I think there are VERY legitimate ways to make money from home. In my experience, charitable orgs are very happy to have someone volunteer to update webcontent, write a form letter, put together an auction catalog, etc. GREAT way to support your community, build your portfolio, and get your name out there a bit. This is a horrible idea. The site is known all across the Internet for both spam and low, insulting rates.
In addition, the site requires a full, Internet based background check on a shady site. As a hour-a-week-freelance writer, I can tell you there are opportunities—even local. Use sites like Craigslist to find local programs and if you have experience or a niche , build a portfolio. You might be able to get a great, local and long-term deal. You can make significantly more as a professional writer, Tania. And I was definitely there at one time.
I agree — this is not the route to go. I write for Examiner on two topics. During my downtime, I can write some articles while my son is napping. I can let those articles sit for months and months and earn money from traffic. My husband has made money doing 3d animation there, and there is a writing category, which often includes writing articles, e-books, and blogs.
The jobs are more of a time intensive, though. Also, most of the top earners do not simply write; they have their own Facebook pages and Twitter accounts specifically dedicated to their Examiner column, which they promote like crazy in order to build up a following.
There are a lot of broad-based topics…but you have to be willing to crank articles in just a few months to get the needed traction, I gather. Not everyone promotes like crazy. Any topic that you can make newsworthy is the way to go. Yes, celebs and the like are popular but they are not the only ones making the money.
Many exist on food, books, writing, and other general topics that make them newsworthy. Some have their own website and backlink. Some already had followers from another place or they built one up.
It is different for all; but it can be done with any topic channel. It might be a lot of work for some, but I know folks who put in 5 hours a day and still make 4 digits. I only put in a few and I take a lot of days off and I can still pay my bills. I only write a couple articles a day and just started with it so I am just now seeing a little bit of success with it but it is better than what I make at Hubpages.
You might not think that is success but I do because I have never made that much with rev share. I think your experience is pretty typical based on all the feedback I get, though.
If you can crank that much content, I would think there are paying clients out there you could make a lot more from. I forgot to mention that I do have a full time job online and my own writing clients that pay well. I do Examiner on the side and think what I make there for very part time is pretty decent. I make a good living from home and use Examiner for fun writing. They dont have to be words to be successful. So, you can either look at it as how many words you write per pay or how much money you can make per hour.
Since I write quick and come from a long-term accounting background, I tend to look at how much I can make in an hour. Being able to earn residual income allows me to take the rest of my time to work on my novels. If you enjoy that form, then cool for you. Why would someone be unhappy writing short little news pieces? Who wouldnt be happy by that? And the success with Squidoo is no different.
I am far from unhappy. People need to just stop judging where people write for. Who cares? Writers, write. I did the whole magazine thing. HATED it. Newspapers too. Not everyone wants that life. And if people like CWilson are happy — why does that bother so many other writers? This is something I have been trying to understand since my first rev share account in I understand that not everyone sees things the same way when it comes to residual income, but we all know there are people who are very successful with it.
I mean Seth Godin owns Squidoo. Hello…so many freelancers follow him! We all want money. We all need it. But at the end of the day we are all writers with the same goal in mind. To write and let our voices be heard. That said, as long as there are writers who write relatively well and are willing to work for this economic model, it will thrive. It is, however, not sustainable in the long run.
So enjoy it while you can — which is what I suspect a lot of writers are doing. It relies on click counts and advertisers, and as long as readers are curious and advertisers are willing to pay, it can be exploited in this way.
However, advertisers are fickle creatures. As soon as they realize that these web sites are not drawing a quality audience, they might start looking elsewhere, in which case the funds will dry up.
Carol, sorry if you feel your blog has been hijacked by your readers. As I wrote recently, Demand lost 25 percent of its traffic in one fell swoop on one Google change, and we know Google is hard at work thinking up more ways to screen out low-grade content.
Also, sites go bust, so those who count on residual income often wake up to find it has vaporized. Unfortunately it seems to be only a tiny percentage of writers that earn anything substantial with these models. Which is why my general take on them is that there are many other, better ways to earn as a writer. The norm is earning very little. Congrats on being one of the people who makes it work on there. I enjoyed meeting Bill at NMX and learning about his approach, too.
Point is — NO job is guaranteed. There is always something new, fresh, trendier. Your employer shows a decrease in sales. Publishing houses see a decline because of self-publishing. It does not matter what field you are in. It is rare anything lasts forever. It serves a purpose for me while I work on other projects. I wanted to be a writer — not an assembly line producer of words, so when I first heard about content mills I was disgusted.
But content mills were everywhere! I believe more in writing work that you are proud of and building a real reputation as a writer. Many Miley Cyrus boob slip articles and another one on breasts again. In other words, tie lots of what we write about to sex? It worked for me.
How about this? Content mills are fine for new writers. The big step comes when a fledgling writer goes to pitch to mid-level web or print publication.
Most of them pay their writers a reasonable not exorbitant rate, legit resume builder, and offer great networking opportunities. I think mills set new writers up with a lot of bad habits that, as you point out, are very hard to break for many. You can volunteer for legit organizations and publications — an activity that gets you started pitching yourself — and have a solid portfolio quickly, and move directly to good-paying clients.
I agree that content mills offer no training and often have low standards for material submitted. I know it sounds harsh, but that is what people in the business have said. I actually know of a few journalism-school classmates who wrote for Demand for some extra cash while in school or right after graduation as they were job hunting.
Every single one wrote under a pseudonym. The general consensus was that if their real name was attached to a content mill article, their chances at a job in publishing would be severely jeopardized. It may be partly because I get most of my work from Australian clients, though. Check out my blog for the rates copywriters make in Australia — quite a bit more than the average for Americans!
You just need to learn how to spell correctly labour, not labor. But, using this model on your own site seems like it could work for many. I can see how working for clients could pay better, even much better, but it can also be a major pain in the butt. As example, if someone is 30 years old and full of ambition and energy, building a client list might be the way to go.
Hmmm — maybe. They also share the page with others. Think of this site as the one where you get to write what you want while other sites are for earning an income. This is the hobby site. If your passion is your rose garden, then this is a great site to expand on that and find others like yourself.
Build up your content slowly and you will not only have a loyal fan base but you will also have samples to submit to other writing sites. Those are the primary tips for Examiner. The most important tip is to write. Write a lot. The more you write the more people have to read.
But above all else, enjoy this site as a place where you can write to your hearts content. Sign up and we'll send you 3 companies hiring writers now.
Plus, we'll send more companies as we find and review them. All in our free email magazine. We're dedicated to helping freelance writers succeed.
We send you reviews of freelance writing companies, assignments, and articles to help build your writing career. You can view our privacy policy here, and our disclaimer. To get started, simply enter your email address in the form on this page. Getting started with Examiner Pay a visit to Examiner.
Your Dashboard On your Dashboard you will see a photo of yourself and below it all of your stats for a particular topic. Examiner University After you are accepted as a writer, you are automatically enrolled in Examiner University.
Writing an article for Examiner. We send you writing jobs. Subscribe and we'll send you 3 companies hiring right now. We'll also send you a guide that gets you started. Subscribe now. Although it was not my intention when I started writing a blog for freelance writers and businesses who hire freelance writers, a lot of the new readers here at the ArcticLlama freelance writing business blog come from people searching for advice on where to write online for money. In particular, people search to find out whether or not it is worth it to write for Demand Studios and if Guru.
I have a review of a how to make money on Elance ebook coming up very soon to update that last one with some more information. Of course, I am happy to help out my fellow writers whether professional writers or those just starting up their home based writing business. After all, that WAS my intention when I started up this writing blog.
Actually, it was that and to help provide some SEO juice to my freelance writing business website since everyone knows that Google rankings love blogs. Unlike other writing website reviews I have done in the past, I am writing this one prior to using Examiner. It is written this way because I have never written for Examiner before.
I figure I should find out who they are and what value Examiner. I will do my best to be impartial in my review of Examiner. Like many writers, I use various freelance writing boards, job websites, and writing gigs newsletters in order to keep my business pipeline full.
I get several email subscriptions with listings of writing jobs that are posted on major job boards like Monster.
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