The good, the bad, and the ugly truth about online content
sites
I have spent a great deal of my time posting informational
articles on online content sites for some time now. As many of you know, I was
recently laid off from a career that drove me and provided for my family for
over eight years, so yes, one of my primary desires in writing for these sites
was to earn an income. I love to write, but with no job, I couldn't devote a
lot of time to unprofitable devices. I also supply content to SEO sites that sell
my articles anonymously, allowing the purchasers to take credit for my work and
as any writer knows, there is a certain sting that comes from selling your work
without a buy line. It's a hard pill to swallow. So, let's look at this online
writing thing.
The ugly truth
No matter how good
you are, or think you are, it is difficult to earn an income from writing for
the web. Content source sites like Helium, Suite 101, Bright Hub, and
Associated Content don't pay well. When you do earn an upfront payment on an
article, it is only a dollar or two and you have to spend more time marketing
than writing in order to see a return from revenue share. It takes a great deal
of research to figure out how to write strategically for profit and you need a
keen understanding of how search engines work and what topics are popular and
trending. Writing articles for SEO content sites that require you to give up
all rights to your work may pay a bit better. Writer Access pays a decent rate
for highly rated authors and even Textbroker will earn you more upfront as a 3
star writer than Associated Content pays out in upfront payments. Helium does seem to provide a better stream of residual income than the others mentioned here and, if you do the leg work by posting links to your articles in places like StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit, you can see your traffic and page views grow.
To make a living in the business, you can't depend on these
sites. You MUST market yourself and your business on Freelance Job Boards, bid
on assignments, and develop your own professional client base. You can,
however, supplement your income with these content source sites with earning
potentials in the hundreds or thousands of dollars. The key lies in the quality
of the content and the frequency of publishing. That said, it would be far too
depressing to boil that down to an hourly rate! Sites like Constant-Content are
good launching points for writers that are new to the game. Here you can post
work for customers to browse and possibly purchase and you can accept
assignments that have been posted by customers. This may not be the long term
solution, but it is a good place to refine your skills and build your
confidence.
Evil doers, many from foreign countries and lacking a
conscience when it comes to stealing from the fat and spoiled Americans have
seen the struggles associated with this business and have developed scams to
steal your work, your identity and more so you must always be diligently on the
lookout for fraud. One such criminal hires writers under the guise of an educational non-profit and tells writers that their parent company accidentally sent them a check for more than their monthly fee. They ask the writer to cash the check, keep their payment, and send back the remaining funds. Anyone who does this will end up getting arrested for check fraud because the checks are fake.
The bad
A lot of the online content sites like Triond, for example,
have a very bad reputation because they allow anyone to publish there and lack
editorial influence. Poor grammar, spelling, and SPAM abound on sites like
this. This is not an American company and many of the writers here speak
English as a second or third or fourth language. Because their quality of work
is horrendous, good writers on the site suffer from poor rankings on search
engines. Sites with better reputations work very hard to keep them and may have
stringent editorial guidelines. For some new writers in the game, this may mean
more rewrites and editing. In many cases, it just isn't worth the money in the
end.
Finally, the good
Writing for reputable online content sources provides you
with an opportunity to become published and build a portfolio. You now have a
growing stockpile of links that can be used to provide potential customers and
employers with access to your work. The more you write, the better you become.
These sites allow you to hone your skills and develop as a web writer, which is
a bit different than writing for print. Many of these sites have online
training courses that are accessible to their writers providing them with a
free education on things like marketing, grammar, and AP style guidelines.
These sites are communities of writers and it is
possible to make valuable connections here. Writers learn from each other,
collaborate and critique each others work, and share information that can lead
to higher paying jobs and valuable partnerships. If you are writing for one of
these sites, or thinking about doing so, don't despair. Look at the reality of
the business and know that these endeavors will not make you rich but can
reward you with a free education, experience, and an online presence if you can
manage to invest some time in them.
UPDATE
Online petition writing on sites like Force Change can provide up to $7 per piece in earnings and give you the personal satisfaction of supporting causes that you are passionate about. I have written for them and they are helpful, courteous, and pay their writers on time via monthly PayPal deposits.
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