With the numerous freelance opportunities on the Internet it is easy for the beginning freelancer to get overwhelmed and not know where to begin. Many beginning freelancers may not even be aware of some of the best opportunities available them.
When I started out freelancing, I began with sites like Elance, Getafreelancer, and Odesk. I did get some writing jobs from Getafreelancer but the process was tedious and the results were very limited. I did not get even one assignment from the other sites. One of the problems I kept running into was that potential clients want to see examples of your work.
Beginners often have not developed a portfolio and using these sites is often not an effective method of building a portfolio because you may lose all rights to your work and not even get a byline when it is published. Even if you can get a writing job on these sites, the decent paying jobs will not look at a freelancer who is unable to provide good examples of their writing.
How then can a beginning freelancer publish their work, build a portfolio, and maximize earning potential for their work? Ad revenue sharing sites allow freelancers to publish their work and share in the revenue earned from ads that are placed along with their articles. Write4Money offers some tips that beginning freelancers can use to optimize their earning potential using ad revenue sharing sites.
Associated Content is the best paying site for a beginning freelancer. On Associated Content, you can publish articles about anything you wish. Associated Content even offers upfront payment. The upfront payment usually starts at $3 per article. This may not sound like much but considering that you may only receive 50 cents for an article on a bid site, $3 isn’t that bad. On top of upfront payment, articles also earn performance payments. Associated Content shows statistics for each article that is published. This allows writers to see which articles perform well and which ones don’t.
Helium is another good ad revenue sharing site that is good for a beginning freelancer. The upfront payment is not as good for beginners but Helium does have its perks. Articles published on Helium are published immediately. With Associated Content you will have to wait about a week for articles to be published if you are requesting upfront payment.
Upfront payment on Helium is calculated at the end of the month. Each article will get about 50 cents if you are a beginner and the upfront payment can go up as more quality articles are published. Articles do not have to wait to be accepted for upfront payment. If you meet the necessary criteria, eligible articles will automatically get upfront payment at the end of the month.
Articles on Helium compete against each other. Titles are already chosen and the articles written under the same title will compete for ranking. This can be good if you have a hard time deciding what to write about. On Helium freelancers can search for keywords, find a title you like, and write an article for that title.
Ad revenue sharing sites are the perfect opportunity for beginning freelancers to get their feet wet and earn a little money in the process. After taking some time to build up your portfolio and develop your writing skills for the internet you will be more prepared to bid on freelance jobs elsewhere.
