Making Money Online With Freelance Writing

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By Mark Knowles

How To Make Money Online By Freelance Writing

If you have plans to earn a living from the internet by providing your freelance writing services, then there are a few aspects of this business that you’ll need to consider before you dive in. A lot of writers don’t earn as much as they could be, mainly because of their lack of diversification, but there are a few other things that help to keep them down.

Here is a basic guide to help get you started, or possibly even increase your bottom line, for writers who have been in the game for more than a year or two. One of the first things that you’ll need to do, before you ever take on your first writing gig, is to set some rates that you’re going to charge. This may be hard for some new writers to achieve, because you don’t know what you should be charging.

However, as a general rule, if you speak English, and write using proper grammar, you can usually get paid a minimum of $0.02 per word. This means that you’ll be paid around $8 for a 400 word article. As you get better at what you do, you’ll be able to increase the rates that you charge clients.

Making money online with Freelance writing
Making money online with Freelance writing

Next, you’ll need to figure out where you are going to make your money. There are two main types of sites that you’ll be writing for as you venture into the freelance market. Sites such as eHow, Demand Studios, and Bukisa provide you with a pool of articles that need to be written, and usually pay specific rates for different types of articles. You don’t necessarily get to determine how much you are paid, but one fact is certain.

You need to keep your quality up on these sites, or you will end up losing time dealing with overzealous editors. Another type of freelance writing site is an actual publisher marketplace where you are invited to write from the pool of topics that various publishers need completed. Sites like eHow, and Bukisa will use the articles on their own sites, whereas, publishers through freelance sites like The Content Authority, and TextBroker will use the articles for different means.

These types of publishers are usually filling out their own sites the articles that you write, and pay per word, rather than a set rate for the entire article. You can determine how much you charge through sites like these, and most fluent English speaking writers will go for $.015 to $.02 per word.

Another alternative is - of course - a revenue sharing model such as hubpages.

Comments

Seen On TV profile image

Seen On TV 2 years ago

I never realized that outsourcing writing would be so cheap. Certainly seems like a great deal for the buyer and a lot of work for the writer. I'm gonna keep my eye on the comments here and see what others think. I've never done free lance writing or bought an article, but it's an interesting idea

Hello, hello, profile image

Hello, hello, 2 years ago

This is absolutely great, Mark. You are super. I signed up with freelancer and sent tons of offers but all $1 or $2 for 500 words. I am not being funny but surely we are worth a bit more. I also signed up with Constant Content and they sending quite a bit a work at a better rate. Thank you, Mark.

Mark Knowles profile image

Mark Knowles Hub Author 2 years ago

This is the bare minimum I would suggest.

prettydarkhorse profile image

prettydarkhorse Level 2 Commenter 2 years ago

another option yes, but I am concentrating here at HP, and learning keywords, but I enjoy also writing. Earning is of course a plus. Thank you, now I know the price which is just right! English is my second language, Thank you Sir, Maita

Duchess OBlunt profile image

Duchess OBlunt Level 4 Commenter 2 years ago

I'm so glad I have added you as a friend :) You just keep giving us wonderful ideas.

Karen Banes profile image

Karen Banes 2 years ago

I write for several websites (dealing directly with the owner/editor of the site)and charge per article. Have never thought about in terms of cost per word before but now I have I'm pretty happy as it seems I'm getting paid well over the minimum you suggest! Haven't tried any of these sites yet but will definitely be bookmarking this to check them out when I have time.

gramarye profile image

gramarye 2 years ago

Thanks for this informative hub. It is something that I'm thinking about, but not quite ready to jump. Therefore this is good for the thinking about part of it.

Georgina_writes profile image

Georgina_writes Level 3 Commenter 2 years ago

Great hub on freelancing, Mark. I diversify a lot and that seems to work well for me. I'm a big fan of freelance writing, although the content might not be your choice, you does the work and you gets the money - pretty quickly usually. Like Hello, hello, I write on freelancer, but you really have to pick and choose and don't take the cheap stuff - the site has led to some quite lucrative work for me. great hub!

FGual profile image

FGual Level 3 Commenter 2 years ago

Hello Mark. I'm at Textbroker at .015 a word, which comes to about $4.50 for a 335 word article. After writing 5 articles today made about $22.50. I'm tired already, so enough for the day and not enough to live on. Still better than a buck for a 500 word article, which is beneath starving artist.

Mark Knowles profile image

Mark Knowles Hub Author 2 years ago

Thanks guys.

FGual - it can be tough starting out - you need a reputation to start charging more.

DonnaWallace profile image

DonnaWallace 2 years ago

Thank you for the great advice. You hit the nail right on the head about the overzealous editors!

viking305 profile image

viking305 Level 6 Commenter 2 years ago

The information you have given here is invaluable, thank you. I have always written articles for publication in magazines but since joining HubPages a few months ago I have been pleasantly surprised at the amount of opportunities out there in cyberspace.

I will be book marking this hub so I can check out these writing opportunities you have highlighted.

Athlyn Green 2 years ago

I would strongly caution newer writers about giving away samples of their articles as part of the application process for any article-writing job. These "jobs" are often scams and the scammer wants free articles. Anyone who isn't willing to review one of your published articles, may have dubious motives.

Revenue share sites, as Mark mentions here, may be the better bet over one-off payments. Sites that offer a one-off payment of $1.00-$2.00 for a 500-word article insult writers everywhere (although, for someone starting out, online sites may a good way to gain experience and accrue published works).

A couple of other factors that can determine pay rates: how much revenue a site offers, article topics, and SEO efforts such as inbound links.

Seakay profile image

Seakay 24 months ago

Hey, Mark! I'm going to check out Freelancer and Constant Comment, as suggested.

Also, thanks for the caution, Athlyn. Good advice!

Charlise profile image

Charlise 16 months ago

Thanks for the ideas - very useful, as making money is always on my list ;-)

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