Being a starving writer may be conducive to your craft, but it certainly isn’t a fun way to live. I often find that people avoid becoming writers because they don’t think that they can get paid to write articles.
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In reality, it’s a perfectly viable option.
Modern life – in the form of the internet, especially – has made becoming a paid writer easier than ever. The online world is moving at breakneck speed and people are constantly looking for new content to feast their eyes on.
Yes, a lot of the content on the internet that’s being soaked up these days come in the form of video, but that doesn’t mean writing is dead. Not by a long shot.
Here’s how you can make a career out of writing online and get paid to write as many articles as you want.
Blogs Where You Can Get Paid to Write Articles
Taking on the odd writing assignment here and there can be a great way to get started as a writer.
Luckily, there are plenty of blogging sites who are constantly on the lookout for guest posts or contributors.
If you’re able to get one or two articles submitted to a couple of places then you can start building a name for yourself as a writer and, hopefully, many more opportunities will follow.
Take a look at these blogging sites across varying niches that pay for articles:
Writers Weekly
This blog distributes their articles to freelancers from all over the world every week. They focus on articles about writing for writers and those working from home.
They pay $60 per 600 words via PayPal and you need to send them a query (idea for an article) so they can accept it before you start writing.
The Introspectionist
This is a woman’s magazine that focuses on in-depth informational pieces, persuasive essays, and creative non-fiction around certain topics.
The article ideas you can present depends on the theme of the coming month’s issue, so make sure to check out their editorial calendar. They pay $25 for a cover piece and $15 for other articles.
Mamalode
If you’re a parent then you probably have a story or two to share. This blog will gladly pay for it.
They require articles that are around 400-1500 words and the payment you receive depends on the number of views your article gets.
Make sure to check out the types of articles they accept and pitch your story.
Polygon
Being a popular name in the gaming and entertainment industry means you’re going to have a big demand for lots of content. Which is exactly why Polygon needs a lot of contributors.
Just pitch them an idea in one of their categories, and if they like it, they’ll get back to you.
They pay per word and effort put into an article, though no specific price was given.
The Penny Hoarder
Know a lot about being frugal? This blog is all about creative ways to earn and save money. They require evergreen articles of at least 700-900 words and payment will be discussed after your pitch is accepted.
There are many, many more blogs and websites out there that are willing to pay for article submissions.
Just make sure you know how much they’re paying before sending in any content.
Cracked
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Crack is known to pay up to $250 for accepted submissions. Be sure to read a few articles on their site first so you know what you’re getting your in to with Cracked.
Great Escape
Great Escape is always looking for writers to write about their experiences making money in travel, not so much the travel itself.
If you can help others make more money in the travel industry, you can get paid $150 per article published.
How to Regularly Get Paid Writing Jobs
The key to landing any writing job is to write quality content.
People say that they want this length and that topic, and these SEO practices must be adhered to. But the most important thing – and it will always be the most important thing – is that the content appeals to the reader. That means high-quality content.
Getting regular work as an online writer takes some gusto and confidence in your writing abilities. After all, if you don’t want to read what you put out then how can you expect other people to?
Some other things to consider:
1. Settle into a Niche
The first thing you’ll want to do when starting a writing career is, find your niche. Of course, not everyone finds a niche that fits them right from the start and it’s perfectly normal to add new niches or even switch to a different niche later on in your writing career.
The point of a niche is to focus your writing skills. Because you need to be very familiar with the topic for you to be able to piece together meaningful sentences about it.
I’m not saying you have to be an expert, because learning on the job is very much part of what it means to be a writer. But every topic is different and has a different audience. You need to know how to write for them.
Only repetition and growing your skills in one niche will help you become better at this.
2. Try These 10 Freelance Writing Sites
In addition to blogging sites, you can try freelance websites who usually have a list of available writing jobs.
- Flexjobs
- Freelancer
- Upwork
- PeoplePerHour
- Guru
- Hubstaff
- iWriter
- JournalismJobs.com
- ConstantContent
- Vocal
3. Set up your own website
Becoming a successful paid writer can be just as much about marketing yourself as it is about writing any actual content.
Setting up your own website with examples of your work and ways for potential clients to contact you can be a great help towards setting yourself up as a professional writer.
Just make sure to market it effectively on social media and other sites.
How to Make More Money Writing Articles
Finally, I have a few general tips that will help writers across any industry.
These are a few small adjustments you can be making that will certainly add up over time and help you bring in even more work.
1. Learn the best SEO practices
SEO is an extremely important part of writing online articles.
You want your articles to rank well on search engine algorithms so people can easily find them.
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Otherwise, the company or blog you’re writing for will likely start looking at hiring someone who can achieve that. So make sure to keep up with all the latest SEO trends.
2. Build up a portfolio
Having a portfolio is just as important for a writer as it is for a designer. In the beginning, especially, simply getting writing jobs is much more important than getting paid to write articles.
Yes, we all want to get paid for our work. However, it will be much easier to make money writing articles once you start building up a writing portfolio.
3. Thesaurus is your friend; Just don’t abuse it
Some people might warn against using a Thesaurus. But I say hogwash and poppycock to that.
A thesaurus can be an amazingly handy tool for a writer – if used with great care and moderation.
4. Always keep building up your writing skills
Writing is a learning process and if you don’t keep at it, you’ll eventually stagnate or even lose the skill. Passion is a big part of it, but so is excellent grammar and a big vocabulary.
If you want to be a great writer then keep writing (even when you don’t need to) and read other writers’ work to get a feel for what works.
Go and Get Paid to Write
Building a career might seem impossible as a budding writer.
But it really is easier than ever to get started and live out your passion.
And if you’re looking for EVEN more websites to help you get started, I found over 153 companies that will pay you to write for them.
Make sure to leave us a comment below and let us know what topics you like to write about!
