’re taking the money in advance. But it’s still useful to confirm and define the details (delivery dates, any add-ons to the standard package) in a contract you deliver when you first respond to a new buyer — you can frame it as “Thanks for choosing me to deliver your whatever-it-is; please sign this to confirm your purchase and then we’ll get started”.
Jovell Alingod says
Need your thoughts on this Sophie. Do you think packaging your services is the same as making it into a productized service as discussed by Brian Casel of casjam.com? For example like the services offered by Nick Disabato of Draft Revise and Jarrod Drysdale of Landing Page in a Day?
Sophie Lizard says
Very similar, yep. At the end of the day it’s just services turned into a one-off or repeating package deal. The productized service gurus talk about monthly subscription models or pay-in-advance block bookings, and breaking out of the pay-per-word or pay-per-project system. But TBH, I don’t see a big difference between paying “per month” for a certain amount of someone’s time and energy, or paying “per amount of time or energy” once a month. 😉