Writing Articles for the Internet

As the social aspects of the Internet have evolved, a user's web experience has shifted from exploring and being entertained to becoming an interactive contributor. Sites like Facebook encourage sharing and posting short thoughts, whereas blogging is popular for personally sharing a page of thoughts. For those loving to write, sites like WikiHow, HubPages and Helium provide outlets. For the professional writer, sites like Constant Content and Demand Studios allow you to sell your articles for extra income. Of course, you can always start your own website and promote it, too.

 

Websites to Write For:

Constant Content - You can write about any topic that you want and upload it to sell to Constant Content clients. Popular topics that drive website traffic sell best. CC collects 35% commission but handles the sale and client download. Article prices range from $7-100 and are text only articles of a news or informative nature. No editorial or fiction writing is allowed. Grammar is checked to the highest standards by professional editors before an article is accepted. Sell through is 50-80%. Most articles are 300-1000 words long.

Demand Studios (bought eHow) - This is as close to a real job with a real boss as any of these site get. You can write to client specs, as a blog writer or just strictly submit articles. Similar to a real magazine or newspaper office, an editor will review and ask for rewrites of your work, as needed. Before being accepted as a writer for them, you need to submit a resume. They are looking as much for experts in a field with some writing experience as they are for professional journalists. How-to articles are the most popular. You can make $7-20 for short articles under 500 words.

Suite101 - High standard of quality prevail here, too, with on-site editors reviewing your work. Suite101 pays you directly, using a complicated formula that no-one really understands, based on Google AdSense revenue that they earn from your hosted articles. You can write about anything you want. To make any money, the article needs to be something popular.

HubPages - Like Suite101, HubPages hosts your articles (in "hubs") with Google AdSense ads or Amazon affiliates ads embedded on the page. They pay you 60% of the ad revenue as the fee for hosting and promoting their site. The articles can be on any topic but need to be informative and not promotional of a product or website. Links in articles have very restrictive rules. You can start creating Hubs (articles) within minutes of sign-up.

Infobarrel - Similar to Suite101 and HubPages, articles are reviewed for offensiveness and link content before being hosted on their site. The article format is more open than the others and the 75% payout of Google AdSense and Amazon Affiliate revenue is better than the others. You can embed up to two self-promotional links. You have to write ten or so articles before they let you start publishing.

Triond - Like most of the sites above, you write an article and it gets hosted with Google AdSense ads. Triond is very lenient on article reviews, looking for offensive material only. They pay you a certain amount for 1000 page views, via PayPal, and take 50% of your Google AdSense revenue (which you get paid directly from Google). Any article style or format is accepted.

Helium - More of a social writing site, Helium has no real rules. Any article on anything is published and is rated and ranked by fellow Helium writers. You again earn advertising revenue and even some pageview revenue, paid out by Helium to your Paypal account. It is similar to Triond, in a way, and is a good site for beginners to get exposure and experience.

eZine Articles - This is an article directory that readers can access directly and also allows the articles to be republished on other websites. They provide no direct pay for articles but you can get good link through traffic to your own website, assuming you have products on your site to promote.

WikiPedia - This is a non-profit site to provide encyclopedia-like content of every topic imaginable. They are always looking for volunteer writers and this is a good experience opportunity for beginners.

WikiHow - It is similar to WikiPedia, also a non-profit site, but is dedicated solely to How-to articles.

The above list was ordered from highest paying / most professional standards to lowest paying / best beginner experience. InfoBarrel seems like the most promising for intermediate writers looking for a little additional revenue. Sites like HubPages and Infobarrel can average about $1/mo per article for residual income, mostly from Goodle AdSense. Here is a link to Willow's blog "The Residual Income" showing typical earnings from his multiple article sites. It appears that he has been putting up articles for three years or so. Note that he has ~700 articles and only adding a few each month, yet he has over $700 in residual income.

 

Grammar Checking:

In order to write effectively, you will need some knowledge of grammar and writing techniques. Two of the best reference books on grammar are:

Hodges' Harbrace Handbook - by many authors, 2004, 876 pages, $81.95 retail but used from $7.

The Wadsworth Handbook - by Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell, 2004, 1104 pages, $93.95 retail but used from $6.

Some programs like Microsoft Word will do spell-checking and some limited grammar checking for you. You can also buy programs such as Gingersoft for a modest $20, that does a slightly better job of finding grammar mistakes. Online, both spellchecker.net and usingenglish.com do assorted checks for free. In my experience, use multiple methods to help you spot the errors in your writing, but your own knowledge of grammar is the final proofreader test. Spend some time brushing up on grammar rules. Set aside an article and proofread it at least 2-3 hours later. Repeat this several times until you can't find any more errors. Read it aloud to someone or to yourself. The act of reading at a spoken pace does two things. First, it allows your mind to mull over each thought as you read it, picking out wordiness or awkward thoughts. Secondly, you will immediately notice the pauses where commas need to go.

 

Websites to Help You with Your Writing:

Grammarly - It costs $20/mo (or $8/mo for a one year subscription) to get full use out of Grammarly but it has, by far, the most extensive grammar checking of any site or program. You can try it for one week for free.

SpellChecker.net - They have a window for entering short chunks of text for grammar and spelling checking on this site and it's free.

Usingenglish.com - This site is great for keyword analysis of your articles and tutorials and references on writing.

Grammar-Monster - Everything you want to ask about grammar is here in a well-organized format.

Freelance Home Writer - This is a great site with lots of reviews on article writing sites, helpful articles on how to find new ideas to write about, and information on how to promote your articles.

 

Media Presentation:

Writing for websites is as much about media presentation as article content. Breaking up the content into small paragraphs, interspersed with pictures and lists, allows readers who quickly skim webpages to stop and pause. The two best methods for acquiring pictures to use in your content are:

1. Take your own with a digital camera.

2. Use sites like MorgueFile and Wikipedia to mine pictures that won't create copyright infringement issues for you.

3. Pay sites like Dreamstime for pictures. If you're writing for free, this probably isn't the way to go.

 

New content is a wonderful thing to read and even more fun to write. There is an entry point for any new writer on the web. Just don't quit your day job for a while.