How to Make Money Online: Freelance Writing

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of websites that will pay for your writing.

The trick is weeding through all the muck to find the true gems.

Loads of sites will try to lure you into writing for them with promises that you'll "get paid to write online" and "make money from home."

There are two questions you need answered, though: How much does online freelance writing pay, and will it be worth my time?

In many cases, the answers to those questions are: Not very much, and no.

Following is a list of the three sites I use the most for my online freelance writing. This isn't meant to be a definitive list; if you search online enough, you'll find stories of success and failure at all three of these, and you'll find people who swear by sites I haven't listed here. I encourage you to pass along those stories.

I am also in the process of exploring a few other sites that pay for freelance content, and I will post those experiences after I know enough to share. In the meantime, here are the three that I'm currently using the most and are paying the best:

Demand Studios

Demand Studios is particularly nice if you're seeking to make some money quickly; the bulk of Demand Studios' available story assignments are up-front payments that offer between $3 and $15, and the site pays out, via Paypal, twice a week.

To get on as a DS writer, you must upload a résumé and be prepared to submit writing samples. Many online freelancing sites will hire you as long as you can string words into semi-coherent sentences, but Demand Studios does not accept all-comers. So take some time to prepare your résumé and have a couple of good writing samples on hand to show what you can do.

Once you're in, DS offers several ways to make money. Search through the system to find and claim available assignments. As I said, the bulk of the assignments pay up front, but the downside there is, once DS has your article, you surrender all rights to it and will never see another dime. In other words, once a Demand Studios' affiliate - eHow, AnswerBag, etc. - picks up your article, the story could live online for years, generating income for DS via advertising clicks and page impressions. But you won't see any of that residual income.

Demand Studios has implemented revenue sharing on certain titles, and the amount of revenue-share options continues to increase. These assignments do not pay up front, but you will receive a percentage of the residual income as long as DS and its affiliates use your article.

On average, the $15 DS titles take me about a half hour, meaning that I can pull about $30 an hour (before taxes - and don't forget, as a freelancer, you're responsible for paying taxes to the government on the funds you receive). The catch is, although Demand Studios often has between 100,000 and 200,000 available titles in the queue, I tend to struggle finding assignments I can write. Many of the assignment titles are quirky, or require a specific expertise or background.

The other downside to writing for DS is that it can be hit or miss with copy editors. Most of them - I'd say 90 percent - are great and easy to work with. But one out of 10 will make it very difficult to earn that $15, requesting off-the-wall edits that seem ridiculous. The bottom line, though, is until the copy editor receives the changes he or she requested and pushes your story down the line, you're at his or her mercy in terms of getting paid for your work. So, with this in mind, I've managed to maintain a good working relationship with the copy editors, and frequently receive positive notes from them once my stories have been accepted.

Overall, the good far outweighs the bad with Demand Studios. If you can find a niché as far as subjects or formats at which you excel, and you're able to continue finding titles to write, you'll have the chance to make some money there.

Associated Content

Associated Content is my newest online freelancing venture, and my experience has been largely positive.

AC offers a mixture of up-front and performance payments. Available up-front payment assignments are not as plentiful as they are in Demand Studios, but the obscure titles that can often be found in DS don't exist on Associated Content, either.

The up-front payment amounts are smaller, too, with my highest one to date being $5. But this is offset by the ability to receive residual income on these and all titles you submit to AC.

Associated Content pays residual income on what it calls "performance payments," which, to start out, are $1.50 per 1,000 page views. Once your status, or "clout," reaches a level 7 or above, your performance payout will steadily increase, to a current maxiumum of $2 per 1,000 page views.

This might sound like a little for a lot of work, but it adds up quickly.

For starters, on AC, you have the option to write about whatever you want. You then have the option to submit your article as "exclusive content," which offers you the best chance for an up-front payment but also means Associated Content holds the rights to your article and, although you'll still receive residual income on it, you cannot republish it elsewhere. You can also submit your article as "non-exclusive," which allows you the right to republish it elsewhere, or as "display only," which is generally content that has already been published elsewhere. Each of these options still qualifies you for performance payments.

Associated Content pays out quickly on up-front payment assignments, generally within a couple of days, to your Paypal account. Performance payments are paid out monthly once you reach $10 in earnings.

AC has a community of more than 300,000 contributors, and the registration process is relatively simple; be prepared to submit writing samples. Associated Content also offers a program that will allow you to apply to be a Featured Contributor in a specific area, depending on your expertise in a given field. If you are accepted as a Featured Contributor, your content will be listed in rotation on AC's Featured Contributor pages, and you'll have access to up-front-paying assignments that are targeted to your area of expertise.

I definitely recommend Associated Content.

Suite101

Suite101 is a little more of a challenge in terms of making money, but if you stick with it, there are payouts to be had.

Although bonuses and contests are available, Suite101 does not offer up-front payments, nor does it pay out by page impressions; payments are calculated strictly via advertising revenue. Meaning that your articles should be centered on subjects that might provoke action by your readers, so they'll be enticed to click on the ads displayed with your story.

My revenue figures during my first couple of months with Suite101 were small, to say the least, and as a result, I spent less time writing for the site than I did for others. But, slowly but surely, I've started to see my total revenue pick up as I've built up my library of content on the site.

Bottom line: Suite101 is more of a long-term investment than a quick payout. The site even says "Don't expect very high revenues for the first three to five months."

You have the freedom to write about whatever you want, as long as you follow the Suite101 guidelines, and editors will read through your stories after they've been published and suggest ways you can improve them and increase traffic. Like most online freelancing gigs, this one is all about search-engine optimization (SEO) and writing "evergreen" stories (that is, stories that will endure and will still be relevant down the road).

Payments are made to your Paypal account monthly after your total revenue reaches $10. Contests are held regularly that allow you to enter drawings for bonus payouts if you reach a certain number of published articles in a specified timeframe, or if you write an article on a specific topic.

Suite101 also offers many great online resources to its writers that will help you not only succeed there, but in your other online freelance writing ventures, as well.

Suite101 has a simple application process that includes submitting two sample articles and a short summary of your qualifications and interests.

I recommend writing for Suite101 with the caveat that you should treat this like a long-term venture.