I see this all the time, especially with freelancers. A good client comes to them with a new project that involves writing a lot of new content for their Website. This is a great chance to quote a slightly higher rate. If asked about it I just say something like this:

“That’s my rate for Web Content Development. Writing for the Web requires a somewhat different skill set, is aimed at an audience who is usually less technical in nature, and I find the review cycles to be much longer and more in depth, so I charge a slightly higher rate.”

 
It’s usually a quick negotiation, either that accpet the rate or not. It’s not worth losing a good client over it, but it never hurts to ask.
 
Something else I’ve done with great success is to use an old marketing trick of showing them a discounted price. In the quote I send, I’d show them a much higher hourly rate for “Web Content Development,” and then I’d apply a “Best Client Discount” that brings the price way down to just a little bit more than I was already making. This way they think they are getting a deal!
 
Whether you are a freelancer or on salary, you need to constantly be on the lookout for ways to increase your rate. There are only so many hours in the day, if you want to make more money, you need to find a way to increase your hourly rate.
 

Technorati Tags: freelance, hourly rate, Technical Writer Jobs

• The Technical Writer Jobs market increased by only 1.5 percent in 2008. That’s just 740 new jobs for the whole country.
• New Jersey and Michigan gained the most new jobs
• Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, andPhoenix lost the most technical writer jobs
• The median salary got a small bump up to 61,620 USD

Once again, not a very encouraging report. Much of the growth was not in the traditional software development base, but in industrial equipment and goods. New jobs in Web writing and Content Strategy were up a lot more with a much higher median salary.

Technorati Tags: content strategy, STC, Technical Writer Jobs

It took a while, but I finally got a clue as to what was going on from a friend who was a manager in a company where I was being considered. The hard truth was that I had priced myself out of the current market. Times were tight and there were plenty of people with OK skills who were eager to take the jobs for much less that what I was used to getting.

I think that this is happening now in the technical writer jobs market. Plus, the problem is being compounded by the collapse of the print media. Journalists of all kinds are fining themselves out on the street and looking for a new place to sell their skills. Technical writing is the first place to try for many with any kind of technical background. Especially those who started out as technical writers and then moved into other areas. They all head back to technical writing and cause the jobs market to get very competitive. This drives full-time salaries down.

Competing in a Tough Technical Writer Jobs Market

There are three ways to compete and win in this kind of market:

1- Beef up your resume, really call attention to skills that you have that may be in short supply, and duke it out for the best jobs.

2 - Lower your compensation expectations and compete on price in the short term until things get better.

3 – Go compete in a different league where things are not as competitive or where the overall pay level is higher.

If you decide to go with door number 3, I think that both the writing for the Web and Content Strategy markets are good choices, as is taking your technical writer jobs skills over into the freelance and contract market. The overall pay and competition are better in the Web writing and content strategy areas and working on contract let’s you apply for jobs all over the world, not just in your backyard.

Technorati Tags: content strategy, Freelance Technical Writer, Technical Writer Jobs