Writing for Profit

So you’ve either saved up some money or have been writing for Associated Content awhile. You’re ready to take the plunge and start getting serious now.

But where to start? What host to use? How do you register a domain name? This is the part that scares a lot of people. But I’m going to tell you a secret: it’s easy. If all those spammers who sell dubious products on badly mispelled websites can figure out how to register a domain and get hosting so can you. Honest!

First, you need to pick a host. Why? Because some hosts include a free domain name in their package and this makes things super easy. If you ask a dozen people what host they use, chances are you’ll get a dozen different answers. I’ve been on several hosts over the years and I would have to say that my favorite would be DreamHost. Some of the greatest features of DreamHost include:

• Inexpensive - It’s only $119.40/year. If you use the DreamHost coupon WRITINGFORPROFIT then your first year will be only $22.40. This is less than most people spend eating out in one night.
• First domain name free - Even if you use the coupon above. They register it for you and make it private. All you have to do is use it.
• Unlimited domains - You can run a dozen different sites or more at no extra cost
• Huge Disk Storage - The most basic account includes nearly 200GB storage. 200GB is a lot.
• Huge Bandwidth - Bandwidth is how many visitors can visit your site. The most basic account has almost 2TB bandwidth. This is about 2,000GB or 2,000,000MB. As an average visitor will use less than 20MB, so that is a lot of visitors.
• One click installs - A bit more than one click, but they have various web applications that can be installed simply and easily, with very little knowledge required.
• A bunch of other features - There are numerous other features that are relatively unimportant now, but once you get more experienced you’ll be glad you have.

DreamHost’s signup process is simple, although you will need a credit or debit card if you want to sign up and use the promo code. I believe that you can send in a check, but then you won’t be able to use the WRITINGFORPROFIT coupon. When you sign up, you can pick out a new .com, .net, .org or .info domain name.

At a later date, I’ll cover such things as how to register more domain names, transfering domain names between different registrars, using a registrar that is different than your host. But, for now, you have your hosting and you have your brand new domain name.

Congratulations!

You’ve got a real web presence now.

Tomorrow, I’ll cover how to actually start using it.

There is another ‘Writing for Profit’ website (this site has nothing to do with that site) by an author who has published at least two books via the standard method. His website sells at least one ebook on how to get started writing. Depending on which page you are viewing, the price quoted for this ebook is $20, $30, $40+. Now, not only do the prices not match on the website, the price varies depending on which link you click to purchase the book.

In addition to this, there is text that overlaps on his site and makes the site difficult or entirely impossible to read.

I found the link on his site where you can get the eBook for less than $10 and so I’ve been reading the thing and it does have some good information. Some. However, he does offer dubious advice when it comes to creating a website. Remember the flaws I pointed out a few sentences ago? He suggests using ‘Site Build It’; a service/software that costs $300… per year. He says that is what his site was made with. Somehow, I really don’t think ‘Site Build It!’ is worth $300 per year.

Some of the features of ‘Site Build It!’ as touted in this ebook are:

• Email
• Domain name registration
• Blogging
• Graphic tools
• Hosting
• FTP
• Stats

I’m going to show you how to get all that, and more, for less than one tenth what ‘Site Build It!’ costs.

And you don’t even have to pay for any ebook.

Maybe you knew it was coming… you’re gong to have to get a real website eventually, if you want to be a professional writer. Yes, you can get a free website at various places. But if you want to be taken seriously, you are going to have to shell out some money for an actual domain name and a real web host.

Yes, the old adage of needing money to make money is still true.

However, if you don’t have the money available to set up your own website, there are other things you can do.

For the purposes of this explaination, I’m going to assume that:

1. You live in the United States
2. You are over 18 years of age
3. You have a PayPal account or will get one

PayPal is vital to getting paid online. Many places will pay you by check, but PayPal is going to come up more than once in your quest to get paid for writing.

If you’ve got everything set up, head on over to Associated Content and get an account.

Associated Content will pay you for your original, non-fiction, writing. The pay is not huge, usually about $5 per article, but it will be enough to help you get started. Associated Content articles must be at least 400 words long, though the requirements for higher pay can be different. If you’re wanting to write fiction and get paid for it, just think of Associated Content as a stepping stone to doing so.

I would suggest that you might want to write a few unpaid articles for Associated Content before actually diving into submitting articles you want to get paid for. Writers are ranked according to how many things they have published on the site and how many views those things have gotten and I believe higher ranked people can get paid more.

If you sign up for their weekly newsletter, they send out topic suggestions and requested articles that they may pay you more for. Currently, they are paying $10 for a how-to article of 600 words or more.

You may even decide that Associated Content makes you enough money and you don’t want to continue writing anywhere else. That’s fine, but that’s not where the real money lies.

So you’ve been practicing writing. You actually know the definition of a pronoun and an adverb and have started collecting both like stamps. You know more about your chosen topic than anyone else alive. Your quest to get paid for writing is well on its way and you are anxious to start calling yourself a professional writer.

But hang on a second…

Are you absolutely positive that people will want to read what you write? You may, indeed, be a talented writer; I do not know. But did you know that people tend to overestimate their abilities in an area? The less you know about something, the more likely it is that you’ll think you’re an expert.

Please don’t think I am trying to keep you from actually writing. Not at all! But I am saying that you should do some research first to find out if you need to improve anything.

How?

Write something short and give it to a friend to read. Give it to two friends to read. But don’t tell them that you wrote it; unfortunately, most people tend not to give honest feedback to someone they know, for fear of offending that person. If they do ask where you found it, tell them you found it on the internet somewhere. Wait for them to give some sort of feedback.

If they say it was really bad, don’t get defensive! You want real feedback, not an argument. Say something like ‘I didn’t think it was that bad. What about…’ and actually listen to what they have to say.

But what if the person says they really liked the article? Don’t pat yourself on the back just yet. Say something along the lines of ‘I didn’t think it was that good. What about…’ and see what they say. Remember to listen.

This technique may not be 100% effective, since there will always be people who love or hate your writing no matter how bad or good you are, but it should at least help you get some idea of your strong and weak points.

Emphasize your strong points, work on your weak points.

If you want to write well, you’re going to have to know what you’re talking about. The concept may seem redundant to you, but I’ve come across many sites where the writer clearly had no idea what they were doing.

This includes, yes, even writing fiction. You need to know how to put a plot together, with a beginning a climax and an ending. You should know how to write dialog so as not to confuse or bore people. You should know how to describe a setting in minute detail, so that the reader can see it.

You don’t have to do this with every single scene or you’ll bore readers. But if you don’t do it at all, you’ll bore them even more. Is the sunset ‘pretty’ or is ‘the sky aflame with a spectacular show of crimson and orange’? Using the second could be the difference between whether a reader actually feels your story or not. This is what I mean by being an ‘authority’ in writing fiction.

Non-fiction can be slightly easier, but you still must know about the topic at hand. If you love eel fishing but know nothing about welding, don’t try to write about welding. Write about eel fishing.

If you don’t have a passion for what you are writing, your readers will be able to tell and will quickly lose interest.