How to Earn Money from Home with Your Writing Skills

Want to make money from home? Use your writing skills to start your own at-home freelance writing career.

Writing is something that many people love and probably more people hate. Not everyone is good at it, but if you're a decent writer, you can earn extra income from it or even make a career at it. Use these steps to get started.

Start a Career in Writing
 
Hone your Skills

If you want to start a career in writing, your first step is to hone your writing skills. The best way to do this is to write. That could mean practicing with articles you don't get paid for, but I recommend writing low-paying articles to start if your quality isn't to the standard yet of higher paying work. From then on, everything you write will help you be a better writer.

You can also be a better writer by reading more and reading about how to write. Reading in general will help a lot, especially if you read what you're writing about. For example, if you're going to focus on writing about gardening, read everything you can about the subject. Read books, magazines, articles online, etc. Also, watch videos and practice gardening. This will improve your skills and your knowledge.

You can also be a better writer by reading books about writing such as the ones below. They will help you improve your skills.


How to Make Money from Writing

When you're looking for money making ideas online, you'll notice that writing is a popular one because there are so many opportunities. Click here for other ideas. I suggest starting small with your writing and as you improve your skills and build up your portfolio, you can begin to search for better paying work and more advanced articles.

There are several sites available that allow you to join and do a practice article which places you on a level. Then, you can choose from article requests that are posted in your level and get the corresponding pay. Here are a few sites like this:

•     TheContentAuthority.com
•     Textbroker.com
•     MediaPiston.com
•     WriterAccess.com
•     Scripted.com

These are fast, easy ways to start earning money from your writing. Even as you progress, you can advance to more difficult, better-paying assignments, but these are great to fill in your time and supplement your income until you get better work.


What to Write About

Essentially, you could write about absolutely anything you want. However, narrowing down your topics will allow you to become an expert in your niche. The more you write in one area, the more extensive and catered your writing portfolio will be to that industry or area. People will choose you to write because you're the expert in that field.

What do you enjoy, know a lot about, and have experience in? It's best to start with your education and career. If you're a teacher with a degree in teaching, you can write about all things teaching. If you're an engineer, you can write about that.

You can also think about your hobbies if your career isn't interesting enough to write about, you don't want to write about it, or there isn't much demand for articles in that field. Here are just a few hobbies that could be good ideas that are in demand:

•     Finance - Investing and saving money
•     Gardening
•     Getting healthy and eating write
•     Exercising
•     Hiking
•     Arts and Crafts
•     Home Improvement
•     Collecting
•     Video Games

Think about what you like to do in your spare time, learn as much as you can about it, and start writing.

Advancing in Your Writing Career

As you write more and more, begin to look for freelance writing opportunities above and beyond content mills. Wizzley.com is a great opportunity. You can write and create your own pages and make money for them. If you like article promotion, this adds a great opportunity. The more you promote your page, the more earning potential there is.

You can also try working directly with clients. Look on freelance writing job boards and look for job postings. Some clients are looking for one-time assignments while others are looking for columnists or regular workers. You could write for blogs, newspapers, magazines, or internet publications.

Don't be picky about where you write. Even the small blogs and beginning sites are a great way to flesh out your portfolio. Set up a website about yourself and post links to all your existing work. You can use this as a part of your resume for future assignments.

If you want to ensure that your writing career flourishes and is successful, just keep writing. Even if you have to work for a few pennies per word for several months or you can't live off your earnings in the beginning, the more you practice and the more you get your name out there, the more in demand you will be.

How to Earn Money on Wizzley with Chitika

Many online writers don't have an Adsense account. But Chitika offers an alternative, so you can still earn advertising revenue.

I've decided to use Chitika on Wizzley because I want a diverse income stream. But if you are able to use Adsense here, that is a better option.

However, if you don't already have an Adsense account, you won't be able to apply for one using your Wizzley pages.

In that case, the decision to instead use Chitika is an easy one. Fortunately, it's not difficult to get your own Chitika account, and this is how many writers are able to participate in Wizzley's ad-share revenue program. For instance, I was able to join Chitika without first proving myself, such as creating pages that immediately generated a lot of traffic.

Flickr photo by 401(K) 2013
 
Signing Up Was Really Simple

Getting a Chitika account was really easy. I just provided the company with a little bit of information, such as my email address, the platform I was writing for (Wizzley) and my selected username. This the the name I entered in my settings, in order to earn from the ads displayed on my articles.

Unfortunately, though, I made the mistake of putting my Chitika ID in the wrong spot on the Wizzley settings page. It took me a couple weeks to realize this error, after logging into my Chitika account and noticing no activity, such as impressions or clicks. Everything was a line of zeros. This was in no way the fault of the company. Just my own. If you do decide to join Chitika, make sure you enter your information on Wizzley correctly, in the Chitika Username box, instead of the Chitika Channel box.

Once I fixed this, I then began to see impressions. My earnings still registered zeros for a couple of months, but this is beginning to change. Partly because I'm learning how to optimize my Wizzley pages for Chitika ads.

I must be honest though. You're very unlikely to earn as much with Chitika as you are with using Adsense on your pages. This is also complicated by the fact that you can no longer turn on your Chitika text link ads, which appear as bright blue hyperlinks in the body of your articles. Nor can I use the hover feature, in which ads pop up. However, I wasn't entirely sold on the hover feature anyway.

Since I've turned the hyperlinks off, my revenue has fallen. I'm not sure quite what to do about this, which, unfortunately, has contributed to my decision not to add as many pages here, and to focus more on my own blogs.

Chitika has Good Support

Chitika was founded in 2003 by Venkat Kolluri and Alden Do Rosario, two former Lycos employees. The company now based in Westborough, Massachusetts. The name "Chitika" is an East Indian word that means "in a snap." That about sums up the process of signing up, as well as contacting customer support.

After signing up I've had to email customer support with questions. Within a very short amount of time my queries were answered, and it's always been by the same representative. He's been very patient, because I've had a lot of questions.

I've had even more since I've decided to use Chitika on four of my blogs. Even though the blogs are new, I'm starting to see a little spare change.
Chitika Gives You the Ability to Diversify Your Income

It's a bad idea for anyone who's trying to earn a living online to have just one income stream. You need a number of earning channels, such as Chitika, which, if you have your own website, can be used along with Adsense.

At Wizzley, however, you must choose between Chitika and Adsense. But it's a good alternative for publishers who can't use Adsense. This is a lifesaver for people who've signed up here, or would like to write here, but don't have an Adsense account.

I Immediately Monetized My Blogs With Chitika

I'd already had my Chitika account for a few months before I decided to start a blog. There was no separate approval process that I needed to undergo before adding Chitika. I simply logged into my Chitika account, and copied an HTML code for the style and color of the ads I wanted to display. Then I pasted the code into an HTML capsule on my blog. You can see one of my blogs and the Chitika ads by clicking here. Notice the blue hyperlinks? Those are Chitika ads.

Then I decided to monetize three additional blogs with Chitika and it was just as easy to do.

Most of the Chitika ads we see on Wizzley are lines of text. So I was pleasantly surprised to look at my blogs one day and notice some attractive display ads. Chitika support told me the company planned to use more of these in the future. I think this is a positive move that will help both Chitika and its publishers.

Earn Money by Referring Others to Sign Up for Chitika

You can earn money on Chitika by displaying its ads on your Wizzley pages, as well as your other sites. You also receive 10 percent of the earnings, for 10 months, from each publisher you refer to Chitika.

If you'd like to use Chitika to monetize your Wizzley articles, please feel free to click on the banner below and sign up.

How Can You Earn More Money Online

Learn these easy steps to maximizing your online income whether you are an affiliate or are selling your own products.

The secret to earning money online isn't selling, it's solving problems. Learn how to take your knowledge and experience and use it to increase your online income. There are 4 basic ways to earn money online:

1. Sell other peoples products
2. Sell your own products
3. Provide services for others (freelance writing is one example)
4. Provide Advertising space

The most common way for beginners to make money is advertising. They create a website and put some Adsense Google Ads then sit back and wait for the money to roll in. Of course it frequently doesn't work that well so they start to ask, "How can I earn more money?"

It doesn’t matter how wonderful you are or how pretty your website is. If you aren’t solving a problem or providing value you aren’t going to make any money.

•     Step 1 is to figure out a problem.
•     Step 2 is to find or create a solution.
•     Step 3 is to market that solution
•     Step 4 is to make money.

Step 1 - Find a Problem to Solve

It really isn’t that hard to find a problem that needs a solution. Take a look at your life, your hobbies, your work and the people you enjoy being with. Make a list of complaints you hear or that you make yourself over the course of a week and review them. Chances are you will find some simple problems that already have solutions available. All you have to do is market the solutions to the right people.

It doesn’t have to be a big problem and you don’t have to create the solution yourself, though this is the most profitable way to make money. One example of a simple problem is one common to long distance runners. Clothes rub and chafe and it is very painful. There is a product called Body Glide that eliminates this problem. If you happen to be a runner and already have a group of friends who also run you could create a website that compares body glide to other similar products, makes a recommendation and then sells the product you recommend.

Make sure that you have actually used the product you are selling. People may have questions before they buy and if you can't answer them, they won't make the purchase. It is also easy to write about products or services you have actually used. People appreciate some 'insider' info and will be more likely to purchase.


Step 2 - Find the Solution

In the example of the Body Glide the solution already exists. This is true for many common problems, but people don't have the time to do the research to find a solution.When you take the time to find a quality solution for their problem you are already on your way to earning more money.

However there may be a problem that doesn’t have an existing solution. This is often true with processes that are difficult. One example is homework. I have never met a parent yet who didn’t complain about helping their kids with homework. I happen to have a degree in Elementary Education as well as 2 children  so I felt qualified to write an Ebook with tips and techniques for parents to get their kids to do homework. I created a website for the book and started selling. Because I am active in my children's classroom I was able to persuade the teacher to include a link to my book in her weekly email home to the parents. I was able to combine my personal knowledge with my life and provide a solution directly to the market that needs it most.

If you have some expertise or knowledge you can create your own solution. It doesn't have to be an ebook.  You could create a video tutorial or a podcast. Whatever method you are most comfortable with.

If you don’t want to create your own product you can check for solutions at places like Click Bank and JVZoo where there are many ebooks and other electronic solutions available. Make sure you are selling quality items though or you won’t earn more money, just a bad reputation.


Step 3 - Market the Solution

In order to earn more money you need to market effectively. This is where your existing relationships are so important. Don’t try to solve a problem for a group of people you don’t know. This is also the reason I suggested you listen to the people around you - they are your natural market. If you participate in a hobby, are a member in a club, volunteer or participate in a regular activity these are connections you can use to market. Start close to home, even before you have your website available. If you start talking about the solution without selling it, people will listen to you a lot more. Once you are ready to sell you can simply tell people that you are ready and can they please check out your site to give you feedback. You don't have to ask them to buy anything. If you have a good solution they will buy it because you recommend it as the right product.

Use your existing online social media as well as your offline relationships to market your solution. If you are active on Facebook or Twitter and talk about your product without selling it you will be better off in the long run. Social media is for being social, not selling. But it is an excellent place to get your name out to the public. People who have built a relationship with you are far more likely to purchase something you have recommended.

Step 4 - Earn More Money

Earning more money is the result of these steps. It is always a good idea to have more than one form of income, even on the same website. You may not always make sales through advertising or even through product sales, but if you combine these options you will definitely make more money overall.

Online marketing is always changing and it is important to keep up with the latest trends. Once you have marketed to your existing circle of influence you can expand on that by experimenting with advertising yourself. Use the increased income to try new things and so earn even more money online.

The New Approach to SEO: Traffic Instead of Rankings

As the rules of SEO change yet again, you need to consider new ways of determining how your site is performing.


Whenever Google releases a new algorithm or an update to an algorithm, as it did last month, people everywhere begin to worry and speculate that current SEO practices may become obsolete. Fortunately for Internet marketers, this isn't the case.

Many SEO methods continue to apply. However, they must be employed with a different intent. For example, instead of striving for higher search engine rankings, webmasters, business owners and marketers have shifted their focus to increasing website traffic from organic search.

The State of the SEO Industry

How many times have you heard that “SEO is dead"? If Internet marketers had a nickel for every time they heard this declaration over the past two years, they could fund the world’s greatest marketing campaign.

The prediction that SEO is dying has been a favorite topic of the SEO industry for years now. Supposedly, SEO died in the summer of 2013. It also died in April 2012. It's died at least a dozen other deaths, too, according to nervous marketers uncomfortable with change.

In the spring of this year, Internet bloggers posed the perennial question: Is Google Hummingbird going to kill SEO? Predictions claimed that everything SEO specialists had spent years working for—link building, keyword rankings and the like—would become irrelevant. Months later, and on the heels of October's Google Penguin 3.0 release and Google’s recent announcement that Google PageRank will cease to be updated, the industry is more alive than ever.

Yet once again, bloggers are calling for a funeral march. How founded in reality are these claims?
The Death of PageRank

As Google’s John Mueller put it in a recent Google Webmaster Hangout video, “We are probably not going to be updating [PageRank] going forward, at least in the Toolbar PageRank.” While the popular viewpoint following the release of this statement consisted of a mixture of confusion, curiosity and fear of the unknown, it wasn’t a total surprise—PageRank hasn't been updated since December 2013, and Matt Cutts, the head of Google's Webspam team, had already announced it was on its way out months before.

After the idea that PageRank would officially shut down sank in, most realistic SEO professionals and Internet marketers realized that in the grand scheme of things, it didn’t really matter. That's because the reality is, SEO isn't dying at all; it’s simply transitioning and evolving.

The death of PageRank is only worrisome to those with an improper understanding of how SEO really works. While PageRank certainly plays a part in ranking success, it’s not everything, and it’s misguided to place all your focus on rankings instead of traffic. Honestly, rankings are only numbers, while traffic represents actual value. You can have the greatest PageRank, but unless you’re getting traffic, it really doesn’t matter.

Industry expert Jonathan Long offers a clear example in a recent article. He tells readers to compare two very different sites. One has a No. 1 keyword ranking and gets 50 visitors each month, while the second has a keyword ranking of No. 6 and attracts 900 visitors each month. Long then directs readers to the obvious conclusion: “Traffic numbers are much more valuable than rankings alone.”

“Your SEO efforts should be focused on driving quality traffic to your website, " says Tim Kelsey, director of client marketing services at Pronto, a digital marketing agency for small businesses. "After all, it’s traffic that drives new leads and sales.”

 Quality Control

So is SEO changing? Certainly. Is it dying? Absolutely not. A better terms for it would be "transitioning" or "changing." The “new SEO” places the emphasis where it deserves to be—on high-quality content.

As PageRank disappears, a natural cleansing process will take place in Google’s search engine. Black-hat SEO professionals who thrive on link farming, keyword stuffing and other manipulative, frowned-upon practices will see their pages disappear from search results, along with their PageRanks.

Meanwhile, those who follow Google’s Webmaster Guidelines and have worked hard to develop high-quality content that answers questions and sparks valuable conversation will see their pages rise in the rankings. That’s why some SEO professionals are excited about all the recent changes within the industry.

So instead of frowning over the loss of PageRank, start learning how to analyze better metrics, such as:
   

• Organic search traffic. Google isn’t keeping secret the fact that search engines are moving toward a local focus. Take a look at your organic search numbers in your Google analytics account, and identify where the traffic is coming from.
      
• Average time on site. You’ll also find the average-time-on-site metric valuable. Once visitors arrive, you need to determine how long they're staying and why they're leaving.
     
•  Goal conversions. If you have a high average time on site, odds are pretty good you’re getting some goal conversions. Since traffic is designed to drive new leads and sales, you need to make sure conversions are following.

In a world where SEO practices and Internet marketing techniques are constantly changing, are you prepared to shift your focus to new challenges? If so, it's time to start looking at traffic, not rankings.

Should You Start a Blog for Your Business?

Starting a blog can be one of the most beneficial things you do for your business. But just because you have a blog doesn't mean you have a good blog. And therein lies the problem: Your blog should exist to improve your business, not detract from it.

Is a Blog Right for You?

The main reason to start a blog is because you want to move your business ahead. Blogs can be excellent vehicles for driving search traffic, expanding your market reach and establishing your authority in your industry.

Blogs are also great for adding complementary content to your online business. Often, business websites don’t allow for content that isn’t absolutely critical to the bottom line. Blogs are a good bridge between core site content and content that's more loosely related to your business or industry.

A blog is also a good way to showcase your authority; building authority in your industry can give you an edge on your competition. One way to find content that showcases your authority is to repurpose content you’ve created elsewhere, such as presentations, videos, tutorials and so on, all of which can help you position your brand as the authority in your niche.

Starting a blog can be one of the most beneficial things you do for your business. 

But just because you have a blog doesn't mean you have a good blog. And therein lies the problem.

Next step is to ask yourself if you can properly commit to it. Successful blogs usually take money, manpower and time. Without that, then nobody wins—not the readers or your business—and your best move may be to look into other avenues to grow your business.
Building a Great Business Blog

If you’ve decided you can commit to building and maintaining a blog, try to create the kind of blog you’d subscribe to yourself.

Here are a few examples of great company blogs so you can see how successful blogs contribute to their businesses through the use of great content and design:

MailChimp. MailChimp’s blog is not only a fantastic example of seamless branding (the blog's design mimics MailChimp's website perfectly), it employs excellent writing and design. These aren’t copied-and-pasted press releases. They're well thought out, in-depth articles aimed at the company's target market.

Groove. Groove is a startup that grew to more than $100,000 in monthly revenue the first year, and the company attributes a large portion of that success to its blog. Its posts are honest and provide a behind-the-scenes look at the decisions the company's founders have made, the successes and the failures in starting an online help desk software company.

Patagonia. Patagonia is an excellent example of a retailer blog with The Cleanest Line, which highlights the company’s values without talking about the company itself. The blog covers such themes as adventure, travel, exploration and environmental activism—with a bit of company news sprinkled in here and there. The articles complement the Patagonia brand without overtly selling the company or its products.

This approach generates a lot of engagement, rarely fewer than 150 Facebook shares, per post. Since the blog only covers the company a fraction of the time, when it does talk about the business, those posts are shared just as much as the others. This is a great example of how a company has built a brand that people want to champion.

Essentially, the blogs are driven by businesses that have a plan and execute it as if it were a core part of your business and don’t skimp on resources. The good news is, if you can commit, blogging can be a powerful tool for your business.

Article Writing: Can it Help Me Get More Newsletter Subscribers?

Question: I’ve got a newsletter that just isn’t growing. I’m posting my site on free classified ads and I’m paying for advertising, but I’m just not seeing results. What can I do?
Signed, Nobody Loves Me

Dear Nobody Loves Me,
Let me start by saying you are not alone. I believe you are working hard. Unfortunately, just because you are working hard doesn’t mean you’ll have success. You need to also work smart and invest in long-term ways to grow your list.

Let me tell you about my favorite way to grow your list – giving away articles.

If you’re not familiar with using articles as a marketing method, then you’re in for a big treat. Website owners and blog owners are always looking for content to share with their web visitors. So, there are places called Article Directories (basically a library of free articles) where they can go to find articles that they can use – free.

All of these articles have an Author bio at the end. (See the end of this article for an example.). The author bio is the primo space where the authors get to talk about their business. Their brag space, so to speak.

What does any of this have to do with you? You can write and distribute articles to these article directories, too. And, in your author bio, instead of linking directly to your main page of your site, you can link to a page where you have a signup box for your newsletter. Voila. Everyone who clicks through that link will be taken to the page where you can offer them your wonderful newsletter (with a great incentive they can’t pass up.) Of course your page will lure them into signing up and your newsletter list will grow.

How to be Rejected by the Article Directories

Article writing is one of the best ways to increase your traffic and get more sales. You’ve heard it a million times so you decide to finally just do it. You write an article and submit it to the article directories, eagerly anticipating the flow of traffic. Instead you receive the dreaded rejection letter.

What did you do wrong?

1. Did you proof-read your article before you submitted it?

Popular article directory sites receive hundreds of submissions each day. It’s much easier for the owner to click “decline” than to edit your typo-filled or unformatted article. Before submitting, proof the article and proof it again. If grammar and spelling make you sweat, then hire a Copywriter or ask a friend to help you before you click that submit button.

2. Is it an Advertisement or an Article?

Article directory sites are looking for informative, useful content, not press releases or ads. If your submission reads like an ad, it will not be accepted. And, think about it — even if was approved on a fluke, do you think that website owners will be clamoring to publish your 500 word advertisement? Not a chance.

If your goal is to write and submit a press release, then check out places like prweb.com.

3. Did you read the Submission Guidelines?

Each article directory has a different culture. Glance through the Submission Guidelines before setting up an account to make sure your article will be welcome before you submit it. If an article directory is based around a niche like gardening, then please resist the urge to submit your Mesothelioma articles. There are plenty of article directories that want your articles. It’s not an effective use of your time to submit unwanted articles to a niche site.

4. Is your article PG-rated?

Don’t submit sex-related articles, profanity, or general nastiness. Article directories are businesses and, therefore, exist to make money. This means they generally receive income through affiliate sales or advertising. So, if your article includes sex or contains words stronger than “darn”, don’t be surprised if

your article is rejected. Of course, if your article contains nastiness or anything illegal — don’t even bother.

5. Is your Article original and written by you?

Submit only original articles. Please do not copy someone else’s article, edit it, and submit it. That’s stealing and you will be caught. And, do not submit articles from shared content sites. Article directories want original, unique content. Public domain is ‘public’ but think how ineffective article directories would

become if there were 500 versions of the same public domain piece. Instead of wasting your time figuring out how to reinvent other people’s content, just write your own.

Now that you know what not to do, start writing the kind of articles that article directories dream of — and watch your business grow.

4 Reasons Why You Might Want To Consider Affiliate Marketing.

Many all over the internet are utilizing affiliate marketing to either supplement an existing income or to create an income from home. Affiliate marketing is when you promote affiliate products and are paid when you make a sale.

Here are four reasons that you might want to consider if you haven’t started affiliate marketing already.

1. No start up costs: Affiliate marketing is one of the easiest ways to start earning money on the internet because it costs you nothing to sign up and participate in various affiliate programs. You don’t have to worry about paying for products on a monthly basis and some affiliate programs don’t have a quota that you must reach to get paid on a monthly basis. There are even some affiliate programs that pay instantly.

2. A wide variety of products: What’s your passion? Is it health, network marketing, food, self improvement or maybe another area? There are so many different types of affiliate products that you can promote that will be in the same niche as what you are already doing.

If you have a health and wellness blog, find affiliate programs that are centered around health and wellness products or if you have a website that shares recipes with your readers you can opt to use food and kitchen related affiliate programs.

If you are a network or internet marketer you might want to look for products to promote that center around helping other marketers like autoresponders, PLR and information products.

3. You can greatly increase your income: Depending on what you’re promoting, how you promote it and if it meshes well with your niche you try to combine it with, you can create a nice income from home by using affiliate programs. Affiliate programs can be promoted alongside whatever else you are already doing.

If you’re blogging already, you can use banner advertising or article marketing to promote products to your readers while still supplying them with quality content. When someone clicks on your link or banner and makes a purchase you earn. The more this happens the more your earnings are increased.

4. Affiliate marketers usually get a large chunk of the profits: It ‘s not uncommon to see affiliate marketing programs offering 30%, 50% or even 75% of their profits to their affiliates. Why in the world would they offer up so much of their profits? The answer is quite simple … traffic.  Affiliate marketers can bring in so much more traffic than the owner of the product and program can bring in by them-self .

More people promoting make the amount of traffic and sales so much greater. In exchange, affiliate program owners are happy to pay an amount that is more than fair to ones who are bringing in sales.

Alice Coaxum is a homeschooling mother of four, PLR writer and internet marketer. She is the owner of ShopForPLR.Com where you can find quality PLR articles, blog posts, emails and reports at affordable prices.