An interesting story is told of an article writer who published one article-may be with our favorite Triond- then proceeded to wait for money to stream into his large pockets. After every other hour, he opened the web, went to his page on Triond and with increasing disappointment, checked how much he had earned.
Misleading Claims
It may sound far fetched but it is unfortunately what most beginning writers do. They are fired with enthusiasm to make money quickly. They do not know that it takes hard work and non-stop effort to start earning money from publishing articles on the internet. Listening to misleading advice only compounds the writer's dilemma. One such advice claims that a writer can make thousands of dollars from just 10 articles. “You don't have to wear your fingers out typing,” the author of the advice article wrote before going ahead to give a few “tips” on “how 10 articles can make you financially comfortable.”
The situation isn't improved by advertisers seeking potential trainees. They will make wild claims about the “stress-free business” of online writing. One of them that's in front of me stresses the enormous growth of websites, all of them requiring content in form of articles. “Imagine being able to quit your job and escape the rat race for ever!”
Of course, there is some truth in the claims if you take luck into the bargain. And there's luck in article writing, just like in any other business. You may be lucky to hit on a note that is everyone's favorite. But for most writers, it's hard work, planning and understanding the needs of your readers that will bring you the dollars.
So How Many Articles Must You Publish?
So, how many articles do you need to publish to start earning a comfortable income from your articles? Most writers will tell you that they write three to four articles a day. If they worked five days a week, and 52 weeks a year, their annual output would be a staggering 1,040 articles at the high end or 780 articles on the lower end. With this kind of output, if every article brought in a few cents, it is obvious that our writers would make reasonable incomes per month.
Many professional writers write for about three or four -or even more - publishing sites. On average, these writers will have between 80 and 100 articles in each site. That tallies in quite well with the answers I got in interviews with article writers who said they had on average upwards of 500 articles.
One writer told me that he normally starts with 25 articles, and adds about four to five articles in a week. That means that in the first year, he publishes about 230 articles.
Why the Preoccupation with Numbers?
Why this preoccupation with numbers, you may ask? Well, the preoccupation is because quantity is the watchword when it comes to business on the internet. Do you have a site? Then get a lot of people visiting. Many visitors mean much money. It's the same with articles. More articles mean more people seeing your name, and that means more money.
The theory is based on the simple fact that the more you publish, the more you get indexed by search engines. And the more indexed you are, the more the chances that more people will find you. And if you stretch it further, the more people find you, the bigger you grow in popularity. Popularity in this case means you will be read by more people, and that means that you will earn more money.
Remember, of course, that unlike in the regular media where your article's earning capacity generally ends at the end of the day or month, the internet article writer benefits from the fact that his work builds upon each other. Thus an article you wrote last year can still earn you money today.
