Want to profit from selling additional services such as content writing, email marketing, app development, and more? Learn how it’s done in this article.
Targeting new needs, niches and offering these additional services is a great add-on for your web development business and an opportunity to earn more revenue.
In this article, we cover the type of additional services you can offer, examples of businesses offering them, how much you can charge, the tools you need to provide these services yourself, and where you can outsource if needed.
Since we’d rather not just take a stab in the dark, we also asked our 50K+ web developer members about the additional services they provide, what they charge, how they set up their service pages, and more.
Hopefully by the end of this article, you will:
- Know the benefits of offering additional services to clients.
- Know which services are the best and easiest to provide.
- Know how much to charge for these services, in order to make a profit.
Skip ahead to any section of this article:
- Additional Services Web Developers Can Offer
- Content Writing
- Copywriting Services
- Digital Marketing
- Social Media
- Email Marketing
- App Development
- SEO
The Top 6 Additional Services Web Developers Can Offer (As Voted By Our Members)
Adding more services (and therefore potential revenue) to your business seems like a no-brainer; however, deciding on what services to provide can be a challenge.
After all, there are tons of different services web developers can offer to clients.
To help narrow our choices down, we decided to ask our members what kind of services they currently offer in our DOTW (Discussion of the Week).
Overall, our members agreed it was worthwhile to include additional services outside of their core web development offering.
For example:
“Our focus is on improving clients’ online sales, which includes driving traffic through SEO and online marketing + optimizing sites for conversions and improving the sales process after that through automation etc. Keeping everything updated on their site and solving conflicts is part of it.” Antti-Pekka – WPMU DEV Member
When asked the same question about packaging plans (which include some additional services), one of our members says:
“Hosting, E-Mail-Marketing, SEO, Maintenance, and other Plans are being sold within their own tiers, but they’ll be connected with each other as upsell products.” Sascha – WPMU DEV Member
So, what are the best additional web development services to provide?
After combing through the feedback and data, these services came out on top:
- Content Writing
- Copywriting Services
- Digital Marketing
- Social Media
- Email Marketing
- App Development
As a little bonus, we also included offering SEO as an additional service.
Now that we have our top service options, let’s dive into details about each additional service and some examples from other developers and agencies.
Below you’ll see various pricing structures. Many companies offer 3-4 packages, and some charge for individual services (or both!).
It’s worth exploring each link providing for the companies to gather ideas and information that ultimately you can use for your additional services page.
Please note that we’re not affiliated with these sites. They are top-rated companies that have a solid reputation.
On that note, let’s begin with…
Content Writing
Including Content Writing is a great add-on. It’s great for SEO and provides content that can be informative and valuable (e.g. a good blog). Plus, the profits content writing can bring in is ongoing.
Good content writers are storytellers for a brand and convey insightful information to move an audience to take action.
As you’ll see, offering this service is invaluable and is a significant part of creating a quality website and marketing.
Words that make users want to stay on your website explain why you are an industry leader and give a perspective on whether a client will hire you or not.
Examples of WordPress Agencies and Freelancers That Offer Content Writing
To get a good idea of an approach you can take when adding content writing services to your website, as mentioned in the introduction, we’ll touch on several examples first.
Each example links to its content writing service page, and you’ll see the various setups and implementations.
A good first example is Beanstalk. Beanstalk has content writing services and everything you’d expect from a good WordPress agency.
Their main objective is to take the content writing off the table for their clients and let them handle it.
Their writing includes SEO-friendly content that’s made to drive conversions and bring more traffic to a client’s website.
Alt Creative is another full-service agency offering web design, branding, maintenance, and consulting services. Additionally, content writing is a big part of what they offer.
Their copywriting plan includes highlights, such as client interviews, copy creation, and a content strategy for ongoing content marketing (e.g. blogs, case studies, etc.).
They have a unique approach to showcasing their content writing with a quick video. It’s full of stats, what they do, and reasons why to hire them.
This works as an effective video to demonstrate what all Alt Creative offers.
They include reports on blog engagement and provide posts, and all of the writing is SEO-friendly.
Finally, geared more toward small businesses, Sage Digital has a content writing package that heavily involves its clients.
Each client gets a personalized professional available for feedback, revisions, and direct communication.
Additionally, you can request a particular writing style if you feel it would be more appropriate for your audience.
All three of these agencies require clients to contact them for a quote for their content writing services. There’s no cut-and-dry price, considering every situation is different.
A good example of differences is that one client may want three blog posts a month, and another may want twenty. Obviously, there will be a cost difference between the two.
How Much Can You Charge for Content Writing Services?
To give you a ballpark estimate on what to charge, The Content Panel put together a pricing structure to consider.
First, here’s a look at content writing per project:
Next, they show a snippet of the per-hour rates:
Also, there’s a per-page amount to consider. Per page goes a bit out of the realm of a website, but clients may want eBooks, lesson plans, and indexing for their websites.
Finally, there are some other fees to consider:
Now that we covered content writing – what if you, or nobody on your team – can write well?
If you’re not a writer (and many web developers aren’t), there are Content Writing Services where you can hire writers to help and charge the client accordingly.
Here are four good options.
Four of the Best Options for Outsourcing Content Writing
Scripted offers a wide variety of plans and prices, so whether you’re a big agency or small — there’s more than likely a good choice for you.
They offer everything from blog ideas, performance analytics, dedicated account managers, and more.
They offer a unique four-part approach, which makes this company very approachable and easy to work with.
Their prices range from $199 to $2500+ per month. Plus, they have a 100% money-back guarantee if you’re not happy with the writing. Additionally, you can give them a try — for free.
Scripted has a great reputation, nice pricing options, and a suitable option for hiring content writers.
Hubstaff Talent is very transparent about what they can do, who can do it, and the pricing involved.
Instead of a set price, various writers have their own hourly rates, availability, and skills.
You can search by tags for what type of writing you’re looking for, and any results will come up. Then, you can learn more about the writers by clicking on their individual profiles.
It’s not as cut-and-dry as Scripted when it comes back to guarantees.
Prices range typically from $25 per hour and up. Also, there is a free trial to determine if you enjoy Hubstaff or not.
Hubtalent is run by Hubstaff, which has a solid reputation for remote workers (hired and freelance). You can count on the tasks being completed and monitored with their platform.
Labeled the “World’s #1 Content Writing Service,” The Content Panel has all the goods you need in a writing service.
They offer everything from blog posts, copywriting, product descriptions, and more. They have over 3000 content writers for hire — all with various skill sets and backgrounds.
They have a solid rate starting at $3.40 for 100 words. To get started, you can use their tool to input what you want, the word count, and the quality level.
There are also perks, like unlimited revisions, quick turnaround time, and discounts for agencies. Agencies can use them to hire talent for clients’ websites quickly and easily.
Additional Content Writing Resources
For additional resources, HubSpot has an article with some tips on content writing here.
Copywriting Services
Like content writing, Copy – or Copywriting – is a driving force behind successful web content.
It involves creating content designed to persuade readers to take action (e.g. buy a product). It’s a form of writing that persuades readers to take action.
Copywriting includes things like a landing page, ads, product pages, sales emails, and more.
Also, copywriting is geared towards creating an emotional response, making a user take action.
Examples of WordPress Agencies and Freelancers that Offer Copywriting Services
The previous links to developer websites specializing in content writing can likely assist in copywriting.
However, here are some other WordPress site development agencies that specialize specifically in copywriting.
Alta Digital mentions headlines and offers persuasion in their copy, CTAs, and images. Copywriting is their focus as an agency when it comes to their writing services.
You can see by their copywriting section that they have visuals and a brief overview of what they do.
There’s also WordPress Maven, which is a smaller agency. However, they feature copywriting as one of the main aspects of WordPress development.
If you’re a small agency like them, this provides an excellent example of how you can go about setting up your website.
And then there’s MotoPress. MotoPress isn’t technically an agency; however, they offer WordPress themes, plugins, hosting, and more. You can offer your clients some of the same essentials with WPMU DEV.
They have a copywriting purchase option for $88. For this price, you get up to 1000 words, logically built content, and a quick turnaround (5-7 days). Here’s a quick snippet of what they offer from their website:
Having a standard copywriting rate for a specific amount of words is an easy option.
It allows your customers to purchase immediately without contacting you for a quote.
However, if you go this route, you’ll need to ensure you have precisely what it entails written out.
For example, you don’t want to spend days revising the copy, and making the flat rate takes more time than it’s worth.
How Much Can You Charge for Copywriting Services?
Some of the examples we just covered have their rates on them; however, here’s a look at specific ranges of what to charge.
Rates range generally from $45-$100 per hour. Plus, there are flat rates that seem to start around $75 to $500 per page and up.
Content Estate Marketing has a poll of various copywriting rates per page of sales copy depending on experience.
They also have another poll based on product description copywriting. These prices range from $20 to $400 in this particular poll.
Additionally, they have the rates per page of copywriting. This ranges from $100 to $700 and up.
CopyBlogger has a great article on writing good copy if you want to learn how to write the copy yourself.
Three Options for Outsourcing Copywriters
Also, copywriters are available from sites such as UpWork, Fiverr, and Copywriter Collective. These websites have freelancers available, and various quotes according to skills, location, and experience.
Here’s a quick overview of each company.
Upwork is an extremely popular choice for hiring freelancers for projects — such as copywriting.
Upwork is safe and secure to hire outside help. They ensure payments are processed and the work is monitored. The rates will vary by a freelancer, depending on experience, skills, and reviews.
Fiverr can be extremely affordable with a talented pool of freelancers available for copywriting services. Like UpWork, you can browse freelancers.
Their rates, reviews, and skills are all easy to view. You can search by categories, budget, delivery time, and other options.
All of this being said, you get what you pay for — so be sure to check out the reviews for each freelancer and base your hiring on qualifications more than price.
After all, you can charge your client whatever it is that a copywriting project consists of.
The same can be said of UpWork — or any site featuring freelancers. Fiverr is a business model of services starting at $5, so it’s exceptionally cheap sometimes, which can lead to cheap quality copywriting.
However, Fiverr has been around a while and offers protected payments and 24/7 support. Plus, it ensures that the work you hire for is quality. It’s worth checking out for your freelance copywriting needs.
What’s great about Copywriter Collective is copywriters are vetted and need to apply to be part of their website.
They look for copywriters with a minimum of five years of experience, so if you hire from them — you’re bound to get quality copy.
Copywriter Collective has nine reasons why you should hire them; including a quality guarantee, award-winning creatives, and efficiency.
Rates will vary but expect to pay premium rates for premium service.
Copywriting is an example of a short copy made to persuade. And that takes us to…
Digital Marketing
The ability to create digital ads for clients can obviously be a big asset to any company.
After all, digital ads can drive sales and bring in business.
Offering to create Digital Marketing for clients takes a lot of time but can be worth pursuing.
That’s because the technology, ad specs, and requirements vary for every platform (e.g. a Google Ad has different specifications than a Facebook ad).
It requires research, some graphic design, and copywriting – a “triple threat.”
Examples of WordPress Agencies and Freelancers Offering Digital Marketing Services
Lyfe Marketing has a nice example of how you can go about charging for digital ads and PPC. They break it into three services: Good Plan, Better Plan, and Best Plan. They range from $650 per month to $1150.
They then show specific details on what each plan includes. You can even arrange to have a Custom Plan if there’s a significant marketing push needed to be completed.
Also, WebFX offers digital ad creation. Their plans range from $600 to $975 (and up with the Enterprise Plan).
They even feature a convincing case study, which is a nice incentive to include for any potential clients.
For more tips, HubSpot has a great article on how to create an ad that offers some insight on bringing them to life.
Manage unlimited WP sites for free
What You Can Charge for These Services
As you can see, the numbers range quite a bit, depending on the company and services.
They range from $500 for basic digital marketing services and go all the way to $10K and up.
Much of it depends on ad spend that the client wants to invest. Obviously, the more spent on ads, the more outreach.
It really depends on your clients’ budget and, ultimately, their goals.
Outsourcing Options for Digital Marketing
Some of the above examples are worth getting in touch with for outsourcing your digital marketing services. After all, they have the digital marketing efforts down to a science.
That being said, there are other options. Freelancers and smaller agencies can help.
O8 can be looked at as hiring a teammate (or teammates) to get the job done. You can fill up to 18 roles with them – including CMO, marketing strategist, paid advertising specialist, and more.
Here’s a glimpse of how they work:
They’re a good option to quickly and easily put together a digital marketing team for your client, and charge accordingly.
We’ve mentioned them earlier, however, if you’re looking for a one-off project or for someone to just set up PPC, Fiverr might be a good choice. You can search rates, reviews, and profiles to find the right fit for your project.
Fiverr is good for having someone initially set up PPC, and then you implementing it. That way you can go over the budget and ad with your client.
That being said, there are many freelancers that will manage your ads for you as well.
As you can see, the rates are pretty low starting off. So, you may be able to upsell your services to clients for more profit – depending on what the freelancer charges.
For a white label digital marketing service, Brandignity can have your business covered. They offer everything from PPC, social media marketing, SEO, and more.
They offer reseller plans that can be provided as a silent partner, or they can provide them directly to your clients through a referral service.
Plus, they help develop a custom strategy and offer ongoing monthly reporting and analytics data. Here’s a quick testimonial of how they can help your business:
Social Media
Considering social media has become a big source of information, news, and keeping in touch, it’s no wonder that companies want their Social Media status to be up to par.
Plus, having an excellent social media presence helps with search engine optimization and digital marketing.
This is where you, as a developer, have an opportunity to handle clients’ social media accounts and ensure their social presence is effective.
Examples of WordPress Agencies and Freelancers Offering Social Media Services
Thrive is a good case of an agency specializing in social media marketing. They tackle all aspects of social media; from initial implementation to posting — and beyond.
Here’s a glimpse of what they handle:
Another good example is from a company we mentioned earlier. Lyfe also offers social media services.
Unlike Thrive, which makes you contact them for a quote, Lyfe is straightforward with its approach to social media services.
They have three pricing plans where you click, fill out more information, and get started. The prices range from $750 -$1150 per month.
Lastly, WebFX is another agency with flat rates. They have an initial startup fee and then, from there, monthly service.
As you can see, the prices vary on the number of social posts per month, networks, and consultations.
These examples should give you a good idea of what to charge, how to set up your messaging for social media services, and what to include.
For more, read our Tips and Tricks to Manage Your WordPress Social Media Campaigns Like a Pro.
What You Can Charge for These Services
We just touched on some prices, but like other additional services, the charge for these services will depend on your client’s budget and goals.
They can range from $400 up to thousands of dollars per month. It depends on the number of social media accounts, posting schedule, post creation, and much more.
Best Outsourcing Options for Social Media
The options we just covered are great for outsourcing social media. You can’t go wrong with their services. Also, you can consider using RankPay, Ignite Visibility, and Disruptive.
All of them have different prices and ways of going about outsourcing your social media.
Email Marketing
Email Marketing – when done right – can bring in the highest return for a client’s investment. You can plan, build, and execute email marketing campaigns for your customers by offering email marketing services.
Examples of Agencies Who Offer Email Marketing Services
To get an idea of what this can look like, Inbox Group provides a good example.
They include what they do in terms of strategy, deployment, creative, audits, and integration.
Plus, when you visit their page, they have testimonials – which is a great way to show proof that your email marketing strategies work.
Beyond that, they go further by creating custom email templates for clients.
Inbox Group gives you a good sense of what you can include in your email marketing campaigns for your clients. Their rates vary, and clients need to contact them for a quote.
Another good example is Ignite Visibilty. Ignite Visibility offers email marketing services that has a six-step process. It involves:
- Cohesive Strategy Development & Journey Mapping
- On-Site Email & SMS Capture Optimization
- Calendar Management
- Develop Behaviorally-Triggered Automations
- List Hygiene & Advanced Segmentation
- Comprehensive Deliverability Monitoring
Creating a clear and concise plan on their email marketing page shows the process of avoiding confusion. Plus, they include testimonials on their page, which is always a great marketing tool for any agency.
Similarly, InboxArmy has a four-step process. Their process is:
- Email Marketing Audit
- Planning
- Implementation
- Review, Optimization, and Continued Incremental Growth
Bottom line: be clear and precise about what you can do for your customers. Plus, adding social proof (e.g. testimonials) is a great way to punctuate how good of service you provide.
Additionally, if you can create premade templates and have them ready for use, that can be a great selling point.
What You Can Charge for These Services
According to several developers, we asked in on our team, email marketing costs range from $300 to $2000+ per month.
However, the range varies by many factors including the number of emails, the quality of emails, setup costs, and amount of time invested into email marketing.
Flowium put together a good article about the price of hiring an agency, where you can get in-depth information. Plus, they break it down in a nice visual presentation.
Email marketing has a lot of elements to it – from design, messaging, copywriting, and deciding upon the right email service (e.g. MailChimp).
But when done right, it can be a great addition to your marketing plan for your clients and pay off in big dividends.
For more information about email marketing, be sure to check out:
- Does WordPress Email Marketing Actually Work? Putting It To the Test
- How to Create Engaging Email Marketing Campaigns for WordPress
- 10 Seriously Simple Ways to Grow Your Email List
Best Outsourcing Options for Email Marketing
Any of the companies we went over are a good choice. Additionally, you can try SmartMail (with a track record of producing ROIs of 29X and higher), FuelMade, and eFocus Marketing.
App Development
This goes a bit outside WordPress; however, App Development is worth considering as an additional service for your clients.
It’s the most popular additional feature that the developers we polled have as a service.
Of course, you need to know how to develop an app in the first place to be able to build one for clients.
Build Fire has a great article series on creating, researching, and deploying apps that are worth reading.
Examples of Agencies Who Offer App Development
Ruby Garage has a perfect example of how to go about adding it. They tackle mobile app projects for B2C and B2B use, everything from banking to fitness apps.
They demonstrate what they do on the front end and backend of things.
Their process starts with a business analysis and UX design. Then, they go into product development with UI design, the backend, mobile app development, and testing.
Beyond that, they provide support and maintenance packages after the product is released.
NineHertz offers an array of app development services, everything from app consulting to wearable apps for items like an iWatch. They feature a demonstration video on why you should hire them.
Beyond just a YouTube video, you can offer an approach like Sidebench. As soon as you go to their website, you’re welcomed with video presentations of their work, showcasing brands like Red Bull, Sony, and Oakley.
Then, below the fold, there are case studies for each company.
Case studies and major brands are, of course, something to show off. Sidebench is an excellent example of how to “wow” any potential clients with your app services.
What You Can Charge for These Services
SPD Load has an article about costs for app development. According to them, it ranges from $40,000 to $150,000. It’s determined by a base rate of $40 per hour.
Also, the Business of Apps website features a graph of price ranges in this current market. They start a little lower at $32,000 and also don’t go quite as high for complex apps with a cap of $72,000.
Appypie has an insightful article on app creation if this is an area you’d like to research further. It covers development from A-Z and breaks down the entire process.
Best Outsourcing Options for App Services
There are so many companies out there offering app services. The ones we mentioned are a good pick. That being said, this is an area you may want to qualify yourself for.
Digital media is rising while desktop usage is in a downward trend. MindSea has some good stats about what’s happening in the industry that are worth checking out.
But, at the end of the day, you have an agency to run and might need to outsource your app services.
As we mentioned, any of the featured agencies are a good pick. Also, you can find help at Fiverr, Freelancer, and Upwork.
Also, consider adding a go-to app developer for your agency, considering the intricate details an app takes to develop.
You’ll want to communicate well with someone reliable and dependable, so you can efficiently offer app development services to your clients.
SEO
SEO is vital to web development, and as a developer, you should always keep SEO in mind when creating a WordPress site for a client.
Of course, we can help with our SmartCrawl plugin, but if you want to take things a step further, consider additional SEO maintenance.
Examples of Agencies Who Offer SEO Services
Main Street Host is a good example of incorporating SEO into your additional services package. They have some useful stats and a ton of reasons of why you should use their services.
They have four affordable SEO options as packages. Doing this gives your client some clear and concise options to choose from.
Their SEO services page contains stats, why SEO is important, and their 10-steps to SEO Success.
It clearly indicates their professionalism, and any potential client would be excited to boost their SEO with them after reading through it.
Outerbox has a range of SEO services, too. They request that you contact them for a quote, but you can see the range of services in each package.
Finally, Seach Geek Solutions has a good model on their site for WordPress SEO services. They offer everything from a WordPress SEO Case Study…
…and a graph on why WordPress SEO is important.
These are good examples of implementing SEO into your agency’s website. It’s worth exploring each site individually for more information.
If you need to brush up on your SEO skills, be sure to check out our additional resources:
- Your Startup Guide to SEO
- SEO Checklist
- Easily Configure Your WordPress SEO with SmartCrawl and The Hub
What You Can Charge for These Services
The pricing for SEO varies quite a bit. It can be as low as $99 for basic services to over $5000 for more premium services.
It depends on your client’s goals and budget, like content writing, copywriting, PPC, and other services we’ve mentioned. Obviously, SEO can bring in a nice additional revenue.
Best Outsourcing Options for SEO Services
The agencies we have examples for and additional resources for individual SEO experts, like Fiverr, should work well. Clutch has a comprehensive list of the 40 Best SEO Companies that is worth checking out.
Ready to Start Offering Add-on Web Services?
It’s a lot to absorb when it comes to analyzing all the information we’ve covered. The best approach is to know your strengths and weaknesses.
From there, determine which additional services you would like to offer clients, which services you can provide on your own, and which services you will need to outsource.
Many factors will affect how you price your services, including your experience, the complexity of the work involved, how many hours of work the service may require, and more, and we cover this area in a separate article on how to price your services.
In the meantime, check out WebFX’s pricing guide. It covers a lot of what has been discussed here (and more). It’s up-to-date and provides you with more ammunition as you go about determining your prices, services, and what to offer.
Hopefully, the resources mentioned in this article will spark some ideas for how you can set up these services on your website.
If you’re looking for an “all-in-one” solution to build your web development business (and offer additional services), then the best place to start is by checking out all that WPMU DEV has offer risk-free with our free plan. It includes unlimited site management, built-in billing, plugins, and more.
