With the state of the economy in our country more and more people are turning to alternative ways of earning extra money. Once of the ways to earn a bit of extra cash is to write articles and submit them to sites that pay you for your work. If you have found yourself unemployed or even under employed this recession then articles might be just the thing you have been looking for.
Freelance writing is one of the easiest ways to earn a few extra dollars per month or perhaps even a new career and a full time income. If you are thinking that there is no way that you can write since you never thought you had any talent you might be quite surprised. To be successful as a writer on the Internet requires practice, something to write about, and an outlet for your work.
The most difficult part, if you are not an experience writer is going to be honing your skills. To improve you need to keep writing and working on your typing skills. In the beginning just write and forget about spelling and grammar. Once you have an article done you can check the spelling and grammar with the word processing software that you are using. Take a few minutes and read your article to be sure that it sounds ok, or better yet have your spouse, children, or a friend do it and then make the necessary changes.
When you are done with your article you will need to find an outlet where you can sell it. There are quite a few sites on the Internet that will pay you up front for your article, pay you based on page views, or allow you to set a purchase price for your article based on the type of license you are offering. These sites are easy to find, just run a Google search for “get paid to write.” You will find the big name sites very quickly.
Determining what to write about is not as hard as you might think. Many writers get started by writing about things that they have first hand knowledge with such as work related or hobby articles. Remember, if you like doing it, chances are that others do as well.
If you are more experienced in writing or are willing to jump in on the deep end you can easily find hot topics for your articles. Hot topics are great for up front sales as well as pay per page view and the hotter the topic the better.
One great way to find sizzling topics to write about is to turn the television on a 24-hour news channel or listen to news radio. This type of station might have news talk shows but you can rest assured that even those shows are dealing with topics that are important in the world today.
When it comes to hot topics there is no better place to discover them than on the Internet. There are hundreds of places to find the hottest topics and since using the Internet gives you a real time glimpse into what people are looking for it will probably end up being your main sources.
Start looking for topics by firing up Google and entering a phrase in the search box. Do you notice how a drop down menu pops up when you start to enter your phrase? Google is actually trying to anticipate what you are typing and it gets its information from other people searching for phrases. Those ten phrase suggestions are your key to hot topics. They are the ten most searched terms related to your search. For instance if you type “How to” into the search box you will see how to tie a tie, how to train your dragon, how to kiss and so on and should give you a good idea of what people are searching for.
Google hot trends is another good way to find hot topics. Go to google.com/trends/hottrends and you can see what people are searching for today, yesterday or any day that you want. Do not underestimate the value of this site when looking for hot topics.
You can also look on some the gossip sites to find topics, especially in the music or entertainment industries. Someone is always searching for information on a band or celebrity.
Becoming an online author is a great way to earn some extra income in the recession that we are suffering through. You do not have to be a professional writer to start out. Of course the better you are the more money you will make, but do not be afraid to get started.
