In July of 2007, I wrote a post called How Much Does Freelance Writing Pay? At the time I wrote it because I found that people were arriving on my blog because they asked the search engines that question. I decided to answer it to provide people with information.
At that time, I was proud to report that in just over a year of writing for the web from home I had doubled my rates from about .01/word to .02/word on average. A penny a word sounds like nothing but it was through those types of gigs that I learned how to write for the web. Someone recently commented with some not-so-nice comments on that post (I've deleted the comment).
Update:
I still get a lot of traffic to that post because people want to know whether or not they can earn a living wage writing from home. How much you need and want to earn will depend on a lot of factors! I can also see that the debate about how much writers should be paid and whether or not web content writers should be able to call themselves writer will probably continue forever and ever.
While the 2007 post doesn't neccesarily reflect what I earn today, it does provide helpful information to those who want to get their start so it's still relevant. Not everyone needs to write for $.01/word to make money writing but if you're just starting out, those gigs can teach you a lot about the web writing industry.
A lot of web content companies pay from $5-10 an article and a writer who can write and research quickly can write a few articles in an hour. If you're writing on a topic you know a lot about, you might be able to write an article in less than ten minutes. And while you're writing, you can learn how to market yourself and get higher paying clients while still bringing in money. There are other companies out there that pay much better for those with skills and expertise in an area.
I've found that the best way to increase my earnings is to find my own customers through developing some niches, and through marketing and self-promotion and that has worked well for getting me word-of-mouth referrals as well.
A lot has changed for me in 3+ years of writing full-time. I started at .01/word and made about $10-15 an hour and now at times I'm making $75+ for an hour's work. Sometimes I make money without doing anything at all because I'm earning passive residual income on something I've published in the past.
I'm not a penny per word content writer any longer. I'm doing writing, consulting, and not just working for others but working for myself as well. I write for clients, I mentor and lead a small team, and I dabble in many of my own entrepreneurial pursuits as well. But if I needed to start over again, I wouldn't hesitate and I definitely wouldn't hesitate to encourage someone else to get started the same way I did.
Feasts, Famines, Droughts, and Floods...
There are feasts and there are famines or droughts and floods and sometimes I churn out fodder for search engines that doesn't get my creative juices flowing and sometimes I am so proud of the words I write that I beam when I read them. Then I let someone else take credit for them. C'est la vie. This is my choice.
Sometimes I write a little and hit my quota before noon and spend the day doing what I want and sometimes I work 60 hours in a week just to scrape by. This isn't a charmed life I lead but I am doing something that makes me happy and provides for my family.
It sucks when someone leaves a rude and anonymous comment on your blog, trying to cut down what it is that you do to support your family but the Internet isn't always a warm and fuzzy place. Thankfully, it's warm enough and just fuzzy enough that I've been able to use it to create an income from thin air.
After I gave birth for the second time, I left my great-paying IT sales career voluntarily (because I was tired of being treated like plankton on the corporate food chain) in search of a happier life. I started out in 2006 on dial-up with a clunker of a computer and managed to create money for my family out of thin air with the advice of some new online friends. I'll never be plankton again! This enabled me to support us while my husband returned to school. I've also helped other people learn how to write for a living. In fact, I'm working on a book and mentoring program with a colleague that will help more people learn how to make a living by writing. I'm proud of myself.
What's the moral of today's post?
Only you can decide whether you're going to have a good day or a bad day each and every day and only you can decide whether or not you're a "real" writer. I'm fine with the choices I've made, even if I've given up a corporate career and really good health benefits. I'm more in charge than ever of my own potential for success and fulfillment.
Another thing I've realised is that it's also a great idea to chronicle your journey in life so you can see where you've been and decide where it is next that you want to go.
The pennies I earned 3 years ago don't sound like much today but I was proud of them back then because they were the fruits of my entrepreneurial pursuits and I wouldn't hesitate to suggest to anyone else that they take a similar route to get to where they want to be.
So, for the hater that tried to get a rise out of me, you did. You encouraged me to reflect and be grateful and proud of myself today. Tata for now!
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Favourite Writer Blogs - GetPaidToWriteOnline
I've decided to start a series of my favourite freelance writer blogs. I don't have a set criteria for choosing which blogs to feature other than the fact that these blogs provide value to me as a writer.
My first feature has got to be Sharon Hurley Hall's Get Paid To Write Online blog.
I met Sharon in 2006 on a blogging community called WritingUp (it's no longer around but was a great place for a wannabe writer like me to absorb vast amounts of information and make some online friends that I'm still friendly with today). I chatted with Sharon and other writers weekly on a Thursday night writer's chat for several months and shortly after she helped me get some big clients through mentoring me, she even took me onto her writing team for a while until I started to mentor a writing team of my own. I was very lucky to have her help getting started as a writer. I had drive and ambition and she was very willing to share information with me. She didn't even seem to get annoyed at the fact that I followed her around like a baby duck for the first six months of my freelance writing career.
Here are some of the most helpful posts for writers on her site:
Sharon has some great stuff on her blog and it's one of the best resources for freelance writers you'll find online! One of her specialties is self-promotion so if you're getting started, her advice can really help you to get noticed online.
My first feature has got to be Sharon Hurley Hall's Get Paid To Write Online blog.
I met Sharon in 2006 on a blogging community called WritingUp (it's no longer around but was a great place for a wannabe writer like me to absorb vast amounts of information and make some online friends that I'm still friendly with today). I chatted with Sharon and other writers weekly on a Thursday night writer's chat for several months and shortly after she helped me get some big clients through mentoring me, she even took me onto her writing team for a while until I started to mentor a writing team of my own. I was very lucky to have her help getting started as a writer. I had drive and ambition and she was very willing to share information with me. She didn't even seem to get annoyed at the fact that I followed her around like a baby duck for the first six months of my freelance writing career.
Here are some of the most helpful posts for writers on her site:
How I Put My Site On Steroids
Seven Effective Blogging Habits
Website Promotion Strategies for Writers and Bloggers
and here's a post Sharon wrote for Writing White Papers:
Three Ways To Improve Your Time Management
Sharon has some great stuff on her blog and it's one of the best resources for freelance writers you'll find online! One of her specialties is self-promotion so if you're getting started, her advice can really help you to get noticed online.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Bukisa Passive Writing Income Payment Update: Payment Number Two
I have just received a payment from Bukisa for $12.10.
While I haven't been aggressively working on making money with Bukisa since my first month, they are demonstrating to me that they are a good source of passive income because I've done very little since my last payment two months ago to earn this money.
Bukisa Payment
Bukisa paid me $12.10 USD yesterday, bringing my total earnings so far up to $38.40. For the most part, the last $12.10 earned in 2 months was done without much effort. I do have 47 articles on there that have been there for nearly six months so I can say that this is mostly passive income that hasn't required much (if any) action from me after the initial posting.
If I were to put some regular effort into my Bukisa account, I'd probably see more results but what's also great is that because I have a large network, a bit of my income comes from the network instead of just my own content. Many of the people in my network have created accounts and never published anything but a few people in that network have a fair bit of articles in their profile.
If I take time to post more articles and do some linking, I'm sure I could bring more income in through this passive income source. Maybe I'll soon do another 30 day experiment in being aggressive with daily posting and regular linking strategies. I'll let you know!
Bukisa Improvements
What I do like is that the Bukisa folks have listened to members and are updating the site regularly with new features and improvements that they've been asked for. They're also very receptive to feedback when you contact them on social media channels. They've recently added a new Bukisa widget (see below) to help you get more traffic by displaying your articles in your sidebar on your blogs and Web 2.0 pages. They seem to be anxious to make their members happy. Case in point: their original payment amount threshold was $50.00. They've updated it to $10.
Bukisa's Payment Model
If you're interested in trying out Bukisa, here's a link into my network: here. You can post how-to articles and videos and earn for page impressions. For April 2009, the Bukisa index is 3.42 which means you'll earn $3.42 for every 1000 page impressions. That applies to your page impressions but you earn a fraction of the index for page impressions within your network down several tiers.
I should say that beyond getting page impression earnings I'm also seeing traffic come to various blogs through those links and that could mean Adsense earnings, writing jobs, and affiliate marketing sales for me.
I'll post another Bukisa update when I receive another payment.
Gotta love passive income!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Why I Decided to Start Writing for eHow for Free
eHow currently won't let me participate in their Writer's Compensation Program because I'm outside the U.S. This means I can write but I won't get paid. But, I've decided that I'm going to write for them anyway. Why? Self-promotion, article marketing, and in the hopes that eventually they'll change their mind.
I've written for eHow in the past. A little over a year ago I wrote about 100 or more articles for their site and was paid $10 a piece to write them through a writing company that was contracted to provide content. Because of that, I had to learn about their preferred style. In those few months I did a combination of choosing articles in a queue and suggesting titles I wanted to write. If only I'd known then what I know now..
You see, I have quite a few HIGH TRAFFIC articles on eHow that don't have my name on them because I sold the copyright. I wrote a lot of great how-to articles for the site about subjects I know a lot about and subjects I know are in demand online.
When I submitted titles for approval I chose titles that I knew would bring eHow traffic (because I'm all about bringing value to my clients) and as a result I'm sure I'm earning them a pile of money from those articles. I write my own niche blogs and today I find that I'm regularly outranked by eHow for page one Google results with some of the eHow articles I ghostwrote. My point is, this site can get you great search engine results!
eHow Writer's Compensation Plan
eHow has a writer's compensation plan that I've talked a lot about in the past. In fact, I refer many of my readers to an eHow earning guide by Maria O'Brien (a.k.a. WriterGig) who spells out in a step-by-step format how she makes over $1k a month in residual income from eHow. I reviewed Maria's book a few months back and it is very well done. I was jealous when I reviewed it because I wanted to implement many of her techniques and blend them with what I know about the site and SEO. I know I could be making great passive income with them on a monthly basis!
I know many writers who have implemented her techniques who are now earning a few hundred a month and their monthly amounts climb continuously. That's the thing, once you get a lot of traffic to the article, it can bring you money indefinitely. eHow has monetized their site very well. I can only dream about how much money those 100 articles I wrote would've paid me by now rather than the $1,000 flat fee I earned. Sigh.
eHow, owned by Demand Media, currently only pays U.S. based writers in the WCP (writer's compensation program) so it probably sounds like it doesn't make sense for me to write for them. But I've decided that it does. Here's why:
-I get a byline. My name goes on the articles so this works well for writing samples and for building credibility in my niches
-I can put links to my own sites in the resource section of the articles. This brings traffic to my websites and that traffic could convert from a visitor to a buyer and also improves the SEO of those linked sites due to backlinks from a high ranked site
-I can put affiliate links directly in the resource section of the articles which could result in even more income through affiliate marketing. Due to the traffic ehow.com gets, this is a powerful tool for article marketing and I already do put articles on other non-paid sites for this purpose
-At some stage, eHow may change their mind (they told me they're looking into it as I've been hounding them just a little) in which case I might start getting some decent passive income of my own. This could work well if I've got high ranking articles that suddenly get a switch turned on for earning!
In the last week I've posted just a few articles which are already getting me traffic to my websites so that tells me my efforts are definitely worthwhile.
How to Videos & Articles: eHow.com
I've written for eHow in the past. A little over a year ago I wrote about 100 or more articles for their site and was paid $10 a piece to write them through a writing company that was contracted to provide content. Because of that, I had to learn about their preferred style. In those few months I did a combination of choosing articles in a queue and suggesting titles I wanted to write. If only I'd known then what I know now..
You see, I have quite a few HIGH TRAFFIC articles on eHow that don't have my name on them because I sold the copyright. I wrote a lot of great how-to articles for the site about subjects I know a lot about and subjects I know are in demand online.
When I submitted titles for approval I chose titles that I knew would bring eHow traffic (because I'm all about bringing value to my clients) and as a result I'm sure I'm earning them a pile of money from those articles. I write my own niche blogs and today I find that I'm regularly outranked by eHow for page one Google results with some of the eHow articles I ghostwrote. My point is, this site can get you great search engine results!
eHow Writer's Compensation Plan
eHow has a writer's compensation plan that I've talked a lot about in the past. In fact, I refer many of my readers to an eHow earning guide by Maria O'Brien (a.k.a. WriterGig) who spells out in a step-by-step format how she makes over $1k a month in residual income from eHow. I reviewed Maria's book a few months back and it is very well done. I was jealous when I reviewed it because I wanted to implement many of her techniques and blend them with what I know about the site and SEO. I know I could be making great passive income with them on a monthly basis!
I know many writers who have implemented her techniques who are now earning a few hundred a month and their monthly amounts climb continuously. That's the thing, once you get a lot of traffic to the article, it can bring you money indefinitely. eHow has monetized their site very well. I can only dream about how much money those 100 articles I wrote would've paid me by now rather than the $1,000 flat fee I earned. Sigh.
eHow, owned by Demand Media, currently only pays U.S. based writers in the WCP (writer's compensation program) so it probably sounds like it doesn't make sense for me to write for them. But I've decided that it does. Here's why:
-I get a byline. My name goes on the articles so this works well for writing samples and for building credibility in my niches
-I can put links to my own sites in the resource section of the articles. This brings traffic to my websites and that traffic could convert from a visitor to a buyer and also improves the SEO of those linked sites due to backlinks from a high ranked site
-I can put affiliate links directly in the resource section of the articles which could result in even more income through affiliate marketing. Due to the traffic ehow.com gets, this is a powerful tool for article marketing and I already do put articles on other non-paid sites for this purpose
-At some stage, eHow may change their mind (they told me they're looking into it as I've been hounding them just a little
In the last week I've posted just a few articles which are already getting me traffic to my websites so that tells me my efforts are definitely worthwhile.
Dear Ehow...
If you're reading, this little blog is getting a lot of traffic based on ehow.com search terms that come from writers interested in writing for you and I say wonderful things about you on a regular basis!
Doesn't that suggest that you should consider letting Canadians into your Writer Compensation Program? I also have some U.K. friends who I know would love to write for your WCP programme as well. Seriously, we can fill out an IRS W8-Ben form and you don't need to worry about the taxman.
Hugs,
Dana
How to Videos & Articles: eHow.com
Monday, March 23, 2009
Article Sample Scam Alert
Today I read about a new Craigslist AC scam on the wahm.com forum and as many experienced freelance writers know, there are a lot of scams to watch out for. People lure you into applying for a gig when in reality they really want you to opt in to their email marketing list so they can sell you something. Or, people want you to write samples so they can spin the articles with their software and make them 'look' unique so they don't have to pay you a dime.
The most recent one involves sending samples to potential clients who aren't just looking for free content for their sites like some of us are accustomed to, but scammers who've figured out that they, too, can get paid to write so they sell the samples they receive to companies that pay upfront fees.
Writing on spec can be lucrative in certain markets such as freelancing for magazines but when it comes to writing for the web, it's best to follow the following guidelines when someone asks you for samples:
-Point potential clients to your online portfolio (if you don't have one, start writing for an article directory and build some samples that way or start your own website or blog where you can post samples.)
-Point them to links online of articles written in that niche (another reason why it's great to have a niche or two!) online on passive income sites like eHow and Bukisa.
If you need to write a fresh sample and you've taken the time to determine that it is worthwhile and the gig does appear to be legit, consider posting it on your own blog. That way, you are making it clear that it's posted online with your name on it. If the client wants to buy it, you can have it removed before it necessarily gets indexed and cached online.
__
*Craigslist is a free online classified site that relies on its users to flag inappropriate content so be careful when responding to any ad.
**AC is Associated Content which is an online article site that will pay writers for articles. US writer can get an up front fee plus revenue sharing. Non-U.S writers can write for their cost-per-impression program that pays pennies per X # of views.
The most recent one involves sending samples to potential clients who aren't just looking for free content for their sites like some of us are accustomed to, but scammers who've figured out that they, too, can get paid to write so they sell the samples they receive to companies that pay upfront fees.
Writing on spec can be lucrative in certain markets such as freelancing for magazines but when it comes to writing for the web, it's best to follow the following guidelines when someone asks you for samples:
-Point potential clients to your online portfolio (if you don't have one, start writing for an article directory and build some samples that way or start your own website or blog where you can post samples.)
-Point them to links online of articles written in that niche (another reason why it's great to have a niche or two!) online on passive income sites like eHow and Bukisa.
If you need to write a fresh sample and you've taken the time to determine that it is worthwhile and the gig does appear to be legit, consider posting it on your own blog. That way, you are making it clear that it's posted online with your name on it. If the client wants to buy it, you can have it removed before it necessarily gets indexed and cached online.
__
*Craigslist is a free online classified site that relies on its users to flag inappropriate content so be careful when responding to any ad.
**AC is Associated Content which is an online article site that will pay writers for articles. US writer can get an up front fee plus revenue sharing. Non-U.S writers can write for their cost-per-impression program that pays pennies per X # of views.
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