Writing Online

So, it's time to catch up!

I'm going to write up my experiences with writing, and other ways to earn money online, in several posts. I never thought of myself as a writer, but I'm often told that I have good ideas. My mother always encouraged me to write about some of my experiences, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

This post will be a general one about writing online. In subsequent posts I'll give more detail about each site.

There are a number of sites online where people can write articles and earn money. For Helium and Associated Content, the minimum number of words is 400. That's not very long - about 4 or 5 paragraphs. On Examiner there is no set minimum, but 300 to 400 words is recommended.

Writing for the internet is different from other kinds of writing. I have learned that the majority of internet readers will not read very long or complicated articles. The general guidelines suggest writing at about an 8th grade level. These guidelines are for general internet writing, there are sites geared to professional fields for which other styles would be appropriate.

How do you make money? There are two ways to earn with internet articles. You can get upfront payments, and/or income based on the number of page views your articles receive.

How much money can you make? It obviously depends on how much you write, and how much you promote. I've been writing for about five months, starting in March of this year. I've written about 165 articles, and in total, I've earned about $300, and I haven't done much promoting. For the sites where you earn based on page views, your articles continue to earn so as you add more articles there is a cumulative effect. There are people who are earning much more than I have been.

What can you write about? Between the different sites, I can write about practically anything. The upfront payment from Associate Content is more for areas where there are not a lot of articles. Helium will let you write about anything - again there are some restrictions and rules regarding what you get paid. I am the Knitting Examiner for Boston, so the articles I write there all have some connection to knitting, and at least some of them are about happenings in the Boston area.

When you go to the links for my writer pages, you can continue on and explore the sites. That's the best way to see what people are writing about.

More questions? I'd love to hear them. Send me a comment, and I'll give you an answer!