Writing.skserver.org

By Amy Derby

Writing articles for the internet is an easy and even fun way to make money online. There are few structural guidelines, and it’s mostly common-sense writing; just add spell-check. To make the most money writing articles, here are a few quick tips to help you out:

Your Title is Everything Your title should be unique. Your title should contain keywords relevant to your article. Your article should tell people exactly what you’re going to tell them in your article. If you entered your entire title into a search engine, you shouldn’t find another like yours. Key phrases are as good, if not better in some cases, than keywords. So get creative. And get to the point. Your title may be the only thing they read while skimming the search engines or article directory your article comes up in, so make it good.

Finding Your Voice Your style is important. How you come off to your reader is everything. If you don’t seem friendly or engaging, if you’re instead boring or arrogant, you’ve already lost your audience. Write like you’re talking to a friend over coffee.

Be the Expert The more articles you are able to write in any given field, the more money you’ll ultimately make. Become an expert. Be the person other people go to when they want advice on whatever it is you write about. Find your niche, your tiny area of standing out, the one thing you can write about over and over without getting tired and dried up.

Write, Re-write, and Know Your Rights Unless you’re a professional ghost-writer who makes big bucks per sale, you probably want to keep the rights to re-sell at least half of your written work. If you own the rights to your work, giving your clients only usage rights, you’ll make less per sale, but you’ll make it up in volume. If you can sell one article for partial rights to twelve people for $25, you’ll still be better off than if you’d sold the piece once for $50. When you find yourself short of work, re-write an article you’ve already written and still own the rights to, and you might just find yourself inspired all over again.

Have Some Fun Take a “free writing day” once in a while. (It’s kind of like a “mental health day” in the world of the 9-5′er.) Write for a cause that is dear to your heart, write in an online journal, or write a poem for your favorite online magazine that doesn’t have the funds to pay you for it. Take the low-paying job that means you can write what you want to write, rather than the high-paying gig that will drain you, if only once in a while. You’ll be more productive at your money-making efforts if you have some fun.