Write For Residual Income or Upfront Payment

Today I was having a discussion with a friend of mine who is actually a journalist. She was recently laid off and has decided she wants to branch out into the world of online writing. Anyway, we got into a discussion about revenue share sites and working for upfront payment. She was of the opinion that revenue share sites were a complete waste of time. My stance is actually slightly different.  Although I can see where she is coming from with this.

So what is revenue share or residual income writing? 

Revenue share writing is where you write articles for a website like Triond. You get paid per page view and per ad click through Google Adsense. You also get paid for the work your referrals do as well. I have been writing for Triond for a while now, I started out of boredom because when I was studying I would get bored of reading  study books and would just write a few rants here and there. Anyway, I actually saw the earnings mounting up over a period of time. So, I thought why not carry on with this? The money is not great but if you continue to write and get more followers, and if the topics you write about get ranked highly you can earn some good part time money. The way I see it, every penny counts.  If you can make an on-going income from writing once, then why not? For example, about a year ago, I wrote an article called How to get rid of stretch marks after pregnancy. That article still pays me to do this day, I am still getting a few dollars for that each month. I see it as royalties, you do your work, and if it is of good quality you can get paid for a lifetime for it.

Is it worth the time? 

My friend said this to me, is it actually worth spending time writing all those pieces for such low pay? I say yes , yes, yes. It is not only a good way for you to get practice as a writer, but it can also help you if you have a blog. Why? Because it builds your online presence, it builds your reputation and your brand. I have managed to get a lot of subscribers to my various blogs through Triond and through another site I am on Bukisa.  So, my answer to the question, is it worth it? Yes it is worth it.

How much can you earn? 

The pay really does vary now, because when I first started writing for Triond every 1,000 views you were getting more than $10.00 at times. It really did depend on the topic and if it was a popular or trending topic. You will be lucky to get that kind of money now. However; the key for me on sites like this is, quantity. Spend a couple of hours a week and just write a few pieces. Once those pieces are done, they are done. I personally earn over $300 a month on Triond. Does not sound like a lot of money, but if you think about the fact that these articles are earning money every month without me having to do anything. That is some good money.

What about upfront payment writing?

For me, this is where I make the bulk of my money. My copywriting business has been very successful so far. I personally think that you can combine the two and maximise your income. So, if you have some top quality clients that can pay you anything from $500 to $5,000 for a piece like a newsletter or white paper.  That is your stronghold income, when I say stronghold I mean that is the big money. The money you can use for bills, to invest, you can make that money work for you.  You could consider working for sites like Demand Studios or Break Studios. Where you get paid anything from $7.50 up to $20 per piece.  There are various sites like this, you can even do simple article marketing pieces which, don't pay much. However; if you pile it high you could get a decent wage from it. I personally take on these projects to outsource them and take a small percentage of the cash. That is my strategy anyway.

Why write for a revenue share site when you could write for your own site? 

I respond to this question by saying that, sites like Triond and Hubpages and even Bukisa. These sites are already highly ranked in the search engines. Because they are already strong sites, it is alot easier for your work to be seen. You can use these articles to work for you as well, you can include your blog or business site links in relevant articles. The more trust you build, the more traffic you will get to your own sites, this is double income for you.

Final Thoughts 

I don't like to dictate, but I would say if you are an inexperienced writer and you want more exposure. Join one of these sites, not just for the money but for the exposure. If you are an experienced writer, you can use them to grow your following even further than you already have.  You can also build a residual income for yourself.  As much as it seems small, when the money starts to add up you will see that it was all worth it. Plus, most of the revenue share sites are very lenient when it comes to article submissions. Therefore; you can create light hearted. less serious and less detailed pieces of work and you can still get paid. I am not saying you should write rubbish. I am just saying that you don't have to put the same amount of detail into your articles as you would in your blog, or if you were writing for a client. That is my 10 cents, so what are your thoughts on this. COMMENTS MUCH APPRECIATED! XXX