36 hours. 49 minutes. One 5,000-word sales page.

Not long ago, I wrapped up a 5,000-word sales page for a client.

And between kickoff calls, audience interviews, research, messaging development, outlining, and *finally* writing the thing… the whole process took me 36 hours and 49 minutes.

Obligatory disclaimer: no, not all pages need to be that long. And no, not all of them need to take quite that much time. But many do!

And when they do, the writing is only half the process.

So, what goes on in those other 15+ hours?

Well, here’s a rough breakdown from that project in case you’re as nosy as I am:

Client kickoff, current asset performance review & initial brainstorming: 4 hours
Interviewing my client's clients for message mining & strategic testimonials: 3 hours
Market, audience & competitor research: 5 hours
Building the messaging hierarchy & outline: 4.5 hours

(!!!) That’s 16.5 hours clocked before writing a single word (!!!)

After that came:

(Crappy) first drafting: 13 hours
Unspecified agonizing & overthinking: approx 1.75 hours
Editing, first-draft refining, responding to client notes: 5.5 hours

GRAND TOTAL: 36 hours and 49 minutes.

(I religiously track my time with Toggl. So yup, these are my actual numbers! Screenshot proof incoming...)

Now, a lot of people (including many potential clients) are surprised when I share numbers like these.

But the reality is, writing a high-converting sales page is about so much more than just finding the right words. There’s the strategy, the structure, the message, the voice, the nuance….

This is also why I don’t offer VIP days, or anything resembling those “copy in a day” services you might see out there.

Nothing against those who do. (Truly, if you’re one of those copywriters who can bang out brilliance in a day? I bow to you and beg to know your secrets!)

But my process – aka my 3-Step Human-First Messaging Approach – is intentionally slower, deeper, and built to give ideas time to simmer.

And that leads to stronger, more resonant, and more effective (i.e., more likely-to-sell) copy overall.

Which brings me to my next point.

Whether you’re writing your own sales page copy (or are, uh, co-writing with the help of our little robot friends) and want expert human eyes on it before it goes live…

Or whether you’d prefer to hand the whole thing off entirely – I’ve got options for both.

For my eyes on your sales pages + whatever other important copy you’ve got in the works *without* the big project price tag, grab yourself a Quarterly Copy Pass. (Opening for Q4: join the waitlist for early access + a few other fun perks ⤵!)

Join the Quarterly Copy Pass waitlist (because your sales page copy + my eyes = the ultimate dream team)

Or if you’d rather have someone else do 99.9% of the agonizing for you (i.e, totally take the sales page off your plate and strategize + write that bad boy for you), you know where to find me.

~Nicole

P.S. One nice perk of my slower, more extensive process? You won't catch me using THIS common "placeholder" headline in your copy.