How much does it cost to have website copy written for a small business site?

For five to six pages (home, services, about, contact, and one extra service page), a professional copywriter typically charges between 1,500 and 3,500 dollars, depending on research needs and revision rounds. Per-word rates run roughly 10 to 40 cents, and per-page rates run 100 to 250 dollars for pages of 500 to 800 words.

Can I just use AI to write website copy and publish it as is?

You can, but it is not a good idea without review. A raw AI draft often contains generic phrasing, interchangeable examples, and sometimes wrong details about pricing or process. A short editing pass by someone from the business, who corrects facts and adds specific details, turns a usable draft into copy that actually builds trust.

What separates a good service page from a plain list of services?

A list only names what a business offers, such as roofing, plumbing, or maintenance. A good service page also answers what a customer wants to know before calling: how the process works, roughly how long a job takes, what the crew brings, and what the customer should prepare. Nobody knows those answers better than the team doing the work, a writer can only organize them into readable copy.

Website Copywriting for Small Business: Cost and a Practical Process

Paying someone to write website copy buys two things at once: readable sentences and the translation of trade knowledge into what a customer actually wants to know before calling. For a small business site with five to six pages, a professional copywriter usually charges between 1,500 and 3,500 dollars, while an AI draft costs almost nothing but still needs a real editing pass from someone in the business. Both approaches work fine as long as it is clear who takes responsibility for the facts in the final text.

What professional website copy costs

Freelance copywriters bill three ways, and all three land in a similar range for a small business site. Per word, solid professional rates run 10 to 40 cents, higher for specialized trades. Per page, most copywriters charge 100 to 250 dollars for a page of 500 to 800 words. Hourly, expect 50 to 150 dollars, with experienced specialists at the top of that range.

Pricing model	Typical range	Scaled to 5-6 pages
Per word	$0.10 to $0.40	at 3,000 words: $300 to $1,200
Per page (500-800 words)	$100 to $250	at 6 pages: $600 to $1,500
Hourly	$50 to $150	at 15-20 hours: $750 to $3,000
Full package	$1,500 to $3,500	includes briefing and two revision rounds

These numbers assume the business hands over raw material, a short call or a filled-out brief. A business that sends only a bare service list without context ends up paying more, because the writer then has to research or follow up repeatedly. A twenty-minute call per service page usually saves an entire revision round later.

Writing service pages customers actually want to read

The most common mistake on contractor websites is a service page built from trade terms and a bullet list, without answering the questions a customer has in mind before they call. Someone looking at a bathroom remodel wants to know how long the bathroom is out of use, whether a temporary shower setup is possible, and whether the crew handles debris removal. Someone looking at an HVAC tune-up wants to know exactly what gets inspected and whether they get a written report afterward. Nobody on the writing side knows these answers better than the crew doing the work, which is exactly why a good brief matters more than a polished draft.

A workable approach: before writing, list the three most common customer questions per service, pulled straight from what the front-of-house or field staff hear on calls. Those questions become the subheads or paragraphs of the service page, instead of a plain list of keywords. One sentence on how the job typically runs, one on materials or process, one on what the customer should prepare, covers most services fully.

What a copywriter actually needs from you

A brief does not need to be a twenty-field form. A short call covering the following per service page is usually enough:

The three questions customers ask most before hiring
What sets the business apart from competitors on this specific service
Service area and typical job size
Anything distinctive, like emergency service, a price-match guarantee, or licensed master tradespeople
One or two concrete example jobs the copy can reference

Answering these five points ahead of time saves the writer research time and saves the business a revision round, because the first draft already contains real detail instead of generic phrasing that has to be stripped out later.

AI drafts and human editing: what to watch for

AI tools produce workable first drafts for structure and phrasing, but they do not replace a factual check. An AI draft has no idea how long a job actually takes for this business or what its real pricing looks like, so any numbers or specific claims in an AI draft need to be checked against reality before they go live.

For US businesses, disclosure requirements for AI-generated content vary by state and mostly target political ads, deepfakes, or specific regulated industries such as healthcare and legal services, not routine marketing copy for a home services website. There is no general federal requirement to label AI-assisted service pages or an about page as of 2026. That said, treating an AI draft as a starting point rather than a finished product is good practice regardless of what the law requires: have someone from the business read it, correct any factual errors, and swap in specific details the AI could not know, which also makes the copy sound less like every competitor’s site.

Write it yourself, hire a copywriter, or edit an AI draft

Approach	Cost	Effort for the business	Best fit
Write it yourself	no direct cost	high, several hours per page	tight budget, someone on the team likes writing
Hire a freelance copywriter	$1,500 to $3,500 for 5-6 pages	low, one briefing call per service	solid budget, high copy quality matters
AI draft plus editing	low, mostly time for review	medium, fact-checking and rewriting needed	tight budget, someone on the team edits well

None of the three approaches is wrong by default. What matters is who ends up spending the time on research and accuracy checking: the copywriter for a fee, the business owner while writing, or the business owner while editing an AI draft.

Case in brief: an electrical contractor with six service pages

A twelve-person electrical contractor had six service pages that were mostly bullet points: wiring, panel upgrades, EV charger installs, smart home, generator hookups, and maintenance plans. Before hiring a freelance copywriter, the owner filled out a short brief per service based on notes from recent calls, three common customer questions and one example job each. The writer delivered a first draft built on that brief, and one revision round settled a few open questions on the EV charger page. Total cost for six pages came to about 2,100 dollars, with roughly four hours of the owner’s time spread over two weeks.

Common mistakes in website copy

A recurring mistake is lifting bullet points straight from an old flyer without turning them into full sentences a customer can actually follow. Just as common are service pages that stay generic enough to describe any competitor in the same trade, instead of naming specific details like service area, equipment, or what makes this crew different. And with AI drafts, the fact-check step often gets skipped, leaving wrong pricing or made-up certifications live on the site until a customer asks or someone notices.

In the end, what matters is not whether a human or an AI wrote the first draft, but whether the copy answers the questions a customer actually has before calling and whether the facts on the page are correct. For how these pages fit together across a full site, see Contractor Website Must-Have Pages. For handing the entire build, copy included, to Mr.Site, see Website as a Service.