Online writing is a vocation that not a lot of people think about. Many don't realize that there is the potential to make a lot of money from doing this as a career. Online writing is a new job that has emerged in the last five-ten years, as a product of the internet. The internet, of course, makes this and other online jobs a valid career choice for this generation. There are many benefits to doing online writing. Not only is the potential income a great benefit, but you can do the job from anywhere that you have an internet connection. Travel the world while you are working! In this article we will discuss the basics of how to write an article, tips for choosing topics, and how to get started in online writing.

 

How to Write an Article

 

If you can put together a basic article like you did in English class, then you can do online writing. To refresh your memory, here is an easy way to construct a paragraph. The "Hamburger Paragraph" is a simple model which I was taught in school. There are other ways of creating articles, but this is a good simple one that anyone can follow. The concept follows the idea of 5 sentences, but you can alter it of course.  

 

The first paragraph is the introduction (the top bun). In this sentence you will state your topic belief, the objective or purpose. The next three sentences are used to prove your statement. These are the insides of the hamburger: i.e. the cheese, lettuce and 

hamburger patty. The final sentence, number five, is used to conclude your paragraph. This is the bottom bun of your hamburger. In this sentence you will restate your main statement and any claims which you have backed up by the three previous sentences. You are finished! See how easy that was? Here is an example:

 

Cats are a nuisance and not suitable pets for families with young children. They often have trouble using their kitty litter box and will miss their target, getting it all over the floor  causing a big mess to clean up if the kids don't get into it first. Cats make loud 'meowing' noises which can keep napping children up as well as get on anyone's nerves. Cats have a mean streak about them and have been known to strike out and scratch an innocent child or even bite them. If you have ever owned a cat, you will indeed agree that they are a nuisance and not a suitable pet for families with young children.

 

Using this model, you can grow your paragraph to a larger one by increasing data and proof to back up the statement. You can also prove a number of statements. Turn it into an article by having the first paragraph state your position. The next three or more paragraphs can be used to prove your claim(s). And finally, the last paragraph will restate your claims and conclude with a small summary of the results described in the previous paragraphs.

 

Choosing Article Topics

 

There are a variety of topics that you can choose to write about. When choosing topics, it is preferable to go with those that are familiar to you, if you have a choice. Make sure that you can write intelligently about the subject. This may involve doing a little research first, before you begin. Or, maybe you have something important to say or some interesting tips to share with others. Choosing good subject matter and writing it well will help you excel in online writing.

 

Getting Started in Online Writing

 

Where should I post my articles? There are a variety of websites available where you can post your articles. You will want to sign up for a Google AdSense account and also an account at an online writing site that shares AdSense revenues like WordWolf.com . Right here at Word Wolf is a great place to start. Pick a topic that you are passionate about, and write about it. With AdSense attached to your account here, you will begin to receive Google AdSense income from your article. There are also places you can go where you can hire out your article writing skills. You will be given the topics and number of words that are required and then you will submit the articles for payment. It is a good idea to also have a PayPal account as many people, both employers and article writing sites will want to send payments using this method.

 

Now that you have some more information on online writing, you can get started. Try writing an article using the Hamburger Paragraph method, choose your article topics wisely and sign up for an account on WordWolf.com . You will soon be on your way to earning money in online writing. 

If you are a website owner you will want to know all the different ways there are to generate traffic.  Of course, there are plenty of methods that involve paying money however if you don’t want to spend any money you can still generate traffic to your website for free.  There are so many different ways and each method has it’s advantages and disadvantages.

Before I begin I need to make it clear that there are different types of traffic and lots of traffic doesn’t necessarily equal big bucks.  You see, when people connect to the internet they have different ideas of what they want to achieve.  Some people simply want to be entertained and to connect with friends.  Whilst there are others who use the internet in order to buy products.

Imagine that a very famous celebrity (for the sake of example let’s say it’s Britney Spears) was involved in some sort of scandal and thousands of people start searching for information about the scandal.  When they find the information they are looking for they just move onto other things, whether it’s checking the email or whatever.  Basically they are looking for information and entertainment (infotainment?) and that’s it.

However the person who wants to buy perfume by Britney will type something along the lines of “buy Britney Spears perfume.”  So if you’re selling Britney Spears perfume you will want this sort of traffic rather than the traffic where people want to know about the scandal she’s been involved in.

Anyway, if you just want to learn about methods of generating traffic to your website for free then here are some great ideas.  Some of them might attract people who are looking to spend money whilst other techniques might just attract browsers.  At the end of the day, you might as well give it a go and see how you get on.

YouTube

We all know that YouTube is the ‘net’s most popular video sharing website with millions of people using it to watch music videos, funny videos and also “how to” videos.  There are loads of people who go straight to YouTube to find what they are looking for however there are also loads of people who find the site via the search engines.  For instance, if you do a search for Britney Spears on Google you will see that YouTube videos appear.

If you create a video and upload it to YouTube you can tap into the traffic from the site itself plus traffic that come in via the search engines.  What kind of video you create really depends on what your website is about.  If you own a florist in Delaware you could create a video about you and the flowers that you sell.  You could do a demonstration on how to arrange flowers and the likes.  Just make sure you give the video a title you think people would search for.  For example “Florist in Wilmington, Delaware.”

Google’s Local Business Results

If you have a “brick and mortar” business such as a florist or accountancy firm then you can create an account with Google and register your details here:  www.google.com/local/add .  Before the internet really took hold on society people just looked up their local copy or the yellow pages or their local news paper to find companies.  However these days more and more people are using the internet search engines.  So sign up with Google’s Local Business Results to get free exposure to your business’ website.

StumbleUpon (SU)

This is a very popular social website where people submit web pages they like and other people can vote them up or down.  You can pay SU for traffic however you can also get it for free, especially if your website is very good and other people like it.  The more frequently people vote it up the more traffic you will get.  The problem is that the people who use SU have a short attention span and usually are not interested in buying anything.  However if you still want pursue this method of traffic generation you should submit webpages that are informative or entertaining.  Don’t just submit a product page with sales copy on it because people don’t find this of much interest to them.

Search Engine Optimzation (SEO)

If you want a constant stream of well-targeted visitors to your website learning SEO is a must.  A lot of people try to make out that SEO is very difficult.  However the people doing this are usually trying to sell SEO services so they want to make it sound as scary and complex as possible.  However it’s actually quite simple.  What it comes down to is including as many different keywords as you can within your website, especially the title of your website.  Although it’s quite simple, there is a lot to learn so you will need to do further research on this topic.

Google Trends

If you are just looking for as much traffic as you can and don’t care about whether they will buy anything, then you should look at google.com/trends/hottrends.  Basically it’s a list of the most searched for topics on the net.  Usually people are just wanting to know about celebrity gossip and politics.  However sometimes they also want to know more about new products that are being released.  If you write about these subjects you should start to get a lot of traffic, the problem is trying to make money from the traffic you get.

Conclusion

There are actually quite a lot of other techniques that you can use.  Some of them are legitimate whilst others aren’t.  There are methods coming out all the time whenever there is a new craze on the internet.  In the past people were going crazy over MySpace whereas now it’s more about Twitter and Facebook.  There’s loads of free info on the web so don’t waste your money by buying an ebook claiming to make you rich.  They’re just a waste of time and money.