What Experts Had to Say About Their Beginner SEO Writer Rates
Plus, the key shifts that enabled them to finally make “good” money as a writer.
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Most beginner SEO writers start around $0.05 per word or $15 per hour, but low rates don’t define your potential. Learn how to position yourself for higher pay from the start.
Moving from per-word or hourly rates to outcome-based pricing dramatically increases earnings and attracts better clients.
Focusing on a niche or specific type of writing allows you to command higher rates and deliver measurable value to clients.
With consistent effort, proper training, and smart pricing strategies, beginner SEO writers can move from underpaid projects to professional rates within 2-3 years.
Every writer remembers their first rate. It usually looks something like this: $0.05 per word, $15 an hour or $100 for a blog post that took 3 late nights to finish.
It’s both humbling and discouraging, right? And it’s downright unsustainable if you stay there too long.
But here’s the good news:
Many professional writers you look up to today once started in that same “coffee money” stage. But at some point, they had their turning point: the moment when they shifted from underpaid freelancer to valued professional.
We asked 6 experienced writers to share what they started charging and when they finally felt like they were making good money. What they said reveals not just writing rates, but the milestones and mindset shifts that turned writing into a lucrative career.
If you’re wondering how much should beginner freelance writers charge, this is a must-read.
The (Optional) Miserable $0.05 per Word Club
For some reason, making $0.05 per word seems to be the industry standard for newbies. In fact, even Ambitious Writer Society Founder, Amanda Kostro Miller, started at this rate too!
Read This! The Day I Realized I Couldn’t Live Off $0.05 per Word Anymore
Starting at $0.05 per word is almost like a rite of passage, according to the experts we spoke to.
“Y’all, I started at $0.05 per word back in 2018 – barely coffee money!” laughs Wayne Lowry, now CEO of Scale By SEO.
Fahad Khan (now Digital Marketing Manager at Ubuy Sweden) charged the same, often working on cheap flat fees just to build a portfolio. As many new and aspiring writers can attest to, landing that first client – before you have any professional writing experience – is usually the first major challenge in a professional writer career path. And many new writers purposefully take on unpaid or cheap work just to have something in their portfolio.
Nikita Sherbina (now Co-Founder and CEO of AIScreen) also began at $0.05 per word, slowly inching up his rates as he built credibility. Raphael Larouche (now Founder and SEO Specialist at Zenith) recalls charging $0.05/word or $25/hour, equating to “$125 blog posts, endless edits and being broke.”
And then there’s Georgi Petrov (now CMO, Entrepreneur, and Content Creator at AIG Marketer), who admits: “I charged $15 an hour for writing projects, sometimes even less, just to build a portfolio. I took on anything from blog posts to landing page copy, often underpricing myself because I didn’t fully understand the value I was providing.”
As Mohammed Kamal (now Business Development Manager at Olavivo) sums it up: “New writers typically start with modest rates of $0.05-0.15 per word or $15-40 per hour, with project budgets ranging from $50-200 for smaller assignments.”
Why You Don’t Have to Start at $0.05 per Word
Do you notice a common thread here? Sure, many of these writers started at $0.05, but it wasn’t because they lacked talent or ability.
Low rates aren’t your destiny. They’re just what happens when you don’t yet know how to position your skills. With the right SEO writer training and SEO writing career accelerator programs, you can bypass the “beginner struggle” and step into professional rates faster than you think.
Watch Our Free Training: How to Live Off Steady Writing Work – without the Cheap Rates, Boring Projects or Working Full-Time
What Really Cranked Up Their Writing Rates?
So, how do writers increase their writing rates over time? We asked our 6 experts.
‘Across every story, the first major turning point came when they stopped selling “words” and started selling value.
For Khan, that moment came when he realized the power of specialization. Instead of writing about everything, he narrowed his focus to one niche. “This allowed me to offer deeper insights, get higher rates and capture better-paying clients who really valued my expertise.” Within 2.5 years, Khan was charging more confidently and saying “no” to low-paying work.
And that is so key. At some point, you have to value your worth more than the cheap rates people are asking you to work for. It’s scary, but that’s the leap of faith you have to take to get to the next level.
For Larouche, the shift was more dramatic. “My turning point was 14 months in when I killed per-word and sold outcomes.”
His niche was SEO content for local services. His service package included 4 briefs, 4 pages, internal links and reporting, all for $3K per month minimum.
Once he switched to outcome-based pricing for writers, he closed 3 retainers in 30 days. He went from $3.2K per month to $9.1K per month.
Petrov also made the leap by ditching typical freelance writing pricing models like hourly rates. “The turning point came when I shifted from charging hourly to packaging my services by outcome. That repositioning helped me jump to $250 per post and eventually $1,000+ for full website projects. The key was learning how to communicate value, not just deliver words.”
And then there’s Lowry, whose breakthrough came just 8 months into his career. “I helped a local bakery triple their organic traffic with one content audit. That’s when I realized writers who understand search intent and keyword strategy can charge premium rates. That shift took me from $0.05/word to $150/hour within 18 months.”
The transition from underpaid to higher pricing rarely happens just because you “raise your rates.” Or at least, raising your rates in that manner will take you years.
As we’ve seen for these experts, increased writing rates happen when you redefine what you’re selling (from writing deliverables to the business outcomes that make sense to your clients). This requires understanding ROI, client goals, and how to communicate your value effectively (skills most freelance writing courses skip entirely).
What Many Aspiring Writers Don’t Realize About Professional Writing
Many talented writers assume that brilliant writing alone is enough to build a profitable career. But even the best writing is often undervalued if it’s not tied to measurable business outcomes.
Today, companies need content that drives traffic, generates leads and supports sales. Not just words on a page. Not just content to educate their audience. Not just something to rank on search engines or on AI search platforms.
Writers who understand business metrics, ROI and client goals can charge premium rates. Position yourself as a partner in growth, not just a content creator.
Here at the Ambitious Writer Society, we interact with a lot of talented writers. In many cases, they have great writing skills, but those skills are not inherently profitable without purpose. For example, a writer might produce a flawless 2,000-word article on nutrition trends – but if it doesn’t drive traffic, generate leads or support a client’s business goals, it’s just “nice content.”
Compare that to a writer who creates a strategic blog series optimized for SEO, tied to a lead magnet and tracked against conversions.
One is a writing expense; the other is a growth investment. And clients will happily pay premium rates for the latter.
Being a great writer isn’t enough. To make serious money, you need business skills: pricing projects based on ROI, packaging outcomes and closing clients confidently. Most SEO writing career accelerator programs teach this alongside technical writing skills.
Check Out the SEO Career Accelerator: Support and Training to Rock Live Calls and Land Better Clients
It’s our job to prove to clients how much they need professional writing (especially nowadays in the era of AI).
How Long It Takes to Reach “Expert” Rates
If you’re wondering, “How long until I can make good money?” The good news: There’s a pattern, and there’s ways to get there faster.
Here’s the timeline Sherbina gave, “After about a year of consistent work, I raised my rates to $0.10 per word. My turning point came after 2 years when I landed a long-term contract with a mid-sized company. Around the third year, I started making more than I initially expected, and that’s when I really felt like I was making good money.”
We consolidated what our 6 experts had to say to generate a rough timeline showcasing how their rates increased over time:
6 to 12 Months: Writers often see their first small breakthroughs. For Lowry, it was offering a traffic-boosting audit at month 8. For Petrov, it was repositioning his offers around outcomes.
12 to 18 Months: Specialization begins to pay off – whether it’s focused on a specific industry or a particular type of writing package. This is usually the point where outcome-based offerings start attracting higher-paying clients. Larouche hit his stride at 14 months by packaging SEO retainers.
2 to 3 Years: Consistency compounds into stability. Khan found a sweet spot at 2.5 years. Sherbina landed a long-term contract in year 2. By year 3, he was making more than he’d ever expected.
So, how does that make you feel, knowing that there is some sort of consistent timeline amongst writers? It should feel encouraging! But if you’re hoping to speed up “success” faster than 2-3 years, just remember this:
Consistency is great, but doing the wrong things consistently just wastes time.
Want to accelerate your timeline? Strategic effort, guided by expert mentors and SEO writer training, helps you get there faster.
Learn Expert-Level Strategies to Fast-Track Your Writing Business
5 Tough Lessons for New and Aspiring Writers
Looking across the stories of writers who successfully transitioned from $0.05 per word gigs to thriving businesses, a clear roadmap emerges.
The following “lessons” aren’t about blaming anyone for starting small. They’re about showing you what works, so you can avoid common missteps, save time and maximize your earning potential.
Lesson #1: Start Small, but Don’t Stay Small
It’s completely normal to start at $0.05 per word or $15 an hour. Most beginners do.
This stage isn’t a reflection of your talent or potential. The main focus should be to build up your sample portfolio, get better at a specific writing specialty and build confidence. Remember: Many of our experts raised their rates as a result of understanding their value, not necessarily because they were exponentially better from the start.
Treat your early (and unpaid) projects as launchpads to the next level. With the right support and training, you won’t stay there long, let alone forever!
When you lean on trusted sources and expert writers, you will know when and how to raise rates, rather than guessing or leaving money on the table.
Lesson #2: Package Outcomes, Not Deliverables
Many new writers focus on the easiest way to calculate their rate: per word or per hour.
It’s not their fault. Most writing courses emphasize teaching the craft rather than the business acumen needed to sell the craft.
Remember the shift that made the biggest difference for our 6 experts? Learning to sell results, not just words. That’s why outcome-based pricing for writers is transformative.
Especially in the wake of AI and content marketing, creating a package that promises certain results will help you naturally command higher rates.
That’s why our training program helps you build skills outside of just SEO writing. We teach you how to conduct SEO audits, run performance analyses, do keyword research and ace your lead generation strategies – things to help you generate and accelerate business growth.
Working with experts or following a structured training curriculum helps you understand how to package your work around outcomes rather than just effort.
Lesson #3: Pick a Specialty
Beginners often write “everything for everyone,” thinking it will open up their client base. They look for any client who needs any kind of writing, whether or not they have the correct writing skills to complete the project successfully.
These “generalists” typically get lower pay because clients perceive less specialized value. And sometimes, those with a generalist attitude tend to jump at any writing opportunity available.
If you’ve been more of a generalist thus far, that’s okay. You can choose to specialize at any point in your career.
As we mentioned before, our 6 experts reported positive outcomes when they decided to choose an industry (e.g., wellness, IT, cybersecurity) or choose a writing speciality (e.g., SEO writing, ghostwriting, technical writing).
Specialists tend to get higher rates because they solve problems that generalists can’t. Plus, they often master specific writing skills and provide better outcomes than generalists.
Learning from experienced writers or structured programs helps you identify your niche and communicate it confidently from day one.
Lesson #4: Learn to Communicate Your Value
New writers often feel frustrated when their skills aren’t reflected in their pay, but it’s rarely a matter of ability. It’s a matter of positioning. As Petrov put it, “The key was learning how to communicate my value, not just deliver words.”
Simply put: Many clients don’t automatically understand why your work matters. Even if they know they need a writer on their team, they still don’t always “get” it. Or at least, they don’t always grasp the full benefits of your expertise. Most people still need to be educated on the immense benefits of professional writers.
With guidance from expert mentors or structured training, you can learn how to explain and prove the positive business impacts of your work. This can immediately open doors to higher rates and long-term clients.
Lesson #5: Commit to the Long Game (with Strategy)
It’s normal to want instant results, but even the most successful writers often don’t hit their stride until 12 months, 36 months or 10 years in.
That’s not failure. It’s the learning curve inherent in growing a sustainable business. But remember:
The difference between struggling and well-paid isn’t just persistence – it’s strategic persistence – it’s calculated persistence – it’s advice-driven persistence.
Persistence, guided by mentors or structured freelance writing courses, accelerates growth. You can avoid common mistakes, accelerate your growth and reach stability far faster than your own trial-and-error.
Successful Writers Don’t Just Write – They Build Businesses
The difference between writers who stay stuck at entry-level rates and those who build full-time businesses isn’t talent, it’s strategy.
The moment you stop being “just a writer” and start positioning yourself as a strategist, a specialist or a partner in growth – that’s when everything changes.
If you’re still in the early stages, don’t get discouraged. Every low-paying project is a stepping stone. Every client call is practice. Every draft brings you closer to the turning point that will transform your career.
For more support in becoming both a confident SEO writer and a profitable business owner, join our free training. You’ll learn the strategies inside our signature program that show you how to package your services, price for ROI and grow sustainably.
