There are Multiple Ways to Earn Income From Writing

I've spend the past couple of months researching freelance writing and writing fields overall in an attempt to discover just how many different types and styles of writing careers there actually are.

The results were kind of surprising and kind of not - I mean if you think about it words are absolutely everywhere from descriptions on menus and in catalogs, to magazine articles, new stories, and even technical manuals (yes some people do read them ;) )

In fact there are so many writing fields and ways to find gigs as a freelance writer that I dedicated a whole website to it with all the information. There is even a forum there where I encourage you to join for free and post a link to your own portfolio.

Learn about the many types of writing careers, the average salaries, the training required, how to break into that particular field and even where to look for jobs.

You can also learn a bit about why it is NEVER a good idea to accept a pittance for writing work. Writers I have come to believe devalue themselves WAY too often, and people are out there ready to prey on that.

Do we have to compete with writers from foreign countries who will write for a buck an article - yes. It's a fact of life, does that mean that we can no longer find writing gigs that pay a decent rate? Absolutely not! There are many ways to find decent paying gigs and actually earn a living wage and decent or above average income AS A WRITER.

So join me over at the Income from Writing website which we are going to devote solely to professional writing, finding work, and creating your image etc. This site and blog will remain dedicated to writing of all kinds and encouraging you and inspiring your creativity - but the nuts and bolts belong in their own place where others can easily find this information - and it's all free!

http://www.IncomeFromWriting.com - please join, share, tell your friends. I think this can be a great resource to help put people to work and once you see it you'll know there is enough work out there for ALL of us :) I hope you will use, enjoy and help me promote this resource!

An example of how to do Niche Websites

Last post I spoke a bit about how and why Niche websites can be a great way for writer's to earn money.

I also stated that to be the best at this you should stick to Niche's that are part of areas you are knowledgeable about and have experience with. This allows you to speak to people on a personal level and reach out with genuinely useful and relevant information.

Have you ever searched for something on the internet and then clicked a link to a website or article only to find the content was fluff and you could have written something more detailed and in-depth yourself? And this was for something you were looking to learn more about!

The internet unfortunately is full of these kinds of websites - keyword driven for profit only without a purpose and it's sad. I think there can be room for both and I've found that by using both marketing techniques combined with strong writing skills and a deep passion for my subjects - I can build websites that people will actually find useful.

My hope is of course - that I spread some sunshine into the world :) but also that I have shown people that I am a trustworthy source of information and that maybe they will consider using my resources, clicking on my suggested product links etc. and in the end I'll make some money out of it.

An example of my niche work is the website I just launched last night. I have been living with Celiac for a couple of years now having to learn to go Gluten free. I recognized that the learning curve can be steep - so I chose to focus a Niche site specifically around gluten free foods - I then searched for a name that reflected the subject I wanted to write about and develop around. http://www.glutenfreefoodlist.info was available so I registered that. (.info domains are less expensive than .com/.net/.org also) I spent the past couple of days designing, developing, and writing the content for my website. (I will do some more tweaking as time goes on) uploaded it. Now I submit to search engines, share it with my friends and network and hopefully due to the strong content and the great domain name choice it will place well in search engines. Also, hopefully people will find the information useful enough to share the link with others... voila a Niche website is born. I have others as well, but this was a good example of a very simple website - no real bells and whistles, but good information and good placement of advertising.

Anyway, hopefully I've inspired some of you writers to give this idea a go. It takes time, but over time this technique really does work. I have several others in the works too :).

Building Niche Websites is Lucrative for Writers

Lately I have been buying domains and building Niche websites. My goal with this is to not throw together poorly researched fodder like many adsense websites. I actually buy domains around subjects I am passionate about, write all of the content in a professional manner and put it on my own website.

I am a web designer by trade also, but there are many software and content management systems that don't require a huge learning curve that you can use. This has generated residual income for me that is very nice to have each month. It also allows me to share my knowledge and hopefully provide genuinely useful information to those who are searching.

To get started doing this there are some things to consider...

First of all it doesn't happen overnight, quality matters, and you must be patient. It took me over a year to start getting monthly adsense payments above the threshold. ($100)

The beauty of websites you own though is that if you use a webhost that allows you to host unlimited sites - you only pay one hosting fee per month. I pay mine yearly and get a steep discount.

Domains are inexpensive as well from 5-10 per year depending on who you go through.

Once you build your site with quality content and work regularly to promote it and add it to search engines etc. the traffic and income is there for a lifetime.

You can join affiliate programs or just sign up for Google's adsense program. Follow the rules and don't try to cheat! If you try to cheat Google will blacklist you and remove your site(s) from it's search engine - so play fair and stick with "white hat" promotion tactics and don't be tempted by places that say they can promise you tons of backlinks etc.

Overall I feel that having my own websites and promoting them is more lucrative for me long term. I do still write articles and hubs when I have time for other websites as well and it is useful for getting followers and backlinks and simply sharing my love of writing.

Over time I have built up by developing "evergreen" content and sites and now make around 250.00 per month on average with adsense - and this is with only a few websites live and running. I have several more in the works and hope to expand my residual income from those as well.

It's hard work - it takes a lot of time, but it is also rewarding and I feel I am doing something I love and that it is helpful to others.

Updates on freelance writing and hubbing

a lot of you who work with Google's adsense program may have felt the frustrations of the up and down fluctuations of the past couple of months due to the Panda algorithm changes.

When this all started in August, I saw my adsense revenue go down overall by about 20% and many people bottomed out altogether. It seemed a bit distressing at first, but gradually as Google's algorithms have changed and they have been weeding out a lot of the crap and content fodder and focusing on quality - my earnings the past two months have almost doubled! For those of us who produce quality content and write about what we know and are passionate about (rather than keyword stuffed, article spinning nonsense) we are now seeing the rewards from our devotion to quality and our passion for writing - hooray.

It's a very nice bonus for my family in a tough economy to have this extra residual income every month coming in - and it has kind of restored my faith in the internet being a great place for writer's (real ones) to actually make a difference.

Once Hubpages took their initial hit, they split up into subdomains, with each writer controlling his/her own. This gave them a measure of quality control they didn't have before and my earnings there have gone up despite not having had the time to publish hubs regularly the past few months. The quality of my content is so good that my subdomain already has a google pagerank of 3 - not bad! I actually get consistent search engine traffic I wasn't getting before because now I am not competing with article spinning software and junk content as much.

I am very happy that Google has dedicated itself to cleaning up the internet - it means more quality information being placed front and center. I love Panda :) and I am sure that those of us striving to provide high quality content (not merely for a profit) are liking it too now that the dust is settling a bit.

Writing, Speaking - or both?

I recently signed up to take a public speaking class. I was down to the wire and my original class had been cancelled. To keep my scholarship I am required to take at least 12 credit hours this semester. In a panic, I had to search through the few classes left and the only one I found that would work with my current work/school schedule was a public speaking course - gulp.

I love to write. Writing is my passion and there was never an English class that I didn't feel confident about. A 30 page research paper fully cited over summer semester you say? No problem - bring it on! Been there did that, but public speaking... oh my. I am not an outgoing person at all. In fact, many writers that I know are not either and for many of us writing is our "voice".

Although I am somewhat nervous, I do feel this is going to be a great experience for me. As writers, we have to be able to communicate verbally as well. Think about it. How else will you promote your writing? If you can build confidence in your ability to speak with as much passion as you write you suddenly have an edge in a very competitive field. I know that this class is going to benefit me in more ways than a letter grade at the end of the term. My hope is that it is going to build me up and help me speak with poise and confidence about my writing.

I had never really stopped to consider before this how beneficial a public speaking course might be. I know though that the universe has a way of leading us to the right place at the right time and so I am going to roll up my sleeves, swallow that lump in my throat and go for it! Hopefully it will help me in the future when it comes to promotion - and well, just feeling more confident in general.

Where NOT to look for writing jobs - unless you like slave wages.

It boggles the mind how many people are hiring content writers these days - and what is even more puzzling is the amount of pay they list for these various jobs. I have seen people advertise for a "job" that pays $1 per 500 word article. They also stipulate that it must be well-written by a native English speaker. I have seen listings like this all over and it bothers me immensely.

No one can make a living on that kind of money. If you are a seasoned writer it takes at least 20 minutes to come up with a decent article let alone proof read it. You may end up making $2 per hour. It angers me that people post jobs for these rates, but what really irks me are the writers who devalue not only themselves, but all of us - by accepting these ridiculous rates.

I know many newer writers feel pressured to "take what they can get". What these writers need to realize is that they are doing themselves a great disservice (and they are to the rest of us as well) These kind of clips for your portfolio are NOT going to get you anywhere when it comes to finding real work.

Here is what I suggest for content writers who want to make themselves some money - rather than help others profit by taking advantage of them.

Write great content and place it on HubPages, Squidoo, etc. At least on sites like that you build back links to your website(s) and also earn revenue. You can earn through Adsense and Amazon affiliate programs on these websites.

Use a website like http://www.constant-content.com and name your own price for your work! People who are wanting to purchase quality material do go there and they do purchase articles.

The websites I have found that offer the most ridiculous rates for articles/content are freelancing sites like 0desk and Elance. Once in a great while you might see something that pays "fair" - but mostly it's the same slave wages postings and not worth your time for the writing jobs.

I have also seen absolutely ridiculous advertisements for "writing gigs" and "writing jobs" on Craigslist. I can't count how many times I've seen the following variation for both web design and writing.

I have the next greatest thing since sliced bread idea. I want you to write/build it for me and I will give you a percentage of the profits when it takes off..... Give me a BREAK. The thing is they wouldn't keep advertising crap like this if it wasn't for naive people being duped into thinking they'll get rich down the line.

Folks, if the people with the great idea don't have capital, don't have talent to develop ideas themselves, or write that book - do you think they have marketing skills and the ability to "stick to it" required to push a new product/idea into a huge profit maker? No - they don't they are clueless and that is why they are looking for someone to do all the work for them for a "percentage". A percentage of 0 is 0. No writer or designer should spend those kind of hours working on a project that may never (and probably wont) pay off in time.

Do all the rest of us freelancers a favor and stop writing for pennies an hour and developing projects for free. It devalues our entire profession(s) and makes finding real work harder for ALL of us.

Soapbox finished....

Remember - If you are willing to work for pennies - at least get an Adsense account and a blog and let those pennies be for you - not the other guy who is essentially taking your hard work for slave labor prices and making a huge residual lifetime profit on it.

You CAN build up your own residual income. I started off never reaching the 100 dollar Adsense threshold each month, but over time and with continued efforts my Adsense residual income is always over 200 per month - for things I wrote that were evergreen and just sit there. Much of my content makes search engine rankings which gives it the ability to generate income. That means that essentially I do very little for that money once I put in the initial effort. The more content and information (that is valuable by the way not a 5 minute throw together) that I develop that is useful - the higher the search rankings over time and the more residual income I generate.

Now think of these marketers who just bought your article for a measly $1.00 - do you think they are not making nice residual income off of that or reselling it themselves for a huge profit?

Think about it - and then think long and hard before taking a writing job that pays a pittance. You aren't only harming yourself!

The Importance of Building Backlinks to Get Your Writing Noticed

I touched on this in my post yesterday about how every writer needs a personal website to get noticed. Backlinks (quality ones) are a very important element of SEO(Search Engine Optimization).

As you work to build your portfolio or hubs, blogs, etc. you want to be sure that you are getting links to your work to help it rank higher in search engines. You will also want to use sites like PingoMatic to "ping" out the feeds to your most recent posts.

I have also started using a site called SocialMonkee to help me build free quality backlinks. You can use it for free and submit one url for 25 backlinks per day. a Handy little tool that is very easy to use. I would suggests using it to help boost the ranks of your blog posts one at a time.

You don't want to "overpromote" websites as that can be considered "spammy" and that's not cool and will get you slapped by search engines if they catch on to you. However some promotion is necessary and required if you are going to make it in the sea of writers and marketers out there.

Other ways to get backlinks include answering questions (in a meaningful way to establish your credibility) on sites like Yahoo Answers as well. You get to talk to others, help them, and ultimately gain some name recognition in the process as well as the all important backlinks to your webpages.

You can also comment on blog posts - in a meaningful way that shows you are participating - and get backlinks to your work that way. Be sure that you are actually contributing to forums and blogs and not just spamming! Do unto others applies on the net as well - though many people seem to forget that!