by Denise Gabbard

Created on: October 20, 2009   Last Updated: October 23, 2009

Whenever I tell people what I do for a living, the next question out of their mouth is always, "How did you get started?" This article answers that question, it is a collection of tips to help you get started writing and marketing your work. Yes, it is possible to work flexible hours, in a location of your choosing, and make a full-time income!

Writers have completely unlimited opportunities to make money from their skills online!

You can create your own blog. Make it something you are passionate about, and contribute to it frequently. You "job" is to make your blog interesting and compelling, so that people will want to return to it over and over. As you gain followers, you will also find ways to monetize your blog, like affiliate links. These links are for other sites well related to what your blog is about- and you'll get paid when someone clicks through to the other site. You can write blogs for somebody else! There are literally millions of blogs out there just waiting for somebody to swoop down and take care of them. But what to charge? A good rule of thumb is to figure out what your time is worth to you, and plan accordingly. First decide what you think is an ample "wage", then price your work by the amount of time you estimate it will take to complete. You can sell articles and reviews. There are many sources online for people to write articles. Almost everyone who has a blog, a website, or a product for sale online needs articles to help boost their Google rankings.

Obviously, you can start a blog for yourself immediately, today, using Blogger or Wordpress, which costs you nothing. This blog also will serve as your website where you can promote your services. It will take some time to begin earning some money, so turn to the other methods of generating cash in the meantime, and use the site as your promotional tool. The website is the forum to promote your "product" - which is YOU and your writing abilities!

Be sure that you have lots of sample articles on your site so that potential clients are able to see your abilities as a writer. An easy way for you to add some content to your website is to write some articles or reviews and add them. Between 300-500 words is optimal for web writing. Add a note in the sidebar that says you are open for assignments, and make sure there is a contact page including your email address so that they can get in touch with you as well.

Promoting your site is not as hard as you think. There are so many different ways to do this, and you will learn a lot in just the first few things about SEO and social marketing. For now, promote your site on free sites that you find: Craigslist is great, so is Facebook, and Twitter, and you can link articles to both Facebook and Twitter easily to drive people back to your website.
While it does take a little time to build your income at first, there are writers making upwards of $10,000 every month by writing for an assortment of companies on blogs and websites. Grab your share of online writing income today!

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