Recent comments, discussions and emails from readers has highlighted some common web writing myths. Here are the top three frequently heard myths about writing web content.
All Content Sites are Scams and Worthless Content Mills
While there are certainly many worthless websites out there preying on freelance writers, this is nothing new to the writing world. How many countless writers have been taken advantage of through fake agents, print-on-demand schemes, and “contests” that did not deliver as expected? The fact that bad apples exist on some web sites, does not mean all websites are scam writing sites. Check out the Making Money blog posts to get specific details about websites I am personally familiar with.
If I Write an Interesting Article I Will Make Thousands of Dollars
Now, I like to think that I write interesting articles, and I have made thousands of dollars writing for the web, however the one does not necessarily follow the other. In order to make money with web content, readers have to be able to find your articles. That means you must employ good SEO practices. SEO means “Search Engine Optimization” and is just a fancy abbreviation for saying that Google and other search engines need to be able to find your article.
Writing for Websites Doesn’t Pay Well
This is a huge myth! While it may seem slow to begin with, web writing is very much a long-term game. You might make only a handful of change from the first dozen or so articles. As you continue writing, however, and build up a strong body of good quality content, you will find that instead of earning a couple pennies per article you are now earning $1 or more per article. Per month. And those earnings continue to come in each month as readers continue to visit your content. This residual aspect of web writing is why I no longer contribute to sites that only pay upfront and do not have residual income potential in their revenue system. I can make more in the long run with smaller monthly payments, than one slightly-larger upfront payment.
See the comment thread that prompted this discussion on my writing for Examiner.com post.
Well, web writing (for ad revenue) does pay quite poorly compared to writing for magazines. I’ve been paid up to 1,000 euros for a single article in print. Yes, you can make a four-figure sum a month writing for online publications, but it takes a lot of time and hours. Writing for print I’ve been able to make as much as 100-150 euros an hour.
Maija – Only when you compare the revenue in short-term. I wrote a lovely massage intake article and sold it to a trade magazine. It took me an hour to write the query. Four weeks to hear back and work out details of the piece. Another hour or two to write the piece. And another week to get paid the $200 I sold the article for. Now $200 is a pretty good price for a non-feature article and being paid within a week is practically unheard of in print work. So, all-in-all, I did very well for myself.
But that $200 is over and gone. I similarly have a collection of alternative medicine posts on Examiner.com that took me about three hours to put together. Last month they earned me $25. $25 doesn’t compare to $200 until you realize I will get paid ANOTHER $25 again this month. And the next month. And the next month. A year from now that five hours worth of work will have earned me many times the $200 I earned from the five hours worth of work I put into the print magazine piece.
Thankfully I am able to repurpose much of my content. A quick rewrite of the massage article posted online means I can get the best of both worlds! 🙂 It’s definitely NOT an either-or game as many writers are adept at both.
Angela <
This is a very helpful post. I just got into writing for the web but I’m only doing it for fun. I didn’t even think that what I’m writing could actually make me money! Now I’ve gotta read more and find out how :o) thanks!