Writing Jobs Online:

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

by Dawn Copeman

Writing online content can be a good, well-paying job or the job from hell - it all depends on where you look for the jobs, what jobs you do and who employs you.

Contrary to what many people would have you believe, some online jobs are highly specialised and cannot be done by everyone, not without some training first anyway.

I'm referring to jobs writing SEO (Search Engine Optimized) content or key word content. Many sites will tell you that there is a high-demand for this type of work (there is) and that anyone can do it, (they can, after spending considerable time training) and that it pays well (that depends on how much work you're willing to do for the money).

Some SEO jobs want something like five to ten 250 - 400 word SEO/keyword articles a day for between $5 and 10 the lot, (not each). Others will offer $2 - 3 an article. Some people who are highly skilled at SEO writing can write 5 articles an hour and do so for 8 - 10 hours a day to make a living. So yes, you can make a living with this type of work, but would you want to?

SEO aside, there are lots of jobs for writers online, some good, some bad.

Many online jobs boards post requests for writers and I've gained a few jobs myself this way. Always check to see if the job is genuine, check for web addresses see if the website/ezine exists and if it isn't yet up and running, check to see what other sites the editor has run.

Many posts are genuine, but there are also a lot of cowboys out there who are looking for writing without ever having any intention of paying the writers. Some people will ask all respondents to submit a 300 word article on say, Father Christmas, to judge their writing style. What's more they send each respondent a different slant - history, clothes, history in other countries, films, books, etc. Never fall for this kind of writing test, the poster will get all the work he/she needs for his/her website book etc and you won't hear or earn a thing!

A list of a few good sites to start to look for online work can be found at http://www.newbie-writers.com/jobsforwriters.html

Apart from writing for ezines, or SEO content, you could also consider the world of commercial online writing - writing site content, sales emails, writing catalog descriptions or editing corporate newsletters.

If you do accept a commercial online job; such as one I had writing and editing an ezine for an online gift store, ensure you draw up a letter of agreement stating your terms and what you will do for the money, and always, but always ask for half the money before you write a single word.

So yes, there are pitfalls in online writing, but it is how I write and sell most of my work - so it works for me and with a bit of careful forethought it can work for you too.