I have a fundamental office system I use and follow each day to ensure my business is growing and that I am developing a stream of passive income from articles, art and design.

The first thing you are going to need is an avenue for being paid for your writing. I use Google Adsense and PayPal. I have found that most sites will pay into one of these systems and if they don’t the usual preference is to pay by cheque. So before you start, or straight away if you have already started writing, get yourself a Google Adsense account and a PayPal account that will transfer funds to your chosen bank account. Readers – if you have another system to recommend please add it in the comments below.

Pay by cheque is my least preferred option as I am continually moving around the world and keeping my address updated is another aspect I need to build into my system, so that each time I move I update all sites with my new address. To be able to do this I keep an Excel spreadsheet on my computer.  In the spreadsheet I have listed all sites I use and the information I need for those sites which is: my user name, password, payment method from this site, the date I last updated the payment method details, the amount of the last payment, the progressive total of payments from that website and the total progressive payments from all websites. I also have a comments section where I can make additional notes to follow up on if there is an issue or problem. Because I also sell art and designs on the internet I keep track of these sites and all activity on them as well.

Once a month, on the last Thursday of each month, I check all activity on my income sources and match that activity with bank statements to see if the money has arrived in the appropriate accounts.

The other part of my office system is to keep track of submitted articles. I use another spreadsheet for tracking articles. Once the article is written I enter the title into the spreadsheet; I note which site it has been submitted to for first publication (some sites will only accept first publication) and I also indicate if the article has been submitted to multiple sites for publication (some content is very useable and can be submitted on several sites). If the article is written for a competition there is a column that indicates it is a competition article, when the deadline is and when the winners are announced. A separate column indicates prizes won and links back to the spreadsheet on income so that income from competitions is added in to the total income.

Another spreadsheet keeps track of work that has been done on demand, or on contract. This spreadsheet keeps track of deadlines, payments and content for work I have negotiated as pay by the word, pay by the page, copywriting, etc. It also links back to the income spreadsheet and places total payments of contracted work into the total payment section.

All the activity in the office system takes me about 10 minutes a month once the system is set up plus the time it takes to enter each article as I submit them. The only additional time required is the time to join up for more sites or tender for more contracts, and therefore record all the details into the spreadsheet each time I do that. Personally I am happy to maintain a relationship with a few sites. I find it easier to manage.

TRIOND has the best website for easy reference to all business aspects because it provides you with information about who is looking at your articles, when and how many from each source. It gives a running tally of income being earned and has recently added the capacity to generate extra income through the addition of Google ads on articles. TRIOND also provides you with a central place to seek information about all activity generated around every article you submit. It would be great if all the writing sites could follow this model of reporting – it is so clear and provides a lot of very useful information.

TRIOND will only accept articles for first publication and has a stable of e-magazines in which your articles are published. They include Quazen, Authspot, Healthmad, Trifter, Socyberty, Sportales, Notecook, Gomestic, Bizcovering, Telewatcher, Webupon, Computersight, Writinghood, Cinemaroll, Bookstove, Musicouch and PurpleSlinky (just add .com to any one of these names).  This stable of magazines is pretty comprehensive and TRIOND ensures search engine optimization for articles published in their magazines. If you only use one site this is probably the one to go for. As a beginner it is one that provides the most straightforward way of getting started.

If you combine my suggested office management system on your own computer with the system offered by TRIOND on their server you have established a good business base for tracking your success at writing for the internet.

Good Luck now!