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Posted by A. B. Dada on April 19th, 2006
The Wall Street Journal today had a nice back-and-forth debate about the possibility of making money online. The article focuses on blogging, but it ignores a few basics in the profitability of generating articles for income.
Making money with your own weblog site is more akin to writing an article for publication in the print media. Some of my more favorite articles I publish online I also submit to the local papers and magazines — when and if they’re picked up, I usually generate a nice dime or two. That is the focus of my sites, as well. I’m not writing for an emotional outlet, I’m writing to create a market for information I am interested in writing in.
If you’re looking to write about a topic, you will not gain a reader base within a few basic necessities in your writing:
1. Be interested.
2. Be unique.
3. Be dependable.
4. Be outrageous.
5. Be grammatically correct.
Going from a newbie writer to an amateur writing is a huge step — you’ll succeed, you’ll fail, you’ll learn. I highly recommend promoting your first site in order to gain the criticism you need to perfect your writing skills. Openly request criticisms from your readers — even one time readers — and learn from their comments.
The Wall Street Journal debate is a good one, a short read, too. They bring out a fact that most web readers don’t realize — there is a very low supply for good information, but a very high demand. In a free market economy, this creates a better income for those looking to excel, which drives more people to writing. Yet 99.9% of writers will not try to be interested or unique, they won’t be dependable or outrageous, and their grammar could be a bigger failure in attracting a regular audience.
Don’t enter the world of writing online for profit, not right away. Get in on writing to see if you can be dedicated for the long run. Just like any business I promote, there should be a dedicated of at least 18-24 months before you can realize a good income. I believe that there is a huge amount of cash out there waiting to be paid to people who are ready to dig in and learn and excel at writing. I’m not the one who is looking to take advantage of it, but I know there are dozens of regular readers I speak to through e-mail who want to give it a try.
Don’t look for quick and easy money, look for creating a career for yourself as a journalist. Starting as a common blogger is nothing to be ashamed of, but as you gain notoriety and fame, you’ll soon find other avenues of income (republishing in papers and magazines, working for dedicated media network, providing resources for other writers, etc). Starting today will set you ahead of the rest of the world who is still learning the basics of reading the new media format. Get in now so you’ll be ahead of the pack when they all race to make a dime online.
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