Would You Write 500-Word Articles for $1 a Piece?

I was looking at Craiglist this evening and I was so frustrated to see a lot of ads from employers offering $1 or $1.50 for 500-word articles. It is a pity that there are writers who write for such meager compensation. Even when I was just starting out as a freelance writer, I never did want to write articles for a meager $1. If we are to do the math, $1 would not even compensate for the writer's effort at putting his or her thoughts down into words. Consider the tedious work of researching...will $1 be enough? Then there are the bills for electricity and the writer's time. I know that for starters, $1 may be enough for them to start with. They can at least build a portfolio out of that. But it is still not fair for writers. There are a lot of employers who insist on their meager pay and they demand a lot from the writers. They fail to realize that writers aren't slaves. Writers eat, too, and have bills to pay.

I know there are a lot of writers who may accept this meager offer just to gain experience and build their portfolio. But I just hope that employers are sensitive enough to the worth of writers. We are not slaves. If employers want to pay $1 a piece, then I suggest they don't ask too much from writers. They shouldn't be too strict if that is the only amount they can pay. If these employers feel that writers, especially those not from the US do not have the right to insist on their own rates and their worth, then these kinds of employers do not also have the right to insist on quality and originality of articles. It is a give and take process.

If you are a writer, think much about your worth. Do not let employers underestimate you. You can earn much better than that.

What SEO Can Do for Your Blog

There are many people who have made it big in the blogging world. They may have made thousands just from maintaining their blogs. How could they possibly have done it?

According to many successful bloggers, the secret to getting success in blogging is to target your articles for SEO. What is SEO? SEO is short for "search engine optimization". This is a process where articles are written with specialized keywords so they get picked up easily by search engines. Targeting your articles to keywords that are often searched for by people can bring a lot of traffics to your blog. The more traffic a blog has, the better chances it has to earn.

There are many people who write quality contents on their blogs but not all of these blogs may be easily found by other people. In short, despite the quality content found in those blogs or sites, they may not be accessed by people because they are not indexed by search engines. The problem could be that these blogs did not use the right keywords that make them visible in search engines.

SEO can do a lot to improve the traffic of your blogs or websites. Try to write using the right keywords and you may see a big difference in your blog traffic.

How Much Should You Charge for Your Article?

One of the problems that freelancers often face in their freelance writing career is how much to charge for their article. This is especially true for beginners. I have seen so many writers bidding $1 foe every 500-600 word article. I wonder how they are able to eat with that kind of rate?

It is always a pity to see people scrambling to get projects that pay only pennies for the kind of hard work they do. Even if I am in the Philippines and the cost of living is lower compared to the US, Australia and many parts of the globe, I still believe that $1 per project is way too low. Working for that kind of amount is some kind of slavery.

How much should you charge for your article? It all depends on the freelancer. However, a lot of things should be taken into consideration before we charge too low an amount. Even $4 per 500 word article is too low. Think freelancing as a business. Will you be able to pay for electricity, broadband and other overhead costs with that kind of amount? Will that amount suffice for all the hard work and efforts you do? I think not. When I started out, I started with $3.50, which at that time was good because others were being paid lower than that. But as I gained more experience, I also learned better. A dollar for an article is a pittance! No one should accept such amount in exchange for their hard work. I think $5 should be the minimum and it should not be much lower than that.

I used to get some work from Craigslist Philippines and I have had clients who pay according to my rates. But it pisses me to see employers offering $1 in exchange for high quality original articles. Huh! They usually make it clear that they need "high quality original article at fast turn around time" and if their specifications are not met, they may not pay. What the heck!

Fellow writers in the Philippines, you should know your worth better. We need to eat, too. We need to be compensated for the hard work we do. Like other writers from the US say, we should not work for peanuts. Know your worth. Do NOT undersell yourself. If a client declines your rate, then go to the next. Do not beg for them to give you pennies for the hard work you do. Strive for a much better pay. It is only in charging better that you will finally see fruits of your hardwork.

The Suite 101 Experience

It seems like Suite 101 has gotten me hooked. I have read in other blogs that share-revenue sites are no good and they only exploit freelance writers. I feel so too with Triond when I only received a few cents after months of having written a few articles there. But with Suite, it is always a joy to see my revenues rise day after day. Lately, though, I experienced days without revenue and it got me really frustrated. But after several days, there it was again, revenue rising.

My freelance writing experience with Suite 101, albeit it's too early for me to tell if the site really is a good one to stick on to, has also made me realise that Triond is not bad after all. Anyway, I have only written two quality articles at Triond, the rest of which are poems which may not at all get the attention of readers. That must have been the reason why earning there was slow. But I have also seen improvement with my earnings in Triond in the last few days. Perhaps if I'd write more there I'd also earn more.

I am excited now to see my revenues at Suite rising more. I am about to add more articles and I think with more articles there, I'd be able to earn better. I'll see what the site has to offer me after a few months of writing there and post the result here. I think it will be a good one.

Trying Hard Not to Write

Geez. It is a Sunday and it has been my first Sunday that I have no articles to write for a client. I was elated because finally, I could use some rest for this day. But what the heck, I can't keep myself away from my computer. I feel I need to write write and write. Can't help it. Ugh...

Freelance Writing Pay Rate Increase

Just last week I received another batch of assignments from one of the writing sites that I currently write for. The assignment consisted of the same types of articles, same guidelines and the same number of words per topic. But there was one change that I couldn't help but notice. And that slight change made me happy.

You guess it! They raised their pay rate.I will not disclose how much they pay for every assignment but I can assure you pay is reasonable. Well, a bit. Not much but reasonable. It is not like other sites that pay a measly $3 for a 500-word article. And this latest assignment they gave me pays more by $1 per article. :) That means for an assignment that consists of five 500-word articles, I'd get an additional $5 more.

I hope they'd raise their pay rate again by next month :)

Plagiarized Article

I have only been with Suite 101 for barely a month but already, I have found one of my articles there plagiarized. My first article, which was about women's health, was found by a co-contributing writer to have been published on another site along with many other articles of writers from Suite 101 and Associated Content. When I received her message, I immediately checked on the mentioned site. Indeed, I found my article there, copied word for word without a single word being changed.

There was no way I could contact the site administrator so I tried posting a reply to the plagiarized article. That, too, failed. I couldn't get through to the site even through the comment section. However, the next day I noticed that my article had been pulled out from the site along with many others that were owned by other Suite 101 writers. Perhaps the site admin had received our messages after all.

Freelance Writing at Suite 101

After months of researching for sites that pay residual income to writers, I finally settled down with Suite 101. Suite 101 is currently hiring freelance writers and I submitted my application there at the end of July. By the first week of August, I had my first article published on the site.

Suite 101 has a good reputation among its contributing writers and what made me choose the site among many others is the thought that I can actually put my byline there. Suite 101 does not allow its writers to use pen names so I had to use my real name. I find it an advantage on my part since with my name written with my articles, I can safely claim that the article is really mine. I have had hundreds of articles published at article directories but all those were written under other names. Every time I deal with a new client I always had to direct them to those articles, which of course carried another person's name. And I had to convince them that it was indeed I who wrote those articles.

I have barely spent a month writing with Suite 101 but I'm enjoying freelance writing there now. I will be writing more about my experiences on the site once I have spent considerable amount of time writing there.

Blogging Site That Pays Bloggers: Get Paid From Us

Got something to write about but don't know where to start? Read on. You may just find some valuable information in this short article.

When I started to blog, I didn't know much about the techniques successful bloggers use to earn revenue from their blogs (I still don't know much till now). All I knew then was that they were earning and that I could also earn from blogging. By surfing through the Internet, I learned that I could potentially earn a few dollars by just blogging and blogging and blogging. That seemed quite easy for me. Well, that was what I thought. You see, I have always loved to write and before I learned to use the pc and the Internet, I had had this habit of writing down my thoughts on paper and notebooks.

Excited to start earning on the Web (ehem...that was my first goal), I started googling for sites where I could possibly put up my own blog for free. That was how I learned about blogger.com. I signed up and set up my very first blog (this is the one, under another name which I changed two years later).

My first entry on this blog was about ptc sites where I was a member during that time. Those ptc sites were the very first income generating sites I engaged in. Income with the ptc sites dragged and I actually felt it was a waste of my time but I kept on clicking ads to reach my goal of earning online. That time, paypal does not pay people from our country and I chose the now defunct e-gold. I did earn a few cents and had been very excited to see at least $4 dollars in my e-gold account.

After a few entries, I felt like I was just wasting my time. I never earned even a cent from my blogging and I really did not understand how some people could be so lucky with Google Adsense.

I did earn $10 (I think that was after a year or more):(. But that $10 was not from blogging. It was earned from Mylot.

After a failed attempt at earning from blogging, I searched again for writing sites where I may be paid for my efforts. I found a lot of blogging sites that have the potential to pay bloggers but only one caught my attention. This blogging site was Get Paid From Us. I signed up immediately after reading their terms and conditions and started writing.

The first month at Get Paid From Us had been a good experience for me. I was paid a measely $3 after a month. Not much. But it was still money and that was my first payment from blogging ever.

I still write for Get Paid From Us from time to time although I do not get my main income from there. I have learned quite a few tricks in earning money online after 3 years of surfing the Web and I no longer count on paid blogging sites to earn a few dollars. I have generated a good flow of income from freelance writing and I am earning quite a decent living from it. But I would still recommend beginners to try blogging sites that pay writers to garner a little reward for the efforts they are doing. They can start from these blogging sites, hone their skills and then go for larger paying markets such as freelance writing sites and private clients when they are ready enough.

Where to Search for Freelance Writing Sites

On August 8, 2009, I wrote at Speak! that I have come across websites that provide helpful tips for freelance writers. I also mentioned there about Bianca Raven's blog, a blog that I had bookmarked because of the wealth of information I found there. Bianca Raven is a freelance writer like me and according to her, she's been earning very well from her freelance writing career. It is from her blog that I learned about Neutral Existence and some other websites that pay non-US freelance writers.

If you are looking for information on where to search for freelance writing sites that pay writers from around the world, you may want to check Raven's blog. You'll find helpful tips there as well as links to freelance paying markets. Lately, I heard that her friend and mentor is going to put up a writing site and will be needing writers soon. You may want to check that out, too.

Sites that Pay Freelance Writers

Here is a list of freelance writing sites that truly pays freelance writers for their hard work. You may want to check them out. I am a member of some of these sites and have been paid several times.

Delegate 2.Sister company of Purecontent.Most assignments I got from this writing site has to be delivered to purecontent. They accept international writers so even though you are not from the US, you may apply and get accepted. They pay $3 for every 250 word article. Not bad if you are a fast worker. Delegate 2 pays monthly in arrears and you'd have to send them an invoice for work you have done in the previous month.

PGF Web Consulting. I am not sure if they are currently hiring but you may want to check out their site. They pay $25 per assignment, which consists mostly of 5 articles to write. That means they are giving $5 per article. They pay mostly on time. Delayed payments happen sometimes when there are problems with the articles that you have sent. Staff is friendly and approachable.

Brighthub. This site pays $10 upfront payment for every accepted article. The article continues to earn revenue and the writer may earn royalty every month because aside from the upfront payment, they also offer revenue sharing. I applied on this site and do not know if I had been accepted or not. They just gave me a log in. Problem is the site isn't user-friendly and you'd have a hard time figuring where to submit or do your article on their site. They got good feedbacks from their writers, though, so they must be paying well/

Neutral Existence. This site pays $20 per 500 word article. Topics are mostly about green living or saving the environment. They pay half of the amount upfront and the other half after three months, I think. Check their site for more information.

Suite 101. This is a revenue-sharing site. I am a new member and have not published any article yet on this site so I cannot vouch for their paying methods for now. But they have been getting good feedback from other writer members.

Triond. This is another revenue-sharing site. I have written several articles here and have been paid last month for articles that I have written since February. Payout is at $.50 cents and it may take a long time to reach that very small amount. But they do pay.

LWS Media. For freelance writers in the Philippines, LWS Media is currently searching for full time bloggers and part time writers. They contacted me through PitchYourTalent.com and tried them for a while. They pay quite high compared to other writing sites. Payment is 300 Php per approved article. They want only experienced and highly qualified writers. I think their system is a little too novice compared to other writing sites that I have worked with so I did not continue writing for them. I had to do some follow ups for my articles before I get notified if they have been approved or not. One time, I only learned that my articles have been approved when I used a plagiarism checker and found the articles online. Takes a lot of patience before they will notify you. You also need to go to their office to personally claim your payment because they do not pay through paypal or bank transfer. I have two articles that have been sitting there for weeks and until now, I do not know if those have approved or not. Says the person in charge of approving the articles is too busy.This is worth a try if you have a lot of patience.

Published but Unpaid

I have written days ago how I felt when I found out that the samples I have submitted to a certain writing site were published on different websites without my knowledge. I know I am not the only victim of this kind of modus operandi but I still feel so frustrated by it. So I wrote a letter to the people behind the company and told them to pay for the articles or at least have those deleted from the Web.

One of the big bosses of the writing site replied to my email and said she will look into the matter and to give her time till this Tuesday to sort things out. She also asked for my paypal address. That should be enough to calm me down. But towards the end of her letter, she told me I own no copyright to the articles as, according to her, it was stated on the site that writers no longer own the copyright to written materials upon submission. I told her I still own the copyright because I was not compensated for any of those articles. I told her further that writers only relinquish copyrights to articles when paid and if articles were meant to be merely samples and not intended to be paid, they should not be sold to any of their clients nor published in any way, especially without the consent and knowledge of the original author or writer (in this case, myself).

Further, I told her that their site said nothing of the sort and that I have been promised by their editor that I will receive payment once the articles are accepted or approved. I checked their site again and saw that they have changed the entire layout and design of their website. Still, it did not mention that writers will no longer hold copyright to their written materials once they have submitted those to the site, regardless of whether the articles are paid or not.

Tuesday is coming to an end and I still have not heard again from the person who answered my first email. I do not know if she will email again or if they will ever pay for those articles. Right now, I no longer pay about payment. I just want them to have those articles deleted from whatever site they are published on. I own those articles and they have no right to claim it as their own.

How will you feel if you will see your own articles published by some unknown people without your permission? Your answer will definitely describe how I feel right now.

Freelance Writers, Beware of Writing Sites Asking You to Write Sample Articles!

You have read just right. Beware!

I myself have seen this warning in other blogs. Many bloggers and freelance writers have warned other freelancers about writing sites that ask for writing samples. They have had unpleasant experiences with these sites. Most sites that ask freelance writers to write sample articles for them are either scam sites or have questionable activities. Once freelance writers have written the sample for them, they no longer contact the writers but go on publishing the written samples without paying for them. Is that proper? No, of course not.

Freelance writers pour so much effort in all their works and it is a pity that they do not get compensated for the articles that they have written. I myself is a victim of this modus operandi.

I thought and was thankful that I was not able to experience not being compensated for my writing samples. Well, that was what I thought. Until yesterday, I found out I was wrong.

There was this writing site where I applied months ago when I was just starting out with freelance writing. This site seemed legitimate enough so I applied as a writer. All writer applicants were asked to write "First Three Articles" and according to the site editor, the articles will be paid via Xoom once approved. Two of my three articles were approved and the third was sent back to me for some editing. To make my story short, I was able to give them four articles in all.

I did not pursue writing for the site because at that time, I was already writing for two other clients and I had so much load already. I thought my sample articles were not published because I did not pursue writing for them. Besides, they gave no hint that I was going to be paid for that.

Yesterday, I checked my sample articles against a plagiarism checker to find out if the articles have not been published. I did this because I was planning to submit my articles to some writing sites or article markets. What did I get from my search? Disappointment. All my sample articles have been published under different names. I have not been paid for them. The writing site gave no notice of the publication of the articles I have written and they have given no hint of payment.

So there. I learned my lesson. Things like this can happen to any writer. There are too many people out there who only want to profit from other people's efforts without thinking of giving back due compensation.

To all freelance writers, especially those who are just starting out, beware of writing sites asking you to write sample articles for them. Chances are you may not be compensated for your efforts.

Sites for Freelance Writers

It was not too long ago that I wondered whether I would actually earn a decent income online as a freelancer. But as I get more familiar with the many opportunities that the Internet has to offer, the more I realize that there indeed is money in freelancing.

Unlike other people who have earned a lot from bidding sites such as Elance, Guru and GetAfreelancer, I never had the opportunity to earn even a single penny from those sites. I never won any bid. Until now, I still wonder how other people are able to attract customers on those sites. However, I did learn that those are not the only sites where freelance writers can earn a decent income from.

I am sure that there are a lot of newbie freelance writers out there who are looking for writing sites that really pay. If you are really serious about writing and earning from it, you'll find there are several markets out there where you can earn a decent income from your writing.

Craigslist

For newbies who do not want to go to bidding sites where competition is tough and where some prices would go as low as $1 per 500 word article, Craigslist is a good source of projects. There are many people who post their ads there, looking for writers. If you are lucky enough, you'd be able to get a client who'd pay you well for your work.

Love to Know You

This site pays $20 per 500 word article. I have not tried this myself yet because right now I am still very much loaded with assignments from other sites. I really want to try this site, though. Perhaps one day I'd register here and see how their system works. $20 per 500 word article is a reasonable price and an attractive offer.

Delegate 2

This is where I get most of my assignments from. The site pays $3 per 250 word article to their writers. If the word count of the article exceeds 250 words, the rate will go up. Most of the assignments that they have given me so far are on the 250 words bracket.

Demand Studios

This site accepts only US citizens so I cannot register to this site although I would have wanted to. But I heard that this site pays well to their members.

If you know of other sites where freelance writers are being paid well for their hard work, you may leave a comment and share it here. It would be very helpful if we can share what we know about these freelance writing sites.

More Ways to Earn Online

In 2008, I made a list of the possible ways in which one can earn money online. Except with Mylot, I have had no luck with other sites on the list. In fact, some of those sites have been scams such as the 1-800 Mail. Some ptc sites included in the list, however, were indeed paying sites but because of the minimal amount that I got from them, I decided they were a waste of my time. Therefore, I moved on and tried other money generating methods in the Internet.

In early of this year, I was offered a job as a content writer by an Australian company after losing my full time job as online editor. It was then that I realized that the best way for me to earn online is to write web content for other sites. I have been blogging for quite sometime but so far, I have had no luck with Adsense and I have not earned anything with my blogs. With the job offer, I started earning a decent monthly income.

Since then, I have visited job posting sites and have applied as a freelance writer on some ad posts. Fortunately, I did land on some gigs and was able to earn quite a decent amount of extra money.

Now, as I was going through the posts at Mylot, I found that there is now a revenue sharing site that is similar to Adsense and maybe even better. This money-making opportunity is called Adgitizer.

There are a number of ways in which you can earn with Adgitizer. You can earn by writing entries on your blog, viewing ads, visiting blogs in the network, and through page views on your blog.

Adgitizer pays monthly by either by paypal or by check. Earnings depend on your involvement in their network. Sign-up is free so you can try for yourself if this site is good without losing anything.

I have yet to find out if this site is really paying its members. I will post a proof of payment on this blog once I will get my first payment from this site.

Web Content Writing: Tips to Convert Your Words into Cash

Are you good with words? Want to convert your words into cash? That's easy. Write Web content.

The Internet has so much to offer. While corporate offices are laying off employees to cut down on costs, the virtual community announces job openings left and right. If you have what it takes to thrive online, why not get it on?

2009 is a promising year for bloggers, web content writers, copywriters, web designers, and virtual assistants. Many job sites have listings of job openings for these positions. Many start up companies are looking for people to help them set up websites; hence, the urgent need to hire good web designers. But good websites will not flourish in the online world without well written and informative content on them. Therefore, good copywriters and web content writers are in demand.

Web content writing is a good source of income especially when you take it seriously. Whether you have been doing web content writing for years or have just began writing online, these tips might help you succeed in your writing endeavors.

1. Use simple English words. You may have a wide vocabulary and know a lot of words, but keep in mind that your readers will not always be able to understand words that are not commonly used in conversational English. Use words that can be easily understood by everybody who may come across your content.
2. Write in shorter sentences.
3. Place one idea in one paragraph only.
4. Use rich keywords in your writing. Key words are important when writing for an online audience. Using the right key words make it easier for people to find your article.
5. Get right to the point. Readers on the Internet are impatient. They like it when they immediately find what they are looking for.
6. Use bulleted lists. This helps to clearly state your point.
7. Use objective language. Avoid using adjectives and adverbs in exaggeration.
8. Highlight some text for scannability
9. Write titles which are attention-getters.
10. Write short articles. Most readers on the Web do not have much time to read content that is too long.

Do not be afraid to venture into the world of web content writing. If you have the passion and the talent, then start writing!