Tips for the Newbie Online Writer

So you want to be an online writer, hey? That's great! I have been doing it myself for a while now, so I could probably help you out a little bit with some words of advice regarding the subject.

First of all, you may have some doubts about your writing abilities. That's fine, it just means that you would have a preference towards being good at what you do. There are plenty of people out there that aren't willing to make the effort of bettering themselves as a writer. So my one tip regarding that is that the best way to improve as a writer is to just write. If you keep on writing, you will get better as a writer. This I know from my very own experience. 

Also, to improve as a writer, you might want to get a few books on grammar and things of that sort. The use of spell check would also be advisable. Oh, and if you aren't sure about how to use a certain word, either look it up or use a substitute word.

Another thing I would recommend is writing for more than one site. This will not only expose you to a variety of audiences but you can test things out like which sites will get you the most views or earn you the most money. It is best to try not to put all of your eggs in one basket too. You might even want to try to write about a variety of subjects to see which ones will generate more views. Some subjects will do better than others. If you have the ability to write about a number of different subjects, you should definitely try them all out to see how well each subject will do.

Each writing website will have its own rules regarding certain things like article length or subject matter. They each also have their own terms of service. Always make sure you read them and understand them. Some sites will terminate your account if you violate the terms of service and may do it without giving any warning. Then all of your posts will be gone in an instant.

Always try to make sure you keep copies of your work somewhere. Some writing sites will go out of business and if you don't have your articles backed up somewhere, all of your work will be gone. If a site shuts down, you can just take your backed up copies of your old articles and post them on a new site. You may even want to post them on another site if the earnings or article views aren't what you hope to generate.

One thing you might want to give additional thought to is the idea of writing articles on various subjects that you could eventually compile into a book or e-book. Then you would have a goal to shoot for and that sometimes provides extra motivation as well as an extra source of income.

Images can also be of great help in getting more views for your articles. Sometimes it will be the image that will catch a person's attention and then the person's curiosity may be piqued as a result, leading to them wanting to read the article. if you are a photographer or artist, include that with your articles. It could help.

Catchy titles or titles with questions in them will help to pull in more readers as well. Sometimes people will be more inclined to comment on the article simply because there is a question in the title. Take my word for it, it really does work.

If you intend to get into writing about controversial subjects, be prepared for a lot of criticism and also be prepared for some mean-spirited comments regarding your work. This is especially true regarding politics or religion. If you are not ready for that, you may want to write about other things instead. People can be especially cruel on the Internet, where they don't have to insult you face to face.

Once you are feeling confident about your writing, use social media to promote your work. Post your articles on your Facebook page or send it out in a tweet on Twitter. you may also want to try to build up your friends count or followers in order to have more people to market your articles too.

Don't allow yourself to get too discouraged if your online writing career does not take off as quickly as you would like. It can take some time to build an audience. Another thing too is that you can re-post old articles in the future once your audience has built up a bit because many of them will not have read your earlier work. You can sometimes get a lot of mileage out of old articles. You can also make more money from the old posts. I have taken old posts, re-posted them and actually made more money from them the second time around.

So here are a few tips for you anyway. Give them some thought and give it a try. You might surprise yourself in how well you do. Good luck.

Photo Credit: "The Dictator" by Bob Craypoe, also known as R. L. Crepeau