by Aysha Iqbal

Created on: February 13, 2010

There are many out there who are seeking the optimal work at home position that would earn them some residual income while being able to be home for themselves or their families. Writing articles certainly is one of them.

When I say writing articles could be a good job for all, I am sure your first thought must have been “But I am no writer. I can't write …, Can I?” Absolutely! Anyone and everyone who has passion and knowledge on any topic under the sun possess what it needs to be a good online writer. You need not be a professional writer who has written books and novel (although if you are, that's fine). All you need is to be able to write unique content in simple language understandable and enjoyed by all, and ensure that they are written in proper English with no grammatical and spelling errors. Thus, anyone who can write reasonably well in the English Language can easily write.

How do we get paid writing these articles? Essentially there are two main types of payments

- Upfront payments for articles submitted

- Revenue Share from ads that are posted alongside the article.

Here is a list of websites that provide some or all of these payment options

1. Associated Content

This website offers performance payments for articles submitted to them by writers from all over the world. Also US residents may be eligible for upfront payment ranging from $2-$15 per article. These articles do need to be unique and approved by editors before being published for an upfront payment.

 2. Bukisa

Bukisa provides ad share revenue for articles submitted to them. This site can be used by US residents and international writers as well. The more articles you write and the more traffic that you drive to these articles earn you more income.

 3. Helium

Who could forget Helium? This site offers upfront payments ranging from $0.50 to $2.50 per article depending on how many quality articles you have written. It also shares ad revenues with their writer. Writers from all over the world could benefit from writing at Helium.

 4. Squidoo

Squidoo is a great site where one has many possible means of earning money by writing articles online. One could start a lens on Squidoo (that means site in their terms) about anything and use it to drive traffic and also as a hub for affiliate marketing and earn a commission when their visitors make sales from online stores like Amazon, eBay, Zazzle and many more. They could choose to either donate or keep their earnings.

 5. HubPages

Along with providing easy publishing tools for anyone to write unique content rich hubs on any topic that interest them, HubPages allows their writers to set up affiliate accounts with Google, Kontera, eBay and Amazon. Commissions earned from any of these sites would earn them a decent residual income.

 6. eHow

This site allows one to write “How-to” articles on all topics. Payment is offered only for US residents

 7. Textbroker

A site open only to US residents, Textbroker is a website that allows their writers to select their assignments based on those that are available to the pool of writers. Writers are paid between 0.7c to 5.0c per word. On an average, each article is expected to be about 200-500 words, although they may be some with different requirements

 8. BrightHub

This would be a great choice for experienced writers with expertise in fields like technology, health, parenting, science and many more. Depending on the channel you are writing for, they offer upfront payment and/or shared revenue from ads. They are open to residents from all over the world and accept only exclusive articles.

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