Are you overwhelmed with online writing tasks - or struggling to find things to do? (with thanks to julosstock for the image)

Probably most people who have an online writing career will have been affected in one way or another by the recession.  I think I have weathered it quite well all in all, but that’s not to say I haven’t had to make changes and alterations to my writing business as a consequence of the larger global picture.

Silence in the online writing world…

For example a few months back (probably around October time last year) I came back from a week’s holiday to find I didn’t have much in the way of writing work to do.  I was slightly concerned but after that initial blip I resolved to go out and find more clients.  I think this was the first time I ever had to consciously make that decision as a result of not having enough online writing work to do.

Luckily (or perhaps not, since I did put the work in to get the results) I came up with a couple of new jobs within the week.  I am still working with one client, supplying five short articles on a weekly basis as a result of that search.

Things were relatively busy from then on until the end of January, when things got quiet again.  So I repeated what I did before and once again I came up trumps.  This has taught me that no matter how dire things look and how light you are on work, you can always come up with something if you just start looking and putting yourself out there.

Online writing – and the amount of it you have (or don’t have) – is under your control

Sure, I had some non starters and plenty of applications for information or actual writing jobs that didn’t come to anything.  But since I decided to forget about every job application the minute I sent it off, I wasn’t really affected by all the ones that came to nothing.

I think that by focusing on the positives – the fact that I continued to find jobs worth applying for, people worth working with and so on – kept me positive and it gave me positive results as well.  Not everyone will agree that positive thinking works in this sense, but that’s fine.  It works for me.

So how have you been affected by the recession?  Has your online writing career suffered a dip, and if it has, what have you done to get yourself back out of it again?  Share your thoughts below!

The chances are you are thinking about writing articles.  That’s fair enough, and there is plenty of article writing work out there to keep you busy for months on end if you are good enough.

But there are other types of writing work available too.  Check these out for starters:

1. eBook writing. If you prefer longer works to short quick articles, this might be for you.  The higher fee also means it brings in larger amounts of cash.
2. Forum posting. This usually takes the form of short posts on various forums, perhaps 50 to 100 words, with a link back to the website owned by the person who hires you.  Quick and usually easy, and it tends to pay better per 100 words if you find good clients.
3. Blog writing. This might appeal to you if you want regular work, as a lot of people hire writers to create and update their blogs for them.  You will usually get a specific number of posts to complete each week.  Blog posts are usually shorter than articles, but not necessarily.
4. Product descriptions. Again, nice short and easy work; ideal if you like to do lots of little jobs instead of one big one like an eBook.  These are for websites of all kinds, and the work can make a refreshing change from writing articles constantly!
5. Review writing. You may be asked to write reviews of specific products to put on a website, or to use as marketing articles.  This is really a different type of article, but the format can be very specific depending on the client you work for.

So there you go – five more types of writing work you can look for and do online.  Which one appeals to you the most?

Forums can be a good place to do this.  There are two types of forums you can visit in your search for suitable work.  Firstly you could try dedicated writing forums.  These have various sections to suit different types of writing and writers.  But they also often have a section that has threads and posts relating to writing gigs that are currently available.

The second type of forum is a more general forum that is not focused solely on writers.  As such these can come in all kinds of shapes and sizes.  For example there are a couple of well known internet marketing forums that have sections focusing on creating content of all kinds.  The members post their content needs in that section, and writers who visit the forum apply for anything they like the look of.

Needless to say whichever type of forum you decide to look on, half of the battle is in remembering to look every single day to see if any new opportunities have been posted there.  Speed is almost as important as reading the post thoroughly and having the right skills to complete the job as required.

Finally, make sure you constantly search for new forums to find work in.  Since not all writing gigs are advertised in writing forums, you can find some juicy work in all kinds of places if you keep looking long enough.  Use the search engines to look for forums on different subjects.  Ideally they should be ones where marketers or other business people will go to.  If they need content there should be an area where they can let everyone know.

And as soon as you find that area, you will have found yet another potential place for winning writing jobs.

So with that in mind, here are some of the ways you can make money online as a writer.

1. Blogger. Blogging is something you can do for other people as well as for yourself.  There are people making good money online who have several blogs all set up and running with very little in the way of input from them.  They hire bloggers to write the posts for them – and this is where you come in.
2. Article writer. Articles are forever wanted on all kinds of different subjects online.  People use them for article marketing, adding to email newsletters, adding to their website, and much more besides.  If you are able to write short articles you will find a never ending market here to aim for.
3. Copywriter – writing copy for websites. Articles are good for adding to websites that already exist.  But who creates the copy for those websites in the first place?  The answer is copywriters.  If you like the idea of creating the content for a website from scratch, copywriting could be what suits you the most.
4. Press release writer. Every business needs to tell its audience about new products, changes to their business and other announcements of all kinds.  If you are good at putting together an efficient press release you can approach businesses and find work from many online writing sites.  This isn’t the best avenue of writing to get into, but it could prove an interesting and lucrative sideline.

So there we have it – four types of writing you might want to try online.  And don’t forget, whichever one you start with there is no reason why you cannot expand to include the others as well.  It will all earn you even more cash in the future.

But of all the emails I have received from would be writers wanting to do just that, the most common question I am asked is “where do you find the work?”

With that in mind, here are three methods for locating those article buyers.  There are plenty of them out there – you just have to know how to reach them.

1. Use search engines. This might sound too simple for words, but it is often the simple ideas that are the best!  I have found many sources of work in this way.  All you have to do is type in some keywords that are relevant to what you want to find.  Try ‘paid writing work’, ‘sell articles’ and various other possibilities.  ‘Article marketplace’ can also produce some good possibilities.  The trick is to keep trying different combinations of words to reveal some good sources of potential work and article sales.
2. Explore the freelance bidding sites. Once again, there are plenty of these around.  Some require a payment to join; others are free and still more give you a choice of both.  In this latter case you will usually get a more advanced membership if you pay for it.  Persevere with these sites – you won’t always grab your first writing job and find an article buyer to work with on the first attempt.
3. Keep reading writing sites and blogs for sources of new work and article buyers. There are lots of these sites around and many of them have regular job listings for online writers.  Add the ones you like to your bookmarks toolbar so they are always there to remind you.  Look regularly for article buyers that are after the kind of articles you can write well.

The trick to succeeding in online writing is not only to persevere – it is in knowing where to look to find work.  And the three methods above should help you to make sure your own online writing career is a resounding success.

How many writing gigs do you apply for? Have you proved your skills to anyone today? (photo credit sibaudio - sxc.hu)

We all have our own little ways and means, don’t we?  Some of us use sites that allow us to post articles whenever we like to earn profits through Google Adsense and similar programs.  Others head for the bidding sites to bid on as many freelance writing jobs as they can find.  Still more scour the job boards and classified ad sites to see what they can find there.

For my money I don’t think any of these methods are wrong or right.  We are all different and it depends on what you want to get out of writing, both in a mental and a financial sense.  Of course if you want to earn a living from your writing then you’ll want to earn as much as possible from your writing, so you will look for the better paid jobs.  Ideally you will approach businesses directly instead of simply looking for the advertised jobs.  But we all have our own ways of finding the writing gigs we want.

The most important thing for me is not to rely on any one source of work.  Here are some of the ways I have found freelance writing jobs in the past:

• Via one of my Squidoo lenses (someone emailed me)
• Via Twitter (someone contacted me via a direct message)
• Via my website (currently undergoing an overhaul!)
• Via Craigslist (and it is actually still one of my highest paid regular jobs – which just goes to show you CAN sometimes find worthwhile writing gigs on Craigslist!)
• Via a bidding site
• Via colleagues who sub-contract some of their work out to others

As you can see there are plenty of ways you can get work as an online freelance writer.  And these barely scratch the surface as well.  The more creative you are in finding freelance writing jobs the better – it will put you in front of the competition.

If you read my previous post about my 5 writing resolutions for the New Year you will know that I fully intend to develop my writing career even further in 2010.  I feel like it is time to step up to the next stage.

Is it time for you as well?  Think about some of the methods I have used to get writing gigs and ask yourself if they could work for you too.  Are there other things you could be doing – such as setting up a writing blog for example – that will help you to get more clients?

Try them all in turn and see which ones appeal to you.  Use them, try more and watch your writing career develop as a result.  Good luck!

Now actually I have written a handful of quizzes before, so I did have something of a track record to help me with my application.  I haven’t heard anything back yet but it is early days and who knows, I might not hear back at all.

Have you signed up for any unusual writing contracts lately?

But the point of this post is to encourage you to think outside your usual box a bit when you are looking for writing jobs.  I’m always saying how important it is to look for new writing jobs all the time, even when you have lots of clients lined up and plenty of work on the go.  You just never know when one of them might disappear, or something might crop up and a job finishes sooner than you thought it might.

But there is another advantage to applying for unusual online writing jobs.  It gets you out of that habit of thinking along the same old lines all the time.  My main focus for writing is SEO articles, short articles and web pages, and blog posts.  I also write eBooks from time to time and I tackle the odd press release every now and then as well.  But that doesn’t mean I won’t look for anything else when I am searching for fresh sources of work.

There is a fine line to tread here though with regard to experience.  For example I won’t touch academic writing or medical writing.  So even if I come across a job ad that requires an SEO writer, if it is for academic or medical writing I’ll leave it for other writers to have a go at.

So you see the trick is to push the boundaries of what you are good and and what you know, without actually pushing them so far that you end up taking a job for something you haven’t a clue about.  It can be tricky striking a balance but as you get more experienced with this idea you will push those boundaries back further and further, and you will find even more writing jobs that you can confidently apply for.

So today, when you start looking for new jobs (you are going to, aren’t you?) try going beyond what you would look for normally.  You might just get some results that push your writing career forward to the next level.  Let me know how you get on.

How much are YOU earning from your online writing efforts?

Some online writers earn peanuts.  Others earn enough to only work part time for a full time – and very nice sized – wage.

So how do you make sure you fall into the second group?

Firstly you need to accept that getting to that stage is a journey.  You won’t start out and grab the best paying writing jobs that are out there.  You need to work your way up to that stage.

Once you have some experience you need to make sure you start looking for well paid work on a regular basis.  It’s no good waiting for it to fall in your lap.  Part of the battle is in getting your name known as a writer.  Set up a blog, set up a website and promote yourself.  Make sure they are professional and easy to access, so potential clients can contact you directly.

You can also look for adverts for writing jobs online.  Believe me there are plenty of them out there – you just need to look.  Explore the search engines, read writing blogs, frequent websites that offer writing work – do everything and do it often to maximise your chances of being in the right place at the right time.  I regularly look on Craigslist for writing jobs, and I found my best paying market of all on there.  Don’t think that because you have looked somewhere for weeks and you haven’t come up trumps that there isn’t something just around the corner.

Believe me when I say there is no big secret to finding well paying writing jobs.  The big secret, if you want to think there is one, is simply in looking for them.  You must open yourself up to the possibilities, and then they will start to appear.  So many writers give up before they really give themselves a chance.  You need to be stubborn and persistent.

Make good use of the search engines as well.  Search for ‘well paid writing jobs’ – it sometimes brings up interesting results.  Search for whatever type of writing work you want to find and keep going until you find it.  You will be happy you did.

Article source: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Allison_Whitehead

Take control of the internet and find the writing jobs that are right for you

But first a small piece of bad news.  Remember that blogging job I told you about, where I was going to do a couple of short pieces to see how things worked out?  Well I sent them off with my invoice and that was the last I heard from the guy.  It’s the first time I’ve ever been ‘done’, but I have still got the copyright to the articles and I fully intend to sell them elsewhere.  It didn’t take much time out of my day and the money will be recouped by selling them for usage rights, probably on Constant Content.  It’s annoying more than anything but to be honest I have been so busy going for other work that it didn’t really bug me for much longer than a minute!

So with that out of the way, here is what I managed to achieve in just 5 days:

• acceptance into two new writing teams, one of which looks to be particularly good news.  Lots of work and pretty good rates too.
• one more potential source of work from a website that has lots of work to offer.
• I’ve also made contact with another guy who is looking for someone to help out with some articles – just waiting to hear back on my first assignment with him.
• there are also two more websites that I could potentially be writing articles for in the near future – in fact I have just received payment for my first article for one of them as I’ve been writing this.

So it just goes to show how much you can achieve in a relatively short amount of time if you put your mind to it.  I was pretty busy with work last week, but I knew I could do with a bit more coming in this week, so I made the time to find those new leads.  There are more online writing jobs that I’ve applied for that I haven’t heard back from yet, but even if they don’t pan out it’s been a great start to the week.

And in addition to that, here’s what can happen when you finally get around to clearing out and deleting an old email account!  I came across the contact details for one of my earliest clients, so I decided I had nothing to lose and sent him an email.

Almost by return he said he’d love me to write more articles for him and he’s compiling a list of ideas right now.  Those spur of the moment ideas can really pay off sometimes!

So if you are thinking that there are no writing jobs out there, or you just can’t seem to find anything you like, KEEP ON LOOKING.  Perseverance is what separates the writers who find lots of work from the ones that don’t.  Good luck!

Where do you start your search for online writing gigs?

So what can we do?

Well I’ve mentioned the first method in previous blog posts – and that is to promote yourself via a blog like this one.  If you have your own blog or website, you’ll get clients contacting you directly asking you if you could write for them.  That’s a whole lot better than having to constantly search for work yourself.

But is there anything else you can do? After all if you have only just got started in the world of online writing, you won’t have hundreds of clients all clamouring for you to start working for them straightaway.  Soon maybe, but not immediately!  So what do you do then?

Here’s a method I’ve started to use that has brought some interesting results.

Go to your main search engine of choice – it’ll work with any search engine you choose – and think about some keywords that a client looking for writers would type in their job request.  For example, if you have been to many of the freelance bidding sites you’ll know that people often say “I’m looking to hire a writer”, or “SEO writers needed” or something similar.  Make a list of all the similar search terms to this that you can think of.

Obviously you can vary these depending on the kind of work you want to get.  If you type in “writers wanted” you’ll get all kinds of potential results.  Typing in “bloggers wanted” will clearly only reveal the top ranked blogging jobs in the search results.

What you are doing here is trying to find the kind of writing jobs you want in a different way.  Instead of going to one writing website and looking through all the jobs they have, before repeating the process with the next website, you’re trying to find the jobs first – before you visit the website.  See the difference?

You’ll get more accurate results if you make sure your search terms are inserted in quote marks too.  This means you will only get “SEO writers” in your results, rather than any results which feature the words “SEO” and “writers” in any order.  This could return results that aren’t relevant to what you want.

I should stress that you won’t find suitable jobs every single time you do this.  Just as not every website you visit has good writing jobs on it every time, performing this search won’t always pay off either.  But you will find websites you never found before, that could potentially bring you writing work in the future.  It’s simply a different way of finding work that could pay dividends.

Give it a try and let me know how you get on.  And if you have any other ways of finding good writing gigs, feel free to share with my readers!