A booming form of online writing is the “keyword article”, also known as “SEO writing” or “SEO articles”. The idea is that people with websites on whatever topics (and usually selling whatever product) are always looking for ways to improve their search engine rankings. Everyone wants to be at the top of the list on Google or Yahoo!. But websites filled with products aren’t usually that successful. Because they lack content. You need lots of words and text for search engines to really sink their teeth into, so product-sellers are always on the lookout for articles that they can add to their sites with minimal effort.

And that is where you, the online writer comes in.

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And yes, I’m writing this from personal experience. There are days when writer’s block is looming over the horizon, and my brain is looking for a way to not deal with it. Those days, I find myself poring over every category on Craiglist, and hitting every freelance job board I can find. And once I’ve checked all the usual places, I start wondering if something new has been posted in the past hour, and start the whole cycle over again. Next thing I know, the afternoon is gone.

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Since I’ve been talking about blogs so much lately, why not keep up the theme? If you are thinking of creating your own blog for your writing efforts, using the Blogger network is a good place to start.

There are two great benefits from using Blogger. The main one is that the service is completely free, allowing you to launch your new venture with no financial investment at all. It really doesn’t cost all that much to create a site, but if you are unsure of your potential success, then why waste the money?

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A simple and non-spammy way to help gain a bit of extra promotion for your online writing work, is to create links to it on a social bookmarking site.

Social or shared bookmarks are becoming very popular, not only because it is handy for people to be able to access their bookmarks from anywhere, but also because searching through other people’s bookmarks can help you find quality sites faster than a typical search engine. (more…)

Suite101 is an up-and-coming content network that offers a good opportunity to publish articles and earn money for your work. Their freelance hiring system is a little different than most, hence this article to explain it to you. I have worked for Suite101 for some time now, and do recommend them as a site to write for.

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It may seem like an unlikely way to make any decent money, but getting hired to produce regular blog content is fast becoming the newest way to earn money for online writing. Blogs may strike you as the domain of chatty teens with nothing better to do than ramble about their lives, and I suppose that is how the blog concept began.

But today, blogs are the hottest form of website content and can be found for any subject matter that you can think of. They are no longer just personal rants and opinions, either. Blogs can present articles, news and helpful information.

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One of the sites that I regular check for work opportunities is the job board at Problogger. The jobs are specifically for blogging, which is fast becoming the new style of online writing. Most of the jobs listed here are from the b5media group, but the board does offer new job openings every couple of days. I think that it will become busier as more companies decide that blogs are the way to gain regular readers.

If you are planning on launching your own website, once you decide what the heck you are going to put on it, you’ll need to get a domain name. This article is on how to buy a domain only. Trying to choose a good one is another matter altogether.

Firstly, if you are a complete and utter newbie when it comes to the creation of a website, you might not even know what I am talking about. A domain is the “label” for your website, the way it is identified in a browser and makes up the URL that people use to link to it. The www is NOT part of the domain name, though. So some domain names would be google.com or yahoo.com. For this site, the domain name is become-an-online-writer.com. Yes, I know it’s too long.

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Sitting at a desk all day is hardly a strenuous activity, when compared to putting a new roof on your house or hauling firewood. But even so, it can take some toll on your back muscles. As I’m sure any serious computer-worker knows, it can get painful sitting and working for hours on end.

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This can be a pretty fundamental question when you start thinking about becoming an online writer, though it’s not unique to the writing biz. Do you want to get hired (either full-time or contract) by someone else, or do you want to launch your own website and be the master of your own domain?

Well, the issues involved are pretty much the same as in any business when you start thinking of going independent. Online writing is no different. Independence vs. risk.

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