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Getting Paid To Write Online
Posted by David Lim | Posted in Internet | Posted on 03-07-2009
Not long ago, a whole new industry that pays you to write sprang up online. In this industry, you have webmasters paying you to write articles, and you also have websites hungry for content and will compensate you for your articles. There are also sites that will list the articles that you want to sell, and still others that will pay you for posting to your blog.
Writing online content is very different from writing in the offline world. The following is a short summary of writing in the online writing industry.
Can Anybody Write For Cash?
It will give you a leg up if you have a writing background and have published before. But you can do this even if you have no prior writing experience. However, you do need to be able to write good English, with a minimum of grammatical and spelling errors.
What Do I Write?
Other than the obvious no-nos, you are free to write what strikes your fancy. But you will have some boundaries based on your project and payment model. For example, if you are writing for a site about dogs, then you obviously can’t write about aeroplanes. Or, if you are writing for pay-per-click revenue, then you would want to go for subjects that have a high value per click.
How Do I Get Paid?
In the offline world, you will usually be paid per article, or per column. Online, the payment structure is quite different. Each site might have their own unique structure but generally they will have one or more of the following elements:
- Paid By The Article Or Post. You may get paid by the normal way, by the article or blog post. Current rates would be in the region of $1 to $2 per blog post, and $5 per 500 word article. Remember that these rates are representative only and would probably vary widely on a case by case basis.
- By The Number Of Words. There are occasions in which you are asked to write an article and offered a fixed amount per word. As expected, the rate varies widely, but one or two cents per word would be typical for a start.
- Paid Per Thousand Views. The site will publish your article, and do its part in publicizing your article on their network. On your part, you are encouraged to do your own promotions. You will be paid based on the number of impressions your article generates. At the present rates, you can expect about $1 to $2 per thousand page views.
- By AdSense And Other Third Party Ads. The site will add your article to their directories. Together with the page on which your article is displayed, the site will display other ads. These ads may be pay-per-click ads like Google AdSense or Kontera, or ads from sites like eBay and Amazon, or a combination. A portion of these ads will be display with your affiliate code, which essentially, is the payment for your article.
Conclusion
Writing for pay on the Internet is a relatively new industry. It differs from offline writing in that the payment structure or model is varied and each site would have it own unique structure. In addition, for online writing, it would be an added bonus if you have some copywriting skills and are familiar with basic SEO techniques. While writing online might seem challenging at first, it can be quite rewarding as you generally get to write about what you like and make some money at the same time.
