So, how do you find writing work that will pay?

First of all anyone looking for freelance writing work on the internet needs to realise that there are so many other writers doing the same thing all over the world and so, with so many articles available, webmaster and site owners don’t pay very much for your work. Some don’t actually pay for it at all. They give you a monthly payment according to the amount of advertising revenue your article has earned.

So, as well as being a writer, you need to be a marketer and you need to drive as much traffic as you can to your articles.  Traffic means money.

I make a decent part-time income by combining income from a number of content sites and blogs on the internet.

Triond is my main source of writing income and as long as I keep marketing my work my income increases each month. The way this works is that all article in the Triond system continue to earn revenue, so, the more you write, the more income you generate.  I have been writing on this site under the name of Louie Jerome for more than two years now.  I can guarantee that you will get paid in the middle of each and every month (minimum payout 50c). 

***

Associated Content also provides me with a small monthly income but the problem here is that they will no buy my work outright because I am not a US writer. I have no idea why this is but they only pay non-US writers for the reads their articles attract. This is currently somewhere around $1.50 per thousand.  Payment is made on a monthly basis via Paypal.  There’s no need to worry about getting paid from people as I have never had a problem.

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Word To The Wise is my own blog and it attracts Adsense revenue (slowly), plus an income from Adgitize which is also quite slow but increasing with the traffic.  I don’t run ‘paid to blog’ advertising on my blog. It is relatively easy to find opportunities to do this and you can earn a few dollars per post but it can affect your standing on social networking sites and it can also put readers off coming back to your blog.

Today.com will pay you a dollar a day plus a payment for the reads you get if you set up a blog on their site.  You need to write at least 100 words per day and they guarantee that $1 for 30 days, after which they will revise what they pay you. So, it is advantageous to keep the quality high and write more than the minimum.  I have not earned enough to be paid by this site, so I can’t vouch for them but it looked to be worth a try.

Getpaidfrom.us is another site where I have posted a blog. It is taking time to build traffic here because the url of the blogs posted here tends to scream ‘advertising’ at the reader and it puts people off.   For instance: getpaidfrom.us gives the impression that I am paid to write what they tell me, but that’s not the case.  Driving traffic here is difficult because most social network sites and members don’t like blogs where writers are paid to post and this is what the url implies. I haven’t earned enough to be paid by these people but I have spoken to a couple of people who have been paid, so this one looks a safe bet.

I am a member of Bukisa.com and previously posted some articles there but I have removed them. I do not post anything there, now. I don’t know of anyone who has been paid by them but I am informed that contributors are earning good money. Recent problems with plagiarism left a nasty taste in my mouth and I have also been put off by the set up, the rapid growth and the high initial payments being offered here.  I may be wrong and if so I will reassess the situation.

There are lots of sites that will pay for contributions and I believe that eHow and similar sites offer an income to US writers. Anyone who is not from US should check this out because I actually started to write on eHow and then discovered that they wouldn’t pay me because I don’t live in US. If you are thinking of writing for a new site, read the terms and conditions carefully.

I earn a good regular monthly income from two other sites which are UK only (just to balance the opportunities discussed here!) 

Dooyoo is a UK consumer opinion site which pays 50p which is around $1 for each article and extra for each read. There are also extra payments for outstanding content which are made weekly.  Ciao.co.uk is a similar site which pays less but runs writing competitions on a weekly and monthly basis and provides me with a regular income.

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Hubpages does not pay you to write but if you publish articles, or Hubs as they call them they will share Adsense revenue with you. You can link this to your existing Adsense account.  This adds a little bit of revenue to that earned by my main blog but not enough to make it worthwhile spending a lot of time on it.

This article is not written with the intention of discussing every writing opportunity available on the internet.  This is the way I earn my income as a writer and includes my personal experience of the sites that I write for.

At first, I was very pleased with the site. While I'm writing this (December 30, 2008) my profile got 189 views, I've published 28 articles and I've earned - virtually of course, there is a payout minimum of $50 - $4.69 since joining not even two weeks before.

I opened two other accounts, in Dutch, on December 18 and December 21. Most of my articles got published right away, 1/3 was reviewed by Bukisa and published the next day. I was extremely pleased to see that my Dutch articles also did it very well. Dutch is my native language and being a full time offline writer since 1988, I have something like an audience down here in Flanders, a solid bunch of readers, even some fans. So I linked and promoted my Dutch Bukisa pieces on a number of my blogs and sites, bookmarked them socially, invited some friends to join Bukisa, and so on...

Image used with permission

Bukisa had no problems with my "How To Articles" that were in fact creative writings (there is already a lot of poetry and storytelling published on Bukisa), they made no problem of my Dutch (they have a Dutch spell checker!) and they did not mind my "creative linking" either.

Until yesterday, Monday 29 December. (No, I Don't Like Mondays!)

I logged in to watch my stats (and my earnings grow!)... and all of my articles of one Dutch account (except one single piece!) were suddenly "disapproved" and un-published. In my other Dutch account one article was "disapproved" - after it got approved by Bukisa, as all the articles that had vanished from the site were already approved by Bukisa.

I've send Bukisa a message right away. What was the reason for this sudden disapproval of all of my articles (except one single piece) and of one single article in my other account? Why this rather extreme measure had been taken? Why was this done without any further notice, without any explanation, without a warning of some kind?

I did not get an answer from Bukisa. I was feeling like some lonesome cowboy, Wild Bill Hickock maybe, badly mistreated in the Bukisa Desert.

Image used with permission

So, today, Tuesday 30 December, I've send a second message to Bukisa, saying I firmly disapprove the actions taken by Bukisa. Or to say it better: that I firmly disapprove the actions Bukisa has not taken. Because it remains One Great Historical Mystery to me why all these articles that first were approved suddenly got disapproved by Bukisa. I can't imagine no reason for doing that. I've read the Bukisa Terms of Use again, I've read the Bukisa Blog Section again... I've done nothing against the rules, it's only my own work I've published there, and Bukisa had already approved all my stuff!

Now, if Bukisa has a sane reason for banning all my articles except one, or one single piece in another account, there should be at least some kind of an explanation, don't you think so? Un-publish all my work without further notice really is not serious and/or professional, don't you think so? A writer should at least be given some respect, don't you think so?

Some of my fellow writers were asking me what were my experiences with Bukisa. Well, my Bukisa Adventure has become a short story. A very short one, leaving me tired and deeply depressed, seeking comfort with my offline writings, as you can see here:

Image used with permission

And if you ask me if Bukisa is reliable or nothing more than the hype of the moment, I will say you this one thing: to my knowledge, only one hype truly delivered, and I honestly have not seen the Future of Online Publishing (and its name is not Bukisa either). So...

Happy New Year to you all... and Beware of the Fool's Gold:

Image used with permission

Capital       Investment made in the letter blogging.

Manpower Capability of human resources available.

Time           Time spent in updating custom letters and marketing in the letter blog

Let’s see how these three elements work to bring the desired results (money).

Capital

Web logs are free to get. You are not using a website where you have to pay for hosting. The only thing you invest is paying your internet providers.

Manpower

You need to be skilled to provide a good quality custom letters people can buy in your web log.

You need to be able to market your blog to get traffic.

You need to have a way to collect requests from users, in order to write their personal request letters.

You need to have a way to collect your payment from users who buy your letters.

You must be able to give your customers or users product guarantee.

You may need the assistance of other letter writers ( not necessary )

Time

Be willing to spend time updating your custom letters and blog contents.

Think about the idea, you can make it.

But as I swing into year number two as an online writer, I find myself bristling at the idea of writing for pennies, and feeling sometimes like I practically give away my work by publishing on some websites that pay next to nothing for my articles. At first I was alarmed by this recent shift in my thinking. After all, as a creative writer, shouldn't artistic expression and having a place to publish my work and get my stories in front of the public be my main objective for writing articles? Is it wrong to also want to be paid a fair income for my ideas and all the time and effort I've put into my stories?

Recently, I was reading a book about how to break into magazine writing, and it urged writers not to give away their work or settle for low wages. The whole tone of the book encouraged writers to pursue financial as well as creative success as a freelance writer for magazines and websites. Reading this book and others like it that talk about writing as an art and a business, I realized that I'm not off base to want to make a decent living while being creatively fulfilled as a full time freelance writer.

One thing I've noticed about writing for sites that pay revenues for page views on articles and photos: the author's share of money for page views is usually quite low. That fact has started to bother me more and more as I've continued my work as an online writer. Unless a writer generates huge traffic to their work through social bookmarking and other means of article promotion, or publishes a lot of content, or can manage to produce popular content that hooks a ton of readers, earnings can be dismally small.

Revenues at sites like this can be so inadequate that writers are often frustrated and they consider abandoning their writing dreams. I see this time and time again, as fellow writers leave comments on my articles about writing. I receive emails saying they've done everything they can to raise their writing revenues, and they're very disheartened and thinking about giving up on trying to achieve their heart's desire of becoming a freelance writer.

I always encourage people to keep going, keep writing, even if revenues are small, as my thinking is that it takes a long time to build an income as an online writer, and success writing online is not just achieved in dollars and cents. Although my revenues at certain sites I write for has dipped a bit lately, I still feel like a success as an online writer. I strive to write quality articles, my articles are of interest to my readers, and I always try to do my best with each story. My name has popped up as one of the most popular writers on Writinghood.com and Telewatcher.com, and I've hit the Hot Content list on Triond. On top of all that, I'm part of a warm, wonderful community on Triond and have made many friends on the site.

It makes me feel successful when other writers tell me my articles about how to write content and find freelance writing jobs have been helpful for them. I always feel that one of the goals of a creative artist in any medium is to uplift, entertain, inform and inspire other people, and other artists. So if I have achieved that, if my work has in any way been inspirational, entertaining, or has added value to the world, I feel like I've been successful as a writer.

Writing as an Art and a Business

I feel successful in my work writing online, but I still have this nagging feeling lately that my share of revenues earned from sites that pay for page views is too low, and if I focus my time on them exclusively, I'll never achieve my goal of becoming a self supporting freelance writer. This was really a hard, sad realization for me, because I love the work I do on these sites, and I enjoy spending time at these writing communities.

For writers who have full time day jobs that support them and are publishing articles online without much thought to their earnings as an online writer, discussions of low pay for articles published online might seem vulgar or offensive, implying that commercialism is more important than artistic expression. I notice that writers who are content in their full time professions and just seek a place to publish their writing are sometimes not that concerned about the often discouraging rates of pay for online writers.

But what about the rest of us who are trying to bring together writing as an art and a business? I think there's nothing wrong with wanting to be an artist who is running a small business, receiving fair compensation for their work. If you're out of work and would rather write all day than sit in a cubicle or go out each morning to a dead-end job that doesn't let you express yourself creatively, I believe it's perfectly alright to shoot for the dream of earning enough money to support yourself through freelance writing.

When I had been writing online for about six months, I learned about bidding sites that let writers compete with other writers for online writing jobs. At first it sounded like a great idea and I looked at a few of these types of sites to see how the concept worked. I found buyers looking to purchase packages of articles, asking writers to write in batches, for very low pay, giving up a byline and all rights to their work. These types of writing jobs abound on the internet, and if you can write and have some understanding of keywords, then you can put yourself out there as a pen for hire, someone who can produce a staggering amount of content per day (often in what feels like assembly line style).

I've never done that kind of work, because while I might make some money cranking out huge volumes of content like this, it didn't seem very creative or fulfilling to me. It seemed like I would burn out very quickly doing this type of work, and I believe as a writer or any kind of artist, we have to draw a line around our creativity, protect and nurture it, lest we lose that creative spark and passion to do the work.

I avoided writing for content mills and content factories and just kept on going writing for sites that paid me for page views, even though my earnings often fell short of my needs. In late September, on a whim I signed up at a site called Xomba, where writers are paid by participating in Google AdSense. I've been shocked by the earnings potential at Xomba; I've earned more in two months than I have in my whole time on some other sites I write for. I'm trying to earn more through my online writing, so I've ended up spending most of the last two months on Xomba, building and expanding my earnings.

However, while I find Xomba fun and fascinating, it is not as fulfilling for me as writing for Triond or Associated Content. So that's really a dilemma for a writer trying to write as an art and as a business. Right now, since I'm out of work and trying to build up my online earnings, I'm devoted to Xomba (I'm a devoted Xombie, as Xomba writers like to call themselves!)

The other day I realized I felt a bit irritable and a little sad. Could it be the dark unbearably gray skies of cold Upstate New York in November, or something else? Yes, it was a bit of the seasonal blues, but more the fact that I hadn't written an article in a while. I'd been posting Xomblurbs like crazy on Xomba (Xomblurbs are social bookmarks of interesting websites, blogs, articles, images, or videos, with a brief written description of the bookmark).

It's enjoyable to find things to bookmark for Xomba, but it doesn't always fill that need to express myself through article writing. Xomba writers can also post magazine quality articles called Xombytes, and I do have some Xombytes on Xomba, but I'm increasing my earnings by posting a steady stream of Xomblurbs each day (I have 14 Xombytes and about 350 Xomblurbs posted on Xomba as of this writing).

As I work on Xomba and build up content there, I'm sometimes earning more in one day than I do in a whole month on sites like Triond. Right now I'm making the most money working for Xomba, I receive steady monthly earnings from over 100 articles I have on Associated Content, and I make a only few dollars each month from my articles and photos on Triond. When I don't write as much new content for Associated Content, my earnings still hold steady; however, when I publish less on Triond, my earnings fall dramatically. One month when I had my highest earnings on Triond, I did a lot of social bookmarking and writing. I published articles and some photos and achieved modest earnings. Perhaps I could build those earnings over time, but I earn more in a day or two on Xomba than I do in a month on Triond.

So, Xomba receives most of my focus these days, and I truly miss being on Triond on a daily basis, but my reasons are economic right now. I have this dream of earning a living through Xomba and blogging with Google AdSense. When I work really hard on Xomba and put in tons of effort, I see tangible results in my Google AdSense account. Regrettably, I can't say the same for the other sites I write currently for. I've often worked my heart out on some of these other sites to log in and find a mistake has been made with page views and revenue has been taken away, or if there haven't been any errors, my share of revenues for my articles remains discouraging low despite all of my best efforts.

Creating a Writing Plan

I think it's useful for all writers to have a plan and do some goal setting. It's good to have an idea of your creative goals and also a business plan for what you want to achieve financially with your writing. For 2009, I plan to worker harder than ever to build my Google AdSense earnings by writing for Xomba and getting more involved in blogging. I'll put more time into my existing blog with Google AdSense and I'm thinking about creating some new blogs, too.

Some writers earn quite a bit on Xomba, and I hope to be one of them (some make anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars a month with Xomba). I believe with enough effort I can build Xomba into a great passive, if not full time income stream. The only catch is that I find it more creatively satisfying writing articles for other sites like Triond, so I'll still do that from time to time, just to feel more fulfilled as a writer.

I'll continue to increase my monthly revenues by adding articles to my existing library on Associated Content, but I want to branch out into other markets as well. I feel like I've gotten in a comfort zone writing for a few websites, and I need to challenge myself to branch out more. This means I'll be scanning online job boards, crafting some query letters, and approaching new online markets as I'm also trying to break into magazine writing.

I've never felt more excited about being a freelance writer than I do right now. I'm proud of my accomplishments, but I feel like there's so much more out there for me to achieve in my work. In this upcoming New Year, I'll be paying more attention to writing as a business as well as an art. While I'm not willing to compromise my values and just write solely for commercial purposes, I am focusing more on receiving fair pay for my time and hard work.

This year as I'm looking into other writing jobs, I'll be asking myself: will this assignment further me as a writer and am I being adequately compensated for my time? Hopefully, I'll be able to balance my artistic needs with my desire to achieve financial freedom as a writer. I don't measure my success solely in terms of dollars and cents, but it is important for me to be able to support myself in my chosen profession. Good luck and best wishes to all freelance writers in 2009; may you achieve happiness as an artist while you prosper in your writing business.

5) Use a Top List

People now-a-day have way better things to do than read real essay. Just dumb it down for the common folk. Apparently it works I don't read any Cracked.com article that isn't a top ten list.

4) Use Irrelevant Images

Always a good thing to do make sure that the common reader can look at the funny pictures rather than the words.

3) Don't use to many words.

They are only going to read the headlines and the first few sentences anyways. And you don't want it to end up like a web comic.

2) Use “Hot” Topics

You need something that everyone is going to be interested in. Something that everyone loves like fat cats or the election. Or sex any top ten list with sex in the subtitle will be sure to get many a view.

1) Use a Profitable Topic

Make a topic that will make people click on the ads, a article on your favorite TV show may get a lot of views but will most likely not make much money. But remember if you want it interesting and funny its almost impossible to have a real money maker. Also you need to be a good writer. So I think that this article may make about two cents if I am lucky!

Image Sources: http://www.socialpicks.com/photo/name/3348/money.jpg

http://www.socialpicks.com/photo/name/3348/money.jpg

http://words-for-you.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/words.jpg

http://img2.timeinc.net/toh/i/a/repair/repairs-01.jpg

Content Generation

If you're like me, and coming up with ideas for articles is the least of your worries, then feel free to skip over this section.  Your problem is more likely time management or promotion.  For those of you having trouble coming up with that groundbreaking article, please read on.

Now, this is not to suggest that your experience on Triond should be one of catering to the majority.  If you build a steady following writing prose/poetry or film reviews, for example, then by all means write about that.  On the other hand, if you're willing to do a little research, you can delve into topics you didn't even know would interest you!

First all, be aware.  As other users have said, pay attention to the "Hot Users" section and see what they are writing about.  To get into that section your article has to be something original that will capture people's attention.  (Don't forget a snazzy title as well.)  Take a look at your interests--what are some interesting things about, say, stamp collecting, drag racing, baking, or even writing that you think people may want to know?  Exploring your own interests first will also give people the idea that you've done your homework and you know what you're talking about.  I've noticed that articles that seem to be thrown together some attention, but fade rather quickly.

Secondly, look into some new interests; or synthesize your current interests with something you're unfamiliar with.  This can also help to produce original and thought-provoking content.  Let's say you're into stamp collecting, but you're not that great with history--and perhaps you'd like to be.  A little Google/Wikipedia search could help you track down some well known people who were secret stamp collectors.  See?  You've taken your specialty and given it an intriguing twist!

Finally, a little healthy competition never hurt anyone!  If you're cruisin' Triond--and I suggest you do--and you come across an article to which you would like to respond, then that is another possibility.  You don't simply have to comment, you can write an entire article as a response.  Rememeber, however, that displaying maturity is the best way to be taken seriously.

Quality and Quantity

One of my major problems is quantity, which is connected to the next topic.  Anyway, I like to think that I put a good deal of effort into writing my articles--editing them even after publication for clarity or the inclusion of additional information.  When it comes to content writing in the form of advertising revenues, it is important to have both quantity and quality.  In order to earn a decent part-time income from Triond, you're going to have to write a few to several articles per day that will accrue a great deal of views and comments. 

Your articles are going to have to transcend time--meaning that they are relevant no matter when they are read.  For instance, should I write an article about the upcoming election, the fervor would most likely get me a good number of views, but as the election passes and passions cool, fewer and fewer people are going to be interested in my predictions of said election--for obvious reasons.  There's nothing wrong with writing sometime time-specific, but you must understand that that time will pass.

On the other hand, continuing to produce content keeps an interest going in your overall content.  If someone reads an article you recently published, they will be more likely to go to your profile and read other articles that you've published in the past.  The longer your articles sit around, the less likely your other content is to be viewed.

About editing, I believe it is important to keep your content up to date, possibly responding to new media resources or reader comments.  For example, my article "How to Cope in an Interracial Relationship", is one that covers sensitive material.  Thus, in order to ensure that my message was received as I intended it, I had to edit the first couple of sentences for clarity.  In addition, as I mentioned in "How to be a Bad Fiction Writer", revision is your friend.  It will also ensure you keep your content fresh and interesting. 

Not to mention, if you think your content is killer, but for some reason people aren't reading, try changing your title to something a little more eye-catching.  There's nothing wrong with that!

Time Management

If you're like me, constantly running around trying to get a million things done at once, then writing for Triond may serve as more of a hobby.  To combat the lengthy intervals between articles, I find it quite useful to keep a notebook handy.  It doesn't have to be anything special, just something in which you can jot down article ideas--or even write drafts to be copied online at a later date.  In fact, this section of this article was written in a notebook during some down time.

Another good idea (for writers of all kinds) is to try to keep a schedule.  Perhaps setting aside a specific day or time of day dedicated to writing/revising your articles.  This is also a good way of being memorable to your readership.  If you only publish articles every two weeks, the articles you have already published will lose readership (especially if you are a novice such as myself).

Community/Networking

No matter how many articles you've written--even if it's just one--it's absolutely important that you connect to the Triond community.  This is not to suggest, on the other hand, that you befriend Triond users for no particular reason.  It would be much more productive to add people who share the same interests you do, guaranteeing that they will at least glance at your articles, and you can genuinely comment on the content they produce.  Stronger bonds are built this way and you can establish your own publishing niche that will support one another.  Many users do this already--without even noticing it.  Unless you're very rigorously promoting your work outside of Triond (to be covered more extensively in the Promotion section below) most of the advertising revenue your articles are going to attract are going to come from other users, mostly out of curiosity or in an attempt to get tips for their own writing endeavors.

Another "tips" article for Triond suggested that users copy-paste links to articles that may be relevant to articles on which they are commenting.  I would say this is definitely a good idea for someone with a busy schedule.  Since the name you use when you comment on people's articles is not linked to your profile, it may make sense for your to post a link to your similar/related article so people can get a chance to check you out without having to search the users.  So far, I haven't tried this technique, because I have no been able to connect as much with the community with my busy schedule.  Another means of improvement for me!

Tags

As I'm sure you've read in other Triond articles articulating tips for additional success, it is extremely important that you embue your articles with relevant tags that can be Googled and read by people from as many places as possible.  I would suggest placing as many relevant tags as possible, and once your article has been published and gotten some views, try to Google it and see how long it takes to find your article.  Now, try this with other content that is listed at "hot" and see how long it takes you.  This is just as much as a "Promotion" problem as a tag problem--these things are not mutually exclusive.  If the tags on your content cannot be adequately searched for, then people who don't read your blog, don't use stumble and other networking sites are not going to be able to find you.  It's just as important to establish niches on Triond as it is to attract people who might not have found you otherwise.  I've been trying to work on the "searchability" of my articles since I joined Triond--which wasn't that long ago.

Promotion

Again, in my opinion, the single most important think you can do with your content is to promote it.  No matter how little content you have or how poor you believe the quality to be.  Undoubtedly, the more frequently one produces content, the more practice one has as to what works stylistically and tactfully.  There are a few ways you can actively promote your work--and even ways you can let your articles virtually promote themselves. 

A few of the suggestions on other "Tips" articles has been to use social bookmarking sites such as StumbleUpon, Technorati, Digg, Facebook, etc.  Go for it.  Use all of them.  They certainly help get the word out there.  On the other hand, if you're looking for substantial comments on your articles (especially if you're a creative writer), you may not be able to get that from mere stumbles or clicks.  It will help your revenue, but it won't provide any helpful criticism--if that's what you're looking for.  If you're a creative writer looking for criticism, I would suggest posting your stories on writing forums/groups that specialize in such, with the occasional stumble here and click there that would surely help to benefit you monetarily as well...

Another way to help promote your content is to start a blog.  I know at times it seems blogging is so "passe," but it actually helps to get people to feel a deeper connection to your work.  They get to know you (or your ideals) and then they find an interest in the content you produce; thus, gaining yourself another kind of niche outside of the Triond community.  With Blogger, you can add various kind of HTML to the page and include various social networking subscriptions to your comments--killing many birds with just one stone.  In addition, if you really find yourself passionate about the blogging community, you can join sites like Blog Catalog that help you favorite blogs of interest, join groups, and get in contact with other bloggers from all over the place.  So, whether you're interested in starting a monetized blog for promotional or personal purposes, you can connect with more people who will undoubtedly provide you with more readership.

One tip that will seem quite obvious--even though I have yet to utilize it myself--is to have your content promote itself by having time sensitive content.  When Halloween starts rolling around, produce content about costumes, haunted houses, or scary animals.  When Thanksgiving/Christmas gets near, start publishing content about family gatherings, toy reviews, shopping tips, etc.  Once Valentine's Day makes an appearance, produce articles about flowers, gifts for her/him, love, relationships, and all that good stuff.  What do I mean when I say your content is promoting itself?  Well, the arrival of these holidays prompts people to search for themselves, but if they don't have to search (if you've befriended people with similar interests on Triond) then their "Friends' News" will supply them with all the holiday information they could want.

Well, I hope these beginner's tips have been of some help.  I will continue to update it as I find more useful things to share with other beginners--or even old timers who could use some article rejuvenation!  Happy writing.

As I started to work on Xomba, I felt frustrated because I was writing for the site, but earning next to nothing for my efforts. As I explained in my previous article about Xomba, writers don't get paid by Xomba for page views at the site. Instead, they share in ad revenues generated from clicks on Google AdSense advertisements displayed on Xomba pages. Those who participate in Xomba must insert their Google AdSense account number into their Xomba account, as earnings from Xomba are paid directly through Google AdSense.

As I wrote in my earlier article about Xomba, writers can post Xombytes, which are magazine quality articles of 150 words or more (the word count was recently increased from 100 to 150 words minimum), or Xomblurbs, which are social bookmarks of interesting photos, videos, websites and articles.

My Xomba Experience

I have to admit, it was certainly frustrating at first to see some really nice page views for my work on Xomba, but no income. I started out in my first weeks on Xomba posting just a few Xombytes, and a few more Xomblurbs. I was also frustrated when I found out there was an error that meant all my Xombytes didn't link back to my Xomba profile (I thought this error might decrease my earnings if readers couldn't find my Xombytes from my profile.)

When I wrote my review of Xomba, I had earned about 4 cents on the site in about two weeks, and I had received very few clicks. I was thinking about throwing in the towel at Xomba in favor of just spending all my time on sites like Triond and Associated Content, where I receive earnings from page views.

Despite the discouragement, this voice inside said to give Xomba more time. In one of my earliest months working on Triond I didn't even earn enough to qualify for the minimum 50 cent payment amount at PayPal! I've learned as an online writer that things often take time to build, so instead of giving up, I thought I'd still work on Xomba a little bit to see what might happen.

One day shortly after writing my last Xomba review, I logged into my Google AdSense to discover I had 35 cents in my account. Then another day, I had 95 cents in earnings. These figures seem small, but in my early days on Triond and Associated Content, I remember earning literally pennies in a month. Earning almost a dollar a day wasn't common for me, so I felt excited about these Xomba earnings.

A few days ago, I logged into my Google AdSense account on a Sunday afternoon to discover I had earned $3.88 the day before. I was really thrilled to discover that much money from my Xomba earnings. I do have a blog that displays AdSense, but I don't get much traffic because my blog is more of a personal journal, and I don't really monetize or promote my blog right now. I feel that most of the money in my Google AdSense account has been earned from working on Xomba.

Tips for Working on Xomba

If you'd like to give Xomba a try, here are some tips that I believe are working for me. So far I've been on Xomba just over a month and I've earned almost ten dollars. It takes a hundred dollars in AdSense earnings to qualify for a payout; however, I have a feeling I'm well on my way to reaching my first hundred dollars on Google AdSense.

As I write this review, I currently have 6 Xombytes and 28 Xomblurbs posted on Xomba. I find that I receive small revenues in my AdSense account each day, even though I haven't invested any time in social bookmarking my Xomba articles. Even though the error in my Xomba account means that my Xombytes aren't linked to my Xomba profile, I don't believe that has really hurt my revenues (because my most recent posts are featured on my profile page and my Xombytes are discoverable to readers by the way they are tagged).

Xomba lists the most popular tags on the site, so I try to create Xomblurbs around these popular tags as much as possible (for example, travel is a popular tag, so I've done some Xomblurbs about travel articles, making sure I also tag my Xomblurb with the word “travel”). I also try to create a wide variety of Xomblurbs on lots of different topics, hoping something will catch a reader's eye (and perhaps increase my revenues).

I decided to create some Xomblurbs about what I found interesting, things like fashion, or holidays. I think when you bookmark things on Xomba that you like, and write a little description to go with your Xomblurb, you can't go wrong. Readers will pick up on your enthusiasm and in my opinion, that will lead to more readers and increased earnings.

What's nice about Xomba is that you can bookmark your own articles from other sites. I often create Xomblurbs that link to my Triond articles, and I've seen Xomba members link to their blogs and websites. (Please note that creating Xomblurbs that link to your own Xombytes is strictly forbidden, and this is an important point to remember as you are working on Xomba).

Increasing the number of articles called “Xombytes” has also helped me increase my Xomba revenues. I find that the more of these articles I add on Xomba, the more money I seem to earn on the site. Xomba is a very social site, and it helps to post comments and feedback on other Xombytes and Xomblurbs. I've noticed that the more I comment, the more revenue appears (I think this is because it gets my profile out there so that other members can discover my work on Xomba).

I haven't had time yet to social bookmark my Xomba articles, but Xomba makes it easy for members to do so. Driving traffic to your Xomba pages by getting the word out about them is definitely a way to increase your earnings. I am beginning to think that Xomba might yield a nice passive income stream for me, if I am patient and give it time to develop. With this in mind, I'm trying to add about three to five Xombytes or Xomblurbs a day, just like Xomba recommends in its help pages.

I only give Xomba a little bit of my time and attention and I'm totally surprised that I've received AdSense earnings without a lot of effort on my part. If I added hundreds of pieces of content to Xomba, and increased my Xombytes and Xomblurbs, who knows what could happen? I'm starting to get excited by Xomba's potential (but checking my AdSense earnings throughout the day could become addictive!)

I wanted to update my earlier review about my experiences on Xomba with this new information. While Triond and Associated Content remain my favorite places to write for, and I intend to keep working on both these sites, I'm also going to keep up my work on Xomba. I'm surprised by the total turnaround in my income and the earnings so far. I think combining my earnings from page views with Google AdSense revenues is definitely the way to build a nice income stream as an online writer.

Let's take a moment to review the steps needed to become successful and a popular writer on the Internet.

Rule #1: Set Realistic Goals

Before, you ever set-off to find an online publisher to publish your completed work, you should sit-down and write out a list of goals that you want to achieve each day, week, month or year. Do not set unrealistic goals that are impossible to achieve, especially if you have never published anything, anywhere before. You just have no clue how things really work in the online publishing industry, until you have spent some quality time testing the system and testing yourself, so to learn how the publisher that you have chosen to write for and publish with works.

When setting goals, do not focus on the number of future readers (views) that your article, poem or story is going to receive, because you cannot control that outcome. Only set your goals to what you can control and set no goals on what you cannot control.

Rule #2: Choosing An Online Publisher

There are hundreds of online publishing opportunities on the Internet, some that will pay you to write for their websites, ezines or newsletters and other publishing opportunities do not pay in money, but they pay in exposure or recognition, which in some ways can be better than earning an income. As a writer, you need to decide what you are writing to accomplished (see “Rule #1”) before you decide which publisher that you are going to write for and publish your writing with.

If you are wanting to earn an income, then you need to understand that you earn money usually two ways, either through 1) the number of views (readers) that your article, poem or story receive in 30-days or 2) by accepting an one-time lump-sum for the completed work.

There are pros and cons to each of these choices and they are: a) earning an income from total number of views received, usually does not generate a huge sum of money in a short amount of time, but it will consistently generate a small sum of money month-after-month for as long as the article, poem or story is still receiving readers (views) online.

Writing for an online publisher whom pays an one-time lump sum of money for each word, page or completed assignment, then it doesn't matter how many views that the published work receives, because the publisher has agreed to pay you a set amount for your work. Each publisher sets their own terms and pays different amounts depending on the assignment or who the author is or how well known (popular) the author is online or offline.

If you choose to publish your writing using a publisher that does not pay any money, but they do offer to pay you in reader recognition or exposure, then you must understand that you are actually building a fan base that you can attract to other works that you have published for earning an income.

Triond is the publisher that I write for and from my experience it is the best and the easiest publisher to write and publish with. Triond has a large and very friendly writing community that offers a wide range of interesting topics, poems, stories and my favorite articles to choose from and by some of the most talented writers from around the globe. Check it out for yourself and if you decide to join, then look me up, Nelson Doyle (http://www.triond.com/users/Nelson+Doyle) and I will be a friend that you can ask questions to, so to help you get started in this business on the right foot.

Rule #3: Choosing a Pen Name

Your pen name lets people know who you are, just like your real (birth) name introduce who you are in the real world. The important thing that you must understand about creating a pen name is, is that your pen name should be easy to remember and easy to lookup in standard search engines. If you create a pen name that is hard to spell or that uses numbers or a combination of numbers and letters, then it will make it much more difficult for the average person to remember especially if they liked your work, but just cannot remember where to find it on the Internet. It is better to use your real name or a name that is relatively common or easy to spell, so that the reader can locate your work using a search engine.

Rule #4: Creating Your Online Image

Most online publishers that you can write for, gives an author an opportunity to setup a profile page, so that potential readers and other writers can learn who you are and what you like to write about. Setting up your personal profile page should not be rushed through and should be carefully written, edited and updated regularly, because your first impression may be the only impression that you have to encourage your visitors to take the time to read some of your published work.

If your profile page is loaded with misspellings, incomplete sentences, poor grammar or anything that makes it hard for a visitor to quickly sum up exactly who you are or what you write about, then that visitor will most likely leave without reading anything that you have published online. In many cases, this is the only time that you have to make a good first impression on a visitor who has never read any of your work and if your profile page is hard to read, then chances are the other things that you have written will be much of the same.

Rule #5: Writing With Purpose

Many writers write about a broad range of topics (including myself), but this is not necessarily the best or the most profitable way to make a sustainable income month-after-month, because this practice is all too often a hit and miss style of writing. Some topics such as travel, health and electronics attract a much larger audience than topics that are related to holidays, poetry, personal stories, or sports in general. Of course, to really get an understanding about which topics that will reach the broadest audience takes some time and research and trial-and-error to figure out, and even then it is still relatively a guessing game.

On the other hand, if a writer specializes in a specific topic, such as travel or health, just as examples, then in time the writer will begin to attract and retain the audience that enjoys reading and following that author's work. The audience in this case, will understand what they are going to get when they follow this author's blog or writings and usually will not be confused by the no-rhyme-or-reason writing style of writers who write about anything and everything that strikes their fancy, and this is a good long-term writing style that can potentially draw the largest audience over time.

Rule #6: Networking

It is extremely important that when writing for an income on the Internet, that new and veteran writers get to know each other in their publishing communities. Making friends with some of the writers in a community can benefit new writers, because many times they will find a writer who is willing to share tips to improve the writing experience in that publishing community overall. However, try to avoid becoming a pest or asking too many questions, because most of the serious writers (top writers) are very busy as this is the way that they make a living and asking too many questions could result in receiving no answers due to the amount of time it requires to answer them. And, try to avoid asking authors “how much money that they earn”, because this is usually a private matter and it doesn't necessarily reflect what the average Internet content writer will earn himself or herself.

I have been writing for Triond for just a little over a year and have put in countless hours into marketing and writing over 100 articles, poems and stories and due to the fact that Triond pays according to the number of views that each article (on an individual basis) receives, I have been able to earn a very nice income each month. However, it wasn't always like it is now.

The first month, I earned less than $7.00 for the entire month, but that was before I understood how to market my work and what topics generally pay the most, but just like you will have to do in your own time, I had to take the time to learn the business. This takes a lot of time to do correctly and you cannot be scared to try new things to attract readers. It will either work out the way that you expected it would or it will blow-up in your face and you will just have to try something else. Just never give up trying or you will never succeed.

Rule #7: Marketing

Marketing and networking is not exactly the same thing and different techniques are required to be successful. A writer can visit Myspace or Facebook or make friends within the publishing community that they write for, to network successfully, but marketing is something completely different and separate from networking.

There are thousands of ways both online and offline to execute a marketing plan, but a few of the best ways to conduct marketing on the Internet would be to do one or more of the following:

1. Join social bookmarking websites such as; StumbleUpon, Digg, Faves, etc. and bookmark your writings and websites that you visit, so to share them with your friends and browsers (people who just read or visit websites that other members have bookmarked) in the networks that you have joined.
2. Build a website or web page to promote your writings and other authors that you enjoy.
3. Start a newsletter and link to your writings, but use the newsletter to share information that your subscribers can only obtain by subscribing to the newsletter.
4. Join forums that are geared at the topics that you write about and participate in these forums, as you normally would do if you were not a writer. Most forums allow their members to link to their favorite website or websites in their member profile page and this can drive a lot of new readers, especially if you are an active member who plays by their rules and do not practice spamming the forums.
5. Make friends with other popular bloggers and ask them if they would be interested in reading and possibly linking to your blog or writings. You can always return the favor by writing about or linking to their blogs in one of your future articles or blogs. This way you would target a new audience and your blogger friends will have the same opportunity to do the same.

Rule #8: To Read or Not To Read

Most writers belonging to a publishing community want their friends to read the articles or blogs that they write and after reading, then they want you to leave a comment about what you have read. This is all good if you have time to read their writing and complete your own writing.

Remember, if you decide to read and leave comments about your friends' writings, then most of the time they will read and leave comments for your writings, too. However, if you have a lot of friends, too many friends, then it may not be possible to read and leave comments on everyone's work, because there just isn't enough time in the day to do it and finish your own writings that you have been working on. And, if you are writing for a living, then you just may not have the time to read as much as you or they would like.

Rule #9: What Pays The Most?

Since the publishers pay writers and the advertisers pay the publishers, then articles or blogs written about topics with high revenue potential are what pays the most. Let's say that you write about free music and you use popular keywords such as; Free Music, Songs, Downloads, Musicians, then you are not going to attract the high paying advertisers, because anytime you are using the keyword “Free”, then there isn't anything high value about that keyword. However, if you are writing an article about “MP3 Players” whether it be a product review or the best places to purchase a “MP3 Player” for Christmas, then you will earn more, because advertisers are willing to pay more in order to potentially sell some expensive or inexpensive MP3 Players.

The difference of the two examples is, one example is targeting an audience that is looking to locate something for free and the other example is targeting an audience that may be interested in potentially purchasing a product. Advertisers are paying to receive a potential return on their investment and an advertiser will invest more when the perceived profit return is greater. When advertising a free product, then the potential profit return will be less than investing in advertising to sell a product or website that a consumer or visitor will actually buy and these advertisers are willing to pay more, because of the greater profit potential return from their advertising investment.

Generally, writing poetry or personal stories about your life or a fictional character will not earn as much money as writing about a specific product, place, website or company. Articles generally pay more than all other forms of writing, which includes most blog styles, but not all.

Rule #10: Don't Give Up!

Let's just face it, not every person has what it takes to become a successful Internet writer, because too many people just will throw up their arms and hands in defeat, before even giving it time to find an audience. Most people who start out writing on the Internet falsely believe that just because they have heard about a handful of people making a lot of money writing online, then they can do it also. However, it just doesn't work that way.

We have all heard about writers and bloggers making a full-time living writing articles and blogs on the Internet and we have thought that we can do the same, because in our minds it must be easy money. The things that we don't know about is what will prevent most of us from ever making any money much less the big money writing on the Internet.

Most writers who have become successful on the Internet has done so, because they have worked very hard writing good articles and marketing their work effectively and this all requires some time to learn and to implement. Some of these writers have dedicated a set number of hours to do nothing but writing and have dedicated some more hours to focus on their marketing and networking. These writers use tested marketing and networking techniques that other writers have written about and other writers are daring enough to invent new ways to attract a larger audience despite what they are testing may not work and that they have seemingly wasted some precious time that they could have used doing something that they already know has worked in the past. So, why would they want to invent a new technique to market or network their work without knowing exactly what the outcome could be, well because if it does work, then these writers will have a technique that is fresh and has not be seen everywhere already and this will give these writers a bit of an edge and potentially draw a larger audience to their work over time.

The majority of writers that start writing for an income this year, will probably have given up by the next year, because they either have no clue what it takes to become successful or they just do not want to do the work it requires to earn their way to the top. Most writers just starting out believe that writing on the Internet will be a quick and easy way to make a million dollars or something along those lines, but then reality sets in and they realize that they may have to work just as hard or harder than just working a 9 to 5 job in the real world and this scares them away.

Rule number 10 is probably the most important rule of all of the rules, because if you give up too soon or at all, then you will never be successful at this and if you give up on this, then what else are you willing to give up on, because it requires some actual work to become successful at doing?

I was skeptical about some of these fantastic claims about Xomba. However, I'm really trying to make a full time living from my online writing, so I decided to look into Xomba.com and find out what it was all about. Could Xomba really provide me with that elusive full time writing income I've been hoping for?

Getting Started With Xomba

Full of optimism, I decided to give Xomba.com a chance and signed up for an account with the site. Xomba is a revenue sharing site that is a bit different in its approach than Triond or Associated Content. In order to participate in Xomba, you must have a Google Adsense account (which is relatively easy to obtain.) Sign up for Google Adsense at the website www.google.com/adsense , or register for a new account through Xomba (I already had a Google Adsense account through my blog on Blogger.com.)

Once you are approved by Google Adsense and you have your Adsense account number, you then insert it in your Xomba account. Google ads are then placed on all your writings on Xomba, and you share in the ad revenues whenever someone clicks on an ad that is shown on your Xomba articles.

Excited by the prospect of earning big bucks with Google Adsense, I went to work on Xomba. In fact, I was initially so excited by the thought of earning money with Xomba.com, that I planned to focus a lot of my attention there, and cut back on my article writing for Triond and Associated Content.

I think that was a big mistake, because my experience with Xomba has been hugely disappointing so far. I definitely prefer Associated Content, and especially Triond, to writing for Xomba.

My Experience with Xomba

There are two types of content that can be posted on Xomba.com. According to Xomba, “Xombytes” are magazine type articles of 100 words or more. In my experience, lots of Xombytes aren't 100 words in length and are just excuses to post links to other websites, or the author's own products. “Xomblurbs” are used for social bookmarking purposes; a Xomblurb is a link to an interesting website, blog, photo, or news story, with a brief description of the link and no minimum word count for that description.

I'm heading into my second week on Xomba, and I've posted a few Xombytes (articles) and some Xomblurbs. Each day I eagerly log into my Google Adsense account, and I've had lots of page views, but only one click. That one click has earned me a grand total of four cents so far! It's very frustrating to see my work on Xomba getting page views, and not earning any income on the page views like I would on Associated Content or Triond.

Xomba made a serious mistake in my user profile that will probably drag down my page views and my potential to earn money from those valuable clicks on ads. I noticed on my Xomba profile that my Xombytes are not visible from that page. When someone visits my profile and wants to click on my Xombytes to read more, they are taken to the Xomba homepage. There is no link to my Xombytes from my user profile.

I contacted technical support and they responded that it definitely was an error, and it was being sent to “a programmer to take a look at it.” Meanwhile, I'm losing potential revenue, as Xomba readers can't find any of my Xombytes from my profile page. To me, this is a serious error, one I've never had on any other website I write for. As I write this, Xomba has still not corrected the error on my profile.

Some Xomba members have literally thousands of Xomblurbs that they've posted to the site. If you are going to give Xomba a try and hope to earn big dollars there, then posting tons of Xomblurbs or Xombytes is the way to do it. Also, consider writing Xombytes and Xomblurbs that contain popular tags; those are the hot topics that people are searching for on Xomba.

Getting your Xomba work out there through social bookmarking, and building traffic to Xomba articles should also increase your revenues. In order to earn money on Xomba, you must drive a lot of traffic to your Xombytes and Xomblurbs, and hope that your visitors will also click on some Google ads. Xomba itself will not pay for any page views to your articles, and revenue is only earned directly through Google Adsense. So it's conceivable that you could work really hard on Xomba and write a lot, and not see a dime unless you get clicks on some ads. That has definitely been my experience with Xomba.

In my opinion, I much prefer the slow and steady money making that occurs with Triond and Associated Content, than I do the gamble on earning big bucks with Xomba that doesn't seem to be working for me. While I'm willing to give Xomba a chance to correct the error in my profile, and I'm probably going to continue with them, I'll definitely be focusing most of my future money making efforts on writing for Associated Content and Triond.

I recently had a comment on that article from a writer who was very frustrated and sad about their lack of page views on Triond. This writer was going to just throw in the towel on Triond and seemed very frustrated about the whole situation, talking in a very negative way about not being an article writer.

Reading that comment, I wanted to do a follow up article with a few more tips about how to succeed on the Triond website. In my opinion, just because your success isn't immediate here, that doesn't mean you're not a good article writer. Sometimes success comes more quickly for some, but takes more time to develop for others. I feel that everyone should have their dream of becoming a successful writer. So, if your page views are disappointing and you are thinking about leaving Triond, I hope you'll reconsider that decision.

Read on for a few more helpful tips about how to become a successful Triond writer.

Create an Inviting Profile

I currently write for two websites: Associated Content and Triond. Associated Content lets you fill out a small profile, with a photo, a description, and some links. Triond's profile section for its members is a lot more colorful and creative. Creating an attractive Triond profile is a way to set yourself apart and generate interest in your articles.

When you are on Triond adding friends to your list and trying to make connections in the Triond writer community, I think it helps to share something of yourself in your Triond profile. When you show up on another writer's fan list, and they click your profile and there is no photo there, and a blank space where there should be a description, it's hard to get a sense of that person who has an empty profile.

I like to have a smiling photo of myself in my profile, because it just feels friendly and warm. I share something of myself in my profile description, but it's not too lengthy. A nice photo of yourself or even an intriguing or funny pic like a pet photo, a cartoon, or a nice nature scene, makes your profile seem more inviting to others.

I don't like to add a lot of links to my blog or other websites I write for in my Triond profile. This is because I hope my visitors will click on my articles in my Triond portfolio during their visit to my profile. I don't want to send them away from my profile page to click on some other site before they've had the chance to read my work.

So what works for me is a personal photo, and a brief description about me and what I'm currently working on. The most important thing about your profile is to make it attractive and inviting; Triond is an intimate community where other writers like to get a sense of the person behind the profile.

Write New Triond Articles on a Regular Basis

I just had my best month on Triond yet, and I have to say that I began to rest on my laurels a bit. I slacked off adding new articles on Triond, and I saw my earnings start to dip. The months that I do better on Triond are the times when I'm adding the most new content here on a regular basis.

On Associated Content, there are a few writers who have thousands of articles published at that site. Imagine the passive income streams they must earn, from thousands of published articles. Even if each article didn't earn a lot, it would still add up to a nice residual income for the writer.

Writing thousands of articles isn't realistic for a lot of writers, but the fact remains you will earn more Triond revenue as you build up a body of work here. Only publishing a few articles now and then won't help you achieve your dream of earning an income stream as a writer.

As your library of Triond articles starts to increase, you'll see small but steady increases in your earnings. I have almost 100 articles published on Associated Content, and recently started to see an increase in monthly revenues from those articles, some published over a year ago. The more quality content you publish on Triond on a regular basis, the better your chances of meeting your income goals.

Actively Comment on Triond Articles

In my earlier article about success on Triond, I discussed the idea of building your friend list in an intelligent manner. I talked about adding friends only when you find a writer you enjoy and want to keep up with their Triond articles.

It is also important to read and comment on the work of the Triond writers you admire. It's a way to become part of the Triond community, and can also increase recognition of your own work. This can be a challenge, as far as time, because I write steadily for two websites and I'm considering taking on some new assignments.

I currently have over 1,000 articles sitting in my friend's news feed. I'm not sure I could find the time now to read every one. Since I write on such a diverse group of topics, everything from soap opera, to beauty product and food reviews, to travel in the Hudson Valley, I'm not offended if my friends don't comment on every one of my stories. I'm aware that some articles may be of more interest than others to the people on my friend list.

What I try to do is read some stories from everyone on my friend and growing fan list. Sometimes I don't have time to comment on every one, because I have dial up and my internet is extremely slow; however, I am really starting to see the importance of reaching out and connecting with those on my friend list by commenting on as many stories as I can.

If you are trying to increase recognition of your work on Triond, try reaching out to others here by reading Triond writers you enjoy and leaving some thoughtful comments about their work.

Social Bookmarking for the Triond Writer

I recently discovered social bookmarking sites, like Digg, Delicious, and StumbleUpon. Getting involved in social bookmarking has definitely increased my earnings on Triond, as I realized I couldn't just let my articles sit there without promoting them.

Promoting your work can be very important to success as a Triond writer. After you publish an article here, Triond offers links that allow you to share your work on sites like Digg. I'm still figuring out the social bookmarking sites, and Triond has some tips about this in its help section. StumbleUpon has been the most successful for me so far, and I'm looking into other sites also.

Other ways to promote your Triond articles include blogging about them, or creating a HubPage or Squidoo lens that provides information on a topic and also links back to some of your Triond articles.

Having a blog or a lens is another way to earn money online, while you promote your Triond work. I like to diversify my writing efforts across a number of websites, that way I never get too frustrated if my earnings are down at one site. So I recommend writing for a variety of websites to keep that income flowing in; I am on Associated Content and Triond, and looking into joining sites like Xomba.

Remember, success as an online writer can be full of ups and downs. Just when you are feeling discouraged and think about giving up, success could be right around the corner. These are a few more tips to put you on the road to online writing success. I wish you the best writing for Triond and may all your dreams come true!