My Experiences Writing Online

Writers.PH was a gold mine. I first started writing for Writers in 2008, and it has rewarded me ever since. For teachers and instructors, the job is controversial and unethical, because it involves writing essays and solving exams for students. But for writers, this is a perfect place to write about topics you like: Math, Science, English, etc.

For my part, I wrote History, Literature and Music. Usually the client posts a job, i.e., write an essay on Shakespeare's Hamlet. He then posts how much the job is worth (the basic essays range from $1-$10; the theses-yes, there are theses sometimes reach up to $100), and it's up to the writers to take the task or not. When you've done the job, you upload the completed file and the work is verified. You earn soon afterwards.

This is a very balanced writing job, as you are sure to earn the work you make. There are some problems, however: the volume of tasks are seasonal, as during semestral breaks the students do not need new essays. This miniscule volume takes months and you spend the entirety of them not earning. Once they're posted, however, like towards the end of the school period, they're in the hundreds and you can pick at will.

The final regret you might have is that you might have golden articles out there; whatever you write goes to the student's credit, and any brilliance would be attributed to him. So if you're a serious writer that wants to be recognized, this isn't a good idea.

I entered Wordpress the same year, 2008. Writing a blog here is easy-everything is done for you. The templates are customized, the widgets are customized. The community is huge, and you won't feel alone in writing. You have freedom to write here, and you might not notice it, but they promote your articles.

I churned out posts during my busy period, and pretty soon reached 200 and more views. When I stopped writing, I was still constantly getting views, and comments. There was a Readdomattic gadget in Wordpress where you could read blogs you liked or blogs of certain categories you tagged (for example, politics, history and music). You could then share your thoughts and people will get to read them. I heard of one who posted and had his post reach the fifth rank in Google search!

This was the most comfortable place in the Blogosphere where you could write and be heard. You had to pay nothing, and the site will do everything for you. You only need to write it, and the community will read it. There's just one down side: you can't earn here. No, you can't post Adsense ads here, or any other of the pay per post programs there. You can't get paid writing reviews here, as it is expressly forbidden. And sometimes there's been record of your writing advertised to their sponsors. It's the price of being free. You get the liberty to write whatever you want, but you can't earn from it.

So I recommend writing here, if it's your passion. They have everything you want and need. If you want to earn a buck, however, this isn't for you.

Blogger is not the same as Wordpress. It's more hands-on, you've got fewer templates to choose from, and you really promote your blog to the community. I just recently entered Blogger and it was hard to immediately see the community. You couldn't view blogs in a special tool which share the same interests or tags as your own posts; you could promote your posts in Twitter, Facebook and others, but you can't expect to get an audience sitting around. You've got to move.

That's the downside. The potential of your blog, however, is huge. You see, Blogger is a Google program, and so is Adsense. Adsense allows you to have ads in your blog, and with each click from the ad you earn money. You're in the mercy of the viewer, sure, but if you've got 500 views, how small are the chances of getting a click? Just one click?

So for budding writers who want to earn, and want to earn on the long-term, use this. You learn the hard way how to sell your work, but get rewarded for the job well done. You can get a community here, if you just try to find them. If you're more of the safe writer, you can go to Wordpress. If you want to have your own site, and own it, go here.

I'm not really that familiar yet with Squidoo. I just recently entered it, when I was looking for an alternative to Blogger (the views were measly, and the clicks were pauper's pay). What I experienced was a decent community, and you get many perks. You earn points just for signing up. You earn points by introducing yourself. You earn points just be writing your first article.

One thing you need to be clear about, though: this isn't a blog. Where you're writing pages for your sites with Wordpress and Blogger, here you're writing a full article. These articles are posted, and viewers get to browse for your article. Most of the viewers are fellow Squids, but once your lens (that what they call the articles here) takes off, and you get more views, it increases in rank. So what, you ask? Well, the more the lens increases in rank, the more publicity it gets. And you earn by views, not by ad clicks. You also earn royalties if you post Amazon products in your work.

The downside is that you really need to flesh your articles. This isn't so much a downside as a challenge to the writer: no more the simple, "my thoughts" type of article. You can't get publicity by one or two paragraphs. You need sections of text, and sections of promotion.

But why will that stop you? They've got a great community, you earn in more than one way, and you get perks just by doing the simplest thing. Squidoo has great promise, and I highly recommend it for the writer who wants everything.