I talked to a blogger who wanted to charge me by the word. I had a few questions for him/her/it.
(1) What if the word is a really long word — perhaps a multisyllabic word, or a polysyllabic word?
(2) Do I get a discount if you use short words in a sentence such as:
He uses me for work a lot.
(3) What about hyphenated words? Any room for negotiation there?
(4) Do you charge extra for foreign words like Masala Dosa?
Jokes aside, to me the value of a blogger is purely based on what they can do for my stats.
Can they make my blog traffic spike?
Will their articles get many views per article?
Those are two great analytics in which to judge a blogger.
I’ll tell you a quick story. I wrote a bunch of blogs on a topic that my readers had been begging me for months to write. Quick articles on how their businesses could attract more clients. So, I thought of six sub-themes on the general subject, and published them a few days apart. My blog traffic spiked. It was the most wonderful analytics experience I have ever had as a blog writer.
No blogger will agree to be paid based on performance, so it is up to the business owner to know what their audience likes, otherwise they will get negligible traffic for their blog. Although you have to pay by the word, you can have someone write six articles, publish them all in the same week or two week period, and see if your blog spikes. No spike = no repeat business. Or you could just say that if there is no spike, that you get half off for hyphenated words! Either way, watch your stats and scrutinize people who want to work for you!