While you should always feel free to say whatever you want, using as many words as you want, there are occasions when you need to use a word limit.

Whether it be for educational assignments in schools, marketing campaigns, SEO blog posts or a PowerPoint presentation, knowing how many words you have written is important. And often a crucial point in succeeding at projects or other tasks at hand.

But let’s be honest, no one really has time to go through with a fine-tooth comb and count each word individually, let alone each character individually.

That is where using a WordCounter comes in handy! Even if you are already an experienced writer, you should always be able to easily reference how many words you have written, or how many words you have left to write.

Successful writers of all stages make counting their words a habit. And so should you, for these two main reasons.

Reason 1: Professional Publishers Count Words Too

So if you are frustrated that you have to count your words for a school assignment, then remember that even the most well-versed writers also get their words counted. When you reach that level, the days where you will be tasked with simply writing a three-page essay are gone.

Instead, you will be paid per word for various assignments, meaning that the number of words you write can result in how big your paycheck will be. This is the world of professional publishing. So you want to get into the habit now.

Reason 2: It Helps You Refine Your Thoughts

Sometimes, we have a lot to say about a certain topic. But that can often overwhelm the readers. Instead, having a word limit empowers and motivates you to really refine your thoughts and make an extremely compelling argument or point.

But on the other side of this, practice really does make perfect. So learning how to write 1,000 words a day will help you broaden your vocabulary, efficiency and overall craft.

How to Word Count

So now, the important part. How do you count your words quickly and effectively? We have rounded out the top places to count your words in an easy and user-friendly way.

Option 1: Through a Word Document

Likely you will be drafting your work on an actual word document on your computer. This will mean that you will already have a built-in tool that can track your words as you type, allowing you to constantly have an easy reference. If you can do not already have the word counter incorporated into your word document page, you can easily reference it by going to the tools section and selecting word count.  There are also shortcuts on your keyboard, but that will largely depend on what type of computer you are using.

Option 2: Level Up with a Word Counter for Pros

While the basic word counter is helpful, it can not do everything. That is why you should look to level up to a word counting tool that not only tracks your overall word count but tracks how many words you are also writing per day. This is super important for those who are going to need to bill their work to a publisher and helps you quote for future projects too.

Option 3: Go Online for Free

Of course, the wonderful world of the internet also offers up some very proficient word counters that are designed to not only help you track your words but ensure that your work is SEO optimized.

For example, many of these equally count the number of characters while also offering up edit suggestions. Best of all, it can highlight if your work is too similar to something else that has already been published.

What makes this online platform extra helpful is the ability to save the work you pasted in so that you can make further revisions within the tool.

One of the main reasons many people refer to online word counters is the ability of the tool to also highlight the frequency of keywords within your writing. If you are writing for SEO purposes, keywords are king and you want to make sure you do it right.

Conclusion

So no matter what you are writing for, you owe it to yourself to use a word counter. Whether it be for the satisfaction of a personal challenge and developing your own skillset to tracking your monetary value of the writing or ensuring you are following SEO best practices, the word counting tools allow you to have confidence in your work.

Plus, why would you not utilize these? They are free, after all! Word counters will empower you, challenge you and take your writing to the next level. And this applies to novice writers all the way to professional writers.