Make Money Online Writing: 3- Marketing Your Writing Skills

Now that you have joined some freelance writing sites, you are a few steps away from starting to make money online. Before starting to earn money for your writing pieces, it’s better to write a few articles and publish them on the internet. When applying for a writing job on any of the freelance writing sites, adding links to some of your live online articles, press releases…etc illustrates your writing abilities and style to the client.

What should you be writing about?

Well, that’s an easy question to answer. Write about things you love, things that interest you the most and things that you are good at. Try to perfect your writing piece as much as possible, because it will be your messenger to clients telling them what a good writer you are.

Pick up a topic and then choose 2-4 keyword phrases that are related to the topic. For example, if you choose to write about weight loss, you can target these keywords:

-         how to burn fat

-         how to lose weight

-         Weight loss program….etc.

Now, try to include each of your selected keywords 2 or 3 times throughout your article, to achieve a reasonable keyword density. Write a summary for your article which can be 2 to 3 sentences that sum up what your article is about.

Click here to know how you can make money online writing articles.

Where should you publish your article?

Well, at this point, the best place to publish on is a free article directory which is a website that accepts submission of articles by its users. Articles on article directories are usually categorized with others of the same niche. There are tens of article directory websites; the most important of which are:

Ezinearticles.com

Ehow.com

Articlebase.com

Squidoo.com

Hubpages.com

All these article directories are free to join. Open an account on any of them and read their submission guidelines carefully to avoid your article from being rejected. I recommend Ezinearticles as it is very popular and highly prestigious among internet business owners. After submitting your article, you will have to wait for a few days before your article is accepted and becomes live on the internet.

When your article is live, copy its link and save it, so that you would be able to include it in your job applications.

Online Business Plan

Online Business Plan

Make Money Online Writing : 2- Signing Up to Freelance writing sites

After determining payment methods available in your country, joining some of the available freelance writing websites is one of the best ways to start making money online writing.

What is a freelance writing site?

A freelance website is a form of marketplace which connects “buyers” or “clients” with “providers” or “contractors”. Buyers or clients are individuals looking for writers, programmers, graphic designers…etc and contractors or providers are individuals who make money online through writing, programming, website building…etc. A freelance website is sometimes called an outsourcing website as clients are actually “outsourcing” work to remote contractors. 

Which freelance writing sites should I join?

 There are tens of freelance writing websites that offer thousands of online freelance writing jobs. I have been writing for years on many of these freelance writing sites and I know which one are the best ones for you at the beginning of your online writing career. I recommend joining these freelance writing websites:

oDesk.com

Elance.com

Peopleperhour.com

vWorker.com

Guru.com

Remember to double check availability of the sites’s payment methods to workers in your country, before joining it and creating an account.

These websites offer payment options that are available to individuals anywhere on the globe. All these outsourcing services are free to join. oDesk and vWorker are completely free to join, while Peopleperhour, Guru and Elance offer free membership and paid membership accounts.

After signing up for an account and confirming it, you need to complete your profile on the website. Having a complete profile is a key to success in the world of outsourcing. Your profile should include:

• Personal data: name, residence, telephone, billing  address…etc. You might be asked to provide a proof of residence such as a scanned copy of your national ID or a utility bill. 
• Education and training: you should include everything about your education and training. Highlight courses and training programs that are related to the niche you specialize in. 
• Past experience: list your different experiences in both offline and online businesses. Adding references to previous clients you worked for is a perfect way to market your skills. 
• Portfolio: I believe that a portfolio comprises more than 50% of a successful profile on freelance writing sites. Include samples of writing pieces you did in the past. Links to online live pieces markedly adds up to the credibility of your portfolio.

Make Money Online Writing: 1- How Will I Get Paid?

Before starting to make money online writing, you must know how you will get paid. At first, you must get familiar to a few terms to fully understand the different available online payment methods:

1- E-wallets

An e-wallet is a form of a digital electronic wallet which enables you to receive and make payments online. There are many e-wallets out there; the most common of which are Paypal, Moneybookers and Alertpay. You create a free account on any of these e-wallet websites and then link it to your bank account. It is through this link that you can send and receive money to and from your e-wallet account. Paypal is the most widely used e-wallet service. Nearly, 95% of freelance writing websites list Paypal as a payment method for their freelance writers. Paypal is available in more than 90% of the world’s countries. Luckily, Moneybookers and Alertpay are available in all of the world’s countries, although they are less popular than Paypal.

2- Wired transfer:

A wired transfer is a way for moving money from one bank account to another in a different bank that is either in the same country or not. To receive a wired transfer online, you need to have a bank account in the same currency of your wired transfer. Almost all freelance writing sites offer wired transfers to all of the world’s countries.

You must ask your bank about its SWIFT code which is a special code that identifies the bank and its branch. Each and every bank in the world has a unique SWIFT code. If your bank offers you an IBAN, then get it as it markedly simplifies transferal of funds to your bank account from any bank in the world. IBAN refers to International Bank Account Number. If you don’t have an IBAN, then you must have your bank account number and the bank’s swift code to receive wired transfers.

3- Debit cards:

A debit cards is actually the reverse of a credit card. You deposit money in your account and then spend them through the debit card which you can swap at different outlets to pay for things you buy, or you can withdraw your money from any ATM via your debit card. Payoneer is the biggest international free debit card service. Some freelance writing sites such as oDesk, Guru, Freelancer and vWorker partnered with Payoneer to pay their freelance writers. When you start working on these sites, you can sign up for a free Payoneer debit card that you should be able to receive by mail.

Before signing up for an online writing job, you should first define the payment methods available in your country. To make money online, you must know how you will be paid and how much transferal of the funds will cost you. Don’t get frustrated if you find a freelance writing website that doesn’t support payments to your country; just be patient and you will find many others that do.