How would you charge this?

[ScaredTEECat]

I general charge my clients by the hour. I'm a Graphic Artist/web designer/online marketing consultant.

One of my clients is having me set up a blog for him and then he wants me to research and ghost write blog posts for him. It's a topic I know next to nothing about, which he knows, but he trusts me to do the research and ask him if I am not sure about something. He will also approve all posts before they are posted to the blog. To begin with it will be on a monthly basis as we are also sourcing guest bloggers in his field.

But I can't figure out if I should charge him a flat rate per post or also charge him hourly, as I do for the design/online marketing work I am doing for him. If there's lots of info for the topic it may take me less than an hour one month or it could take days another month!

Any opinions? Do you ghost write? How do you charge?

Well done for securing the work :)

I'd guess I'd go for hourly as that is what he is used to. I guess it will even out to an average cost once you get used to it. If depends how much research he expects and if his needs/wants are going to change over the time. Also if he is going to ask for re-writes etc. Also guest blogs might take editing depending on the quality of blogger? I'd be concerned that a fixed fee won't cover your time, but depends what he is prepared to pay I guess.

HTH.

Good luck!

Thanks for your reply watersign!

This is what I am afraid of; that if I charge a fixed fee it won't cover my time. I really have no concept of how long this might take me!

I'd also hate to overcharge him as we have a fab working relationship now. So I don't want to say '£30 flat rate' and then have it take me less than an hour when my hourly rate is £30, IYSWIM!

ARGH!

Definately.

I am sure he trusts you to be fair. It is much easier to get you, somebody he trusts to do it, then start from scratch with somebody new.

I am guessing it is just because it is something you don't normally do, you aren't as confident as I am guessing you normally are.

I hate the charging/estimating bit of freelancing. Thanks to a wise MN I am now using paymo the free online tracker to track my time. It makes me feel more confident about charging etc.

Hope the first blog goes well!

WS

I need to use a thesaurus. That is 5 uses of the word "guess" in 2 posts!!

Is paymo local to the UK? I have been using FreshBooks, on the recommendation of my brother in the US, and I really like it but would love to use a local company!