Guide For Dummies: Starting As An Online Writer

I always emphasize strongly that if you would want to become a great writer and earn more money online through your writing, niche writing is your best friend here. Let me explain a little about niche writing is a method where you are writing specific topics instead of general ones. With some focued and good niche writing, you will be able to cultivate and even target specific group of readers. If you are planning to do some additional side income such as selling products on eBay and Amazon, niche writing will be your best friend.

What I really love about niche writing writing is you are able to interlink (which is also called backlink) effectively. By saying this, you are able to create links that are valid and relevant to the topic you are writing. For example, it makes no sense to link a cat-lover article with a dog-lover article. Now you get my point! If you think that niche writing has just this advantages, you are definitely wrong. There are more to come when you continue reading the below!

As an online writer, always keep in mind on where you would want your materials to be posted and published. If you are serious in earning money online, then you should definitely take publishing seriously. You have to udnerstand that not all website or publishing sites works well for all topics. The trick here is simply by knowing where you can publish your articles online will easily enable you to earn more revenue with much hassle. I know many writers who started on the wrong site and totally destroy their chances of earning money online by writing. Lucky for you, I am going to share with you the four of best publishing sites I used and ever experienced.

Squidoo

For me, Squidoo is one of the best site for publishing articles. Why I love Squidoo? Squidoo is simple to use and is highly customizable. You can throw in links, videos and many more with a twist! You can make plain and simple article looks interesting simply by changing the themes etc. Squidoo is great not only because of its looks but also the Page Rank. Squidoo is one of the best ranked website in the world when it comes to publishing and thus, having your articles posted here will easily increase and boost your online earning. The community here is very friendly and helpful too!

When it comes to affiliation programs, Squidoo offers a very competative earning method and what I truly respect them is the ability to donate to charity. At times, I am proud that some part of my earnings can be send to those who really need it. To join Squidoo, simply click here and you can immediately start up after completing the registration here: Join Squidoo now!

HubPages

Allow me to tell you the fact which is I have been with HubPages longer than I am with Squidoo. However, I really enjoy my time at HubPages and truly recommend anyone to join there. HubPages has several earning methods (alike Squidoo) and members are basically spoilt with choices. Comparing HubPages and Squidoo, HubPages offers a smaller range of customization to article and you are not able to change the theme. However, this doesn't deny the fact that HubPages is still a strong contender when it comes to publishing sites.

At HubPages, you are able to integrate Google Adsense, Amazon and eBay's affiliation earnings. Indirectly, you are able to increase your earnings without a doubt. I will always consider HubPages is 99.99% alike Squidoo and thus, this is my second choice when it comes to publishing articles online. To join HubPages, all you have to do is to register simply by clicking here: Join HubPages now!

Triond

I started writing at Triond and this is my first that I earn my first $0.50 earning straight from online writing! Triond pays the members in a very different way. For every 1,000 views, members are being paid a specific amount. Of course, the amount of per 1,000 views is depending highly on the nature of the topic and the quality of it. If you are able to write quality and current 'hot topics', then this is definitely a place you should publish your article!

On an average, I am earning about $2.50 to $3.50 per 1,000 views as I am focused more towards freelancing, backlinking, SEO and writer's life topics. I would say I really like Triond as it is able to boost my earning monthly without much promotions needed. Interested to join Triond? Register here and starting earning money: Join Triond for free here!

Factoidz

Last but not least, Factoidz is one of the publishing sites that I highly recommend. Before I start explaining, let me warn you that the article moderation at Factoidz is seriously strict and materials there are high quality. This means that the quality control is strict as they would want to maintain the readers satisfaction.

For me, Factoidz is one of the highest paying site I ever seen as members will be given a specific amount of bonus monthly depending on their activeness. Therefore the more you are active at there, the more you will get paid. Payment is never an issue for Factoidz and I get my payment monthly without fail. To join Factoidz, click here to register and once done, you will be ready to earn money the next instant.

Once you have write or blog for sometime, it will come a time where you will be deciding if you should get yourself your own self hosted website. Well this question struck me sometime back and I was really having a hard time deciding between having my own site or a free publishing site like Squidoo. When it comes to deciding, you got to consider on these:

1. Are you willing to spend money to maintain a website monthly? Hosting per month and domain name per year.
2. Having self hosted website means that you will be devoting about 30% - 50% of the time 'fixing' your website.
3. How tech savvy are you?

I ain't tech savvy and I did not learn anything at school when it comes to coding and HTML. However, self hosting website really thought me many things and now, I am able to maintain my own website. Yes, I do have my own website but trust me when I say it is hard! Self hosting takes alot of your time especially when you are trying to make it as interesting as possible (and assuming that you are a one-man-show). Here is a quick comparison between self hosting and free hosting for your reference.

Advantages of self hosting websites
1. 100% customizable and you can place as many affiliate links or banners on your website.
2. Having your own brand and website which means you are not tied to any rules and regulations.

Disadvantages of self hosting websites
1. Constant maintainance required and takes up a lot of your time.
2. Being a tech savvy would be an advantage if not it will be a rather uphill task (but not impossible).
3. Starting from scratch is hard and many gave up even before reaching half of their goals.

Advantages of free hosting websites
1. Multiple sites and location to decide and choose.
2. Do not require to pay anything and it is free for life.

Disadvantages of free hosting websites
1. You are tied to their terms and conditions
2. You are only limited to certain amount of banners and advertisement space.
3. Lack of customization freedom might lead to some difficulties along the way.

Welcome to part four and if you are still here, good for you! This shows that you are determined to be successful and I am happy for you. What is backlink? For me, backlink is another word for link building and interlink. Backlink is used as we would want our readers to continue reading other articles we have in our inventory. Therefore, for a quick understanding, have a look at the pictures I have attached on the right. Basically, the rotation goes around and the main goal here is to increase readership and traffic.

Wait! Rotation? Feels like being hit by a machine gun with all the information as bullets? No worries and I know what you mean. The good part is, "been there, done that". It is not impossible to perform good backlink but backlink takes time and effort. At times, you are not able to see the effect until after 6 or 12 months down the road. The trick here is to never give up. Take your time deciding on where you can backlink legally. If you search Google, you will be able to see many sites offering backlink. Well, it is not advisable to use all of them as you could easily land yourself in Google Sandbox. Google Sandbox is a place where websites which triggered the 'sensors' as the owner of the sites might be using tools to increase their backlink (which is cheating). Of course, this makes complete sense as readers and search engines would love to see websites that has high quality and generating natural backlinks.

Now you have understand all about backlink generally, have a dive at the poll below and some items on eBay for grabs.

Here is the last step of being an online writer. If you want to make your articles or writings evergreen, always update them! You do not want to have a product that is no longer usable in the next year or so. Therefore, always make sure you keep your writings up to date with the latest information. Well, as much as it seems like it will take a lot of work, trust me that it is worth it. For me, there is no point to have an article live when the information is no longer valid or true.

Therefore, always maintain your website at least once a week. For those who are very busy and have a tight schedule, make a point to perform article and writing maintenance once a month. You do not need to revamp everything but just the needed ones only. When changing or updating information, always think like a reader and understand what they actually need from your article. With this way, you are able to cultivate readership and in a long run, increasing more followers for yourself.

Since you have read all the five steps of becoming an online writer, you will realised that it is much harder than what it is suppose to be. Do not sweat it as if you want to earn money through it, that is what you need! Writing is always very rewarding and you will earn your money online through it slowly but surely. I have seen some writers who write so much but only start earning after 9 or 12 months later on. How early you earn depends on how good is your writing, content quality and even backlinking skills.

Again, writing is a full time job that worth every single moment of your precious time. Work hard for it and you will see the fruit very soon. Remember that you write because you love writing and not because you want to earn money. Never ever put earning money as the number one factor for your writing.

Good luck!