Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Write Content for Webpages

There are a lot of opportunities for writers to make extra income online; one way is to write content for web pages.  There are two possible ways to be paid for your writing; you can be paid up front by the word or you can receive ad revenue from revenue sharing sites.
Several companies act as brokers between writers and owners of websites who want articles or ad copy written.  As a writer you can be paid from 1 to 5 cents per word.  You can choose from a list of assignments which will tell you what kind of content the client wants, the topic, keywords that must be included and minimum number of words.
I have tried writing for two of these companies: The Content Authority and Text Broker.  Here is what I’ve learned from the experience:
You will be able to choose from a list of assignments at either site.  Most of the assignments are some form  of ad copy, either product descriptions or an article related to what is being sold on the web site.  Generally the descriptions of the assignment are more detailed on Text Broker and on that site you can rate how well the assignment is explained, to hopefully encourage the client to be more specific if needed.  I’ve noticed that many of the assignments on The Content Authority have very little instruction on what the client wants.
Some assignments are perhaps too specific, which makes it difficult to write the article.  Some sites are very concerned with SEO (search engine optimization)  which concerns the number of times certain keywords are placed within the article and how that affects where the search engines place the article in the list of results.  A client concerned with SEO might specify that you: Use the following key word phrases exactly as written in your article as many time as listed, minimum words 400:
Viagra online, 2X
Buy cheap Viagra, 2X
Cheap Viagra online, 2X
Where to buy Viagra, 2X
Buy Viagra, 2X
Somehow in around 400 words you have to fit in all those phrases, 2 times each, and make it a coherent well written article too!  Maybe you can do that, but I can’t.
Not all assignments are like that but most of them have to do with a product being sold on the website and you will be required to fit in one or two keywords at least twice in your article.  So although you can choose your assignment you still may not find anything that really interests you to write about.
The pay for the articles you write is low unless you manage to impress a client enough that they ask for you specifically, which does happen, then you can negotiate your own rate.
If you are a fast writer and can write on almost any topic, this type of writing may be a good source of income for you.  If you want to try it I found that Text Broker has better resources for writers on their site and seem to have a better variety of assignments.  Both Text Broker and Content Authority pay roughly the same.