Get out of the Copywriting forum!

You're wondering how to find jobs and how to find better paying jobs on Digital Point.

You see posts from chrisblogging saying he's making $10K a month. From jhmattern saying you should stop accepting peanuts for your work. From marketjunction hinting that he's sitting on a freelance writing goldmine and he might reveal the location to us - or he might not.

Are these anomalies or is it really possible for any of us to make a real living from freelance writing?

Well, I have a secret of my own. Good paying jobs are not in the Copywriting forum. Shh! Don't tell anyone else.

Remember cold contacting? It's what you would have done to get writing jobs if there was no internet.

You would randomly call businesses and pop up at their offices, unsure of whether they wanted your services, and afraid they'd call security if your sales pitch was a little too sales-pitchy. Sometimes it wouldn't work. But when it did work, it worked well.

Hmm...cold contacting.

As of this post, there are 58,379 active members on this forum. If you can get just 5 of them to spend - let's start low - $200 each with you each month, well, you've increased your monthly income to $1,000.

Just 5 members. That's such a ridiculously low percentage of active members that my calculator won't display it. And I don't remember what that e-5 thing means, so you'll just have to take my word for it that it's a ridiculously low percentage.

Look around in some of the other forums - General Business, General Marketing, Blogging, etc. See who needs help. People don't outright ask for a writer because they don't always realize they need a writer.

Do some cold contacting. Not everyone will need your services, but keep contacting because some of them will. All it takes is 5 people spending $200 per month with you to bring your monthly writing income up to $1,000.

 

Very good advice. I've only been here a short time, relatively speaking, and I have seen so many comments from people who seem to think DP is the entire world, also. There are millions of websites and millions of webmasters who need content. Why limit yourself to one very small corner of the web?

DP does have a great number of members, don't get me wrong. Many of them never use the content creation section because the majority of the quality offered there is poor. Most can't even seem to read well enough to comprehend the rules, let alone create web content that people will want to read.

Latoya, I'm going back now to see if you have a site or blog in your signature. I do that with everyone here who posts something that is actually useful and relevant - it's amazing how much I've learned from some of the people who hang out here.

 

Bravo Latoya. I tried to give you rep, but it wouldn't let me again (damn this spreading around crap).

Your post should hit home with many trying to do business online, not just writers. They sit on forums all day going in circles and looking for some magic secret. And then they forget the most important thing of all--just DO something.

There are a million ways to make money online. Most people fail because they waste time and don't act.

Here's just one idea (got tons of them):

Step One: You pick a niche you know something about (if you don't know anything, go for a popular niche).

Step Two: You write 5-10 articles -- keep em about 250 words or so in length.

Step Three: You buy a domain (.info domains are cheap, but I recommend .com, .net or .org).

Step Four: You put up your articles on the domain. If you want to keep this real simple, set up Wordpress and use a free template.

Step Five: Get it indexed (easy as pie).

Step Six: List the site for sale on DP. You can list on other sites too, but start here.

There are two ways to profit here.

1. You make some money from selling the site.

2. You tell your buyer that you wrote the content and that you're available. Give him or her your rates. This is another reason why selling your sites as blogs is best.

If the market isn't there, create it. Go out and create your future buyers.

 

There is certainly a lot of interesting and useful information in this thread. latoya - thanks for writing that, very cool

 

I had to give you a 5 star rating for starting this thread, as well as an honourable mention to Marketjunction.

Writers are supposed to be creative, yet many of the ones I've talked to through forums have no imagination when it comes to finding work. They also must not read much. Every book on writing submissions lists ideas, and usually mentions The Writer's Market. There are also a ton of online resources. Sure it takes effort, so what? It'll be a labour of love if you're passionate enough about writing to make it your life's work. Personally, I never feel like I'm working because I consider it fun, however warped some may think that is.

Great ideas and advice. Kudos!

 

Thanks all for the compliments. I'm here to help where I can and share what I learn with others.

Ditto. I've been trying to rep you for days, but no matter how much rep I spread to others, I just can't.

 

I read somewhere out there that after repping someone you need to rep 20 people before rep the same person again.

Apart of this observation, there are times when you run out of words to thank you, MarketJunction, Jenn, Webgal, and many other members that post regularly tips, share advice and help one another inside this forum, people I wouldn't like to omit their names, but its time to head off for the day.

 

@marketjunction

Say I picked up a popular niche, got a .com domain and write 10 article and setup the blog. If I want to sell the blog how much can I expect?

 

If your blog's articles are good enough and really focused on quality then you wouldn't sell it anyway.

Next, what you will get really depends on the domain value and the niche and the person who is actually interested to buy so there is absolutely no telling how much.

 

Knowledge isn't enough. You must put it into action. You must use that knowledge. You must ACT!

That's generally a problem for me. There is no shortage of ideas or knowledge, but when it comes to action, implementation and working my butt off, i falter.

Might explain the 15-20 "Awesome" articles that are lying barely written, half-written and some not even written in my pc for a rather long time.

 

Very good reminders for all of us! Good job!

 

This really does work folks. I've done it several times now, and while I don't earn as much on a per-article basis as I would writing the articles directly for clients, as Jason says, sometimes there's that service sale tacked on. More importantly though, it's something to do if you have a slow period or just prefer working more at your own pace for a while instead of on client deadlines. I have at least a half dozen domains currently sitting around that I plan to flip like this. And for whoever it was that asked how much, I've seen sites like this sell for less than $100, and I've sold some for closer to $500. Make sure you're selling it based on the value of the content more than anything else, and you may improve the chances of selling higher. If you can hold onto them until the domain has some PR and get the articles ranked well in the SEs, all the better.

 

I'm new here but your rousing endorsement of domain flipping
agrees with several independent recommendations.

Keep up the motivational writing!

 

Great thread.

I've recently joined some business groups and there are a ton of opportunities within these groups. I was going over the benefits last night and I'm just halfway through. Getting out in your community can be very energizing.

I have a free pdf for anyone wanting to do the website flipping with wordpress and a theme.

 

Wow, that was incredibly humorous and fun to read. Very nicely done, latoya!

As another piece of advice, I've found that once you've gotten a head start, you can get farther by letting future clients know you're popular. Everyone wants to join the bandwagon- and nothing says trust like a few hundred happy clients who throw money at you on a regular basis!

 

There is the third way also ...
Why sell the site???

Why not continue writing and making the blog bigger and more popular
it is also a good way of earning ...

 

Both can be profitable. Sometimes though you're looking for the one-time pay day and not a regular time commitment.

 

Why not continue writing and making the blog bigger and more popular
it is also a good way of earning

Code (markup):

Agree

 

Latoya knows I really appreciate the help she is providing since I repped her shortly after reading this thread yesterday afternoon, however I must say Market Juction is also providing great tips.

Quoting Lightless and Webgal for a reason: ACT!... Yes indeed, that is what brought me here, stop being a watcher participating actively in developing my writing skills and find my way in the market and, if there are opportunities in business groups, and everywhere else, I will sure take your valuable advice.

By the way Webgal, I just want to it a go to Word Press developing my website so I'm going to take your PDF, thanks

 

I would have no idea. There are so many factors that would go into price.

For instance:

1. How long are the articles?

2. How good are they?

3. The niche itself. Profitable? Very Profitable? Holy crap, back up the truck profitable?

4. Is it indexed? Is there traffic from SEs? Is there PR (sometimes waiting a couple months has its benefits).

5. Revenue? I'd recommend putting AdSense up right off the hop to see if you can get any revenue. You can also hit ClickBank.com and see if anyone's products match your site.

Someone asked why you'd sell. Someone like me wouldn't, because I know I-biz and marketing very well. However, if you're mainly a writer with only a sprinkling of marketing knowledge and no real desire to spend many hours learning and applying, simply building and selling can be a good way to go.

Again, this is just one of many ways to make money and/or find clients.