Making Money From Online Writing – Realistic Possibility or Idealistic Dream?

Here’s the thing: there are hundreds, if not thousands, of websites all over the Internet that promise money for words. You write an article and they pay you based on the number of views your article receives. Great. Or is it?

One of the key mistakes people make with this kind of arrangement is they believe they will make a fortune by simply churning out article after article. While it is true that volume plays a big part in the endeavour, it is relevance that brings in the bucks. Relevance pays more than quality in many respects.

You might write the greatest piece ever seen on the subject of hyacinths, but if it doesn’t generate interest or worse still, if it’s a subject that doesn’t even get searched, it’s never going to generate page views and therefore it will make no income. Better to write an in-depth piece on something meaningless like Katie Price (aka Jordon) and make a few bucks than waste time on a literary opus on the effect on the global economy of World War 2 and make nothing.

Ultimately, sites like Triond, Helium, and Suite101 are in business to make money. They will place the articles they feel will make the most money from advertising in the most prominent places. It’s true, you can push your own piece by linking to them from social networking sites and forums with which you are involved, but it helps to have the publisher on your side. For example, pieces that I wrote recently on subjects like Swine Flu and Tiger Woods have enjoyed relatively good viewing figures, while other pieces such as a GIMP tutorial and an article on Ebay fees, have struggled to generate any kind of figures. Gossip and speculation sells. Think of the Internet as one big opinion forum. Be controversial, be informative, but above all else: be relevant.

One thing writers should consider before signing up to any of these services is ownership and copyright. Some sites take ownership of your work the moment you submit it and have it approved. You therefore may well own the copyright – in other words you wrote it, the originality is yours – but the websites actually owns the words and can do with them what they like. If you are happy with that than that’s great, but consider this: suppose you write some amazing material and post it on one site and then decide a year later that you want to submit it to another site. In many cases you won’t be able to, and if you did somehow manage to get the content through the approval process you would be breeching the ownership rights of the first site.

On the ownership front, there’s one more thing you should consider. Relationships are a tricky thing, especially when it comes to money. Be careful you don’t find yourself in a position where you’re time and emotional investment is tied up in a firm that you fall out with, because even if you leave in a sulk and shut your account down as you slam the door behind you, your content remains with them, Net result: they continue to make money out of your hard work long after you go your own way.

In short, writing online can make an author quite a healthy supplementary income, but it takes time, effort, and a little savvy. Write a high volume of relevant content, and write on a regular basis. Don’t turn up every now and again and write drivel, expecting to make serious income. Also make sure you don’t place all your eggs in one virtual basket. Spread your work across several sites. That way, if things don’t work out at one place you won’t end up losing your entire portfolio. Sell yourself. You deserve to get recognition for your efforts, so make sure you are always looking for opportunities to link to your articles and increase your page views.

If I had one other piece of advice it would be this: avoid websites claiming to sell books and courses that offer overnight success and never-ending streams of revenue. The only people that make cash out of these schemes are the shrewd business men and women who make these sites – and have no doubt about it, these people are shrewd and calculating, they want your cash not your success.  Success comes with dedication and hard work. It’s a cliché, no doubt, but why do clichés become clichés? Because there’s an element of truth in there. Don’t expect a quick fix and you won’t be disappointed.