Money making opportunities for writers are unlimited online with infinite options and customers from all over the world. Whether you are a storyteller, poet, content creator, book author, or transcriber, the internet has you covered. You can choose to start a blog or complete assignments for students; the opportunities are endless. You need only select your niche and perfect your skills to remain competitive and outshine veteran online writers. Your chosen field must be relevant to the growing demand for quality content, especially in English, as the global audience continues to expand. Here are the 14 most productive ways of making money online for writers
1. Start a Blog
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If you are interested in how to start an online business, look no further. Starting a blog can double up as a hobby and a reliable source of income. With a blog, you get to make a living by expressing your thoughts and ideas online. Blogging is a tried and tested way of making money on the internet, with millions of blogs on various topics minting from advertisement fees and affiliate links. You will need to establish a niche before you can create a website and start sharing your content. Once you have selected your preferred field, you will have to purchase a domain name and hosting website. This step may cost you some money, but you can always start with free hosting services. However, cheap is not always profitable, meaning that to make money, you must be willing to spend. With a self-hosted site, you can customize the pages and create terms of use explaining to readers the legal terms of visiting your blog. You then start posting your articles and marketing links to generate viewership and income.
2. Guest and ghost blogging
For those not interested in the complexities of running a blog, you can start with writing guest and ghost posts for other bloggers. Guest blogging entails writing blog articles for bloggers and earning money for shared content. These posts will feature your name in the byline as a guest author, helping you start your blogging career and test your expertise in the process. Ghost posting, on the other hand, is writing articles for other bloggers to post as their own. This is for people interested in income and not seeing their name on the byline. The articles you share will show a different person as the author, but you get to earn slightly more than guest writers. For a ghost post, you relinquish all the intellectual rights to your content to the blog owner.
3. Affiliate content and marketing
If you already have a website or blog, you can venture into affiliate content creation and marketing. Bloggers share links to partner websites and social media platforms as a promotion technique to drive traffic. In return, they earn a commission for web visits and purchases on the affiliate sites.
4. Social media content
With the rise of social media, influencers are ripping big with organizations seeking to remain visible and relevant on the internet. You get to choose to become a full-time social media manager for an established organization or a freelance content expert for small businesses. Whichever route you choose, making money as a content writer online has never been easier. You can even sell your products to various customers, writing content pieces part-time to be shared on various social media platforms. Creating custom pieces for advertisement and entertainment is now a lucrative business for young writers.
5. Submit magazine articles
Although social media increasingly competes with mainstream media, magazines and newspapers remain a significant part of our daily lives. Most of them have moved online and are looking for younger and more energetic writers. Editors from established magazines will pay you for interesting stories and news articles, provided you can corroborate your claims with tangible evidence. You can even become a freelance journalist and sell your findings to the highest bidding magazines and newspapers online.
6. Niche websites and information products
If you are interested in how to start your own business, you might want to focus on niche websites and selling information products. With expert knowledge in a specific field, such as cooking or auto repair, you can create information products like e-books and how-to guides and sell them only on a niche website. You can also write articles to accompany video descriptions and step-by-step guides on your field of specialization.
7. Freelance academic writing: How to sell essays online
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Academic writing is perhaps the most lucrative online platform for writers. Although the assignments are tedious and sometimes technical, they are often well paying. Students and professionals don’t want to take on the arduous task when there are expert writers that can complete their essays in half the time or less. Writers enjoy flexible working conditions under established entities that provide essays for sale to customers globally. With a university degree or master’s, good English, and expert writing skills, you only need to demonstrate the ability to handle simple and complex academic papers.
8. Transcription: Get paid to transcribe videos and audio
Like academic writing, transcription is one of the most lucrative online gigs available today. Entities and websites are cropping up with competitive prices for inspiring gig economy entrants. You can earn a few dollars to transcribe English videos and audio to word documents. However, this route is often limiting as high-paying gigs require special equipment and skills to perform effectively.
9. Write personal Essays
Learn how to sell essays online with personal essays. Various websites and organizations are interested in real-life stories and autobiographies that inspire future generations. You get paid to share your story or that of a close friend to entertain online readers. Selling personal stories can be profitable, provided the content sounds original and inspiring.
10. Copywriting
Copywriting gigs are solely for advertising and promotion. Organizations will look for professional copywriters to improve their marketing reach through other people’s websites and blogs. Copywriting is a professional sector with specialized marketers and writers employed in formal employment. It is a competitive venture but easy to join as you can find copywriting gigs and employment opportunities on job boards and human resource agencies.
11. Join a writing contest
Joining a writing contest is not exactly an ideal way for starting a business, but it can be an effortless way to make a few hundred. Several organizations prepare contests for writers globally, with the best writers receiving lucrative publishing deals and prizes. You can always use your free time to write a short story or essay to compete in these games and increase your chances of winning.
12. Write book reviews
Book reviews are not only for school assignments. Nowadays, content creators and expert reviewers make money writing reviews for magazines and publishing companies. Reviewing books for various customers is increasingly becoming a competitive avenue for money making. If you are still learning the steps on how to sell essays online, you can start by writing book reviews for client websites to improve your knowledge and enhance your writing skills.
13. SEO writing
Guest and ghost blogging only involves writing articles for bloggers to edit and post on their sites. SEO writing takes this gig to a higher level with the aim of increasing traffic to the websites. Expert writers can increase a site’s ranking on search engines by using specific keywords and phrases to match customers’ most common search criteria. You can become a SEO writer writing articles for various websites and organizations to increase their online visibility. You only need to learn search engine optimization strategies for writers to demonstrate expertise in this field.
14. Self-publish a book: Become a kindle author
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If you want to become an established author, Kindle is the way to go. Amazon provides aspiring writers with self-publishing opportunities at affordable rates, leveling the playing field for new and established authors. The self-published book market can now compete with leading publishers and bestselling titles. The days of moving from editor to editor hoping for a merciful liking and risking your content to unscrupulous publishers are long gone. You can now write and publish your work online affordably, with only real readers determining the probability of your success.
Closing remarks
Writing is a lucrative venture for those looking to start a business online. Your knowledge is the main product, so you don’t have to worry about logistics and manufacturing. You can also sell pre-written essays on various platforms. However, you will need some level of commitment to earn a reliable income online, as writing requires consistency and creativity.
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