One of the most difficult things about writing sales copy for others is getting their work done on time. As a professional, when a client asks you when something can be completed by and you give them a due date, it’s not a good idea to not have it ready when the time comes. Otherwise, it’s not very good for your reputation, at least as far as meeting deadlines. So, just how DO you meet deadlines? For that matter, how do you know how long it’s going to take you to complete a sales page? This article will give you some guidelines to follow to make this process as painless as possible.

The first part of any copywriting job is researching the product and the marketplace. Assuming you’re going to be writing copy for an ebook, the first thing you want to do is get a copy of the ebook from the client before you even commit to a time frame. This will give you a good idea of how long it’s going to take you to read it. This has to be factored into the equation. For me, I can read a 100 page ebook in about 4 hours. It takes that long because I have to make notes of certain items that I’m going to use for bullet points and highlights in the copy.

After you have your research time down, then you have to estimate how long it’s going to take to write each part of the copy itself. Headlines usually take me longer than the rest of the copy because I want to make sure that I come up with the best headline possible. To do that, I will come up with at least five or six of them, if not more, run them through an analyzer, and pick the one that I feel scores best for the target market. Don’t go only by the analyzer itself. Use your own judgment as well.

After you’ve calculated how long you expect each part of the copy to take to write, add up all the times and then add that total to the research time. But you’re still not done. You then have to figure on graphics for the page, such as ecovers. If you’re working with somebody who does all your work for you, you’ll need to contact them and ask what their current turn around time is. If you do your own ecovers, you have to add this time to the total.

When you’ve got everything added up, add an additional 10% to the total time. Why? Because things happen and you want to make sure you have a buffer zone. The last thing you want is to work down to the last minute. Plus, this way, if you finish early, the client will be pleasantly surprised and will recommend you to others as well as use you again in the future, provided the work is of high quality.

By following these simple guidelines, you should have no trouble getting your work done when it’s promised…no matter what the job.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Discover How YOU Can Write 6 Figure Copy For Pennies…And Save Up To $15,000 In Copywriting Costs For Yourself. Visit my site at http://www.bcipe.com/ and discover killer copywriting tips that have allowed me to write my own copy for years and earn myself a 6 figure a year income selling my own products.