Making Money as a Content Writer
Online Content Writing Requires New Skills
Speed is the key to making content writing pay off. Writers can't spend hours polishing and editing stories meant for online content mills.
That's because content writers don't make much money for each story they write. A writer might make $10 for a 400-word blurb on window tinting, or $25 for a package of a 350-word story on fireplace accessories and two rewrites.
To make rates that low pay off, writers have to be able to pound out content stories as quickly as possible.
The good news is that it's not hard to do this.
What is Content Writing?
Content writing produces the stories that fill blogs and Web pages across the Internet. The owners of these pages hire writers at low rates to produce quick, short stories. The hope is that the content will attract visitors, who will then click on site ads, buy products or do whatever else makes money for the site owners.
The actual content of the stories isn't key. Site owners want certain key words or phrases -- it could be "classic martini glasses" or "hiking in Maui" or just about anything else -- to appear in the stories. But most site owners don't focus on a story's grammar, style or paragraph transitions.
Because of this, content stories don't require time-consuming phone interviews or research beyond what "Google" digs up.
Writers working for online content mills have to recognize this. Those who can't accept these terms should avoid this field.
You Can Earn Decent Income as a Content Writer
Because the amount of pay offered for every story is so low, content writers can only earn decent money by taking on several assignments a week or day. Those who write fast enough, and boast enough clients, can make from $700 to $1,000 or so a month.
Writers, though, must only take on assignments that they can complete quickly. This may mean passing on topics that would require too much research time. It may also mean passing on highly technical topics.
Writers must be careful, too, not to overwhelm themselves. It's relatively easy to find content writing jobs, at least when compared to landing assignments at print magazines and newspapers. It's also easy for writers to take on more work than they can handle.
Content writing is an entirely different sort of writing than what most freelancers are used to. Some writers won't be able to look past the low pay per story.
Others, though, might consider content stories to be much easier to write than newspaper or magazine stories. They might be so easy to write, in fact, that $10 for 400 words might work out to a decent hourly rate.
Content Writing
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