The Content Calculator, Part 2: Your mileage will vary. A lot.

I frequently work with Jamie Wallace, a brand and content marketing specialist, and Susan Preiss, a digital marketing content writer & editor. They’re two of the best writers in the business, and have decades of experience wrangling projects, clients and deadlines. I asked them how they estimate time for projects, and what factors affect those estimates.

Initial Estimates

Jamie started by noting factors other than just writing that she must account for:

Though a per-page calculation does go into my overall project estimate, there are other variables that come into play, such as initiation/discovery, research & reference review, and project management.

Susan elaborated:

A major factor is the the state and completeness of the source information. Are the topics you want to cover on your new site written about anywhere else – on your current site, in a white paper, other collateral or someone’s head? The more nebulous the location and format of the source info, the longer it will take to write the new content.

The Mythical Average Page

For a typical 350–450 word web page, Susan and Jamie both usually estimate around 4 hours. But the truth is there is no such thing as an “average” page.

Jamie prefers to break down the project according to more detailed page types:

I usually break down estimates based on page types – so a home page, for instance, will require more time than a contact us page. And I will usually include assumptions about the types of content we’re dealing with (overview pages vs. detailed product pages, etc.) and the kinds of reference materials (existing content, digging through docs, interviewing SMEs, etc.) we expect to have available.

Susan adds that for every single page, you must know what your goal is, or you’ll go in circles:

Before you set pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, make sure you have thought about a few things. Define the goal of the content – for the site as a whole, for each level of content and even for individual pages.

Know the voice, tone and style for your copy. Having a clear view of what you want to say and how you want to say it out the outset of your project will save you hours of time once you start writing and editing the content.

Process

Susan notes that the writer often assumes a project management role, helping the official PM wrangle SMEs and reviews, and preparing the final copy deck for the web developers:

Make sure to know how you are going to solicit feedback and have a tool that can aggregate content, track changes, provide access to multiple reviewers, maintain a single source of truth and support collaboration

Make sure the right people are in the review process. Writing great content, only to discover that it doesn’t meet the criteria of the stakeholders charged with signing off on the final product, can stall a project and waste many hours of everyone’s time.

Take your writer’s experience into account when budgeting time, as a more seasoned writer will provide better content faster. Make sure he or she has experience writing for the web and the ability to understand your organization and what it does.

More Gotchas Considerations

Again, from Jamie:

• The 4 hours-per-page budget doesn’t incorporate the messaging exercise that is a standard part of my process. That can run anywhere from 8 to 24 hours depending on how much work the messaging needs.
• Depending on the approach and level of subject matter learning required, initiation/discovery and research/reference review will likely need to be increased
• Ongoing status and review meetings. Though the first draft & revision time includes a few review meetings amortized over all the pages, it does not account for weekly all-hands project meetings, which in large projects can be critical to keeping everyone aligned.
• I also adjust pricing depending on the complexity of the topic and my familiarity with it. (For instance, it’d take me WAY less time to write a site about digital marketing than it would for me to write a site about quantum physics.)

And from Susan:

• Make sure everyone agrees on the goal of the content – for the site as a whole, for each level of content and even for individual pages.
• Know the voice, tone and style for your copy. Having a clear view of what you want to say and how you want to say it from the outset of your project will save you hours of time once you start writing and editing.

Jamie agrees 110% on the importance of understanding the end game before diving into the writing part of the process.

Clients are often surprised to discover how much work goes into (smart) content development before we ever start putting words on the page. My process always includes exercises that help the team identify and articulate the key messages we want to convey. We explore the audience, competitive set, company values, and other core branding considerations. When we nail this up front, we get first draft copy that’s so on target the rest of the process is a breeze.

And I’ll add a few from my own experience:

• If your site has a few long pages, instead of many short pages, time per page will go up.
• If some pages require only slight updates for tone and style, time per page does down.
• If you are creating all-new content about services that are still being hashed out by Product Marketing, your hours will go way, way up. :)
• If you have bungie-jumping stakeholders that require a rewrite after SME approval, you will blow your time budget.
• And if you have senior stakeholders with diametrically opposed writing styles, you may find yourself between Scylla and Charybdis.

So, you can see where the 4.5 hours/page estimate we use in the calculator is lean. You should work with your content strategist or writer to work out more precise time estimates. If the numbers are high for your budget or timeline, you can figure out what to cut and what to keep together. This will help keep your project on-time and on-budget.

You now have the tools you'll need. Good luck!

Purveyors of Fine Content

My thanks to my long-time collaborators Susan and Jamie for contributing their hard-won experience! They both have helped my clients create incredible content for their sites. If you need great content, on-time and on-budget, you can't go wrong with either of them:

Susan Priess, Hop To It Marketing
“I'm a professional copywriter who delivers clear, compelling content to make your organization look great.”
www.hoptoitmarketing.com

Jamie Wallace, Suddenly Marketing
“I am branding and content marketing specialist. That means that I help my clients figure out what to say and then I help them say it.”
www.suddenlymarketing.com

Feedback, please!

Did you find that it took much longer to write content? Or that it went much faster? Give me a shout at @imarcagency or robert@imarc.com. I’d like to know what varied, what worked, what didn't.