Write to Earn

How do you make money with Suite 101 ? I’ve heard this question over and over. In fact, I just got an email from another Suite writer on this subject. While there is no magic formula, there are some tried-and-true methods that the Suite 101 alumni use to boost their earnings.

First, you have to have around 100 articles before you start seeing any major results. Most of us older Suite writers agree on this. We call this a critical mass. Once you get over that hump things start clicking. My hits dramatically increased after 100 articles and so did the amount of money I was earning.

Also, take a look at what articles are getting the most hits and milk those keywords for all they are worth. I realized that how to draw articles were my big draws for my Painting/Drawing section , so I have written as many of those as possible. Also, for low earning topics, I’d try to focus on newsworthy articles. These will be big hit makers. The more hits the more chances for article clicks, which is how we get paid.

I’ve read that there are some Suite 101 writers earning around $1,000 a month on 200-300 articles. For others it is 500 articles. It all depends on how good the SEO is and how popular the topic is.

While you might say, “Whoa! 100-500 articles!” think about the rules that Suite lays down. You keep your print rights (so you can sell the article to other outlets), you get your web rights back after a year, and you keep making money on your articles no matter if you never write another. So your article will eventually make hundreds of dollars, even if it is spread out over time.

Hope this helps any Suite newbies!

The number one most important thing to becoming a successful freelance writer is having goals. Goals push you to become better and better. For example, here were my New Year’s Resolutions for 2008:

• Get published in 10 new publications
• Make at least a certain amount in a month (I had done this before but I wanted to start doing it consistently)
• Get over 11,000 hits a week on my Suite 101 site

Curious how I did? Well, I ended up getting published in around 15 new publications, I am consistently making well over my target amount a month with my writing and I blasted my goal of 11,000 hits by getting 16,000 the second week in December.

My New Year’s Resolutions for 2009?

• Consistently make $1,000 more a month than I did in 2008
• Get over 30,000 hits a week on Suite
• Get published in three new print publications
• Write one blog a day for all of my blogs
• Work less and make more

What are your New Year’s Resolutions for your writing career?

I have just started a Bukisa account and I am really enjoying the “free” money I am making from it. On Bukisa you can post articles that you have been unable to sell (and are just sitting on your computer making nothing) or reprints of articles that you maintain the rights to.

Basically, you can post just about anything your heart desires (within reason) and wait for the coins to start adding up into dollars. Of course, you need to make sure that your article are SEO compatable to make the most money.

Another way to add value to your Buskisa articles is linking to other articles that give you click or ad revenue. For example, I could link to my Suite 101 articles , my Today.com blogs, or my Ehow articles .  You just need to make sure that the subjects are simular so that the links make sense.

Plus, each referral that writers make earns them a bonus percentage to their earnings.

If you would like to join Bukisa use this link: http://www.bukisa.com/join/902

I had such a great response from my What Can You Make on Ehow blog, I thought that I’d write about my experience with writing for their owners, Demand Studio.

Demand Studios offers writers the chance of writing pre-determined articles for $15-$20 each or $5-$15 for articles that you come up with. When you start, you are given a limit of how many articles you can claim at one time. Most people start with 10 articles. If you do a good job and follow the rules, your limit will be raised. The highest I’ve ever heard of anyone’s limit going is 45 articles.

So, you pump out as many articles as possible to get the biggest weekly pay (yes, they pay weekly!). I can currently claim up to 20 articles at a given time. You can’t claim more articles until you write one and it is reviewed and accepted, which takes a few days. Then you can get another out of the list of articles. First come. First served. Most of the articles that are offered to writers are $15 each, though every now and then you can snag one that is $20.

Because of editing times, my limit and my time restraints, I am able to write around 12-15 articles a week. That nets me around $180-$225 a week. If the review times are slower I make around $120 a week. Considering it only takes me less than 30 minutes an article, equaling only 6-7.5 hours a week, that’s not a bad wage for a simple writing job.