Why the Internet Needs Writers
You and I have the best job in the world.
Why do I say that? Because every time I submit work to a client, I know that I am providing that client with something meaningful; something of value. Not everyone can do what you and I do. The ability to produce well-written, accurate, readable content that is also Search Engine Optimized is a talent that few people have.
Let’s think for a minute about your average web site. Let’s take The Drudge Report as an example. Matt Drudge had made millions of dollars on his web site, yet he only rarely produces any content himself. While Drudge did break the Monica Lewinsky story, the vast majority of the information on Matt’s site is content produced by others (news web sites, in this case). Matt Drudge isn’t a writer; but without writers, he would still be a struggling beat photographer for a local paper.
photo credit: desi.italy
You see, a web site rises and falls on the content that it provides to its visitors. While there certainly are other models of content (such as videos, games, and social networking) the most successful web sites over time have been those that have good content.
You and I have helped to make that happen. That, my friends, is a good feeling. The feeling that you are needed. The feeling that your life and your work have value.
Every time I visit the web site of my biggest and oldest client, I feel proud. I know that she has gotten to where she is at, at least in part, because of me. I’m OK with the fact that I use a pen name on her web site, and can never tell you who I really am. It doesn’t matter. I can still look at it and say, I made this. This is pretty cool.
Internet Writing Glossary
Not sure what all of the jargon on this Internet writing blog and other web sites means exactly? Get a handle on it with this Internet Writing Glossary:
Article Directory
An article directory is an online depository of articles. Think of an article directory as a library tucked away in one little corner of the Internet. Article directories provide value to their readers by 1) providing information that the readers are interested in, and 2) providing resources that readers can use in other formats, such as eZines and newsletters. Some article directories, such as Associated Content, pay Internet writers for their submissions, while others like eZineArticles don’t offer payment, but do provide links back to the Internet writer’s web site. Interested in knowing more? Check out my Directory of Internet Article Writing Sites.
Blog
A blog is short for “weblog.” A Blog is a specific type of a web page with very unique characteristics that set it apart from other sorts of Internet web sites. What are those unique characteristics? Well, for one, blogs have a temporal (time-related) component to them. The articles on a blog are typically listed in chronological order, beginning with the most recent article. Blog archives tend to be arranged by date, and you can browse through a blog’s history in this manner. second, blogs are unique in that they don’t require specialized knowledge to use. Just about anyone who can use a word processor can set up a blog. This principle has caused the “blogosphere” to explode in size in recent years. This is important, because blogs allow individuals, like you, who have specialized knowledge or interests to have a way to share that knowledge or interest with the entire world. Finally, blogs tend to have a very personal component to them. While not every blog is a personal journal or diary, many blogs do tell personal stories. This tends to be an especially effective method of communication.
eBook
An eBook is a book published in an electronic format. Today, most eBooks are published in PDF format, and require Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to view them. eBooks may be read on your computer, on a handheld device that supports eBooks, or on a portable eBook reader like the Kindle Wireless Reading Device
Freelance Writing
When I have told people in the past that I am a “Freelance Writer” I get one of two reactions: puzzlement or curiosity. I explain to them that, in the middle ages, a “Free Lance” was a knight with no allegiance to a particular lord. Various nobles would, from time to time, hire a Free Lance to fight a battle, put down a peasant rebellion, or serve as personal bodyguards. Today, a freelance writer is someone who uses his or her writing to serve someone (or a number of different someones) for a fee. This might take the form of web content, eBook writing, article writing, or even paid blogging, as well as writing for various tradition print media.
Ghostwriting
Ghostwriting refers to writing that you do for someone else, to which your name is not attached in any way, shape, or form. Generally speaking, ghostwriting means that you can never brag about what you’ve written, and that you won’t receive a byline. On the other hand, ghostwriting tends to be more lucrative than other forms of Internet writing.
Niche
A niche is, simply put, a particular area of interest that you write about. Finding a niche that is both interesting to you and that can make money can be a challenge. The more narrow of a niche you use in your Internet writing, the less competition you will have, and the more marketable you may become.
Monetization
This is the Holy Grail of Internet writing. Monetization is what you do to something to make money with it. If you have a blog, you put up ads or affiliate links, or sell your own product. If you write articles, you submit them to article directories for payment. If you do contract writing for a specific client, you are monetizing your writing through that process, as well.
Page Impressions
I include page impressions here because so many of the potential markets for Internet writing rely on it to determine exactly what the payout will be for the work. Page impressions are the number of times that a page, with your writing on it, is loaded into someone’s browser. The more page impressions your writing gets, the more money it is going to make through monetization. This is true whether you are talking about an Article Directory like Associated Content that pays you a certain rate per 1,000 page impression, or whether you are talking about your own blog where you can use page impressions to gauge the popularity of your web site.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO refers to the process that an Internet writer goes through in his or her writing to make that writing friendly to search engines like Google and Yahoo. SEO can be tricky, because you don’t want to sacrifice readability so that the search engines can find you; if you do, web visitors will simply search, arrive at your site, and then leave without adding to your monetization.
Self-Publishing
Self-publishing refers to the process of publishing your writing, typically a book, without using a traditional publisher or press. Self-publishing means that you alone are ultimately responsible for the marketing and distribution of your book. There are a number of online services that can assist you with self-publishing your book. Understand that, with self-publishing, you always pay up front for your printing costs, as opposed to getting a share of profits. You don’t make any money self-publishing until you sell your writing.
Web Content
Web content is nothing more than the words, pictures, sounds, and anything else that you see on any web page. Internet writers provide web content to many web sites. It is web content that webmasters use to draw traffic to their web sites through search engines. Web content can cover any topic at all, and may or may not have profit in mind. Writing web content for others is, very often, one of the most lucrative types of Internet writing that you can do.
Three Keys to Adding Value to Your Internet Writing
Listen up, folks.
There are a lot of Internet writers.
By a lot, we’re talking in the tens of thousands. The high tens of thousands. Maybe even more.
Now, many of these writers don’t have what it takes to get very far. In fact, most Internet writers quit after just weeks or even days of trying.
The Internet writers who succeed tend to be those that:
- Have an excellent grasp of grammar;
- Have versatile writing styles;
- Are organized and motivated;
- Have some degree of business sense;
- Know how to add value to their Internet writing.
What does it mean to add value to your Internet writing? Simply put, adding value to your Internet writing means that you offer something that few other Internet writers offer. That thing thing adds value to your product ( your writing), making it more useful to your client.
So, what are the ways to add value to your Internet writing? There are many ways. For example, being able to effectively write in another language adds value in some markets. Having high-quality photographs to go along with your Internet writing adds value, as well. But, there are three essential keys to adding value to your Internet writing that are absolutely indispensable, and will put you ahead of the pack: expertise, quality, and a conversational tone.
Expertise means, simply, that you know your subject. You might have an advanced degree, for example, in physics. This means you have expert knowledge that most Internet writers don’t have. You know the jargon of physics, and when you write a Physics-related article, there’s no risk that you’ll sound like you’re a novice. By focusing on this area for your Internet writing, you will have a leg up on the competition. Your writing will be truer to form, and thus better received by its readers. You don’t have to be an expert on the topic when you start, but you’d better be by the time you’re writing in that area on a regular basis.
Quality in the context of Internet writing doesn’t mean what you think it might mean. Quality in this context means that your client doesn’t have to change much, if anything, about your Internet writing in order to use it. By creating reliable content that doesn’t need to be edited, you save your client time and money, and that equals value.
A Conversational tone to your writing will bring you more business than you can imagine. This is part of what has made blogging the successful market that it is. When someone who reads your article feels as though you are sitting right there in the room with them, talking over the topic. This doesn’t mean you don’t follow the conventions of grammar; it’s still a professional article, and not an Instant Message. But what it does mean is that you write in the same way you would talk: with a certain voice, pacing, and meter. It also means that, to whatever degree possible, you anticipate your reader’s questions. Just about the time the reader is wondering, “I wonder if this is connected to particle physics,” he or she should read, in your article, something like “This is connected to particle physics because…”
By focusing your Internet writing on your area of expertise, doing as much editing and proofing work as possible before handing your Internet writing to your client, and by maintaining your conversational tone, you will add significant value to your Internet writing, and hopefully add significant revenue to your bottom line as well.
A Directory of Internet Article Writing Sites
If you’ve done any research at all up to this point, you know that there are dozens, if not hundreds, of article submission sites where you can publish your writing on the Internet. If you’ve done just a smidgen more research, you have learned that most of them don’t pay you anything to write. The ones that do pay you to write typically operate on what I like to call “Eyeball Earnings” - they pay you a given amount for each page view of your article. Just a small handful of those sites will offer any form of up-front payment whatsoever for Internet writing. Here is a guide to the sites that I have used in the past, and the results that I have experienced:
Associated Content - I start with Associated for two reasons: First, I’m doing this directory in alphabetical order. Second, I believe that Associated is the best place for a new Internet writer to cut their teeth. Associated content has two options for your article submissions. The first option pays you only for page views, but publishes your article quicker. The second option pays you a certain amount up front (typically from $3 to $40) for an approved article. I’ve used both methods, and had success with both. The web site itself is relatively easy to navigate, and the actual process of publishing your Internet writing is a breeze. If you’re new to article writing, I’d start with Associated Content.
Constant Content - Unlike Associated, CC Is a site I wouldn’t recommend if you are especially new to Internet writing. Constant Content is more of a broker than it is an article repository. Essentially, you can browse through the various article requests at Constant, and then write articles to fill those requests. However, they won’t always be accepted. In addition, until you’ve got a good handle on the various types of article rights(full rights, usage rights, etc).
eHow - My experience with eHow has been mixed. I’ve found that, maybe even more than some of the article sites where I’ve sent my Internet writing, the topic of an eHow article really determines how much you will make. As an example, I wrote an article about starting a running exercise program. At 128 page views, the article had made $0.55. I wrote an article the previous month about creating a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. At 400+ page views, it had earned $0.12. You might get lucky with eHow and find that your particular area of interest might be a higher paying one than mine have been.
eZineArticles - I have mixed emotions about eZineArticles. eZineArticles doesn’t offer its Internet writers any part of the revenue it received from the articles you submit. Instead, eZineArticles relies on its heavy traffic to click through your author links to generate hits on your web site. My problem here is that almost all of the article writing sites provide that same link. eZineArticles seems to work best if you’ve got a product to sell on a web site. In fact, I’ve made money on eZineArticles indirectly by doing paid Internet writing for those kinds of companies, who then submit the articles to eZineArticles to pull traffic to their own web sites.
Helium. I’m new to the helium world, but I’m intrigued. Helium seems to combine the basic revenue-sharing model of a site like eHow with the marketplace model like in Constant Content. This one, I think, has some excellent potential for Internet writers. On top of everything else, the site navigation is relatively simple, which is always a plus for me. ***Update on Helium.com for March 1, 2008: See The Helium Experiment for how you can use Helium.com today to make a bunch of money!***
The five sites above probably have enough potential for any new Internet writer to hone his or her writing skills, and make a few dollars in the process. While there are those that claim to earn a full-time income from some of these sites, I can’t say that I’ve done it this way myself or known anyone who has.
If those five sites aren’t enough for you, there are some other sites that I’ve seen recommended in the past but have not used (yet). If you use them, feel free to let me know how it works out for you and I can add your review to this directory. Here are the untested sites:
The Eight Most Common Internet Writing Mistakes
I’ve been writing on the Internet for a long time. It started, of course, with e-mail, back in the day. That’s even how I met my wife. But by 2004, Internet Writing was my full-time job and profession.
Along the way, I’ve made some pretty big blunders. I’ve also seen some other folks make some pretty big blunders. Here are eight of the most common blunders I’ve made, and how you can learn from my mistakes:
Not Proofreading. My Eighth Grade English teacher, Mrs. Gorske, pounded the idea of proofreading into my head as a lad. Still, there are times when I just say, “screw it, I’m a damn good writer, I don’t need to proofread.” Invariably, the thing I’m writing bounces back to me, and not in a good way. You’ve heard it a thousand times before, but you have got to read through your work before you submit it, whether it’s a blog post or a document for a client. This doesn’t mean just running spell-check; it means reading what you wrote, line by line, looking for spelling, grammatical, or logical errors.
Being too informal. I will never forget one of my biggest blunders with a client. I had decided to put out an e-mail to my friends, telling them that I had hit a certain goal in my weight loss program. I included “before” and “after” pictures. Some of them were shirtless. I made the mistake of including one of my newer clients on the e-mail list. I haven’t had any new work from the client since then. This one applies mainly to your business communications, but it can apply to certain types of Internet Writing, as well. Just because you are writing on the Internet doesn’t mean that you don’t have to follow normal writing conventions. Yes, some formats of Internet Writing, like the Blog, are more conversational in tone, but you still need to maintain a certain level of professionalism.
photo credit: virgo200745 
Not Understanding the Market for Your Internet Writing. It’s not just enough to be a good writer. You might be the best writer there is, but if you’re going to be writing a history of your Great Aunt Mable’s hair styles in the 1950s, there’s not going to be a market for it. You’ve got to write about something that matters to people if you’re going to make money.
Not Correcting Grammatical Errors. I like to overuse commas. My Creative Writing professor in College pointed that out to me. You know that it’s bad when you’re using too many commas in poetry. I still do it today. But, notice that I didn’t say “Making Grammatical Errors.” Everybody makes them. But, there are a handful of grammatical errors that you have got to be able to avoid and/or correct if you want to maintain credibility as an Internet Writer. You have to know the difference between “there,” “their” and “they’re,” for example. Editors, clients, and the web-reading public can be unforgiving of simple grammatical errors, especially if they happen on a repeat basis.
Going Too Deep. Most of the time, the articles that you are going to write on the Internet, whether they are for a website client, for an article directory, or for a blog, will probably be somewhere between 300 and 1,000 words. That’s just about the right amount of information for a human being to consume in those mediums. Keeping your writing narrowly focused will keep you from hitting your word count goal before you’re out of material to write about.
Expecting Something for Nothing. You’re going to get out of something what you put into it. It’s a law, built into the universe. If you don’t do your best, you’re not going to keep getting business, plain and simple.
Being Impatient. The Internet moves at the speed of light. Unfortunately, your clients don’t, search engines don’t, and Internet Traffic doesn’t. It takes time to establish yourself as a credible source in your particular area of endeavor. Just because you haven’t sold one copy of your eBook in six months doesn’t mean that a year from now you won’t be selling a dozen of them a day. If you’re looking to make it as a Blogger, especially, expect to be in it for a long time before you turn a profit.
photo credit: silverbelly
Being Distracted by Your Topic. I once had a writing assignment where I needed to write a handful of articles, around the 500 word mark, on Deep Sea Diving. I’d never gone deep sea diving, and I was fascinated by the topic. I went to the library, and spent the better part of a day reading up on it. I even looked into vacation packages featuring a dive. The entire project only paid $50, and I put a day and a half of “work” time into it. It’s all too easy to become distracted by the topic you’re writing about, especially if it is an interesting topic to you personally. Don’t be afraid to check a book out to be read later, or revisit a web site at another time, or to subscribe to RSS feeds and come back to them when your work is done for the day.
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