Build an Online Residual Income Nest Egg
What Freelance Writers Can do Now to Increase Earnings in the Future
Oct 9, 2008
While nothing is guaranteed, setting up a wide residual writing foundation can bring in much-needed financial rewards in the future.
Young and energetic writers enjoy burning the midnight oil at the keyboard, but there does come a time when it feels good to relax for a little bit. In preparation for that need-to-relax stage in a writer's career, freelance writers should seek out opportunities that provide residual income.
Writing for the Internet vs. Print
The internet provides many opportunities for residual income. Unlike the printed media where writers usually get paid once for printed articles, many internet opportunities allow writers to get paid several times for the same piece, thus the residual effect.
Authors who write books understand the importance of residual income. After putting a year or so into researching, writing, editing and publishing a book, there is a small chance the book may become a best seller, or even moderately sold for the writer to earn residual income. The internet offers a better same chance of receiving residual income, but it happens much faster and with much less effort.
Finding the Right Internet Writing Markets
The key to developing the residual income stream is to find the right markets. Freelance writers should look for sites such as eHow; Suite 101, Associated Content and Helium, to name a few that offer a residual writer's compensation program. In other words, write once get paid many times. While the upfront money is not as lucrative, the back end residual is nice.
Other sites offer to pay writers a set amount up front such as Demand Studios, Oboulo and Textbroker. While this is attractive in the short run, in order to keep earning the writer must keep writing.
Web Content Quantity
Anyone serious about cultivating a steady stream of residual income through her writing must understand that quantity on the Internet is the foundation upon which to build a nest egg. A base of a minimum of 100 articles per site is a nice beginning. Once a freelance writer has generated 100 quality articles on a web content site, they're on their way to generating a steady source of residual income source. The amount earned, of course, depends on the quality and type of articles written.
Rules for Writing for the Internet
A freelance writer that understands the rules of the internet game will be more successful than one who does not. Writing for the internet involves understanding SEO (search engine optimization), advertiser preference and a combination of evergreen and temporarily popular topics. Learning search engine techniques and researching advertising trends is easy, keeping a finger on the pulse of what to write involves constant research. However, to build a successful residual income base, it's research time well spent.
Writers should not expect to see a substantial residual haul for several months. It will begin as a trickle within a few months and then gradually increase.
The attractive quality about internet writing is that the more writers write, the better they get. The better they get, the more their articles tap into the pulse of what readers want to read. When that happens, the residual income begins to grow exponentially.
Writing content for the internet is not a rich quick program, but it just might be a little more reliable than 401 (k) programs recently managed by Bear Sterns and insured through AIG.
