How do I find ‘writing jobs’ on the web?

In this first coffee session, we will be examining the types of writing jobs that are found on the web, what they entail and how to access them.

In coffee session two, we will look at some specifics of these jobs and how you can easily make money from using your writing skills.

Would you like to be up and running quickly with your own writing business?

The only way I know how to do anything is to take action. I have included in the Step-by-step process,  an [Action] step to keep you doing what will make you successful. Writers are mostly disciplined people…. Their passion drives them to meet at the page, day by day.

Whilst there’s a huge amount of self-help information on the internet, the clear, concise ‘How to Steps,’ are frequently buried under the plethora of offers.

I have attended numerous and very expensive seminars, courses and weekends to learn from the internet experts. My head was simply bursting with information after each seminar. I came home and stared blankly at the computer screen. Where do I start?

Information overload has been my biggest blockage to making things ‘work’ that has, in the past, prevented me from actually doing anything.

If you can relate to this in some way, then I’m hoping you will appreciate my blog and the help offered from my experience and learning. Each coffee session we will look at one of the 10 jobs below and how to access them.

I wished in the early days of my internet journey, that I’d had someone to mentor me. Please treat this blog as a type of mentorship. The internet needs good writers. There’s no doubt about that.

Here’s the Top 10 list of easy jobs for writers:

10 Easy Jobs for Writers

1. Editing Corporate blogs and websites

2. Writing for Ezines (web newsletters)

3. Writing Articles

4. Writing Reports

5. Writing ebooks

6. Re-writes for PLR materials (I will explain this later)

7. Re-writes for articles

8. Re-writes for reports

9. Writing sales letters and adverts

10. Writing email responders

This list is not extensive. Believe it or not, there are even more jobs that a writer can do…..we haven’t mentioned the social networking sites. This is huge. Many successful business owners have social networking sites. They need to be seen and to reach more customers. They have a presence on sites such as Twitter and writers are needed to daily update their ‘tweets’.

If that blows your mind, just think of this blog. Many businesses employ writers to keep their blogs up-to-date. There are literally thousands of jobs on the internet for writers, with a burgeoning demand.

I started researching Article Writing on the internet and the information pool is as big as you could imagine. I’ve purchased and downloaded information on every topic conceivable, in fact hundreds into thousands of articles written specifically for the internet environment.

I’ve been wading through the most recent 900 articles on varied topics to see if there is a gem in there that can be polished and re-offered in a different format.

Yes this is acceptable because the writer is usually a ghost writer or sells the article and the copyright to an article agency who then on-sells to wholesalers and others.

That’s some of the basics.

If all of that jargon has just scared you senseless, stop for a moment, have a sip of that coffee and we’ll start at the beginning in small easy steps.

Step 1.  Discover your target audience

What do people want? Let’s ask ‘who is your target market here?’

If you do your research for a novel, you are writing to a target market, be they young adults, children, action readers and so on. On the internet, it is still the same.

People are looking for fresh well written content, to fill what I call the ‘hippo mouth’: the great yawning jaws and insatiable appetite for information, which drives the internet.

[Action] Write up a list of who you would like your target market to be. Think of the categories mentioned above. Example: corporate business blogs; small individual entrepreneurs’ blogs; Articles for Ezines and topics of interest. Then re-define your list to specific wants and needs of the target audience.

Ask yourself these questions:

  • What does my target audience want?

It may be light entertainment. For example, amazon books is selling what they call the ‘Kindle’ which is a hand-held digital product that looks slightly larger than an ipod and contains around 3500 books! Can you imagine this? You’d never be bored on a plane flight again.

  • Does my target audience want to be informed about a specific topic?
    I may choose to write for a niche audience, for instance, on ecological sustainability in my back yard.
  • Where can I find the people who are interested in this topic?
    Start a google search for the ‘keywords’ that you might find in an article on your topic. A keyword is a word that the search engines pick up that might accurately describe a page content on the internet. They use keywords to help you find what you are searching for. So, for the example above about ecological sustainability, you would use that whole phrase in the search engine’s search box to find websites containing that information. You can find the sites that seem to be successful and offer to be a ghost writer for their content. That’s one way. Doing these type of articles requires that you also do some research (as you would for any book) so that your articles meet the site’s requirements.

Now that you have your list of who you will first target (keep it short to begin with, remember small bites frequently gets you ahead faster), start with the number one target on the list.

I am going to choose ‘Article Writing’ for Ezines as my first target here, so you can follow the steps. My second target will be ‘Blogs’ for profit. I have used the word profit because, let’s face it, you won’t find anyone willing to pay for your writing, if they aren’t making an income from their blog in some way.

I have deliberately left the demographics open at this stage. Your target will tell you who their demographics are in this instance, then you will simply write for them.

One important thing in writing for the web is that you may feel that how it is done is detestable, compared with the quality literature that oozes from your pen. I liken it to the new age of text messaging on the mobile phones. Sort distinct bursts of ‘now speak,’ to get your message across.

You will have to bend the rules of fine literature, as you see I have done, throughout this first session.

This is entirely in order to fit web requirements of readability and the new ‘short attention’ span in this environment.

The articles and blogs in all the internet writing arenas, are only successful if they follow the craft of report style writing.

Unless the niche target market is specifically for non-fiction ebooks or for a topic on which there is little available information. Only then will the reader stay on the page.

Websites built for profit need to keep their sites ‘sticky.’ That means that if your article is not put in the web style format, you will lose readers after a couple of seconds. The idea is to keep them on your site as long as possible.

You need to practice writing in this style to be successful in this environment.

The best book on this style of writing for the serious writer is Rachel McAlpine’s book ‘Web Word Wizardry- a guide to writing for the Web and Intranet.’ She is from N.Z. and has been lecturing and writing on web style for many years. You can also join her very informative newsletter here.

(I had the good fortune of sitting in her lecture during my time studying at university).

Whew, have another coffee, then go visit this website. http://www.ezinearticles.com/ Have a good look around it in preparation for step two.

I’ll close this session with the 5 secret tips to successful online writing:

1. Keep it brief, make use of headings, dot points, short sentences and paragraphs. Remember- people want a brief read then grab what they want. You need to keep their interest so they won’t click off the page. Keep it sticky.

2. Don’t try and be super creative with long descriptions and novel speak. It’s better to paraphrase and use short bursts with lots of points.

3. Don’t re-invent the wheel, you can be original without the blood sweat and tears! Use what is already available, after all, you are in there to make some easy income whilst you concentrate on your important lit.

4. Yes, research and surveys are necessary. Look at local hobby groups, clubs, information from an ‘expert,’ Youtube, ezine sites and use keywords to search your topics.

5. Make things visually appealing... there are rules for do’s and don’ts that make the page easy to read or not. You must follow these rules to be successful.

We will commence the second coffee session from here.

See you soon,

Eloise

copyright article by eloise dawson, 2009, from http://www.me2Uhelp.info
You are welcome to re-publish this article in it’s entirety only, including these footnotes. ed.