That depends. Each project is unique and the fee is determined by a number of factors:
- What type of project is it?
- How long will it be?
- Will it be part of a series?
- How much reference material will you provide?
- How much research will we need to do on our own?
- What's the delivery schedule?
The fee includes creating a detailed creative brief, all background reading and research, any interviews with subject matter experts, content and copy strategy development, title development, SEO keyword research, the actual writing of the project, graphic design and video production as required, any meetings or calls related to the project, and up to two rounds of requested revisions.
Our pricing is well within industry norms. We always provide a written proposal that includes a fixed fee rather than an hourly rate, so you know exactly what your project will cost with no surprises.
If you’re just looking for the lowest price and you don’t care about the quality of the work, we suggest trying some of the freelance job boards. If you want professional communication at a fair price, contact us. We’d be pleased to offer you a proposal. There’s no obligation.
We do not use AI for creative work like writing, graphic design, or video production.
We may use AI for routine tasks like transcribing spoken audio or background removal in images. Even in those cases we always double-check the AI’s work.
Search engines we use may provide some AI-driven results, but we don’t depend on these; we always dig deep to find original sources for information.
Because the work we produce for you is original, you own the copyright.
Our background is technical (computer science, chemistry, electronics) and our focus is Information Technology. But we'll work with just about anyone. We've worked with dog trainers, motivational speakers, cosmeticians, musicians, photographers ...
Our associates over at Elle Jay Media bring a perspective that complements our own and that allows us to produce quality content for both technical and non-technical clients alike.
Time - By hiring us to produce your content, you're free to focus on your core business. There are many necessary functions in a well run, growing business, but you don't have time to do them all yourself. So you hire secretaries, janitorial staff, accountants ... and content creators ... to help carry the load.
A fresh perspective - You are thoroughly familiar with your business, your customers, and your products and services, so familiar that you may overlook some aspect of your business your customers need to know. Coming from outside, LightningStrike brings a new outlook and fresh ideas to a project that may otherwise have grown stale.
Load - Your own people may be too busy to take on additional work. By hiring LightningStrike for specific projects you avoid having to increase your full time staff.
Services beyond content creation - What you do with your content is just as important as the content itself. We can help you leverage social media, analytics, and advertising to make the best use of your content and drive more traffic to your business.
Already have in-house staff handling your content creation? We don't want to put anyone out of a job. Simply keep us in mind for those times when your people are overloaded and they need some extra help, or when you'd like another set of eyes on a project.
Absolutely! We've worked with clients and contacts across the U.S., Canada, and Europe. We conduct almost all our business by email, phone, and video conference. We hold any necessary interviews with you and your staff by phone or video conference at a mutually agreeable time. Technology has made telecommuting a viable alternative and in many cases a preferred means of conducting business, saving time and money for everyone involved.
We'll be happy to sign a non-disclosure agreement at your request. If you wish, any materials we receive from you will either be returned or destroyed. To secure email communications, we use OpenPGP encryption. Download our public key:
36A1 66D7 3050 DDB9 1B26 F582 59FD 9BA6 5493 5714
Revisions are not the same as changes in direction or scope.
Suppose that when we started out you decided you wanted a very formal document, just the facts, to the point, with little or no humor. Then, after we've delivered the first draft, you decide you want a more light, humorous, friendly style. That's completely different. The direction of the project has changed.
Or suppose you initially decided you wanted a 2-minute explainer video highlighting just a few main points about your product. Then you decide you'd like to include more details and some customer reviews. The original 2-minute video is now 4 or 5 minutes. That's a scope change.
Our quoted fee includes up to two in-direction / in-scope revisions. Changes in direction or scope will require a new proposal from us, and a new purchase order from you.
Of course! We work with marketing/communications agencies, web site designers, graphic artists, and videographers as a subcontractor on a project-by-project basis. During the project we'll act as your representatives in all interactions with the client, and bill you for our services.
Rest assured that we won't try to steal your clients. We agree not to solicit your client for a period of at least one year after our combined project concludes.
Yes, we do! We can simply edit your work, correcting spelling, punctuation, and grammar, and making minor stylistic suggestions. Or we can provide a complete rewrite, preserving your style and intent as far as possible.
If the project is interrupted before we deliver the first draft, we will only bill you for the portion of work completed up to that point. Otherwise, payment is due in full within 30 days from the delivery of the first draft.
Understand that once we lose momentum on a project, we can't always just pick up where we left off. So if you later reactivate a project, depending on the length of time that has passed, we may need to start from the beginning, with a fresh quote.
Any work we produce for you, in any format, is classified as a work for hire. This means that you, as the client who commissioned the work, own the copyright. We will not reuse your content for other clients. This includes any proprietary information, text, photographs, and other assets you provide; that remains confidential.
Ideas, facts, and phrases are not covered under copyright. So, if we produce a video about widgets for you, we're free to produce content about widgets for anyone else. We can also use the same publicly-accessible information.
We may use stock images, music, and sound effects. When we do, we make sure that those assets are fully licensed for commercial use.
Short answer: Yes, we do search engine optimization.
Long answer: Search engine optimization (SEO) is the technique of tuning a web site's design and content so the site ranks higher in search results on Google, Yahoo, Bing, and the like.
On the design side, this means making effective use of ALT and META tags, robots.txt and sitemap files, and so forth.
As for content, when writing for the web we make judicious use of keywords selected to match the web site's theme and target audience. Further, since many search engines give preference to sites with quality inbound links, LightningStrike also provides ghost writing services, working with you to produce and distribute relevant articles with links back to your site.
You should know that search engine optimization is no guarantee that your web site or content will achieve a high pagerank. Search engines like Google frequently change their algorithms, and sites that at one time appeared high in results may suddenly drop in relevance through no fault of the site's owners. Beware of anyone who promises you the first page on Google. That's a guarantee even Google won't make.
SEO should be only a part of your overall marketing efforts. Be sure to include your web address in all of your sales and marketing material. The best way to ensure a web site will attract and retain visitors is by publishing quality content.
Contact us. Send us an email message and tell us a bit about your project. We’ll arrange a mutually convenient time for a brief phone call. We’ll then follow up with a detailed proposal outlining the requirements, deliverables, schedule, revisions, and fee. There’s no charge for this initial discussion and there’s no obligation.