Advice for beginners

[indigofragrance]

Hey everyone. I am new to this forum and I just wanted to say thank you to all the people who have posted information about writing. Mostly I have done article writing on review websites but I don't think the pay is ever worth the amount of time I have put into my writing. There are some great tips here so thank you!

[Healthy Eating]

I'd like to offer some advice to writers who need to use their skills to make money in these challenging economic times. As a writer, I hate to see talented, experienced writers being paid peanuts to churn out cheap content for website owners. On the internet, prices for freelancers have been driven down so much, that unless you live in a very cheap part of the world, it may not be worth your while. If you are talented, passionate, skilled, well-motivated and prepared to work hard at building a business that can make you some money, I recommend writing for yourself as opposed to writing for others. Many writers begin blogs for this very purpose, but burn out after a while because of the necessity to keep posting and always having something new. Websites can contain similar content, but provide an evergreen structure that will not burn you out after a year or so. You can build your own website by writing about what interests you! Own your own traffic and add on monetization models when you have good content pages that will draw in readers from the search engines. Then you will be the one hiring writers if you need help!
Edited by: Healthy Eating

[tan111]

Ladies thanks for sharing the information! It was very useful for me[img]smileys/smiley4.gif[/img]

[LuthCrl]

Originally Posted by tan111

Ladies thanks for sharing the information! It was very useful for me[img]smileys/smiley4.gif[/img]

Hi, this is a heads up. I tried to click your sig links, but they returned me to your same post in this forum. I was interested in the web development blog! Can't get there from here.

Thanks,

[i2amwahm]

Originally Posted by Healthy Eating

I'd like to offer some advice to writers who need to use their skills to make money in these challenging economic times. As a writer, I hate to see talented, experienced writers being paid peanuts to churn out cheap content for website owners. On the internet, prices for freelancers have been driven down so much, that unless you live in a very cheap part of the world, it may not be worth your while. If you are talented, passionate, skilled, well-motivated and prepared to work hard at building a business that can make you some money, I recommend writing for yourself as opposed to writing for others. Many writers begin blogs for this very purpose, but burn out after a while because of the necessity to keep posting and always having something new. Websites can contain similar content, but provide an evergreen structure that will not burn you out after a year or so. You can build your own website by writing about what interests you! Own your own traffic and add on monetization models when you have good content pages that will draw in readers from the search engines. Then you will be the one hiring writers if you need help!

I agree with this comment. You might be selling yourself short if you constantly work so hard for so little. There are many ways in which you can use your writing skills. I am an internet marketer and I am continually using my writing skills to build my own wealth online. If you are already a writer, you'll have that to your advantage.

That said, this is not to discourage those who do not have a lot of writing experience. This is something that anyone can learn to do, regardless of experience. I literally work from my home, for myself. I learned much of what I do through a site that has taught me every angle on how to succeed in this business. If your writing skills need work, they have tools and resources that will help you hone those skills. If you want to learn more about what I personally do, the link in my signature will give you much more detail. Hope this helps...

[Hoping2]

Sure, and in six months to a year you might have a steady income stream. That is a very rewarding use for your own writing, I agree. However, many of us need the income now, not six months to a year from now. I do this full time and could not do that with my own website and no clients.

Once you become experienced with Web writing, you will start to see that you can make a lot more writing for a variety of clients than you can by only writing for yourself. Hobbyists may choose to write strictly for themselves anyway, and and that's fine, but you have to remember that the people you are looking down on may need the steady income and are probably doing quite well. Good luck!

[i2amwahm]

Wow - I so wasn't looking down on anyone and never have. There are many highly successful writers who have worked hard to get to where they are and are earning a dynamic living doing it. I was responding to Healthy Eating's comment about writers who are struggling and being unfairly paid so little. I do know where they are coming from, and it is unfair. And I never suggested that anyone stop working to go out on a limb. It was just food for thought for the people who want to go that route. Just trying to be a voice of encouragement in support of those who have those aspirations and want to build in that direction. It actually can work for those who are having trouble and who really want the independence. It takes a lot of hard work to be successful at anything, especially in these hard times, and it is unfair that entities unjustly take advantage of the hard work that people put forth. We all work hard at what we do, and I was merely trying to shed a positive light. We can all use encouragement in these tough economic times. Best wishes.

[Hoping2]

I was referring to the comments from Healthy Eating. People who look down on people who write for clients are usually either newbies or hobbyists. It's great to be either of those, but it's important to remember that not everyone is in one of those positions.

[Fluffy]

Originally Posted by Hoping2

I was referring to the comments from Healthy Eating. People who look down on people who write for clients are usually either newbies or hobbyists. It's great to be either of those, but it's important to remember that not everyone is in one of those positions.

Healthy Eating has apparently left the building. She probably wants to build traffic for her SBI site shown in her sig line, which is fine, but she missed the key piece of SBI wisdom that it's about building relationships, not about blazing into a forum and telling us all we don't know what we're doing.

Yes, most of us know about building and monetizing websites. Many of us are in the process of doing this. But like Hoping2, I have bills to pay now, and while I'm no millionaire, $10 to $20 per hour is a fair wage for the work I do. I have no complaints.
Edited by: Fluffy

[chicagomom]

Hi everyone! I am trying to get writing experience at the same time as looking for work, which is why I set up my new blog. Hope some of my ideas and information can ultimately be useful to someone else.....