But it is arguably more important than ever to be able to promote yourself and get your name known in the writing world. Snagging assignments and getting jobs isn't that hard if you know your stuff, but there is a lot of competition snapping at your heels and going for the same jobs as you.

Perhaps the most important thing you can do to promote yourself is to get your own website up and running - and it doesn't need to cost hundreds of dollars either.

If you are anxious about spending money on your own website, try one of the free services first. A free website usually only comes with a single webpage, and you will not be able to do nearly as much with it as if you bought your own, but it is a useful way to provide links to your work all across the internet.

Assuming, however, that you are serious about your work as a writer, you will be better served by having a professional website with your own domain name. You can still have links to published work, but you can also sell directly from your site if you have books or similar items to sell, provided you have the right tools to do so.

You can also have a blog, a newsletter, and perhaps a free report to give away to encourage visitors to keep coming back for more.

The most important thing to remember is that traffic to your site has to be generated by you, so make sure you include a link to your site in every email you send, and perhaps have some business cards printed which promote your site.

Promoting yourself as a writer is an ongoing process, but with a website of your own you will have a specific place to direct people to. As your writing career grows, so will your site, as you find new and interesting ways to promote and use it.

If you're not paying attention to keywords, the chances are you're not earning as much as you could be.

Okay, so what exactly are keywords, and how on earth can they bring you more cash for your articles?

Let me explain.

Think about what happens when you search for a term or word in the search engines. They bring up relevant results based on the word or words you typed in. Fair enough. But how does this affect your article earnings?

Sites like Helium pay you according to how many times your article is read. The more people find it and read it, the more money you make. It's a straightforward and effective system, and it's earned me well over $100 on Helium so far.

But how do people find your articles in the first place?

Some will browse the site and come across them. Some will regularly read articles on a particular subject they're interested in. There may be people who like your work and read anything new you submit.

But you'll also get another group of people who find your article via search engine results. And the more you know and understand about using keywords and relevant search terms within your articles, the more hits you'll get… and the more money you'll make.

Every time you write a new article, think about its topic. What kind of terms would people type into a search engine if they were looking for information on this topic? The more of these you can legitimately incorporate into your article, the more likely you are to get hits directly from a search engine - and every one of those hits is worth money to you.

We're only talking in terms of cents here, of course, but if you write lots of articles and each one has relevant search terms and keywords in it, then you will notice a big difference in your cash flow.

Try it. You'll soon see a difference!

Since the internet exploded and brought us millions of websites that are crying out for content, we've seen an explosion in markets for the freelance writer to target. Many writers who used to write regularly for magazines (myself included) re-branded themselves as online web content writers, and started sourcing work online instead.

But where do you actually find this work? Is it really out there?

I can confirm that it is.

After three weeks of my search for online freelance writing jobs (spending every evening trawling job boards, Craigslist and writers' newsletters too numerous to mention) I have succeeded in getting two long term writing gigs, both of which are offering more work than I could handle, if I could fit it all in.

I've also found a third job which should provide at least one batch of articles to write each week, and I've made another contact who is providing me with short keyword articles to write - sometimes a batch, sometimes just the one.

And that's after just three weeks. I've actually made the decision not to bid on or apply for any more jobs at the moment, because the writing jobs I have are keeping me more than busy.

I never thought I'd be in a position to say that. The work I have is writing short articles, and web pages for all kinds of sites. The subjects are diverse and I could never get bored.

So what's my best advice on how to bag an online freelance writing job (or four)?

Persevere. Find as many job boards, newsletters, job listings and sites as you can, and check them all on a daily basis. Daily. That's important. You want to be the first to jump on an opportunity when it comes along.

If you really put the effort in, you'll find work in no time. Just make sure you don't get swamped!

Good luck.

So I turned to the internet to see if there were any markets in cyberspace that I could submit to, and earn some cash along the way.

It was an eye opening journey. I'd never heard of blogging before (yes, I'm a novice really, did you guess?), but I've found two sites that look promising. blogcharm.com looks to be in its early stages, but the site is easy to navigate and hopefully will develop as it settles down. The other good looking site is writersup.com , which is a little more established, and I've heard good things about it. Both pay you a percentage of advertising revenue generated when people read your blog and click on the ads nearby.

I've also dipped a toe into constant-content.com , which is free to post articles on, and you set your prices for people to buy them from you to post on their own websites. My toe is now well into this particular pond, as I've sold over ninety articles to date.

It's true to say there are a lot of scams on the net, but don't tar everyone with the same brush. There are a lot of good guys out there as well. It's well worth searching for a few hours to find the pearls. Try helium.com - the most popular questions asked on that site involve working from home, and how to earn money working on your computer, or over the net. And join Helium as a member to earn some cash every single time someone reads one of your articles.

If you want to earn money online by using your writing skills, the information is out there - you just need to persevere in finding it. Try out the sites mentioned above - you could be earning sooner than you think. Good luck!

In reality it's a numbers game. Previously I never would have entertained the idea, but my 17 years worth of freelancing experience has made me pretty quick at writing, and the kind of articles we're talking about here are around 300 to 400 words in length. That's only a few paragraphs, and if you know your subject you can churn these out with the absolute minimum of research.

And if you do a little research yourself on this topic you'll soon find that there are loads of people out there who want lots of articles written for a low price per article. You'll often see figures of $1.50 to $3 being paid per article of around 300 words.

I wanted to try and bag more writing jobs online recently, so I made a real effort every evening to go online and search for some. I soon found there were plenty out there - it just depended on what kind of pay you wanted for your efforts.

There are two things these low paid article writing jobs have in common. Firstly, there are lots of them about, and secondly the person who is offering them almost always wants batches of articles - maybe twenty to fifty in a batch. So the pay might be low, but overall if you take on a batch of fifty articles you're looking at $100 in total for the job.

If you want to improve your writing "on the go" this is a great way to get quick fast! You'll soon learn how to write well the first time round, with minimal editing needed each time. The more subjects you write about, the more knowledge you'll gain. And it's a fantastic way to get lots of published writing under your belt, even if the finished articles aren't published under your name.

It will look good on any writing resume to say that you regularly write batches of articles for clients - it gives the impression you are quick, efficient and professional. In short, gaining experience this way can bag you bigger rewards later on.

I bagged my first job some ten days after beginning my nightly search, and even though my first article wasn't on a familiar subject to me, it was written in less than half an hour.

Try it yourself. A little research, perseverance and determination and you'll soon be writing batches of articles in record time… and earning some extra cash in the process.

Okay, there could be several answers to that, but the main one (the sensible one) is content. Without content, the internet simply wouldn't exist. So it follows that for the savvy writer there are lots of opportunities to sell articles, blog entries and reviews to webmasters the world over. The journey towards earning that cash begins with knowing where to look. Broadly speaking, there are several main ways to earn income by writing online. These are:

• Writing and selling individual articles to individual websites.
• Posting your work on a site which takes a percentage of any sales you make to editors.
• Writing for sites which earn you a percentage of advertising revenue, accruing over time.
• Joining a site which allows you to bid on projects posted by businesses and webmasters.

The easiest route to successfully earning a decent income online is to use a combination of all the above methods. Earning a reasonable amount of income from sites which share advertising revenue with you is a method which certainly does work, but you should expect it to be a long term effort. It will be of the most benefit when you have dozens of articles working for you simultaneously, each earning a few cents every day. Once you have built up a good stock of articles, this method of earning from your writing can provide a steady monthly income with little extra effort.

Bidding on work offered through websites such as Get A Freelancer can be a daunting experience, and it's best to start by offering highly competitive bids on projects you know you can complete quickly. This is by far the best way to start building up a portfolio of completed projects and gain good feedback from clients.

There are plenty of sites who accept single submissions from freelancers; simply do a search for sites on your favourite subjects and look for submission guidelines. Or simply email the webmaster and ask if they publish (and pay for) articles sent in by freelancers. Ideally you should look at building up at least half a dozen sites you can contribute to on a regular basis.

Sites which sell work for you - like Constant Content - are a valuable resource to have in your freelance writing career. I have sold over 90 articles through this site alone, and I currently have over a hundred articles for sale there. It means I have a constant shop window of my work on display to webmasters and editors the world over.

The main rule to remember is to persevere and keep searching for potential new markets. Subscribe to as many free ezines as you can, and check job sites with writing listings every day.

It could make the difference between a part time income, and a full time freelance career.