Writing frequently is a tremendous way to promote and practice discipline. By committing to consistency and playing to your strengths, writing can open the portal to personal growth, discoveries and breakthroughs. Combine these products of writing daily, with making money and you’re onto a winner.
There are many income streams available from writing online. In essence, you can get paid and enhance your life at the same time. Whatever stage you’re at in your writing career, you should be able to incorporate at least one of the following 29 ways to make money writing online into your daily writing habits.
1. Blogging
So you’ve heard starting a blog is one of the most effective ways to make money online. Perhaps you already have a blog and are exploring ways to monetise it. Wherever you’re at in the blogging process, there’s money to be made.
The first step you need to take is to purchase a domain name and web hosting.
You can quickly get started with Bluehost, which is one of the most popular web hosting providers that also offer domain names.
The bottom line is, the only way to begin making money from your blog is to write killer content. Making money requires reader engagement which in turn requires purposeful content. Writing for your blog shouldn’t be for the purpose of filling in the blank spaces but rather to provide your readership with valuable, well-researched and highly thought out blog posts on exactly what they want to read about.
Keep them coming back for more, by frequently updating your blog and publishing new and trending material. Once you have your readership established and hooked, you can begin reeling in the cash.
Blogging possesses a variety of income streams from ads and affiliate links to selling downloadable products and memberships. Charging a fee for access to exclusive corners of your website will only be as effective as your content, so make it worthwhile. Building up your membership base generates consistent monthly payments for access to access your blog. But remember, people will only subscribe if they find true value in your written content. In the same vein, you’ll find access to the most notable and highest paying affiliate programs if your blog is of high content quality.
2. Guest Blogging
The webspace is filled with people who need talented writers to write and publish a variety of guest posts on respectable blogs in their industry. Some need the traffic, others need more exposure and authority in their niche and many need guest blog writers for branding purposes. Whatever the reason, they’re always happy to pay for it. Writing for other people can open the door to a possible substantial income by contacting the right people and writing the best content.
By leveraging other peoples audience, you can quickly gain exposure online and maximise your personal gains. Remember, when writing a guest post, you should send your readers somewhere. Where better to redirect them than to your blog? The best way to do this is to link relevant pages of your blog in your guest post. Got a blog on dietary and nutritional tips? Write a guest post for a health and fitness company and link it back to your health tips blog post.
It’s a great way to potentially double your readership and improve your SEO and rankings in search engine results. Once you’re established as a highly authoritative presence online, both by Google and the public, you can expect to receive guest post requests from other writers that you can request payment for.
3. Join a Freelance Marketplace
The easiest and quickest way to get started with writing is to join some of the best freelance writing websites/platforms.
Here are a few popular options you can start with right away:
Although the competition if quite tough on most of these, joining a freelance writing website is the first step to land your first writing gig.
4. Join a Freelance Writing Agency
Sometimes, it can be more effective to sit back and let paid work find you. Joining a writing agency as a freelance writer can help you earn up to thousands each month. Many agencies will take the liberty of matching you up with an assignment that complements your skills and writing abilities, of which you can accept or reject.
Use job boards like ProBlogger to find quality writing jobs. Most of these are remote, so the only thing you would normally need is just experience and skills.
Alternatively, let BloggingPro take the legwork out of having to search online for paid writing opportunities. The BloggingPro job board is updated daily with new paid blogging jobs, both permanent and freelance. The platform brings together hundreds of writing opportunities for you to choose from, simply follow the instructions on how to apply and tailor your cover letter appropriately for each assignment.
Register as an author for free at Copify or Textbroker and how much you write and earn is up to you. The editorial team at Textbroker will determine the quality of your articles and rate them between 2-5. By keeping track of your evaluations you can continue to increase your rating and earn more money per word. There are alternative platforms to Textbroker to join as an author and earn money for your writing online.
5. Make Freelancer Friends
By connecting with fellow freelancers for the web, you situate yourself in the midst of the action. Offer to share the workload and be available to help out where necessary. Often within these friendship groups, assignments and work opportunities circulate freely and can be easily picked up by yourself.
Having people who can assist you in your writing goals can be beneficial to yourself. Gain access to expert insight for topics you don’t necessarily specialise in and maintain and nurture a network of writers who can help pick up jobs from you when deadlines get tight. These are essential relations to be had and can significantly impact your earnings. You won’t have to reject assignments and let clients down and will be more likely to produce higher quality writing for which you can charge accordingly.
6. Reach out
You don’t have to write and publish your writing on your own blog to make money online. Rather, reach out to your favourite publication or website and offer an article headline that you think would make a difference and add value for the targeted readership. Whilst many publications will offer to pay for your contribution, and perhaps invite you back and a featuring contributor, others may not. It’s perfectly okay to pursue these publications to build a reputable writers name for yourself, of which you can use to persuade others to trust you in the future.
You might notice particular publications or websites having trouble with certain business tasks like email management or replying to blog comments. Shoot over a quick, friendly and professional email to highlight these issues and offer a solution. Let them know that you are available and skilled to assist them. Reaching out might provoke fear and uneasiness, but don’t fret. It’s just an email after all. If you don’t hear back from them, it’s no loss to you just move on.
7. Use ClearVoice
This platform has created a pool of talented writers to supply their clients with the highest quality content. Join the team of experienced freelance writers at ClearVoice and get paid per article you accept and approve. Simply set up an account and list your interests, experience and expertise. Contributing to the web with ClearVoice allows you to pitch recommendations which will be approved or rejected by editors, or receive assignments from editors which you can accept or reject yourself.
At ClearVoice, there’s no race to the assignment or competition between fellow freelancers. Simply wait for the email that invites you and you alone to complete an article, set your own rates and begin the writing process. Many companies and respectable publications rely on ClearVoice to find the perfect writer for their content, the opportunities are virtually endless.
8. Go Above and Beyond Writing
It should be clear by now that very few people are interested in merely having an article or blog post written for them in plain text and sent over in a PDF or Google Doc format. There are multiple comprehensive services that do much more and so should you. Ultimately, you stand little chance of making money if you cannot offer something that a professional writing agency can.
You should be expected to not only craft high quality and in-depth researched writing but also proofread, make edits and add stimulating visuals to the copy you intend to receive payment for. Meaning the only way to effectively make money writing online extends to SEO writing, editing, proofreading, research and creativity. Writing with SEO in mind is critical to successfully making money writing online. We all know the importance of ranking well in search engines and being visible online. Clients will be more inclined to pay for your service if you can show how you will drive traffic to their site, engage with their audience and create valuable content to be associated with their brand.
9. Use Social Media to Promote Your Writing
Social Media networks can go a long way in bringing you closer together with clients who want and need your writing skills. Take advantage of the online networking world by using common connections and reaching out to new ones. LinkedIn, in particular, is one profile you shouldn’t have just sitting there. Keep an eye on the jobs section and sign up for email alerts for jobs that match your writing criteria. Reach out to those who ‘recently viewed your profile’ and suggest ways to help each other.
Use your social online presence to let everyone know what you’re looking for and the services you provide. Instagram use isn’t exclusive to posting pics of your latest lunch and Paris weekend. Expand your network by connecting with other writers and including contact details on your pages to be easily contacted.
Share and circulate samples of your work on social media to showcase exactly what you offer. Tag your contact details in your samples. So, if they land in the hands of someone in need of content, you can be contacted to discuss the details.
10. Write Product descriptions
Reach out to companies who sell many products online and offer your product description services. Alternatively, join one of many websites who will pay you to write product descriptions for their clients. Crowd Content does exactly that and has some great opportunities. As product descriptions are short pieces of copy, these jobs are usually snapped up pretty quickly. This is the case for all companies who recruit for this role, meaning it can be difficult to rely on writing product descriptions full time.
There is scope to make a decent rate-per-hour, just remember it might not always be available on a full-time basis. It would be sensible to incorporate this as a secondary income stream to support your primary focus.
11. Write Book Reviews
All writing enthusiasts should by nature be well-read. Whether this translates into you loving to read – is entirely your decision. If you are one of the lucky ones who loves to read books and whose favourite section of the Sunday paper is the book reviews, my guess is that you’d probably like to get paid to write book reviews too.
Well, there’s an abundance of companies who are willing to pay you to write detailed and carefully structured book reviews. This is a freelance writing niche that would probably appeal to the readers of the writing world. A partnership with a book reviewer company is the perfect way to make money writing online, doing something you love in the meantime.
Get paid cash in return for your reviews. Online Book Club will pay you per review. The process is simple. Sign up, accept the review job, read the book and write a detailed review. At Upwork, you’ll find thousands of online writing jobs in different genres, often including jobs for book reviewers that are paid as independent contractors.
12. Affiliate Marketing
Become an affiliate and be paid by the business when your marketing efforts bring a new customer or visitor to the business’s site. This is popular on both ends of the process as little investment goes neither in your affiliate marketing efforts nor does the business have to increase its marketing budget.
The only time they payout to you – is when your affiliates pay off. It can be a neat stream of income and obviously, the amount depends on your efforts. One way to make the most money out of this tactic is to provide information. You’re a writer after all, so writing a blog post or dedicating a page on your website to a product or service that might complement yours, is no skin off your nose.
Prospects are likely to look further into the product and potentially buy if they receive sufficient information telling them why they should. Use your persuasive and informative writing skills to answer questions between potential customers and the business you are affiliated with. From here, simply kick back and let your content do the work that you’ll be paid rewarded for.
One of the best affiliate programs is with Amazon. After registering, link to any product on Amazon and get anywhere from a 3%-10% cut if anyone buys the product from your link.
13. Write a Book – Self Publish
There are many self-publishing services and companies that can help with the process of publishing your book, but let’s begin with doing it yourself with Amazon through their Kindle platform. This platform essentially allows your book to appear in the Kindle Store within 24 hours accessible to people all over the world.
It’s totally free, publishing takes less than 5 minutes and you can make changes to your book at any time after it goes live. The best part – you can earn up to 70% royalty on sales. Do keep in mind that the average book of about 160 pages can take up to 200 hours to write. This rarely includes the time it takes for editing and formatting your book. But don’t be too quick to dismiss the idea. Your book could continue to make you money as more copies are bought in the future.
14. Enter a Writing Contest
Entering into writing competitions online is a stellar way to make some money. Many take this up professionally and are called ‘compors’. Comping can be time-consuming and if taken up professionally, should be treated as a full-time job. For best results and higher chances of seeing a return, it’s suggested to enter around 30 online competitions a week.
Do be aware of the spammy competitions out there – many of which might actually have genuine prizes up for grabs, but with so many entries your chances of winning are truly slimmed. Stick to entering into the competitions run by brands you recognise and trust. These can be found in the newsletters of the brands you like and competition databases. Many are frequently posted and shared on social media and make entering easy.
15. Manage Social Media Accounts
Almost everyone from business owners to charity organisations has an online social media presence. Whether it’s Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or a combination of all of the above – accounts need to be monitored, regulated, updated and managed online. Having a strong online presence and dynamic social media strategy is essential to growing a business. Subsequently, there’s a constant stream of job postings for social media account managers.
Keep an eye on Up Work for regular listings of social media management roles. Alternatively, reach out to brands and businesses that you think would benefit from having you contribute to their social media campaigns and content. Once you get your first client and can demonstrate results and improvements, you shouldn’t face any difficulty finding your next.
16. WOW Women On Writing
Women have a long, vibrant and successful history of writing. Wow Women On Writing does something particularly well – they look after female writers by encouraging and supporting them to pursue writing, freelance or otherwise. Their audience is diverse and covers content that is focused on providing value to women.
Celebrate women in literature by dedicating your efforts to building upon the women in writing framework. This platform focuses on innovative business, freelancing, training and educational content. They’re typically designed to help writers enhance their skills and demonstrate their literary capabilities. Their truly novel mission is to bridge the gap between women’s magazines and writing for the web (e.g., blog articles and digital magazines). They encourage writers to promote themselves and allow women to catch the eye of enough readers to make it into print.
Payments for contributions to Wow Women on Writing are made to you via Paypal or by Check. This huge and friendly community hold quarterly writing competitions to provide scope to showcase your best work and earn more cash. Wow, will pay up to $150 for a feature article.
17. Envato Tuts+
Become an author at Envato Tuts+ puts you in the foreground of an established, respected and educational network. Apply your love for writing to help educate and provide clarity to those wanting to understand a given topic. Develop your own skills and help educate others at the same time.
The notable reputation of Envato Tuts+ is the perfect platform from which to get your name out into the community – especially if you’re just starting out and are looking to put together a writing portfolio of work. It’s an awesome place to begin establishing yourself as an expert in your given field and collaborate with other authors.
Some of the regular contributors to Tuts+ take in up to $700 a month for publishing several times a month. Rates start at $100 per quick tip tutorial and £250 per regular article. Higher profile writers can negotiate a higher rate too. If you keep up the quality of your work and consistently hit your deadlines while effectively engaging with your readers, you can expect raises and to increase your rates as you progress. A splendid way to earn money writing from home, whilst educating others on topics you know and love.
18. Writers Weekly
WritersWeekly.com focuses on writing niche, therefore they are willing to pay £40 for a 400-word article or $60 per 600-word article. Their niche is essentially us writers. The idea is to help writers support themselves and each other in performing the work they love. Articles welcomed at WritersWeekly include those on how to make money writing and in other forms of self-employment that might include writing, for example, self-publishing, corporate writing, ghostwriting and freelancing.
It’s a writers community sphere; created to share money making tips through writing, whilst getting paid to write. By contributing only 4 articles a month to WritersWeekly you could be earning £240. Whilst it’s not a substantial living income, its certainly one of the best options for a side gig.
19. Start Online Coaching
You’ve developed a knack for the written word and you know you’re going to pursue writing as a career; freelance or otherwise. Perhaps you’re at the point where you have developed your skills and expertise to a level of sensei. The next logical step would be to sell your knowledge and advice in the area you specialise in as a coach. If you can appropriately bill yourself as an expert, there are many people out there willing to pay for your content.
Your expertise becomes the product you’re selling and if you can put that product into clear succinct writing, you can resell your product again and again and scale your program into a business model. The community-driven platforms like Freelancer Community provide you with an excellent network of potential clients to network with immediately. It also has a neatly integrated payment solution so that’s one less thing for you to worry about.
Do remember that people won’t pay you for coaching, they’ll pay you for a result. If you can explain to people how to get the results they want, such as a bigger email list, a book deal, or generate more leads online – you can ultimately charge whatever you want. Once you’ve helped some individuals and can prove successful results of utilising your coaching, begin to write up your success stories to attract more leads and clients.
Another way could be to start creating online writing courses. There are numerous online course platforms where you can create and start selling your courses. You can get started with platforms like Thinkific or Teachable.
20. Cracked.com
Most writers are creative. It’s kind of a customary entry requirement into the field of writing. But some possess a critical element in their creative arsenal – humour. To be able to incorporate a delicate sense of humour into your writing of any given subject is to connect with your readership on a whole new level. If you are funny, intelligent and creative and have a knack for bringing the three together, Cracked.com offers a fine opportunity to make money writing online.
Getting started is simple and you don’t even have to be an experienced writer. You send in some good content with an interesting twist that draws cleverly on humour and provides value to its niche, you get paid between $100 – $200.
Making it work on this website can be an extremely efficient income stream for you. Provided that your articles are first, funny and second, relevant, you’ll be paid again and again for your content. It’s possible to make an astounding amount of money by contributing to Cracked.com alone.
21. Answer Professional Questions on JustAnswer
Both information and expertise are possibly the two most consistent and lucrative ways to make money writing online. Most writers have some background in a particular niche – be it technology, finance, sports, health, fashion or law; and can combine their writing skills with their area of expertise to help answer the bigger questions on the web.
To apply to answer professional questions on JustAnswer, you’ll need to have evidence of your professional verification, resume and some form of identification. Once set up, choose which questions you’ll address and get to answering. You will be paid based on your experience and the answers you give. Top experts on JustAnswer earn thousands of pounds a month.
22. Publish Short Stories on Penpee
This platform allows you to read other’s short stories, write your own and get paid for them. One of the best features of this platform is that you don’t have to be a professional writer to use it and make money. Before your short stories are published, their editors will proofread and polish your work. Principally, you get to learn, improve, inspire and get paid to do so with Penpee.
Sign up for free on the platform and receive free credits. These will allow you to read stories published by others. Following this, each time someone reads a chapter of your story, you earn credits. These are then converted into cash which can be transferred to you in more than 35 different countries.
23. Paid Medium Posts
This global blogging platform allows you to read other peoples posts and click to give them a round of applause if you think the content is worthy. If you fancy being on the other side of the table, racking up the applause for your articles, the process is pretty simple. Along with your claps, you’ll also be paid pretty handsomely too.
Users can read up to 3 articles per month and must become members to enjoy content past that limit. When Medium a member claps for your article, you will be paid from their membership fee. Claps count and the only way to get them is to inspire, entertain and provoke thought through your writing.
It’s not exactly free to become a member, but the small initial investment of £5 should be expected to make its way back to your pocket in no time. Once you become a paid member you’ll be eligible to publish members-only articles which will earn you between $50 – $500 a month- depending on how well your content performs.
24. Create Slogans
If you have a sharp mind, quick wit and like the idea of putting together only a few words at a time – whilst making money, you should immediately look at slogan creation. Create the next Just Do It, at a computer, anywhere in the world and potentially make hundreds of dollars every month.
There are thousands of companies in need of slogans to represent the sentiments of their brand, and most are willing to pay. Online platforms such as Slogan Seller connect you with brands actively seeking short catchy phrases for you to write. Alternatively, sign up and put a slogan up for sale. It’s never just a one-off payment either, you’ll get paid each time someone uses your slogan.
25. Transcribe Audio and Interviews
Every day, all around the world, recordings of the works of doctors, lawyers, academics and researchers need to be transcribed. There is no shortage of work in this area. If you’re comfortable with listening to voice and conversational recordings whilst writing down what’s been said, there’s room to make money.
Typically, the rate for transcribed audio is anywhere between $15 to $25 per hour. You can potentially make much more if you specialise in a particular niche. The web is plentifully packed with transcription jobs that will get you started. Take a look at TranscribeMe, Quicktate and Crowdsurf for recently posted jobs.
26. Sell Your Lyrics
Writing for the web isn’t only about blog articles, answering questions on JustAsk, writing books and managing social media. In fact, one industry that depends almost entirely on the written word is the music industry. Sites like SoundBetter invites you to sell your services as a songwriter to thousands of customers each month. Your beautifully crafted lyrics could be making you a monthly income.
Alternative sites like Musicbed, SongFreedon and Marmoset are ideal for licensing your music to TV shows, movies and series on the web. Put your lyrical skills to the test and realise the musical heights of your words whilst getting paid each time your lyrics are used.
27. Find a Niche
Finding a niche that compliments your writing specifications can allow you to channel your inner expert and produce the best copy of which you can charge a pretty penny. The importance of keeping it narrow as opposed to broadly dipping your toe into everything is paramount and easily recognisable in your work. In other words, it’s easy to identify a successful writer who knows what they are talking about and this makes the piece of work invaluable. Here are some popular niches of the moment to think about this year.
- Email sequences and sales funnels
- Press release writing
- Cryptocurrency content
- White papers
- SaaS content
- Case studies
28. Reconnect With Old Clients
This is an important and often forgotten way to enhance your income writing online. Whilst it’s a less effective strategy for beginners and those who have no connections, it can work wonders for those who even have the shortest of histories in any industry. Whether you’re a newcomer to the literary world or an established professional, chances are, you have engaged with companies and brands in the past who would probably be interested in how you can help them now.
This might include writing for them online, structuring email marketing, managing their social media presence or guest blogging for them. Reconnecting with your old clients with whom you’ve established a trusting relationship will always be easier and more effective than reaching out to new prospects.
Thanks to social media, it’s now easy to reconnect with past colleagues, acquaintances and prospects. Find these people on LinkedIn, including former editors, marketing managers, co-workers and reconnect with them to establish grounds for collaboration.
29. SEO Writing
If there’s one style of writing to learn and improve this year it’s writing with SEO in mind. The importance of structuring your content for search engines picked up momentum in the 1990s and hasn’t slowed down since. With the never-ending advancements and updates to Google’s algorithms, there’s always something we can do to improve the efficiency of our content online to make heard through the white noise of the deep web.
Most businesses and brands are coming to terms with this and are heavily investing in their SEO strategy to protect and enhance their online visibility. Spend some time moulding yourself into an SEO expert writer and sell your services. Becoming familiar with SEO can take some time but there are some key tools to help you learn and perfect your craft here.
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