How to make money by writing articles online?

Earning money by writing articles online is possible even if we do not (yet) have great knowledge of web writing or SEO copywriting.

In this article we will go together to find out what the work of the web writer consists of, what are the skills he must acquire but above all how to start earning by writing articles on the web. Are you ready?

Then make yourself comfortable and fasten your seat belts: let’s start our journey!

The work of the web writer

Those involved in web writing have to do with the writing and editing of texts that are published online.

And we’re not just talking about blog posts – we also mean website pages, social media posts, newsletter emails, or video scripts.

There are therefore numerous specializations in the field of web writing. And articulism is just one of these, which we will deepen in the course of this post.

There are many ways to start making money by writing articles. Let’s see how.

How to make money by writing articles

There are several ways you can take to create your business on the web and start making money online.

And web writing is just one of them.

The methods to start working as a web writer are:

• blogging _
• its customers
• marketplaces and so-called paid to write articles.

I would like to make a first major distinction between these forms of work.

The safest and the most profitable are certainly having our own blog and / or our customer base . To get up and running, however, it takes a lot longer and usually we need a little more experience but the earnings are undoubtedly higher than any other form of web writing.

For this, the first thing I recommend you to do is to create a blog, which will allow you on the one hand to start “getting your hands dirty” in the field, learning for example how to use WordPress or the main blogging tools, and from other will be very useful as a portfolio, to demonstrate your skills and naturally acquire new customers.

In the meantime, even at the same time, you can also start using the marketplaces , which are the easiest way to get some training, take your first steps in the world of web writing, expand your knowledge and, last but not least , create a small portfolio of our works to show to our future potential clients.

Although many marketplaces offer interesting figures, in reality it is not so easy to take home a salary . This is because there are not always articles available to write and the moderation times can also reach many days.

By working with our customers, however, we can work with more consistency and higher quality . This usually means getting higher figures by working less – but without a doubt, better, always speaking in terms of text quality.

In any case, let’s deepen the economic aspect of this work in a moment.

Make money with a blog

As we have mentioned, our blog is a real business card, the showcase of our personal branding.

Having a blog is one of the easiest ways to start making money on the web. Like all businesses, however, it has its pros and cons.

To start making money with a blog, there are mainly 2 paths you can take:

• Directly , i.e. by selling its own or affiliated products and services, advertising spaces or editorial spaces
• Indirectly , i.e. working on your website to attract and acquire new customers (which is also called inbound marketing ).

Of course, it is also possible to mix the various options , which is also the most recommended choice.

Having your own blog is not an easy option to monetize in the early stages, when traffic to your site is still very low. However, you can try to monetize your work by inserting advertising banners or affiliate links .

Write for our clients

The best and most profitable method is undoubtedly to have our own portfolio of clients to work for or get hired by a web agency, an option that I have always tried to avoid precisely to maintain a freelance lifestyle, more free, to be managed independently.

When we are just starting out, however, potential customers want to read our texts , perhaps that deal with different topics, in order to be clear about our communication and writing style.

So, in these early stages, it’s easy to loom in the classic hamster wheel :

Getting out of this situation is actually very simple.

The first way to overcome this problem is – as we have already seen – to create a blog. By writing articles regularly you will have a good number of texts that you can show to your potential customers.

The limit of the blog is only one: the topics we are talking about are limited to the subject matter. It is in fact counterproductive to create a blog where we talk about a bit of everything and it is always better to concentrate on one topic only, perhaps also dealing with related topics.

To create a slightly more substantial portfolio, made up of articles of a different nature, you can also create articles on a text sheet and save them as a PDF in a Drive folder. Choose the topics you prefer: reviews, how-tos, opinions, informative articles.

This job will allow you to quickly create a respectable portfolio to present to your potential clients.

Content marketplace and Paid-to-write

Another method to start earning by writing articles online is certainly to use the so-called content marketplaces or write for paid-to-write sites .

What is the difference between marketplace and paid-to-write? Let’s see it together.

Content marketplace

Content marketplaces are platforms that connect supply and demand. I’ll give you an example.

Let’s say I want to develop a new website, in which I want to implement a blog. If I don’t have the time or the skills to write targeted articles, perhaps SEO oriented , what I can do is contact a marketplace.

I submit my request specifying the number of articles I need and establish the topic, a deadline and guidelines for writing.

In this case, the marketplace looks for the freelancer best suited to my project – in this case, you – and so we start working together.

In my life I have found myself on both sides of marketplaces, both as a writer and for researching texts for some of my online projects and I can say that marketplaces are undoubtedly the best way to start creating our own portfolio and get started on while earning.

The best known and most used marketplace in Italy is undoubtedly Melascrivi .

Its operation is simple. Create an account on the Melascrivi website, complete your profile with all the information and send a test text.

In this way your profile will be evaluated and you will be forwarded the most suitable requests for you to write articles for other companies.

If the company is satisfied with your work, it is not uncommon for them to offer you a contract to work continuously , obviously outside the portal.

Other interesting content marketplaces are O2O (registrations are temporarily suspended but I advise you to check them out from time to time), TextBroker and GreatContent.

Paid-to-write

Paid-to-write sites work a little differently.

In fact, these are large portals that need a very large number of contents , such as articles but also news, photos or videos.

Your role will be to create content for their platforms, in which advertising banners will then be inserted . You will then be rewarded for each visit or for each view you manage to generate.

As you can understand, therefore, to be able to generate money with paid-to-write you will have to work a lot and the earnings will still remain almost low.

One of the best known Paid-to-Write is undoubtedly that of Blasting News . But let me give you some important advice.

If you want to make some money by writing, then go ahead. But if you really want to build a strong digital identity as an online writing professional, then don’t use these sites . They are not very well regarded by those who work in the world of web writing.

In fact, let’s say that they are a bit “the crumbs” among the ways to earn by writing, used not by professionals but by those who want to grab some money. By writing for these portals you risk that your articles, perhaps of quality, end up among other fake news or clickbaiting articles.

Not exactly the best if you really want to work on your personal branding and be recognized as a professional .

Start with a blog, get your hands dirty, write, write, write. Contact potential customers. Create relationships. This is the secret to being successful – really – in this job.

Online magazines and newspapers

Another path you can take to create your first portfolio is to write for newspapers and online magazines .

The sore point is that most of the time, these types of collaborations are unpaid – or in any case they are paid very little, at the order of 3-5 euros per item. A pittance, believe me.

The good thing is that it is quite easy to get started and you really need to create your own portfolio initially.

With online magazines you will have the opportunity to get some experience , be able to understand how this world works, range from different topics and learn how to standardize your writing style to that of the blog you write for.

My advice therefore is to accept, at least at the beginning, even unpaid jobs if – and only if – they offer you something real in exchange, such as training in the field.

If, on the other hand, you are already an established web writer , apply your skills and never be afraid to raise the price. Better to get a cheaper job than a badly paid job, trust me.

Selfpublishing and ghostwriting

The last road you can take if you already write for the web and want to further expand your tour is to publish a book , perhaps in self- publishing or by relying on a publisher.

Publishing a book nowadays is within everyone’s reach even if then, to see real gains, it is always important to be able to develop an effective marketing strategy.

If you get good at your job, it’s not hard to get contacted to write ghostwriting books , just like I have done several times over the course of my career.

Writing in ghostwriting means writing a book in someone else’s name. Even if you are the actual writer of the text, that book will bear the signature of whoever commissioned it.

In recent years I have been commissioned several books that I have written as a ghostwriter, some of them also very famous. So who knows, you’ve probably already read a book I wrote but you don’t know 😄

Finding clients to write ghostwriting isn’t difficult. Very often advertisements are placed online just like for other types of jobs. You can do a very simple Google search, such as “ghostwriter job postings” to find out what I mean.

If, on the other hand, you have worked well on your personal branding and have managed to establish yourself as a web writer, it is easy that you will be noticed and contacted directly by your potential client.

How to learn to write online

Ok, we have seen how we can make money by writing articles online. But what are the skills we need to learn to start this career?

The work of the web writer, like all the works that concern digital marketing, are constantly evolving because the digital one is a fast world, which changes and evolves continuously .

Just think of the speed with which the Google algorithm or that of social media changes: a moment of distraction is enough to see our articles, perhaps even super positioned, fall into the abyss.

Or maybe the methods of communication change , just like the transition that took place with the advent of the Internet between outbound and inbound marketing.

It is therefore not enough to learn how to write an effective article on the web: you also need to know the news in terms of digital communication, the new technologies available to web writers, how the concept of virality on social media works or how to capture the attention of potential customers. .

It is therefore important to never stop training , not only as regards writing but for everything related to the world of the web and online communication.

The best resources for learning to write online

Learning to write for the web is an art. It’s not just about writing, but also about persuading, optimizing for search engines, and making screen reading easier and more streamlined.

There are many manuals that you can study and learn all the skills you need to start your career as a web writer.

The best books to learn how to write better for the web in my experience are:

• The craft of writing (a must have for all web writers!)
• Handbook of copywriting and writing for the web: Theory, practice and tools for writing better
• Write for the web
• UX Writing. Micro texts, macro impact. How words and emotions guide users in navigation
• Digital Copywriter: Think like a copy, act digital
• Persuasive Copywriting: Learn how to write sales pages for your products and services
• Blogging. My method for writing winning content.

The benefits of writing for the web

Perhaps, after reading all these ways to earn money by writing articles for the web, you are wondering:

Ok Eleonora, all very nice, but in practice what are the real advantages of this profession? Wouldn’t it be easier to try to get hired by a web agency and not have the hassle of looking for clients?

Well, that too is actually a solution. It undoubtedly depends on the kind of life you want to lead.

If your goal is to get a quiet and safe job, then you can send your resume to any web agency and keep in mind these tips that you have read so far just for the purpose of creating a good portfolio to present.

Personally, I prefer a freelance route.

Here because:

• A freelance web writer has the ability to decide where to work from . From home, from a beach, from your favorite coffee shop: all you need is a PC and an internet connection
• Through an agency you will always have the same income. As a freelancer you can earn the figures you want based on the time and effort you want to invest in the project
• You have no working hours to respect or a place that you have to reach every day. Good organization is all you need
• You can work in your pajamas (and let me confess: this is my favorite advantage!)
• Your salary is not hourly but on a project basis . This means that you can decide your lifestyle based on your job and not vice versa, as happens to those who are hired in a company.

For me these are really all the features that make the work of the freelance web writer the most beautiful in the world!

How much do you earn as a web writer?

As a last point in this long journey to discover web writing, I would like to answer a question that is surely whirling in your head:

how much does a web writer earn?

Let me be honest: if you are good, the job of the web writer is very, very rewarding . And the great thing is, it’s potentially infinite payoff. You just need to work harder to earn more.

Now the bad news: the work of the web writer is not scalable .

What does this mean? Very simple. It means that for the hours you have available each day, you will not be able to do more than a certain number of jobs .

I’ll give you a practical example.

If you spend 4 hours writing an article and you want to work – let’s say – 8 hours a day, you won’t be able to write more than 2 articles a day (which in terms of quality, I assure you that it is a rather high number of articles).

If these articles do not have a very high quality, you will be paid – again for example – around 10/15 euros each. Here then we reach 20/30 euros per day, for a total of 600/900 €, working every day, including weekends.

This is why it is important to work with quality . By working with quality you can reach much higher figures, let’s even say € 100/150 per item. If you write even just one a day, doing the same calculations as before, you can even reach € 3,000 / € 4,500 per month.

Now, take what I told you with a grain of salt. Writing articles with this frequency is almost impossible, or at least, I would certainly not be able to maintain such a pace. To give you a practical example, think that this guide is over 3,000 words long and it took me a couple of days to write it.

But it is also true that I never work more than 5 or 6 hours a day .

For this reason, if you want to earn money by writing, the most profitable way remains to have your own blog.

In fact, creating a blog has numerous advantages, including economic ones, for example:

• you can write what you really like
• you will no longer have to find customers but customers will find and contact you
• you can generate passive income through courses, ebooks and affiliate marketing
• you will have a much higher constant income. For example, when I worked for my clients, I barely reached € 2,000 / 2,500 making myself “a square deck”. Now, only with my blogs, I earn a lot more but I work a lot less hours.

So how much does a web writer make? Well, it depends on you, on your writing skills but also on your skill in building solid personal branding.

Always remember: a web writer is not just a person who knows how to write . He is also a person who always learns new things, who gets involved every day, who creates lasting human relationships and who has learned how to sell himself.

She studies. Learn. Get involved. Get your hands dirty.

If you love writing, you will see that web writing will be a job that will give you a lot of satisfaction!

Final reflections

If you’ve come to the end of this long article on how to make money by writing articles online, congratulations!

It means that this job really interests you a lot and delving into, reading and discovering is really the first step to being successful as a web writer.

Since you’ve come this far, I want to give you the last secret, perhaps the most fundamental, to be able to break through in this field: constancy .

It will not be a linear path. There will be moments of satisfaction and moments of discouragement. You will find doors wide open but many doors in your face will also be closed.