Cost Comparison: Full Time or Freelancer

If you want to make sure that your company is getting as much as possible out of its online presence, you need to make sure that the content you’re publishing is as strong as possible. In order to do that, you need to have the right writers on board. Whether you’re sending out press releases, publishing a weekly blog, or retooling the copy on your company’s website, producing top-of-the-line content requires qualified writers and editors.

Many companies, however, might hesitate to hire a full-time writer to take on their content duties, and understandably so. After all, adding another full-time employee to your staff is a major investment. If you’re concerned about the impact on your budget of hiring a full-time content writer, you might want to think about the potential of hiring freelancers to produce your company’s content

Are freelancers or full-time writers better for smaller businesses?

It’s important to keep in mind that different situations demand different approaches. There are times when hiring a full-time employee is the way to go, but there are other instances when you’ll be better off working with freelance writers. It depends on a number of factors, including your budget, your current staff level, and your company’s current content needs. You may even find yourself deciding to hire a full-time writer while also relying on freelancers for some of your content requirements.

As a rule, however, it’s safe to say that hiring freelancers is generally best for small and medium sized businesses that have limited budgets to work with. The less room you have to experiment with your budget, the more you should try to err on the side of caution when it comes to making new investments. It’s always best to proceed carefully when you’re trying to solve your content issues with a limited budget.

What are the benefits of working with freelance writers?

If you’re thinking of working with freelancers for your content needs, you have an enormous pool to pick from. After all, there are hundreds of thousands of aspiring freelance writers out there looking for gigs. There are numerous benefits that come with hiring freelance writers, including:

It saves you time.

When you hire a full-time content writer for your company, you’ll need to spend the time that it takes to find a qualified person, vet them, and train them. This can be an extremely time-consuming task, and it takes your attention away from other important matters at your business. Hiring a freelancer, by contrast, is a relatively fast and straightforward job.

It allows you to access more varied talent.

There are a multitude of different freelancers out there, all with their own unique backgrounds, talents, and specialties. When you work primarily with freelancers, you’ll have access to those varied abilities, which will benefit your company’s content. That’s not necessarily the case when you hire full-time writers, since most companies don’t have the budget to hire an unlimited number of employees.

It keeps your options open.

Hiring a full-time writer may be the right choice for your company, but it may also limit your future choices. Your content requirements may change over time, and that means that a content writer who is a good fit now may not be right for you six months down the road. When you work with freelancers, it’s easy to simply find other writers to reach out to—while still being able to maintain the same relationship with the ones you’re already working with.

What expenses are associated with hiring a full-time content writer?

If you are mulling over the decision to take on a full-time writer to fulfill your content needs, you will need to first consider your budget. Adding any full-time employee to your staff is a significant step, and it’s particularly momentous if you have only a limited budget to work with. That’s why it’s so important to think about all of your options before you decide to take this step.

You should also keep in mind that hiring a full-time content writer means that you will need to make room in your company’s budget for all of the associated expenses. Here’s what you’ll need to pay for when you hire a new full-time employee:

Salary   

If you’re simply comparing the annual salary of a full-time employee to the amount that you would pay a freelance writer for the equivalent amount of work over the course of a year, the answer might seem simple: In most cases, the freelancer will seem more expensive than the full-time employee. This simple figure is deceptive, however, because there are numerous other expenses involved in taking on a full-time staff member that you’ll need to account for.

Taxes

One of the issues associated with hiring a full-time employee is that you’ll have to allow for taxes. For a single employee, you’ll need to account for the payroll tax, for Social Security, for Medicare, for workmen’s compensation, and for federal unemployment insurance. All of these expenses are legally mandated, but they do add up—and they can end up being more of a financial commitment than your company is prepared to make.

Benefits

If there’s one thing that definitively distinguishes a full-time employee from a freelancer, it’s benefits. When you take on a full-time writer to provide your company with content, you’ll need to offset the advantages of that with the benefits you’ll need to pay for. Benefits may include health insurance, dental insurance, life insurance, and a 401k plan. If you’re not prepared to make the space in your company’s budget for these expenses, it may not be the right time to hire a full-time staff member.

Vacation

Now consider the fact that, with a full-time employee, you won’t just be paying for work—you’ll be paying for vacation time. If your new employee gets three weeks of time off a year, along with sick time, a significant part of your budget will be going toward paying for that. That’s not the case with a freelancer, since they simply won’t be working for you when they’re sick or on vacation.

Other Expenses

If you’re hiring a full-time employee to work at your office, you’ll need to pay for a desk, chair, and any other equipment that your new staff member may need. Even if your new employee is working remotely, you may need to buy them a laptop and other tools that they will need to write content for you. You’re also paying for the time that your employee isn’t spending producing content for you—going to meetings, taking coffee breaks, having company lunches. None of this should happen with a freelancer.

What expenses are associated with hiring a freelance writer?

When you hire a freelance writer to produce your company’s content, you won’t have to worry about paying them benefits or setting aside taxes. The only expense you’ll have to be concerned about is the flat fee you’ll pay them for each of their assignments. Keep in mind that this can add up quickly, especially if you are hiring them to produce content on a regular basis. If you hire a freelancer to produce your blog content, for example, that’s several pieces of content a week that you will be paying for.

You may also need to hire more than one freelancer to meet all of your content needs, so that’s something else you will need to keep in mind. You’ll need to spend the necessary time to track down and connect with the freelancers who can provide you with the consistently high-quality work you’re looking for. Finally, you’ll need to edit that work to make it acceptable for your use. Ideally, you will find freelancers who are so well in tune with your vision and your voice—not to mention such skilled self-editors—that they won’t require a great deal of editing.

Ultimately, the decision of whether to hire a full-time employee or to simply rely on freelance content writers is up to you. Whichever path you take, however, you’ll want to make sure that you’re working with the best writers who are available to you. Keep in mind that the more experienced a writer is, the more it may cost you to hire them. You may want to take a chance on a relatively inexperienced writer with an impressive skill set. The bottom line, however, is that quality matters. Creating first-rate online content does require an up-front investment, but most companies find that the results are well worth it.

Are you looking to hire a qualified freelancer to handle some of your company’s content needs? At Writers Work, we understand that, when it comes to online content, there’s no substitute for quality. That’s why we’ve provided our community of writers with tools that will help them achieve their dreams. When you visit our Writers Marketplace, you’ll find hundreds of dedicated, driven copywriters, content writers, bloggers, technical writers, editors, proofreaders, and much more! We’re here to help you connect with the talent you need to make your content strategy work.