Creative Marketing for Online Freelance Writers

There seems to be a limitless amount of opportunities for a column writer to get published these days. There are traditional sources such as printed magazines and major newspapers, but these usually require proper credentials or experience to even be considered. The bright side is that as the Internet has grown, so too have the opportunities for online authors. There are now web publishers like Associated Content, Internet magazines, web sites and other income sources to choose from. Heck, you can even buy a domain name, rent commercial web space and publish it all yourself. But unless you write for a publisher with a marketing department and audience already in place, the question becomes, how do you get people to read your writing?

This article will mainly focus on authors who write for online publishers, but may be adapted for other uses as well. The best part of writing for an online publisher like Associate Content is that someone has actually accepted your work. This is of course, after it has been screened and meets the criteria. Personally, this alone is an ego-satisfying experience. For those not familiar with online publishers it sort of works like this. You write an article and submit it with chosen options. Basically you can choose upfront payment including pay-per-view installments, or pay-per-view only. Obviously it gets more detailed than that, but that is the just of it. A typical upfront payment for a single article averages between three to five dollars, and pay-per-view requires a millions hits on one article to make any significant amount of money. Either way, marketing the article and generating readership is the writer's responsibility. This results in different strategies used by authors to make a living.

Most online authors are writing to earn income. This means that they are writing for upfront payments, and must write many articles per month to make it worthwhile. They are prolific writers and can occasionally submit up to a hundred articles a day. This requires staying current, adapting to different topics, and perseverance, in addition to the usual writing skills. My hat goes off to them, for they are true freelance authors. Although to a certain extent, the goal of earning income places more emphasis on putting out product, and less on how many people actually read the articles. This is understandable. The time it takes to write this many articles, the immediate and main income source, takes precedence over the time needed to properly market them. On the upswing, the publisher's partners provide plenty of convenient tools to easily place articles in search engines and social networks. Even so, the bottom line for the freelance writer is to write enough articles to earn an acceptable amount of monthly upfront payments.

Though my strategy differs from most of these writers, a few of the marketing ideas used may be of interest to even the most hardened of freelance authors. While upfront payments are part of the equation, not all articles qualify. Commentary, opinions and similar articles are not accepted for upfront payments, and can only be submitted as pay-per-view. Therefore the focus is more on readership, a strategy you will probably not get rich from. Some of it may not seem worth the effort, but the strategy is more about writing articles that are re-useable and re-marketable. My perspective is a little different. I want to market my article this year, the following year and every year after that.

This could be due to subconsciously planning for old age. To supplement my income while receiving SS benefits (when I get there). But the strategy probably has more to do with my background in education and government television. Most of the programs we produce are with the intent of replaying it as often as possible, year in year out. Articles on reviews, trends, current topics and events will probably not work here in most cases. This is more useful for writers of guides, tutorials, series, essays, how-to, and reference articles. The approach is still the same, write about something. After the article is accepted, published, and the available marketing tools have been used, what else can you do?

An easy way to generate readership is by joining some type of web answer site, and it will only consume a few hours a month. Yahoo Answers is the most popular, followed by WikiAnswers and others. These are great sites if you write articles that can be used as answers, and if you think about it, many types of articles can apply. Just search for a question, answer in a short paragraph and include a link to your article. Most sites prefer at least a short paragraph, not just "hey you" with a link. This will take a moment to think of and type on the fly, adding to the time spent searching for questions. While not very attractive on the surface, there are a few benefits from utilizing these sites.

By spending eight to ten hours a month, this generates 5-15+ views for each article I am answering with. Not overwhelming numbers, I know. But keep in mind that the following month these same articles will be used to answer questions again, along with any newer ones. The turnaround time for questions on these sites is about a month, at least for my topics. Sometimes I may get an article hit months later from someone just looking at previously answered questions. Over time the numbers do begin to add up, especially if you spend more hours answering questions. An author armed with a wide variety of topical articles could probably find questions for many of them. These are not numbers to live on, but can be a solid foundation to work from for a few hours a month. By adding other simple marketing methods, the numbers can increase.

Using web answer sites does have its negative side. Sites like these are often inhabited with young people, and occasionally an article receives a nasty comment you will have to delete. Patience is also required when answering questions. You have to overlook the grammar, punctuation and sometimes, unintelligible ways the question is asked. You must fight the urge to respond with a snide comment or lecture on how to write. The question is usually asked in sincerity, you can tell. Sometimes questions are even asked by pre-teens, so be careful with language or concepts. Perhaps my experience in teaching high school students helps in my restraint, because I know it is not the child's fault. It speaks more about the education system, but that is another topic. Anyway, if the kid can write, the kid can probably read, and if your article can answer the question without going over their head, why not?

This is not to say that there are only teenagers on these sites. Depending on the topic, there are a good amount of adults who also use these sites. I have answered many questions from adults occasionally older than me, so there is something for everyone. There is another benefit to answer sites. With a little looking around, you can determine what questions are popular, and tailor articles for those readers. For example, I kept seeing questions asking for YouTube video ideas, so I wrote an article on how to brainstorm simple ideas for videos. Every month so far, that same question appears again at least ten times by different users. Since writing that article several months ago, it is nearing 2,000 hits and is among my most popular. That is the thing about questions, they are often asked over and over again.

Now, spending a few hours a month may be too many hours for some writers, but there are other ways. Let us say you write an article that can enhance job skills, or share personal insight for those looking into specific careers. There are career or job web sites that have either message boards or a links page of additional resources. Unless the site publishes articles themselves (another source of income), some will allow you to post your article link in their message boards, or submit them for their links page. The advantage of submitting your article to a links page is that your hyperlink is available on a page where people are looking for additional information. The advantage of submitting to message boards is that they often have a searchable archive for someone to find your article later on. This could probably be applied to other article topics as well. With very little effort, it can add a small amount towards readership. Just make sure it is permissible on the web site or message board.

For example, I occasionally write articles on alternative theories, a topic that does not qualify for upfront payments. I have written enough articles for them to be considered a series. Searching around I found a few topic-related web sites. Writing an email to each web master or message board moderator, I explained how my Associated Content articles worked. I included hyperlinks to each article, and asked if posting these links was permitted. There are conditions and restrictions, but most sites generally permit this unless they publish articles of their own. One site even offered to create a page exclusively for me, with links to all my related articles. I gladly accepted, and noticed a definite spike in readership. The site owner preferred that I include a short excerpt from the article near each link to generate interest. Be aware that I have retained exclusive rights for these particular articles. This is important to remember because the article links and excerpts are now on a page in which the web site owner has rented advertising space. If you have sold exclusive rights to your publisher, this would probably be in violation of your publisher's contract. Before attempting anything like this, read your publishing agreement.

Another way to generate some readership can be done in your own hometown. There is a local alternative newspaper nearby that also has its own web site. I am sure there are similar newspapers where you live. On their web site, they accept short online classified ads free of charge. If the ad is short enough, they may also consider printing it in their newspaper for free, depending on topic and space. All you need is a short catchy title, and a web address to your article. This is a nice little way for a guide or how-to author to get page hits, and they could re-list these same links in the future. This will not generate large numbers, but it adds to the pot and is free. There may be opportunities on larger classified web sites, but we have not researched this yet.

Believe it or not, another way to generate readership is by joining YouTube. If you are handy with a video camera or editing software, YouTube allows you to upload what can basically be described as commercials, as long as they meet strict requirements. I created two short thirty-second videos designed to interest potential readers to come and read my articles. At the end of each video is the address to our main web page with information on which link to choose for the articles. We own a web site, but you can always put the direct article address at the end of the video as well, although it may be a little long to remember. Creating a title for the video is like creating a title for your online article, with searchable text referring to the content. After almost two months on YouTube, one video has generated sixteen hits, and the other has forty-six hits. I also noticed a small spike in readership of my non-payment articles, which the video with 46 hits was made for. Another benefit is that the video will remain searchable on YouTube as long as I am a member.

You might even consider acquiring a domain name and commercial web site of your own. Personal commercial web sites can also provide a source for marketing your articles. In most cases, sites that offer free space for personal web sites do not apply because of the advertising space they contain, and they usually do not permit commercial use anyway. This brings us to a whole other realm of knowledge that most authors may not be interested in. But there are other advantages, and it could be done inexpensively with minimal effort. For those authors who are less prolific than the full-time freelancer, this is a beneficial option. First it requires purchasing (basically renting) a domain name. It is important to remember that there are other domain names besides dot-com. Dot-com is the least expensive, but it is difficult to find a useable name because of its wide use. Other domain services charge more. We have a dot-cc domain name, which runs about ninety dollars every two years, but offers discounts for longer contracts.

We intentionally pay more because we want our business in the domain name, and were lucky enough to find one with dot-cc. The last time I checked, you could get a dot-com name for around ten bucks, if you can find one not already used. Maybe your name or initials will be available, but even if it is something that does not make sense, like zqprtw dot-com, who cares? In order to keep costs down, does it really matter what domain name you use? Next you will need to rent commercial web space. The server providing the space may even assist in getting a low-cost domain name. You do not need a whole lot of space. The smallest can be 500 megabytes, which is more than enough to fit our needs. We pay about sixty dollars a year, with discount options. There are servers that offer less space as low as ten bucks a year, so do some research and find a reliable web space provider that fits your budget needs. They are out there.

Having a web site means having to use HTML software, and become familiar with the special language to create web pages of your own. You could purchase HTML software that will easily allow you to create web pages, but most web space providers often have their own free easy-to-use online editor to create your pages with. If you can use a word processor, you can use just about any HTML software. Basic web page creating is not that hard to learn. This may all seem like a lot to do and learn just to market your articles, but there are other benefits to learning these new skills. Look at it this way. As technology advanced in video production, professionals had to diversify their skills and learn new multimedia applications if they wanted to stay competitive or remain employable. A little experience and knowledge in web page creating can go a long way, and lead to new opportunities in marketing other things besides your articles. The skill may even add another income source. There is the potential of charging others for your services.

Here is where owning personal web space can enhance your article readership numbers. Usually as an author, you will write on topics you have knowledge of. Whatever it is, there may be several categories your articles could be separated into. Let's say you spend a few hours a month on answer sites as part of your marketing plan. Besides answering questions with just direct links to your article, you could answer with a link to a web page you create that displays all of your titles on that topic. This is a great opportunity for additional hits on your other articles as well. If you retained exclusive rights to your articles, you can even sell ad space on the page. There are many services out there that will provide ads for your web page and pay you on a pay-per-click basis. As always, do the research.

Remember if you are answering questions on answer sites, specific questions require specific answers and articles. Do not use this page link to all of your articles, for every answer. For example, I have enough articles to separate into three topical categories. The links to each article are listed under the three categories on a web page created solely for this purpose. Each category on the page has a section, and each section is linked to the web site's main page. This creates a unique web address for each category section. For someone that is asking about general information, this special page link (section) will provide the opportunity to read several more articles in one convenient place. They may even possibly save it as a bookmark and refer to it later. Just remember, you cannot leave this link for every answer. This only works with general questions, or you will receive complaints.

A web site is also beneficial if you have written a novel, or you want to present easily accessible samples of your work to potential agents or publishers. The page link can be casually mentioned in your queries to them. This may peak enough interest for them to actually read some examples of your publishing experience. Even if you get a rejection letter, you can hopefully get a few hits out of them. Always remember that the agreement you have with your publisher affects how you create web pages to market your articles. Personally we do not sell ad space for our article web page, even though I own exclusive rights to a good portion of them. I keep them on one page so they are all available to read, but there is nothing preventing you from making individual pages and selling ad space for those you do own.

Another tool for web sites are the web rings. These are free web communities that provide a topic-specific banner link you put on your main web page. These banners link to other sites of similar interest for surfers to explore. We have had a reasonable amount of page hits with these banners in the past, marketing our other commercial products. By joining several of these web rings specifically in tune with my articles, this has produced moderate dividends in readership. We take advantage of our web space in other commercial ways as well, and this is the main benefit. With commercial web space, we can sell or market whatever we want within reason.

These are ways I have tried to generate interest in my articles. They may not be practical for those seeking to earn a living, nor do the methods produce massive numbers, but they do offer a less prolific author other alternatives. A writer can modify the methods used to fit their own needs, or may have even hit upon other ideas to further enhance their readership. The possibilities are only limited by how creative you want to be.