Make money from online writing
© Vedrana Bosnjak
This feature was originally published by Willow Sidhe at http://freelancehomewriter.blogspot.com/
Some minor amendments have been made, but the content of this page remains copyrighted to Willow.
Gone are the days when it’s necessary for a journalist to send hundreds of query letters en masse every week to secure work. Good writing is good writing whether it’s posted on Examiner.com or printed in the New York Times.
The difference is that when writing for a content website, you may have only earned $2 for an article in a month, but it will generally continue to earn this amount every month, indefinitely. If you find you make less than this per article per month for several months, you can call it quits and move on.
It takes time to decide if a site is right for you or lucrative enough to continue with. It’s a gamble, and some writers aren’t willing to take it. I used to be one of them, but no longer. I don’t fault others who can’t or won’t try it. I know what it’s like to need money right now and there was once a time when residuals weren’t an option for me. Now I have the time to pursue these sites and I’ll experiment all over the place and leave anything that doesn’t work in the dust.
Earn money writing
You should be aware that you won’t always be paid what you’re worth by doing this. I know that some of my articles will make only a small fraction of what they may generate for the site on which they’re published. However, this is a chance I’m willing to take to establish a long-term passive income.
So far, I’ve found three sites which have met my requirements on article earnings - ehow, Suite 101, and Examiner. The latter two may not work out in the long run, but for now I’m earning at least $24 per year per article. If my earnings drop below this, I won’t contribute there anymore, no matter how irresponsible someone else might believe me to be.
When it comes to residual income, you can’t just take a very small sample of earnings and use this to make a decision. I have 10 articles on Examiner.com. I’ve made around $19.00 so far this month. That’s $1.90 per article. Well, many people would scoff at that amount and call me an idiot for writing for such low wages, but this isn’t how it works.
I’ve only made $1.90 per article THIS MONTH. That means that if my earnings don’t increase at all, I’ll make approximately $22.80 per article per year. That’s perfectly fine with me, especially when it takes me a total of around 30 minutes to write one article (including keyword research) and about 20 seconds to promote it on Twitter, which is the only promotion I do.
This puts my hourly writing rate at around $45 per hour for Examiner, which is what I average writing for upfront pay, plus I get to choose my own deadlines and write on the topics of my own choosing.
Choose your content site
TextBroker is another good option if you’re seeking a legitimate, paying content site. According to the website: Textbroker is a great way to earn money by doing what you love. You don’t have to be a professional writer to complete articles, however, the better you write, the more you can earn.
This is what makes TextBroker stand out from the crowd. They will hire absolute newbies with no prior experience as long as you can write clearly and concisely. The pay is rather low in the beginning, but you are able to get some experience, earn some extra cash, and the better you write, the more quickly you’ll gain access to higher-paying jobs. Some freelance writers in America make the bulk of their income from this site.
You will be paid by the word when you write for TextBroker. The amount you’re paid is dependent upon your rating. When you apply, you’ll be required to submit a small writing sample on a topic of their choosing. Once submitted, you’ll be given a star rating. The average rating, and what most people begin with, is a three.
Once you have your rating, you can go in and begin to claim assignments. There are four ratings, from two to five. If you have a rating of three, you can claim articles in the two and three star categories. If you have a rating of four, you can claim articles in the two, three, and four star categories, and so on.
The difference in pay can be substantial between stars. The two-star articles are worth less than $0.01 per word, the three-star articles are worth about $0.01 per star, and the five-star articles can be worth as much as $0.03 per word. So, if you’re determined to make Textbroker work for you, do your very best on the low paying jobs and get your rating up. Then, you’ll be able to write many more assignments at higher prices.
Payment is made monthly via PayPal. Once you’ve accumulated $10, you can request a payout by the 5th of the month. All the money you earned in the month will be paid out around the 10th of the following month, as long as you have requested a payout. This means, you can hold your payments until you have a larger payout, if you like. But, you also can’t forget to hit that request button, or you could miss your payment for the month.
Write features for online clients
Unlike many other content sites which hire freelance writers, TextBroker doesn’t post the articles to their own website and profit from them. Instead, clients who need articles written for their own projects contact TextBroker and pay to have articles written on a variety of topics. These requests are listed on the TextBroker website for the writers to claim and write. You can choose anything you want from the list as long as it’s in your star range.
There are a huge variety of subjects available. You could find yourself writing on anything from fine art to dog training to the health benefits of eating fruit. Most of the articles are very simple to write and require almost no research. Plus, if you feel that the article would be too much work for the price, you don’t have to write it.
Search through the list until you find something you can write quickly, and go from there. These clients don’t expect a research paper for $4.50, but a general overview with a few keywords thrown in.
Also, each individual article will have its own instructions for you to follow. You can look over these instructions before you decide to write the article. However, the most unique feature that TextBroker offers is the ability to receive direct orders from clients….
Set your own word rates
If you write a few articles (or even one) for a client, and they really like your work, they can request you specifically by sending you a direct order. The great thing about this is that you can set your own per-word rates. The default rate is set to $0.015 per word, but you can change this anytime you like.
You also have the ability to message the client directly and offer your services for direct orders if you feel you would be a good fit for the subject matter. This is a great, easy way to get some personal clients through the site.
Remember that you are a ghost writer
Keep in mind that you are essentially a ghost writer when you work for TextBroker. This means that you can’t use any of the articles you write as samples in a portfolio and of course, you don’t own the rights to these articles. However, you can list TextBroker on your freelance writing resume or CV.
Ensure the site you choose uses writers from your country
TextBroker does not accept International Writers at this time. They are a German company, but have an office in Nevada, in the United States. This office only hires American writers to compose articles. In fact, according to this article, TextBroker currently has more than 13,000 writers on contract and is still growing rapidly and hiring nationwide.
Information supplied by Willow Sidhe, a freelance writer specialising in online writing.
http://freelancehomewriter.blogspot.com/
DISCLAIMER
Neither the author nor EssentialWriters.com are responsible for any loss of business or profits arising from action followed due to this advice. This article is intended for general guidance only and professional assistance should be sought based on your particular circumstances.
