Since becoming involved with Associated Content, I’ve been looking at other online sites to make money, whether by freelance writing, editing, blogging, etc. Let’s face it: Associated Content does pay out money for almost any type of article, but the amount is certainly not enough to quit your day job for- or even go part-time! So, my search has continued, as I hope to one day find the perfect retirement income generator.
Two months ago, while writing my Google Money Tree scam article for Associated Content (check my article at http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1367426/the_google_money_tree_scam.html?cat=3), I came across a site called I’ve Tried That. This blog site, run by Webmasters and scam-busters extraordinaire, Steve and Joe, lists many online money-making opportunities. It also warns about many money-wasting job opportunities. I went to a site that the blog lists over and over, called the Free Directory of Online Money Making Opportunities. This was a veritable gold mine of places that one can go to and find online work. The address to this site is listed in my links below. I perused the freelance writing section of the blog and found three sites mentioned: Daytipper, eHow, and Textbroker (among many others). I review each of these sites here.
Daytipper advertises itself to accept short paragraphs of useful information (how to avoid jet lag, how to cut cat claws, etc.) and, upon publication, pay the writer $3 per tip. I submitted 5-6 tips with the hope that maybe one would be accepted and published. Well, all my tips were accepted and published! I happily awaited my payout…and waited…and waited. I am still awaiting payment. Thanks to Associated Content, I eventually found articles that proclaimed Daytipper to be a scam (see my links listing below). I alerted the good folks at Textbroker and they struck Daytipper off their list of money-making sites.
After Daytipper, I tried eHow. This site asks that you publish a step-by-step instruction manual on how to do something, like insulate your house, install flooring, make face cream, etc. So, I dug into my knowledge base of home improvement, relationship improvement, etc., ideas and submitted a few pieces. They were published immediately.
eHow pays authors via page views- at least, that’s what it says on their Web site. There is no mention made of just how many page views constitute a penny, or a dollar, or anything. I check my eHow account periodically, and my highest page view earner has still not been paid a single penny.
Instead of loading more time and articles into eHow, I decided to try Textbroker next. This site keeps a list of clients needing articles on specified topics, much like Constant Content. The clients agree to pay out a certain amount of money per word once the article is accepted by them. Textbroker also evaluates the article after its acceptance by the client.
To apply to Textbroker, you need to supply a writing sample, from which your writing ability is judged. You are then assigned 2-4 stars, with 2 being average, 3 being good, and 4 being excellent. There is also a 5 star professional writer classification, but it has to be earned by consistently writing 4 star articles.
After I submitted my writing sample, I was assigned to the 4 star writer category. This pays me up to 1.50 cents per word- not a bad rate when you consider that a 500-word article will pay out $7.50.
In reality, most clients pay only 1.40 cents per word. Still, that’s at least a 25% increase in pay over what I earn at Associated Content. Also, the clients accept the articles almost immediately, unlike the days upon days of waiting with Constant Content. I have written 33 articles to Textbroker so far and have not had a single article rejected or not paid for. Only two of my articles had to be revised, after which they were immediately accepted. I’ve also received some direct orders, which is when clients contact only you about writing an article. This is ideal because then I am paid the 1.50 cent/word rate.
The only thing that I don’t like too much about Textbroker is that payment is made only once a month (around the 5th of the month). However, when you do finally get paid, it’s a good deal of money. Last month, I made over $77 for my total monthly writing to Textbroker. This month, I expect at least $125- and the month is not over yet!
If anyone would like to look into Textbroker further, check out I’ve Tried That- I’ve provided information about Textbroker on that site. Good luck!
