Revenue writing is an exciting way for writers, new and old alike, to earn an income while writing on the internet. The concept is simple. Just write an article on the internet for a site, and based off of how many views, sales, and/or ad clicks you get, you'll receive a portion of the profits. What makes shared revenue writing the most exciting though is the continued earnings. Every time one of the conditions of making money is met, you'll find some money awaiting your PayPal account, even if you wrote an article years ago.
It's a nifty idea, and it can be a great way to build up a passive income for writers during dry seasons. The more articles you have, the more profits you'll find trickling into your income monthly! However, there is a catch. It can take some time until you see anything profitable. As you build up your portfolio though, the pennies will start to add up.
Think of it like this. If you were to create 1 article a day for 365 days, you would have 365 articles. Afterwards, if each of those articles generated 1 penny daily, you would get $3.65 daily for the rest of your life! In a standard 31 day month, that's an easy $113.15. In a year that would be $1357.80.
Now, some articles earn more daily while others earn less, but the general concept still applies. The more you expand your articles across a writing site that shares revenue, the more you'll be making. Each month you can think of your current articles as base income, and the articles you write afterwards an increase in base income for next month.
Another cool thing is that you'll still be earning money even if you were to pass away. Your family could tap into your account and claim whatever payments you've earned monthly. You would leave them with a solid foundation if anything did happen to you. Now, hopefully nothing will, but it's scary to think you could leave your loved ones alone and unable to provide for themselves (if you are the sole provider in terms of money). Revenue writing has got you covered!
It's hard at first to see that you wrote an article, and in the earnings column see only a few cents. However, eventually they will add up. Going on the suggested figure above, with each article earning one cent daily, then in 50 years that one article would have paid out $186! Many writers sell articles anywhere from $50-$150. Now, that is a generalization, and there are exceptions, but still. $186 for just one article is amazing. Imagine what your friends would say if you told them that.
Of course, not all articles content stays fresh over fifty years. Some will start strong and die down, while others will take some time to find their fan base. Some stay strong and steady for the remainder of their internet lives. It's a chance you have to decide if you're willing to take. Often times your payment is directly related to page views, not quality of work. Theoretically quality will help you get page views, but not always.
If you have to choose between selling an article or posting it for residential income, you have to decide if you want to chance posting it online for a potentially larger income than you could make selling it, except over time. However, if your article topic isn't searched often or obscure, it may be best to sell it.
Some articles rarely make one cent a month; others make none at all.
It's all about topic with revenue writing. Experiment around and see what works best for you. Some people have found success at history topics, while others do well in business. Generally topics on business, health, science, and technology do well. However, as those topics are constantly changing, they may not prove to be as long term as I suggested above. Play around and see what works well for you.
Once you've written your article, where to publish it is an entirely different matter. Each different revenue site brings something new and unique to how you publish, and how they pay you. You need to make a decision on which one best suits your personal tastes, money needs/desires, as well as your individual article. Certain sites are better catered to certain articles.
I would personally suggest starting out with one, and getting a strong foundation there. As you grow more experienced there, you can branch out and maintain both revenue sites, while promoting your previous one. For example, if you wrote at eHow, you could mention that in your helium profile. Some good and accomplished revenue sites that you may want to consider writing for are:
Helium.com
Squidoo.com
Hubpages.com
Triond.com
Assoc iatedcontent.com
eHow.com
All of these sites have potential for making money, and the more articles you have submitted, the more you'll make. Be patient and give it a try; you never know how it might work out for you!