There are a number of ways to make money writing online. From blogging to writing an e-book or sending out a paid newsletter, your written words can turn into a profitable side hustle or even a full-time job. Even if you’re just ghostwriting for someone else’s website, you have the potential to get make money for every word you write down.
While there are a variety of different ways to make money writing, there are a few proven methods that writers have consistently used to make money writing online year after year.
No need to reinvent the wheel with your online writing if you can follow in another writer’s footsteps to get to the same goal.
5 ways to make money writing online:
- Blogging
- Writing an e-book
- Sending out an online newsletter
- Writing for clients online
- Writing for content mills
Find out which one of these online writing methods works for you and scale it up as a side hustle.
Blogging
Blogging has been a proven way to make money online for over two decades now. If you have any writing ability at all then you can make money blogging. All you need to do is find a niche and somewhere to publish stories about that niche. From there, readers will find their way to your content and you’ll be able to monetize your blog in a number of different ways.
Some of the best ways to start blogging are by:
- Writing for content mills
- Writing on Medium
- Writing on NewsBreak
- Writing on Vocal.media
- Starting your own blog
All of these writing methods can provide you with another side hustle or stream of income. Some will make you immediate money and others will take time to build a source of money.
Many people are starting to say that blogging is dead, but the truth is it will never die. If readers start to move away from blogs to other online platforms like newsletter or social media then you can simply transfer over your learned blog skills to be successful on these other online platforms.
The blog-style post of headers, short paragraphs and catchy titles will never really go away because it’s what most people are accustomed to reading these days.
Writing an e-book
Writing an e-book is a great side hustle to secure long-term, passive income once it’s published. The best parts about writing an e-book are that startup costs are low and you’re able to write about anything you’re passionate about.
Many people think the hardest part about writing an e-book is the actual typing. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Once your e-book is written you have to focus on formatting it, submitting it and marketing it. Those steps of writing an e-book are much more tedious than the actual writing.
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Another tip about writing an e-book is that you don’t actually have to write a “real book” to make money from it. There are two kinds of books: low content books and high content books.
Low content books are journals, planners and coloring books. These can be completely outsourced to freelancers on platforms like Fiverr. All you have to do is find a niche topic for your low content book and you can start making money from it on Amazon without ever having to write a word.
On the other hand, high content books are cheaper to make because you write it yourself－and technically they sell better if you wrote good information or have content inside of your book.
Deciding which kind of e-book you want to write will depend on your situation. Both methods are time consuming, but writing a high content book is more tedious overall than hiring a freelancer to write a book for you.
Sending out an online newsletter
Online newsletters are the new blogs. If you can manage to gather enough email subscribers to your online email list then you can turn it into a powerful income source for yourself.
Side Gig Daily refers its readers to The Side Hustle Club newsletter because it’s an active newsletter in the side hustle community that provides a lot of completely FREE value to its users.
How do you monetize a newsletter?
Monetizing a newsletter can come in a variety of different forms. The most common ways to do it are:
- Charging subscribers a monthly subscription fee
- Selling promoted spots in your newsletter to advertisements
- Using affiliate linkes, like Amazon Affiliates or ClickBank, in your newsletter
Depending on how big of an audience you have and how engaged they are with your newsletter, one or all of these monetization methods might be an option for you.
Writing for clients online
If you ask any freelance writer they’ll tell you writing for clients is the perfect long-term goal. It’ll provide you with consistent, steady income and the ability to start your own writing business instead of just a side hustle.
The most difficult about writing for clients online is finding the actual clients. You’ll need to think outside of the box to get an idea about how to get your first few clients. Analyzing platforms like Upwork is a great idea to get a better chance of finding a client.
Once you’re able to find clients to write for, you’ll find the benefits that come with getting paid to write for a client are amazing.
Benefits of writing for a client online
- Work from anywhere
- Make your own hours
- Charge your own rates
- Scale up your business
Writing for clients is the side hustle that just keeps on giving. Just the ability to work from any place that has an internet connection is absolutely worth it for any freelance writer.
Writing for content mills online
Content mills were previously mentioned when referring to blogging, but it deserves its own section because these mills benefit both veteran and rookie writers.
Writing for Textbroker
You can make your first few dollars writing within days of signing up for a content mill like Textbroker. They typically pay by the word and you never get a byline, but you do get paid!
Textbroker is a great content mill to start with because clients have 4 days to accept your articles or they get automatically accepted and you get paid. Also, transfer fees are free and work is readily available if you know where to look.
You can make your first few dollars writing on content mills like Textbroker by just giving one a try and seeing how you like it. If you’re really good at it then you can scale up your writing to make more money from it.
