Writing on Line; How to Make Money -Tips for Newbies Part IV

There are those who write. They just write. They have an almost uncontrollable urge to write. They wish they had a job writing. But they don't. So take the opportunity to express their creativity by writing online.

Whether you live in a free country or failed state, being published is not a right.
Posting online might be the only way one can get before other eyes. Publication itself is the reward. The pennies are extra.

The pennies are extra because the best online writing, whether short story, poem, investigative journalism, often gets the least hits, and the least money.

Yes. You read that correctly. The best writing gets the least hits.

This is because unless your friends are sharing your work personally most of
your hits come from a 'Search'. A Search done by so-called Artificial Intelligence.

If you publish brilliant work on line to make money, you will have to find some other
means of gainful employ

To make money forget about writing, set your keyboard in the direction of What Sells. And that is?

A writer, (term used loosely) on Triond fabricated a report of a popular actor's death. He received over Two Million Hits. Considering he made 1c every six hits, do the math.

Can you do that? Can you find a popular person, someone who is Googled a few hundred times a day, (at least) and post an absolutely false, maybe scandalous article?

If you can, you're on the road to becoming a top online writer.

I am not advocating this, but am admitting, that just as people will bloat themselves on junk food, so too will people bloat the pocket of junk writers.

One of the very hard truths about writing is that you must write what people want to read. Whether you are good, bad or indifferent, if you want hits you have to write what people are likely to Google.

If you are slow off the mark, someone will have already written a piece on that topical subject or person so unless you Network better than the other guy, you'll be at page 183 on the average Search Engine.

When writing Crap, timing and placement are everything.

There are certain products people want to buy now. If you catch the trend and write on point, you'll likely be surrounded by Ads for that product.

If you've wisely Networked your piece, those who are looking for that product will arrive at your site. They'll see the Ads for that item and probably make a click or two. Those clicks put money in your pocket.

You don't work for the company which sells or manufactures that product. You might not specify the brand hawked in the Ad, but your article is exactly what the vendors of that product are looking for. Hence they support you because you support them.

The reason many online writers don't make much money is due to the kinds of Ads on their pages. Where there is no keyword they get the usual cartoon stuff. Where the topic ties into a specific product they get the likely to be clicked on Ads.

Clicked on Ads make Adsense to coin a phrase.

People are attracted to 'How Tos' like maggots to a wound.
"How To Write a How To?"...

You can copy the instructions in the manual you got when you bought XYZ .
Don't worry about plagiarism. Hard copy instructions are not on the 'Net.
You might want to make it a bit more readable as most seem to have been
written in Chinese translated by Babblefish.

One of the top writers on Factoidz made thousands of dollars on 'How To Deck
Your Patio". Apparently his was the only article about this topic. And all he had
done was copy the manual.

Many people are Do It Yourselfers who get on the Internet to find out how to do it themselves.

You, posting a How To will get the direct hits from the Search Engines if you've wisely titled your article "How To --- " . Further, your item will be festooned with Ads connected to the topic.

If you wrote "How to fix a leaky pipe", the kind of term people will enter in
Search Engine, there will be ads for pipes, sealants, plumbing supplies, etc.
As those who read your article are interested in the activity, they will click on the Ads.

The more clicks, the more revenue.

People are always interested in lists.  "The Best Movies,"  "The Tallest People,"  "The Worst Commercials"; whatever.

Create a List.

If you are accurate and have gotten the right list at the right time you'll be getting hits and clicks for years to come. 

And as you don't want to be surpassed by a better list, make sure to keep editing yours so that it is as up to date as you can make it.

Quality of writing, brilliance is not required. Forget turns of phrases, metaphors, originality. What you want to do is write money makers which fill niches so that you become the 'go to' site.

Don't get sentimental, write under a pseudonym if you have to, but focus on the fact that writing on line can only be profitable if you write what people Google.

Hence you have got to give yourself that Google Title.

People search for Novel about the Civil War.
Gone with the Wind . might fall under 'hurricanes'.