I've posted twice about how I need to write differently to succeed at website content writing and questioning the worthwhileness of writing for content websites because 6 months of doing so has not proven to earn much in way of compensation--in fact, I made less this month than I did my second month, disproving the theory that quantity is everything (considering that I now have 50 articles online versus a mere handful at month 2). And after a few days mulling a few things around in my head, I've come to a different take on the entire situation than my last 2 posts revealed.
My first reaction was to consider how I could get better results writing for Triond websites, where I currently write. But then it occurred to me that I could switch and write for another content website company. I did some research--just as I did when I began the whole enterprise. And again, I landed on Suite101 as a place of interest. I didn't go their route initially because I just wasn't confident that I could manage writing 10 articles every 3 months, their requirement. Now that I've been writing for over 6 months, I know I've output more than 10 in that time span, so I reconsidered.
What pushed me to consider other companies is page rank. I am not earning well on articles, despite serious change about how I do SEO research and am smart about keywords and tags. It all comes down to PageRank: Triond websites' are low--because they are not viewed as professional websites like Suite101, which has a good PageRank of 7. So all this time I've been writing articles that rarely ever showing up on the first page when anyone does a google search. I have improved where they fall in the list, but I've done all I can do; I can't compete any higher because of the PageRank of Triond sites. To become more findable on the web, I need to publish with a more reputable network of sites. And yes, this comes with more professionalism, more requirements, etc.
I almost applied to Suite101 the other night. But I hesitated. What's my goal anyway? Yes, writers on Suite101 do much better than Triond writers. But a reasonable expectation of making $1 a month per article is still not worth my time. Plus, I had to add in how much longer it'd take to write articles with more scrutinizing editors, more restrictive topic choices, and the style/length requirements. In the end, I'm not sure I want to be obligated to write 10 articles a month "their " way just to see if I make a little more $ than I currently am. And it's not smart to put myself into a contract like that when my reality is my one son went on a napping strike for a month this summer, during which I wrote very little. I am still in a very unpredictable land as far as my alone time goes.
Jumping ship and signing with a new publisher might be a good investment if I wanted to focus on online content. But my real goal is print magazines and their guaranteed fees (thought the process is so looong). What I like about writing for Triond is the freedom to write about whatever I want. I think I should stick with that--using online publishing as sort of my indulgence to write whatever I want, and then chance it that it'll get anywhere and maybe make some $ incidentally. Online content writing, for me, can't have attached to it the goal to make money, primarily. My niches just aren't money makers in the searchable sense, nor is my time enough to do better really well.
So time has proved not to change much, except to have refined my goals a bit.
Articles I've published recently through Triond:
Kids with Adequate Calcium Intake Less Likely to Become Obese in Adulthood?
Skirts for Trucks: More Than One Way to Increase Fuel Mileage
Governments Issue Warnings and Restrictions for Kids' Mobile Phone Use
Switching Systems: From Cloth Diapers to Disposables or The Reverse
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