A blog for the work-at-home professional by a work-at-home professional.

WRITING TO EARN

These days, a lot of people pound the pavement looking for jobs, only to be disappointed by the end of the day. But for those who love writing and have the writing chops, it's not hard to make a decent income online as a writer. There are many opportunities for writers in the world wide web. Here are some ways to earn by writing:

1) LOOK FOR AN ONLINE WRITING JOB - If you go to websites like oDesk, GetAFreelancer and ELance, there are plenty of job listings for writers. You can be a ghostwriter or a web content writer. If you have specialized knowledge (for instance, knowledge in computers, software, etc.), you can be a technical writer. Here are some sub-categories of online writing jobs:

  • Technical Writing
  • Website Content
  • Business Plans
  • Blog / Article Writing
  • Copywriting / Editing
  • Translation
You can find more sub-categories at ELance that your specialty can fit into.

2) BLOG - There several ways to earn by blogging. The most common way is to post advertisements on your blog so that you earn when people click on them (PPC) or when they purchase items via the link on your blog (affiliate marketing). You can also sell advertising spaces on your blog, but you can only do that if your blog has a high traffic.

You can also sign up for accounts at websites like Pay Per Post, Smorty and Social Spark where companies pay you to write blog entries to promote their products or services.

3) WRITE ARTICLES - Ever heard of "bum marketing?" It is a marketing method said to be so easy that even a bum can do it. Actually, there is hard work involved, but your efforts will pay off if you persevere and do things the right way. Bum marketing is also known as article marketing which involves finding a profitable niche (a target market), finding affiliate programs which has products that your market is interested in, writing articles relevant to your niche and embedding affiliate links within those articles. When your readers click the links and buy the products, you earn. I will discuss bum marketing in a separate post which is coming soon. My point here is you can use articles to market affiliate products and earn money from commissions.

But there are also sites like Helium, Associated Content and Triond that pay for every article that you submit or the traffic that your articles generate.

4) WRITE ACADEMIC PAPERS - Do you always get A's or B's in your term papers and theses? Do you have good Internet research skills and some solid background on certain fields of knowledge? If so, you can be paid to write academic papers. There are students who need a lot of help.

Here are some sites that offer academic writing jobs. Honestly, I haven't signed up for an account in any of these sites so I recommend caution to those who would like to sign up:


5) WRITE LETTERS - I'm sure that many of us have written letters before such as letters of application and resignation, recommendation, etc. You can actually earn from those letters. With a few tweaks, somebody else could use it. Or you can write custom letters to suit specific needs. For more information, go to Letter Rep by clicking here.

There are many more ways to earn by using your writing skills. Writing is a skill worth developing and honing. It takes a lot practice to be able to write well, but the pay-off is tremendous.

5 comments:

  1. These are fantastic tips. I love to write and will check some of these sites out. Thanks.

    peace,
    mike
    livelife365

    ReplyDelete
  2. I gave up on Triond and concentrated on paid posts recently.

    Now I want to try odesk and elance but which is better? Please let me know. Thanks. :)

    Nhil
    http://pinayfreelancer.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. @Mike Foster - Thank you! Hope you find all the info useful. By the way, I'm a fan. I love your blog! Its link is on the list of my favorite blogs.

    @Nhil - Thanks for visiting my blog. To answer your question, I prefer oDesk because, unlike eLance, there is no paid membership option, which means I am not denied any privilege just because I'm not willing to pay a certain fee. I also believe that nobody really has to shell out money just to find an online job. One of the good things about oDesk is that the pay is guaranteed if it's for an hourly job with a verified payment method (It pays to be careful with the jobs you apply for. I prefer to apply for jobs with hourly rates. I also make sure that the buyer is payment verified.). I don't see any guarantees at eLance. oDesk also has this fantastic referral program. You earn $50 when a referred buyer pays his/her first $1,000 or when a referred provider earns his/her first $1,000, that's why I have an oDesk button at the side bar of my blog (wink). For a list of job sites, please visit my other blog: http://jobhunt007.blogspot.com/ Best wishes and good luck to all. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey thanks for answering my question. :) Good to know that Odesk is not asking a fee for one to register and find work.

    I checked your profile and saw that you are working from home. Is it a full time stint? How was the experience? :)

    Nhil
    http://pinayfreelancer.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Nhil! I work as a media transcriber for almost three and yes, this is a full time job. I'm happy with my job. The pay is good. I can even support my whole family (my mother, my brother, my sister) with my earnings. By the way, the company that I'm now working for is looking for transcribers. If you're interested or if someone you know needs a job, please watch out for my next post. I'll be posting an announcement. Best wishes!

    ReplyDelete