If you love to write and want to make money doing it online, then this video is for you!
I’m breaking down 7 ways you can use your passion to earn cash.
Including how you can start making money online as a writer TODAY, the best places to find clients and readers, where to publish your work, and so much more.
Hey Posse, what’s up? It’s Alex.
I’m really excited for this topic! If you don’t already know, here on my blog I tend to talk A LOT about copywriting…
Because, well, copywriting is kinda my thing. It’s the ONE thing I’ve personally used to make a lot of money online over the last 10 years…
But as much as I love copywriting… it is NOT the only way a person who loves to write can make money online.
In fact, it turns out there are many and that’s precisely what we will talk about. So, where are my fellow word nerds at?
Now, in this blog, I’m going to talk about the two MAIN ways a writer can earn money online…
The first way is by publishing your OWN writing…
It is more difficult to earn a steady paycheck this way – especially in the beginning. But it is doable! We’ll talk about your different options for publishing and getting paid for your writing online…
And then we’ll talk about the second – and easiest – way to earn money writing online… and this is where the opportunities are truly endless.
But first…
How To Publish Your Writing Online & Get Paid
For many people who love to write, this is the ultimate dream – right?
Getting paid to write YOUR OWN words.
Whether it’s publishing a full-blown novel, having an influential column, guest writing for prominent magazines, or publishing poems and short stories…
This is what most people tend to automatically think of when they consider a career as a writer.
I mean hello, was Carrie Bradshaw the inspiration or anyone else’s dream career as a child?
And while it is absolutely 100% possible to become a Carrie Bradshaw…
This path is a much slower process to getting paid for your words – especially if you’re starting from scratch… with no education, connections, or previous experience to give you a boost.
While we all love a good underdog story like JK Rowling’s…
The reality is, that it takes TIME and hard work to build the authority and awareness that writers need to “make it big”…
So, with that said, there are two main ways I would suggest trying to make this happen if you’re just getting started…
1. Start A Blog
The first, and probably most obvious, thing you can do is start your own website or blog – and start publishing your work there!
To get started, you’ll need to choose a blogging platform, register for a domain name, and select a web hosting service – this will take a bit of time and cash upfront…
But once you get that out of the way, you can start publishing your work immediately!
Now, if you’re wondering… “wait, do people actually still make money from blogging?!”
Well, the answer is – hell yes!
You could make money by signing up for affiliate programs and build your email list and promoting other people’s products or services with your writing…
Or by signing up for Google AdSense, which shows ads to the people who visit your website.
Once you’ve established a readership, the opportunities to make money become pretty endless – you could offer paid subscriptions, sell merchandise, write ebooks, host retreats, and so much more depending on what your blog is actually about.
Here are a couple of examples to inspire you to what’s possible with this…
The Pioneer Women – today, she’s known for her show on The Food Network, her cookbooks, and her houseware brand…
But it all started from her blog – where she shared candidly about her life as a homeschooling mom in rural Oklahoma.
Over time, she created a super-loyal readership.
From there, she created the entire Pioneer Woman enterprise that many know of today.
Another example is The Blonde Abroad.
Her blog started as a personal travel diary – she just shared about her travels. But again, over time, her readership grew and she developed a lot of loyal fans.
She monetized her blog by partnering with tourism boards, running ads, creating photography presets, hosting retreats, monetizing her social media, and so much more…
It goes without saying that earning money through your blog is THE LONG GAME.
This is not going to be an overnight success.
You’ll have to commit to posting regularly – most sources recommend posting a blog post 1-4x a week.
And it may take months or even years before you see anything happening with it.
But if your ultimate goal is to get paid to do your own thing, write about what you want, be yourself, and truly work for no one but YOU… then this is the way to go.
And of course, you can speed up your chances of success by learning about SEO, keywords, backlinks, and all that good stuff.
This blog is NOT going to get into all of that, but if you want another tutorial breaking down blogging basics and how to optimize your blog to increase your chances of ranking on Google – comment below and let me know!
Now before we move on to the next category – which in my opinion, is a lot easier to make money writing online – let’s first talk about another way you can make money by publishing your own writing…
2. Post on Profit-Sharing Platforms
Okay, so profit-sharing platforms are when you post YOUR OWN blogs, articles, poems, or stories on a different platform.
The idea is that these platforms have already done the work and put in the time to create authority awareness. And they already have thousands of readers each month.
So in theory, you don’t have to wait as long to start building a readership – and thus getting paid.
Now, there are a variety of profit-sharing platforms you can look into… A quick Google search will generate dozens of them.
Medium is probably the most popular one out there right now AND one of the easiest to get started on.
Getting started is pretty straightforward – all you have to do is sign up for an account through Medium’s Partner program (which is free!) and you can start publishing your writing right away.
You’ll get paid based on the number of people who read your stuff – currently, the pay rate is about $15-$30 per 1,000 views!
Which sounds super great – right?
But keep in mind that you don’t get paid at all until you have at least 100 followers.
And once you do get those followers, the majority of Medium writers… really don’t make all that much money.
According to data published on Medium, 94% of writers make less than $100 a month. However, the top 1% make $5,000 or more a month.
So again, this is not a fast path by any means.
But it is a good option if you want to avoid the hassle of building and maintaining your own blog, sourcing traffic, etc.
Honestly, getting paid to publish your own writing online is HARD.
Not impossible by any means – especially if you genuinely love to write and can commit yourself to being consistent for a long time BEFORE you expect to see any profits.
But if, on the other hand, you want to start earning money from your writing faster…
Then I suggested writing for other people, brands, and businesses online.
Getting Paid To Write For Other People
Yup, we call this… freelance writing! When a business hires YOU to write stuff for THEM.
This does not necessarily mean that you work for one company – like Cosmo or something like that… although that would so cool.
Many freelancers work with a variety of clients – do small projects here and there.
Or they work with one or two main clients as their in-house writer.
The best thing about freelance writing is that you have a TON of flexibility. So you can really make this look like whatever you want it to.
Most of the time when you are a freelance writer, it means you are ghostwriting – aka pretending to be the person who is the face of the brand…
In some cases, you may be writing on behalf of the brand as a whole. But in almost all cases, you usually don’t get to write about what YOU want to write about – you will be assigned specific writing tasks, with specific topics and end goals to achieve.
It’s a great way to pay the bills with your writing skills, but you don’t necessarily get the same “creative freedom” you would have if you only wrote for yourself.
So with that in mind, let’s break down a couple of different “types” of freelance writing you could look into…
1. Script Writing
In case you haven’t noticed… video is HUGEEEEE these days.
On just about every single social media platform out there, video is the top-performing content medium.
And then of course there’s the website I love the most, Youtube! Where people go to be entertained, inspired or educated with video content.
ANd guess what? Serious content creators who want to put out top-notch video content need script writers!
Someone who can write their scripts in the way they speak naturally – while delivering value concisely… AND also doing the tough job of keeping the listener’s attention.
But it’s not just video content creators who need script writers!
Podcasters also need to read from a script – even Podcasters who do interview-style podcasts still need someone to help them create a general outline that will flow and keep attention.
And then you have businesses who host webinars or like to sell their products through VSLs (video sales letters)…
And don’t forget about public speakers or even motivational speakers…
I once interviewed a woman who was an executive speechwriter for Apple.
That’s right – she helped Steve freakin’ Jobs with his presentations. How cool?!
Okay, so scriptwriting is one option you could consider.
You also have…
2. SEO Writing
An SEO writer specializes in search engine optimization.
Usually, this is done through strategically optimizing a business’s website, blogs, ads, and other content to rank better on search engines.
So you could get hired to go through a business’s website and edit or optimize what is already there…
OR you get hired to write and create their content from an SEO perspective right out the gate.
The great thing about this one is that almost every business out there could benefit from an SEO writer!
Alright moving onto another way you can get paid to write online…
3. Product Descriptions
This is exactly what it sounds like – getting hired to write product descriptions that help sellers sell their products on marketplaces.
A lot of people automatically think of Amazon when we talk about this one… but there are actually HUNDREDS of marketplaces out there…
- Amazon
- Etsy
- eBay
- Bonanza
- Ruby Lane
And the list honestly goes on and on…
Not to mention every single Shopify store that sells candles or outdoor goods or custom hats or pet sweaters…
There is no shortage of businesses selling things on online marketplaces.
Which is great news if you love to write short, punchy, and catchy descriptions.
Because if these businesses want to STAND OUT and have their products selected over competitors… Then they need someone who can write really great product descriptions for them.
Alright… just two more left on the list…
Then we’ll get into the real juicy stuff…
Like where you can actually FIND CLIENTS.
4. Content Writing
Content writing is really an umbrella term that can include a wide range of tasks.
But typically a content writer works on things like – blog posts, articles, emails, and social media captions.
A business hires a content writer for one main purpose… to build a relationship with its audience!
As a brand’s content writer, you would really be taking direction from them on what type of content they want to put out there…
And you may even do some research for them on the type of thing you think their audience would love to learn more about.
Then you’d get to work on writing up something that delivers free value in the form of: education, entertainment, or inspiration.
Again, this is something that just about every business with an online presence needs!
Because if you’re not nurturing your audience with great content, then your business isn’t going to get very far.
Period.
Okay, so on the last one on the list…
My personal favorite and money-making weapon of choice…
5. Copywriting
Whereas content writing focuses mostly on nurturing an audience, copywriting focuses on writing marketing materials to PROMOTE products and services or generate new leads for a business.
Admittedly, the lines between and content writer and a copywriter are getting blurrier and blurrier these days…
But that’s one of the reasons why I LOVE copywriting so much…
You get to not only connect with readers – inspire them, encourage them, entertain them…
But you ALSO get to improve their lives by helping them to get a product or service that can benefit them in some way.
Generally speaking, a copywriter would be in charge of writing sales assets for a brand.
This includes things like:
- Sales pages
- Landing pages
- Ads
- Sales emails
- Video sales letters
- And more!
Out of all of the freelance writing “type of jobs” on this list, copywriters tend to be among the highest paid.
And that’s because copywriters are writing the words that DIRECTLY impact sales – and make a business money.
This means it’s easier to negotiate your rates as a copywriter because the value you bring is indisputable!
According to this article, copywriters can make up to $250/hour and it doesn’t even require a degree…
And this is absolutely true, many of my students have built 6-figure businesses after learning my proven methods for building a copywriting business.
Now you might be wondering…
Okay, okay this sounds great and all. BUT HOW?!
Well, I’ll tell ya…
How To Get Started & Find Clients
The great thing about freelance writing is that you DO NOT need a fancy college degree or formal education or anything like that…
You DO need to have a basic understanding of grammar and spelling.
But for the most part, unless you’re going into a very technical field, the writing you’ll create will be written exactly like you speak!
Plus with A.I. tools to help you, spelling and grammar is literally no longer an issue if you know how to communicate persuasively.
Anyone can learn how to become a freelance writer and make money online…
But with that said…
If you want to increase your chances of success AND make it a whole lot easier to find clients in the beginning…
Then I do recommend taking a training program or course that is specifically geared towards the type of writing you want to get into.
This is going to make sure you understand the fundamentals of the particular style of writing you’ve selected…
So not only will you know what you’re doing and have more confidence in your skills…
…but you’ll also look way more reputable to potential clients if you can showcase that “hey, I’m serious about this and I’ve even invested in myself to hone my skills”.
So if you think scriptwriting sounds cool – look into a scriptwriting program.
If you think content writing is more your jam – look into a content writing program.
And if you’re like me, and you think copywriting is the clear winner… then check out MY 8-week copywriter training program – the Launch Files.
Where I teach you how to write all the assets a copywriter might be asked to write for a client…
PLUS, you walk away from the program with a complete portfolio of your own writing work that you can show potential clients.
And if you want to learn more about the EXACT steps you can take to start finding clients, then check out this blog here.
Until next time, I’m Alex. Ciao for now!
