Great Ways to Make Money Doing Something You Love
Do you love writing? We do, too! However, making money from writing is not as easy as it sounds — it takes a lot of long hours and tired fingers to become an established writer making a living from home. While there are plenty of ways to make money through writing, finding them may be another challenge in itself — that’s where we come in.
This short (but nevertheless educational) guide will show you some quick and simple ways to get yourself into the writing market to start making money. Some of them are more difficult than others, but all offer a great step toward a full-time career writing from the comfort of your own home.
Freelance Writing Websites
This is by far the best way to break into the market — a lot of great websites that host freelance work do not require extensive writing experience (although being able to write well is an obvious requirement!).
Elance is probably the best freelance website out there — while there are other major websites that may be bigger in sheer numbers, there’s not one out there that matches the quality of Elance.
Elance offers a few categories that you can be a part of, but for this post we’ll just focus on the Writing and Translation category. So you sign up for the website and are required to choose a category — after filling out your profile as completely as you can, you can begin applying for jobs.
The reason I like Elance so much is the process of applying for the writing jobs. You create a simple proposal outlining what you can do for the job, and you present your relevant skills. Then you submit the proposal and wait for a response. Jobs are either hourly (which I don’t recommend) or a fixed price. This is a fantastic resource for anyone looking to supplement their income through part-time writing.
Elance is a freelance networking website, but there are plenty of other websites and companies out there that are willing to buy high-quality articles and blog posts. Doing a simple Google search will give you thousands of fantastic companies looking to buy well-written articles.
Writing for Businesses
Many businesses do not hire full-time copywriters and prefer telecommuting freelance writers to create their copy for them. You can easily ask companies if they are looking for a copywriter and can even offer a few samples to get them interested in your work.
Many companies are willing to pay $15–$25 and up for a well-written article. Even if you write just 10 of those a week, that’s a pretty nice supplement to your income. Creating Web content that will drive readers (and eventually customers) to a website is invaluable; that’s why so many companies are willing to pay for quality articles.
Companies want to buy great content, and you can be the one they are buying from! By creating rich copy that is interesting and informative, you can help businesses improve visibility and sales, as well as build a great portfolio for future employers.
Start a Blog
Becoming famous from a blog and making serious money from it is a very hard task — however, it certainly isn’t impossible, and if you can pull it off, it’s one of the most rewarding and lucrative writing careers out there.
One of the biggest mistakes that people make when starting their get-rich blog is that it is a personal blog — writing about your adorable cat or your new car isn’t going to drive readership to your blog. Yes, there are a few out there who have made it big with personal blogs, but they are very rare exceptions.
Instead, create a blog that people can use as a reference or to solve a problem. For example, you could start a how-to blog or a blog reviewing specific products in order to help potential buyers make educated decisions.
Most of the money made from blogging comes from advertisement programs and selling products to readers — without readers, the advertisements won’t pay, and the products won’t sell. To get readers, you need interesting content.
Ghostwriting
While finding legitimate ghostwriting jobs can be hard, this is definitely worth exploring. Essentially, a ghostwriter writes on the behalf of someone who doesn’t have the skillset to publish something that the public would want to read.
By gathering information from the client (usually an expert in a specific field), you can craft something that everyone will want to read. If you’re looking for an in-depth project on something new, this is a great option for you.
Write Resumes for Others
Being able to successfully write a compelling resume is one of the greatest skills out there, and trust me, people will be willing to pay good money for a polished resume. Job seekers are looking for any way to stand out from the crowd — this is usually done with an exceptional resume.
With the job market tight with competition, your skills in resume writing are becoming even more important. You’d be surprised by how many people will want your resume writing services after you offer it up for sale — this is a fantastic way to make money writing.
Start Writing
These are just a few of the many ways to break into the writing industry and earn some extra income on the side. While it may seem daunting at first, writing from home for different businesses and clients can be a very fun and rewarding experience — and, not to mention, you can make a lot of money!
Be sure to start your at-home writing experience knowing that it will take time and effort to build up a consistent client list, and this is not a get-rich-quick scheme. With long hours and too many cups of coffee (way too many), you can easily make a living working from home doing something you love. Now get out there and start your writing career today!