Let's talk about the price per word or PPW Trap

Freelancers, are you being paid for your words—or for your worth?

Before I start, I have freelancing profiles that says some random price per word rates.

Why?

It had to be included for completion of my profile.

I have written for PPW too (Until June 2024 or so)

However, I believe that it is high time to get out of this trap. Both for the client and the freelancer. It's costing you!

What's price per word?

The charge per word for the blog or article you write.

For example: If a freelancer charges $1 per word and is writing a blog of 1000 words, then the charge is $1000. If the same blog could be made crisp enough to 500 words, then $500.

You see.

The emphasis is on the number of words and not on the quality of the content.

Why It’s Not Great for Freelancers

Your price per word may stay constant.

Especially if you are working for an agency as a freelancer.

They may have the same price for a LinkedIn post irrespective of their client being a niche you are comfortable with or not.

Based on my personal experience while I wrote PPW for an agency, the amount of research I had to do for some clients was way more than what I had to do for a niche I had worked before.

The problem is, the effort put into it is not valued.

And if there are two or three drafts, I'm not paid for the draft but only the last output that's approved.

To meet word counts, writers often sacrifice clarity. Instead of thoughtful, concise phrasing, they stretch sentences—writing 'I am' instead of 'I'm,' or 'could not' instead of 'couldn't.' It’s about hitting a word quota, not delivering the best content.

It may get to a point where you might not be able to change your PPW for a while. Because you've shown them that you charge less, they'll know how to keep you busy.

How do I tell all this?

I have been there!

I have written for 0.30 paise per word INR to a maximum of 0.50 paise per word INR. I had completed more than 25 independent works a month or more and all I made was close to 7000 INR and I had worked almost every single day with one or two days break per month. I couldn't take any other assignments or prospects then, because I was occupied with their projects.

Why Clients Lose Out Too

The average attention span of a human being is 8.25 seconds.

An average reader spends only 15 seconds on a specific page in a website.

Which means in this short attention span, you have to keep them hooked to make them stay for 8 more seconds.

None of us prefer redundancy, do we?

I won't read an article if it is just a batch of words put together.

I'm sure you wouldn't too.

But when you are paying per word, you are not paying the writer for their efficient and effective use of words instead for how many words they can string together.

If you are looking for a content that converts, then you'll have to invest for that instead of charging the words.

Price per word is here to stay

Price per word is a component in most freelance websites even today and that may continue to stay.

It still works because you can decide your charge irrespective of the industry and have standard rates. And if you are working for international clients, having a price per word is easier to close deals over DM. Because the highest price per word you charge might still be a low price for them. Win-win.

However, I'm not sure if you should stick to it for longer.

Who can charge price per word

If you are a beginner in freelancing and don't have any published links to add to your portfolio, then start working for gigs that offer a price per word. Even if it's low in the beginning, it is better to have something for building our portfolio.

If you are a student and are looking for an income this can be a good source. These published articles can also be added to your resume while you search for jobs later.

However, if freelancing is your only means of income, then you have to quickly build your portfolio and move out of ppw to price per project or a higher ppw because you'll have to work day in and day out to meet the expenses.

All talks, what are you doing?

I moved out of ppw once I had enough portfolio to share. By transitioning to project-based pricing, I wasn’t just charging for words—I was being paid for my experience, insight, and the true value I brought to each client.

I also built my personal brand on LinkedIn which started generating leads.

Once this was in process, I started talking to the clients directly instead of having any middlemen.

This way, I had complete control of the amount of work I could manage, choose the niche and also decide my price.

Once I was confident that this would meet my expenses, I slowly reduced the amount of PPW projects. I didn't cut it off one fine day. Instead I gave them a notice period of my availability so that they could find someone else to replace my work.

As long as freelancers are willing to accept low-paying gigs, those gigs will always be there.

What’s your experience with PPW? Is it working for you, or are you ready to move on?