It’s possible to make money writing online, but it’s a very competitive environment and you have to adaptable to learning a whole new technique. Finding a paying job writing online is possible but you have to be dedicated and take time in researching the organisations and aggregators that you could potentially write for to ensure that you approach them in the right way.
South Africa is still behind when it comes to providing jobs in this space as there are not as many people online as there are elsewhere in the world. However, work can be found in freelancing for corporations (running their blogs or newsletters) or media companies.
Here are six ways to make money writing on the web:
1. Promote yourself online
There are plenty of websites where you can upload a profile and examples of your work, such as Freelanceentral.
2. Create your own blog
It’s by no means a get rich quick method but if you maintain your blog by adding quality content regularly you will start to attract an audience. Once that audience is big enough you could sell advertising space on your website. But you’d have to ensure that your site operates in a niche field as there are other major corporations you’d have to compete with if you were to create a more mainstream site, such as one that provides general news.
You could also monetize it by signing up with targeted pay per click advertising and affiliate programs.
Affiliate programs can earn you extra money too. These are revenue sharing arrangements created by companies selling products and services. If you as a website owner or blogger sign up to these programs you will be rewarded if customers are sent to these companies through your website.
3. Keep a look out for jobs online
Notice boards such as http://freelanceblogger.net and http://jobs.problogger.net update regularly with jobs on offer. Keep an eye on these and you could land yourself some freelance work.
4. Write your own e-book
Have you always wanted to write a book? Well here’s your chance. It’s been possible to self-publish online for a while, so you don’t have to send your manuscripts through to publishers and suffer through the rejection letters. According to the Dailymail online, Stephen Leather, author of The Basement, has sold nearly 400,000 e-books since he started self-publishing in 2010. You can post your e-book for free on Amazon and Lulu.com.
5. Bid for work
Websites such as Elance and vworker enable you to bid for freelance writing jobs. Perhaps someone needs you two ghost write for them or produce SEO content for their website.
6. Provide associated content
Hubpages and eHow, for example, allow you to create an account and submit articles. They make money by displaying adverts next to your articles. Sometimes you will make some money for articles that are published on their sites, otherwise you could be paid based on the number of page views of your article. Some websites will remunerate you by doing both.
There are many ways to make money off the web. Web writing opens you up to freelancing not only for locally based companies and aggregators but to international ones too. Set up a PayPal account so that you can get paid by your employers no matter where they are in the world.
Only deal with reputable companies and be sure to peruse the contract or terms and conditions very carefully so that you understand how you will be remunerated.