As an online content writer, I've found that writing articles--not for upfront pay, but for long-term income, can often be more lucrative down the road, if not initially. Webmasters know this, as they write page after page for long-term residual income.
When I first began my online writing experience, I found a gig writing short how-to articles for $10 each through Writers Research Group. I could usually write at least two an hour, and after my first Work at Home job grading papers at $10 per hour, I thought I was making good money. But not long after I started, I heard about eHow's new Writers Compensation Program, in which users were paid an undisclosed amount of the ad revenue generated by their content.
Not knowing how well articles would earn, I gave it a try anyway, figuring it would be an interesting experiment if nothing else. The ghost-written articles were going to eHow as well, so I already knew the score when it came to writing, formatting and submitting them.
Within a month or so of starting with eHow, my articles were doing well enough that I made the decision not to sign a non-compete agreement with WRG and left the company to write for eHow under my own profile. It was one of the best decisions I've made as a freelance writer and content producer. Instead of signing away my rights, I keep ownership of the articles and a generous portion of the ad revenue they generate.
Last time I did the math, I saw that my eHow articles have averaged over $27 each in earnings and are still earning money as we speak. The most lucrative article has netted more than $1,150 while the most recent hasn't earned a penny yet. I have been more than compensated for the time it took to write the articles, especially when affiliate income and ebook sales are taken into account. This means that, just like last month, the PayPal money I will receive this month from eHow, and next month and the month after, will amount to true residual income.
I encourage writers to think of the long-term income potential of their work, much in the same way as a novelist retains rights and receives royalties every month. How much more could your articles earn for you, over time, over selling the rights to someone else for a one-time fee?
In addition to creating residual income from content, a profile and articles on sites like eHow, HubPages, InfoBarrel & Bukisa can do the following:
- Increase your exposure as a writer.
- Bring traffic to your blog, website or other work.
- Result in freelance jobs.
- Develop affiliate sales revenue streams.
- Allow for networking opportunities with other writers, webmasters and online marketers for mutual benefit.
This guest blog post was written by Maria O'Brien, aka WriterGig, who blogs at http://myWAHM.blogspot.com.
I have to give Maria a big thank you for that excellent post.
ReplyDeleteRevenue share opportunities are usually a much better deal for writers: you do the work once, you get paid repeatedly.
When trying to grow a long-term income, these factors need to be weighed carefully, as Maria has pointed out.
Maria, this article is an encouragement to all of us. All the best with your writing endeavors.
Thanks for the information. It sounds like the way to go: look to the future and create content that will get residuals along the way, even long after you initially wrote that content. Very smart.
ReplyDeleteAthlyn,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for having me on your blog, I hope it's helpful to your readers!
Best,
Maria
Wow, those ehow articles have really been doing well for you. I wish mine would pick up a little. Do you ever send backlinks to your ehow articles and other articles you haev written online?
ReplyDelete