Good Writing Isn’t Enough. Before You Hire a Copywriter, Make Sure You Both Agree—in Writing—on Exactly What You’re Buying.

Recently, I was hired to take over a project another writer started, but didn’t finish. It wasn’t a quality issue—the writer’s work was good. Really good. The situation centered around a serious misunderstanding about the fee.

The client thought the writer’s quote was for writing the entire website (about 25 pages in all). But, in reality, the fee was for writing just the first five pages.

Yikes.

This was a costly mistake. For the client, it set the project back almost a year. Who knows how much business was lost during that delay? For the writer, it was a potential source of reputational damage.

The Lesson for Someone Hiring a Copywriter

Since I wasn’t privy to the original proposal and correspondence, I won’t try to identify where the communication broke down or assign responsibility for what went wrong.

But I will point out the practical takeaway for anyone buying copywriting services:

It’s not enough to evaluate the writer’s portfolio. It’s equally important to look for clarity in how they define and price the assignment, as well.

What Should Have Happened Before the Writing Started?

This situation could have been avoided by tying the fee to a clearly defined, written scope of work—then explicitly confirming that both parties understood it before work began. “Website copywriting” leaves room for interpretation; “copywriting for five specific website pages” is much harder to misunderstand. A scope of work should spell out both the included deliverables and the exclusions.

 For example, these guardrails could have reduced the chances of things going sideways:

• Name the five pages included in the quote. List each page individually rather than relying on a general description such as “website content.” Website copywriting agreements can define deliverables in page-specific terms.

• Explicitly exclude the remaining 20 pages. If the writer knew the website contained 25 pages, the proposal should have stated that the quoted fee covered only five, with the other 20 requiring a separate agreement. Defining what isn’t included helps prevent misunderstandings.

• Confirm the fee, timeline, and process for additional work before starting. Both parties should approve the same written scope, including how additional pages would be priced and scheduled.

 The writer could have used proposal language like this:

“This fee covers copywriting for five website pages, listed below—not the complete 25-page website. The remaining 20 pages are excluded from this quote and would require a separate scope, fee, and schedule. Please confirm that this matches your understanding before we begin.”

 And the client could have asked questions like this:

“To confirm: Does this price cover all 25 pages of my website? If not, exactly which pages does it cover?”

As the saying goes: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. The next time you’re buying copywriting services, make sure you and your writer agree on what’s covered—before the first word is written.