Writing Articles for Money

If you're looking to write articles for money here is a small list of things you can do if you're approcahing the whole game from a freelancing perspective:

• Run A WSO offering your services for $5 an article
• Look on job boards like Elance | Connect with Qualified Professionals and Guru.com ? Find freelancers at the world?s largest online service marketplace.
• Write content for Associated Content - associatedcontent.com
• Do a google search for "article writer needed" and "article writers needed"
• If you prefer blogging you can get hired as a blogger, check out Jobs for Bloggers - ProBlogger Job Board
• Try here too ONLINE WRITING JOBS - Freelance Writing Jobs
• And this one WRITING BIDS . com : BID ON FREELANCE WRITING PROJECTS and FREELANCE WRITING JOBS

These are just a few resources. Remember that Google is your friend.

Content Divas is one place you might want to check out. I used to do a lot of work for them. One of my housemates writes for them and the other one edits for them, and screens new writers. They're good people in general, plus with them you don't have to deal with some of the kinds of b.s. that you will invariably get with some individual clients (not most clients.

Here is something I posted in another thread about a month ago. A couple of things said were specific to the original poster from that thread. But overall it is a good outline for anybody, I believe. (It started out as a quick post and then got longer and longer and longer...).

Hope it helps.

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Here is a mini-business plan that might suit you.

First, write 3-5 samples. I would say make at least one of them a how-to, and one of them a tips or benefits article. Make one of them about a problem that people face (more on that below), and make sure and hit an emotional button with it. (Do this with every one you write, if you can.)

Unless you want to specialize (not a bad idea, but not always the best idea for beginners), cover at least three niches. Pets (be specific) and bad credit /credit repair/ bad credit loans/ anything financial, esp. concerning people in desperate straits, are two good ones.

Anything health-related is good, too. Exercise-related, weight loss, acne, natural medicine, erectile dysfunction, etc.

Also dating/seduction isn't a bad one either. Lots of people doing stuff with these markets and their niches.

Make sure each one is focused around a keyword or key phrase in the niche. Put the keyword in your title, in the first paragraph, a couple of times in the body and in your closer.

Probably you already know about that but I'm mentioning it just to be safe. A safe keyword % is under 3% and many marketers don't worry much about it anymore. If they do then they will tell you. You can check your percentage at textalyser dot net. Always a good idea just to make sure you haven't accidentally overused it. Don't want to be guilty of keyword spam!

If you don't have the money for a WSO then you possibly don't have enough for a domain name and hosting. But I think .info domains are 2 or 3 bucks at NameCheap.com. Hostgator can host you for ten bucks a month if you pay monthly. Seriously consider this, it will help. However I'll talk about free stuff in just a minute.

----> Addition: you can also make a few bucks over at Textbroker.com not everybody's favorite place to work but it will do the job.<------

If you get hosting and a domain name, I'd recommend the WordPress install on Fantastico. With wordpress you can choose to create blog posts or web pages and it's the easiest way I've ever built a site. In fact it's the only way I've ever built a site that was worth looking at.

If you absolutely can't afford a domain name and hosting right now, you can use a free service like WordPress.com or Clearblogs.com. Make pages or posts with your samples.

Make an "about" page or post that has your email. It will help people feel safer with you if you can list a phone number and street address, or at least some sort of mailing address. You are an unknown quantity at this point and this can help people feel more sure about you.

Okay, now you want a page where you introduce yourself. It should say that you are available for content writing. List your price. I started out at $.02/word. Some people won't like to pay that but some people think it's a deal. If your samples are decent then you can get it. If you are professional and always make your deadlines, and provide good content, you can charge more in the near future.

You can also offer packages: 5-article, 10-article, etc. Give a bit of a discount for bulk, if you want.

Since you are as yet unknown, here is a suggestion: offer to write ONE free article per potential client. It doesn't have to be long, 300-350 words is fine. Say that you will do it on whatever keyword or subject they want, although you might want to list exceptions i.e. heavily technical stuff if you're not up on tech, adult stuff if you'd rather not do that, etc.

Now it's time for the forum. Create a signature line that links back to your website. Your text can be something like "Need good content at a reasonable price? Click here and get a FREE test-drive!"

Or any such phrase that lets people know you are available, and giving out free samples.

If for some reason you don't have paypal, get it.

I started out asking for half payment up-front from my clients. This was as a new and unknown quantity. I like to think they gave it because I came across as at least somewhat of a professional.

It's not unusual to ask for this and personally I wouldn't work for a client who wasn't willing to pay half up-front. By the same token, it might smell fishy if you ask for everything up-front as well (though I've seen writers do this when they post a WSO).

Set a realistic turnaround time for yourself. If you're taking 2 hours per article then take that into account when you tell clients your turnaround time.

And if you're taking two hours...get faster! I have found that outlining helps quite a bit with this. Also, when you get $47, google the term "7 minute article". It's worth it.

Seriously, if you don't at least cut your time in half, you're going to have problems making money with this. If you can't get to at least one article per hour then you're likely to end up frustrated and feeling overworked or worn out.

Now, make posts here on the forum. Make sure they are intelligent replies about subjects you know. You don't have to know much about internet marketing per se--all kinds of niche topics here.

If you don't feel like you have much to say, then you want to start a WSO just as soon as you get $20. In fact you might want to do that anyway. This is a great investment for your business.

Offer a good rate. Say, you'll do ten 400-word articles for 40 or 50 bucks. Make sure you list your regular rate, so that they can compare with your WSO rate (and know what to expect to pay in the future).

Set a limit on how many clients you'll take. To be safe, I would announce a turnaround time of one week, for everybody. Or one week for your first 5 clients and two weeks for the next 5. Whatever suits your writing pace and lifestyle.

Make sure you include a link to your site. You can even include a link for each individual sample if you want.

DON'T TAKE ON MORE THAN YOU CAN REASONABLY HANDLE. Your reputation is everything, so you want to make sure you can deliver. ALWAYS DELIVER ON TIME!

It feels like I might be leaving something out here, but it IS five o'clock in the morning.

This isn't the only way to do things but it sure ain't the worst.

If you can cut your writing time down some, then you'll really do yourself a favor. Mine started going down after a couple of months but at two hours per article, you might have a hard time just getting started.

See if you can get it down to at least an hour. Of course if you do several articles in the same niche, this may not be such a problem, depending on your research and writing times.

Hope this helps.

Brad gives some very great advice! All I have to add is that article writing can be time-consuming so don't overbook or undercharge yourself or you can get burned out on this gig real quick. True enough as an unknown you might have to do what you must in order to gain a good rep. But after that, set firm prices and treat your writing like the Business it is in order to get the pay and respect that you deserve.

I am a ghostwriter, and I LOVE it. In fact, I made over $1000 my first month ghostwriting. All of the advice here is really good, so give it a try.

The only things I would add are to advertise on Craigslist (I have several GOOD customers from CL) and you may want to consider contacting website owners directly for the niches you enjoy writing about. I did this, and out of the first 10 I contacted I ended up with a client that has me write 20 articles per week.

Good luck - and like Brad said, manage your time wisely

The answer a few spots above is right on. Follow that route and you income will depend on how hard you are willing to work. Once you have some income, put 90% of it back into the business to make it grow. Then, go find some great article writers who will write for cheaper than you. Hire them. Offer your services still, now saying you have a "team" of writers. Outsource the orders you get to them. Since you now know how to write a great article, give the ones they send you back a quick read-over to make sure they are good. Edit to make better if need be.

You now have yourself a little business. You have to do more quantity to make the same money, but you also just cut your time by 3/4 so you can work on other profit making projects.

Good Luck!

Lee

I have a website where I reviewed many of the popular writer sites ie Associated Content, Squidoo, eHow etc. WriteForMoneyOnline.com

I like to write for sites where I retain rights and can collect residual income from revenue my articles generate. However, that can take time. I have an article at the site on ghostwriting if you opt to go that route.