Write Content - Get Paid

Reading this article I will presume you are interested in how to make money from your writing. Well interestingly its a far more complex question than it was 5 years ago. In that time the internet has changed, demand for content has changed and more importantly search engine rankings have changed. It used to be the case you could sign up to a website get $10 per article and commision payments for their popularity, being a regular contributor and with good social media following you could expect not only your nominal up front fee but also earnings in perpetuity. Unfortunately Google updates destroyed the earning potential of many of these sites and overnight you saw the collapse of an entire industry. So what happened to all those people who wrote content for money?

Well some went on to find out how the new updates would play out and discovered in fact there were far better opportunities that existed, others returned to their day job and gave up. The purpose of all search engines are to find relevant content for the user, they care little about keeping the websites happy as they are not the ones who are using the search service. They also found that the internet was becoming a game that many black hat operators had found the rule book to so they needed to rewrite the rules.

The best chance to make money from writing online is to have a good website with plenty of interesting content. Placing ads on the site will drive you income directly associated with your number of page views. However if you are bored of this approach because you suffer from ADHD or you need to earn money now, or simply you would like to boost your income then perhaps there are some opportunities that exist.

Here are some examples for you:

ProBlogger Jobs board 
This job board is a heavily used board of paid article writing work that usually has some very easy to apply for positions. Unfortunately you will find its a bit like buying a lottery ticket, due to the number of other people applying you won't get all the jobs you want. A good writing portfolio is essential and the ability to communicate coherently with the employer. The jobs vary in price but you can find some well paid writing jobs if you know your stuff. Remember not to apply to everything, you can't possibly claim to be proficient in writing on any topic so stick to your niche.

Wish Magazine
If your niche is perhaps lifestyle or fashion and you can write to an audience of Canadian women then this is the place for you. Because not only does it give you great exposure but it also pays $1 per word. That is a huge sum in the online writing game but like anything you have to be amazingly good at what you do. Perfect English is standard for any of the jobs here, but you will also have to view the tone from their readerships point of view.

Academic Writers
This is the place to be if you are looking for longer term work. Obviously the trick to online writing jobs is having enough scheduled to pay your bills so a site like this may be a perfect match. The payments may be less than the one off commissioned work but of course that is a trade of with the constant stream of jobs you could be doing.

AsiaWriters
Much like Academic writers this is a site that offers more than simply one commissioned article. This website has an entrance exam, yes an exam. So get comfortable and make sure you can write perfect English before you even attempt the exam. It will give you examples of sentence structure and word replacement to assess your competency.

BlogginPro
Another simple to use job board that can provide you with immediate work to fill any scheduling gaps you may have in your work stack. This site again has a lot of competition so make sure your applications are impeccable.

So why would I be sharing this with you and not just keeping it to myself and getting all the best jobs? Well my personal view on content writing is that you have to be in a niche and there are lots of jobs on their I wouldn't even attempt. People are all too ready on the internet to stab each other in the back to get an hours pay but this defeats the purpose of the internet which is based on the fundamental principle of sharing. It's a huge society of people that all share ideas and opinions to enrich each others lives, if you get some paid work out of this then that's brilliant more power to you, just remember where you read it.

Build up your Portfolio

Of course your own writing CV needs to have some good content for it to be taken seriously so ensure you have done some very good Guest Postings to showcase your talent. OK I know its hard to get motivated to do research and site for 3 hours writing an article for a Page Rank 2 blog but it will be worth it to help showcase yourself.

I happily accept guest posts of good quality, feel free to contact me on Google+ for a list of my blogs or if you would like to commission some content from me. If you have enjoyed reading ensure you leave a comment and share to help others.