Does Your Web Writing Do That?

                                    Image via Wikipedia
I just got done reading an article by web writing genius, Dr. Patsi Krakoff. Her last two posts have been about neuromarketing. In this post she wrote something that I couldn't get out of my head.

"When something catches our attention, if we want to know more, and if it triggers one of our drives (acquire it, eat it, bond with it, use it to save time, energy or money or protect family) we will remember it so that we can take action on it." You can read her whole article here.

Web Write For Emotional Connection

 

Web writing is nothing more than trying to trap a reader's attention in some emotional way. If it is helpful, time or money saving, or protection related, our minds will want to latch on to it. We are a very self-centered animal amidst a very greedy culture. What does it do for me?

This is the reason that "time saving" and "money making" blogs, sites and content are so popular on the web today. We take an already convenient and superfast platform for information, such as the internet, and we search for products, advice and services that will make our life even more convenient.

Web Writing Ideas

 

So, the next time you're thinking about your next article for HubPages or InfoBarrel keep the following questions in mind for the best chance of interaction and getting the reader to do something with your content.

What do you know best? Can your web writing turn out a "How-To" article about it? Can that article be so tightly written and easy to understand that a person will be able to accomplish the task right then and there?

What most concerns you about the safety of your children or yourself? Web writing on those particular topics can be particularly effective. If you can convince the reader that they should follow your advice, or safety tips, then the message will be branded somewhere deep in the consciousness, almost feeling guilty if they don't follow it. Loved ones are a great motivator.

A recipe? Web writing about food, and especially recipes, are terribly action causing. Doesn't it feel like you always spend more in a grocery store when you're hungry? Now, imagine making someone's mouth water as they're searching for a pot roast recipe. If they liked it…they'll come back. Why? Because you have just satisfied one of the most primal, powerful and original human physiological warnings-hunger.

Web Writing can be a very powerful tool. That's why companies pay millions of dollars annually for good web writing and content. The ability to imprint themselves on the psyche of their customers can mean a lifelong commitment to their brand or service. Does your web writing do that?

Related articles

• Tips On Web Writing For Money: Go to InfoBarrel! (tipsonwebwriting.blogspot.com)
• Web Writing For Money With HubPages (tipsonwebwriting.blogspot.com)
• Earn Money Online Web Writing (tipsonwebwriting.blogspot.com)

Earn Money Online Web Writing

       Image by jollyUK via Flickr
Making money online with good web writing is a very good possibility. There are just too many ways these days to take your online writing and make some money from it. Web content writers are in high demand and as more and more non-writers start trying to make money with blogs and websites they'll become even more sought after.
 
I came up with a list that you may want to keep in mind if you're just stating your online writing venture. To earn money online is more of a puzzle than anything else. The good news is that all the pieces to that puzzle are either supplied to you online or within yourself-you just gotta' piece them together. Ready? Let's start making money online!
 

Content Rules With Web Writing

 
Web writers who already earn money online will tell you, in most cases, that content rules. I agree with this to a point. However, you will find plenty of blogs and other online articles that really suck that are making money. Why? Well, that's factor number two.
 
Remember, your content is you on the web. What I mean by that is everyone is different; we speak, write, act, think, and see things differently. Unless you're a technical writer then your web writing should have some tone or voice that directly reflects you onto the page or screen. My favorite way to describe this is with this little blurb: "Rich Content, Casual Tone"
 
Sure, your content needs to be spot on, but what's to say that you can't joke and be different in your web writing? The best way to make money online is to stand out and keep people coming back. Be creative and incorporate SEO (search engine optimization) in all of your web writing.
 

Power of the Web On Your Writing And Earnings

 
No matter how tight your web writing skills are, you'll never make money online if no one knows about it or can find it. So, the online writing platform that you're using is very important. This is the reason why most veteran or successful web writers will urge newbies to start writing for sites that already have page rank.
 
Places like HubPages, Squidoo, Suite 101, InfoBarrel, and Y!CN and Triond are popular because they already have high page-rank, a large reading audience and easy ways to monetize. Suite 101 even has an editorial feedback system that will help you polish your web writing skill and lead to you making more money online. The problem with those sites is that in exchange for their page-rank and platforms they share the money that your article makes with you.
 
What's the alternative? Start your own blog on your own domain. This is very much worth it but just be prepared-it takes a while to actually gain a readership and earn decent money. Many bloggers who eventually make started by both writing for their own blogs and the above mentioned sites to assure some money was being earned.
 
Other bloggers are dirty. They have substandard content placed on crappy sites that they own and have managed to get them to rank high in search engines results by building backlinks with automated software. Poop!
 

Diversify Your Web Writing Venues

 
You'll find hundreds of online web writers who swear by a certain site. Some love Suite 101 and hate Hubpages. Others write only for their own blogs and will never touch those places. My best advice is to have as many writing sites available to you as possible. When Google throws another algorithm update then some places may not survive it.
 
Online writing can be a fickle, nasty beast. One day you're loving life and the next you're sucking wind. Just ask all those ex-eHow writers that had the rug pulled out from under them! Online writing is fun, can be lucrative but you need to ensure that you have many baskets for all of your eggs. To really ensure you earn money online you need have lots of articles in lots of different places.
 

Search Engine Optimzation

 
Aah, the dreaded SEO. Let's be honest though, when web writing you need to have a basic understanding of it. There are tools out there that can help. Read my articles on InboundWriter and Scribe to get an idea. Besides that, building backlinks (naturally!) will help get your web writing noticed and ranking higher in the search engines. And believe you'll notice the difference! Having an article or blog post ranked in the top 3 of Goolge search will almost guarantee that you earn money online. 

Commenting in blogs and forums with links to your articles, blog posts, or the profile page of the writing site are two great ways to start building backlinks. Then there are other ways like social bookmarking on Digg and StumbleUpon. Having a featured link on those two sites will help you earn money online as well.
 
Do you have anything you want to add? Maybe you do something differently? Let us know!

 

Related articles

• Web Writing For Money Is A Journey...Go Slow And You'll Find Yourself (tipsonwebwriting.blogspot.com)
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• If Content is King, then Regularity and Accuracy are its Queen and Concubine (tipsonwebwriting.blogspot.com)

What Do You Make Per Word?

                                     Image via Wikipedia I know.  A lot of web writers don't want to say what they make per word.  It's embarrassing.  Well, no; I take that back.  To web writers it isn't embarrassing because all of us have been in a spot where we are making peanuts.  To others though...brrr.

People who can't write will cringe at the fact that you might make a penny or less per word.  There's a simple reason for it.  They don't like to write.  To write 100 words for them is like pulling out finger nails and being water-boarded at the same time.  To us, writers/web writers, words come quick and easy.

When I first started writing on the web for money I was doing ALL of my work for a place called LondonBrokers.net .  I promise you.  I'll probably never do that again.  They were paying something likey $6.86 for a 500 word article plus 2 re-writes.  1500 words, 2 hours...for less than seven bucks.  Frig' that...and frig' them.

So, did I work my way through the web writing ranks and now make a lot of money?  Not exactly.  Though, I make a little more than a penny or two per word now. 

I joined Break Studios about 1 year ago and started writing some article or blog posts for Made Manual and Break which are their highly trafficked sites.  I started out like everyone else.  One article of 250-700 words made $8 and at the time it was a landfall.

I guess someone there liked me because they chose me for a program where the articles make $12 and have a lot better topics and titles to write. 

And you know what?  I haven't written much for them since. 

Why?  I don't know.  I guess that was one of the reasons I decided to start my own blogs and do my own web writing for my own domains.  My money is my money.  My effort is my effort and it was a validation that I could do this; at least a little bit.   It is at times like those that I constantly think about the 2004 Red Sox World Series win and their motto in the playoffs:

"Why Not US?" so...

WHY NOT ME?

And you know what?  WHY NOT YOU?

Related articles

• Break Studios: Dad Writing Opportunity (bloggingdudes.com)
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Why Are PLR Articles So Popular Right Now?

Image by 777thAngel via FlickrFrom a web writer's standpoint it's okay to write what the client asks.  Using PLR articles as a web writer is worst then a late night, sneaky uncle though.  It's just icky.  That's the only way I can describe it.  As long as you're getting paid and not being promised compensation with traffic or fame.  What those clients do with the articles that we write is kind of out of our hands once we send it off to them.

Web Writing For The Human Eye!

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About a week ago I wrote an article about how to optimize your web writing for the reader and not yourself. Realizing that you are writing for the pure experience of a stranger can be overwhelming and intimidating.

What do you write?

How do you write it?

Should you have voice?

Should it be a technical "how to"?

Okay, those are all important questions. But what if you knew exactly where the human eye falls when it reads web text? That would make it easier, right? Why? Well you would know where exactly a reader is more likely to look first and if you know the market and audience you're writing for then you have a chance to lock in their attention (steal it!) right away. Then….BANG!

So What Do We Know About Web Writing Already?

 

1. Readers arrive looking for information or entertainment.

2. 95% of the time they'll never read an article from beginning to end.

3. They scan the web writing for the information or words they're looking for.

To accomplish the "theft of attention" you do the following:

1. Make sure that you have a catch phrase with your key word up-front. Maybe you ask a question.

2. As web writers we don' do "fluff" so in an attempt to ensure all information is pertinent and attention getting we never write anything for the web that the article doesn't need. We get to the point and use engaging text.

3. We use bold words, bold subheadings, and the correct keywords throughout (but not stuffed) into the text so that the reader can easily find the information and stay engaged.

Below is a "heat map" from the Yahoo! Style Guide and the text that precedes it:

"When people do decide to read a page, their eyes sweep horizontally from left to right, often focusing on a roughly triangular area in the upper-left corner of a webpage, or the upper-left corner of the webpage’s main block of content. But this pattern varies depending on a page’s layout and purpose. For example, a person’s eyes will move differently over a photo-heavy slideshow, a text-heavy blog, or a page with a two- or three-column layout."

As you can see when the person first lands on the page they are concentrating on the upper-left hand corner of the main content on that page.  This is the reason why so many people (and rightly so) do two important things with that area:  They put the keyword in the title and first sentence of their web writing and they put in an advertisement around it. 

Notice this page's upper-left hand corner.  There's a large area for both subscription and a Google Adsense unit...a big one!   Just to the right is my title (keyword included) then my main text (first sentence keyword included).  I then go through my text and I use bold subheadings and other bold words that I think the reader may find interest in.

Web writing for money is a tricky thing.  I always try to offer quality articles, posts, and text throughout the page.  (I particularly like the "word of the week")  BUT...if a person does not find what he or she wants on this page then they can always click out by way of an advert or a link to one of my other posts. 

What are some of your best practices that you could share with us? I'd like to know!  Don't forget to subscribe!  
 

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Web Writing Topics Can Be A Drag Somtimes

Image via WikipediaIf you've started writing for the web already and you're looking to make some money doing it then no doubt you have been to one of those sites that pay decent and always have work.  Dream come true, right?  Eh...

Are you having issues with there being plenty of work about everything you have no idea about?  I've had issues with that in the past. I'll back and forth through the job boards and say to myself (in a whining inner whimper) "but I don't know about any of that stuff."  Plus, many of them are B-O-R-I-N-G

Recently I learned a lesson due to my own stupidity and impatience that will benefit me in the long run.  I thought I'd share it with you.

Lesson 1:  If You Don't Know The Web Writing Topic Just Do Some Research

I started a blog about "what girls want".  I have 2 teenage daughters, an adult daughter, a wife, a bunch of female friends...hell, I've even got a female parrot! 

I wrote 2 posts and I was like "uhm, yeah...now what."  I was stumped.  I didn't know what to write about next.  I was in that rut where I couldn't think of another thing that a girl might want.

How did I fix this? I did research online.  I searched, read and studied other blogs of the same niche and got some pretty good ideas.  And this led to me to my next problem...

Lesson 2:  Consult An Expert

In this case it was easy. I went to my 17 yearn old, junior in high school daughter and started paying her for blog posts.  She's brilliant.  Besides her being part of my target audience age group, she's also the subject of my blog-a girl.

Both of these lessons learned can be applied to any kind of web writing.  Don't just skid over a job labeled "400 words on the cut-o-matic 3xyz2D" because it just might be a damned blender.  You can do that! And if you really don't know the stuff then go and do some research on it.  Or, ask a spouse, a friend, or daughter/son that might have some expertise on the subject.

 Related articles

• How To Guide For Good Web Writing (tipsonwebwriting.blogspot.com)
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Making Money Writing Articles For The Web: Take It Slow

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Making money writing articles online can be pretty easy for anyone. If you are a good writer, fast typist and great reader, then you can learn everything you need to know right from the Internet without any previous formal training needed. This is probably the best fact about niche website Internet marketing.

Web Writing For Money Is A Journey...Go Slow And You'll Find Yourself

Image via WikipediaI love writing online and making money. It just gives me a feeling of "I get paid to write! Holy S***!" And, yes, I say that out loud about once or twice per month.  However, it hasn't always been easy for me to make money web writing.  As of late, though, I have been turning away money in order to blog (the loneliest of web writing...especially at the beginning) and delve into the depths (and, I'm serious...it's freakin' deep down here) of residual earnings.

TextBroker: Break the Bank and Earn, Earn, Earn!

When it comes to the place for freelance content writers on the web, TextBroker has got the patent on success and professionalism.  Seriously.  I DO write for them but believe me when I tell you that I am not getting any kind of special treatment, payment or other type of benefit by saying that.  They just do it write!  (See what I did there?  "Write…should have been "right" and the damn blue line from MS Word is killing me, but I'm leaving it!)

Crack The Boredom Blues and Write for Break Studios

 I've written a few times about Break Studios in the past.  Firs,t I said I liked working for them and actually gave them and A- for a grade.  And then my next mention was actually about having to stop working for them because I was overwhelmed (pity, that!).  I actually mentioned them more than that, but those are the two that I remember specifically.

Since then my work with (and opinion of) Break Studios has really solidified.  I've found my voice over there and love working/writing for them.  They are now a staple of my bi-monthly income as a freelance writer.

Break Studios actually operates a bunch of sites that are mostly man friendly such as; Break.com, MadeMan, Holy Taco, Cage Potato, Screen Junkies, and Chickipedia.

Making Money Online: Freelance Writing Jobs For Beginners

Most writers are not being solicited by The New Yorker with an endless stream of $1,000 articles. Also, 99.99% of writers are not on the bestsellers lists or touring the country promoting their latest book. Most writers are doing what I am doing right now.

Freelance Writing Site Review: Independent Publishing (helpful.com)

I've written about Independent Publishing a couple of times here and a lot of it was done out of frustration.  Let's start off with what I know about this place.  I found the site with a simple Google search of "get paid to write for us" and they were pretty far back in the pages but I signed up and got approved about 3 weeks ago.

Freelance Writing: How Much Is Too Little To Be Paid?

I've thought writing this article for a while.  The first reason is that I started out in this freelance writing endeavor doing articles for London Brokers for less than a penny a word.  Some of London Brokers large articles are actually 500 word originals with two unique rewrites for about $7.  If the article subject required just a little bit of research I could easily find myself working for about $5-$6 dollars an hour.  I gnashed my teeth there until I decided to invest some heavy time looking for other opportunities for better compensation.

When you're new to the Freelance Writing Business it can get frustrating.  There is just lots of competition to deal with for the both the beginner and the experienced writer. To avoid the brunt of the frustration you can make your life a little easier by following some simple steps.

Make Your Freelance Writing Career Come True with these 2 Easy Steps

It might have already happened.  If it hasn't chances are that it will.  You tell someone, usually very close to you, that you are going to start working from home.  You're going to be a Freelance Writer!

 You're excited and you're waiting for the, "Oh, that's a great idea!"  but instead you just get the "Oh? 

Don't worry.  It's not you or your choice of careers.  Freelance writing can actually be very profitable for the well organized, passionate writer.   Especially with the little overhead that comes with the business.  And with the boom in the need of good content writers these days there is plenty of work.  No, the problem is not you.  The problem is that people don't understand what exactly a freelance writer does. 

So here are 2 simple ways to immediately turn the simple "oh" into a "oh, that's actually working, is it?"  Sure it isn't the praise that you're looking for but it will come.