There are many ways to earn money as a content writer.
In my more than two years as a freelance professional, I earned over $ 100,000 in part-time work hours.
The purpose of this post is simple: to show you all the ways I’ve made money from writing to give you inspiration because most writers only think getting paid for writing blog posts and emails.
As you will see below, these represent a large part of the income, but they were not the only ways. In the past two years, I have made money writing at least 15 different forms.
With so many changes in the online space, there have never been more opportunities to earn money as a content creator.
The point is that writing is not easy for most people.
So if you have that ability and can help people get your message across to the public, regardless of your niche, you can be successful as a freelance writer.
Here are 15 I’ve made money as a freelance writer without writing on my own blog.
Best Way To Make Money As Content Writer
1. Website Pages
Let’s go back to January 2018.
My blog was failing, I already had my millennial life crisis and I quit my six-figure job the year before.
For eight months I worked as a blogger and had almost nothing to show. But when the calendar changed to 2018, I was desperate to make online writing work. It was either that or go back to the company (which was my nightmare).
I decided to stop posting on my own blog and write for other people. Upwork and job boards were my best friend and I relentlessly signed up for whatever program I could.
This led to one of my first golf clients. They were doing a major overhaul on the site and needed to rewrite the following pages:
- Homepage
- About the page
- Membership page
- Work with me page
- History of the golf course page.
At the time, I was just starting out as a writer and couldn’t believe that someone paid me $ 1,600 to rewrite five pages of a golf site.
I have done this with several clients and it is very simple and direct.
2. Blog posts
I would say 60% of my freelance writing income over $ 100,000 comes from creating blog posts.
Since I was a blogger from 2016 to 2018, it was not that difficult for me to learn. Some were written by ghosts and others had my name associated with them.
Let’s face it, most blog posts are neither sexy nor glamorous.
But they are the most consistent way to earn money as a freelance content writer.
I was paid to write about almost everything, including:
- The golf
- Pets
- Millennials
- Motivation
- Personal finance
- Entrepreneurship
- Self Improvement
If you want consistent money every month as a writer, start by finding blog writing clients. These clients are reliable and make it easy to forecast your monthly income.
At first, I suggest setting the price of your work per word. If you’re a new writer, start with 0.10 cents per word and go up.
Finally, be sure to establish a niche to become an expert and increase your rates!
3. Books
The week I left 9-5, I published my first book, “Advice to My Younger Self.”
At the time, I was 29 years old and had aspirations to be the next millennium finance guru. I wanted to help everyone learn what the university did not teach them.
I thought this book would put me on podcasts, talk shows, and provide passive income for years.
Well, that dream was short lived.
The book earned perhaps $ 700 (including the additional copies my parents bought to distribute and boast that their son was a writer).
It goes without saying that I quickly realized that my first book would not make me a millionaire or help a million people.
Still, I must say that I am a published author at the age of 29 and crossed out something on my wish list.
4. Ghost Writing
Although my first didn’t make me rich, it gave me some experience.
After one of my writing clients enjoyed working together, he asked me to write his ghost book.
Although not published yet, I got paid for it and took me to my highest earning month.
The book ended up being 65,000 words and I received $ 13,000. A little more than my $ 700 for my first book.
So if you want to write a book and money is your main goal, I suggest you write ghosts for someone else. Unless you have a large following on social media, good luck with self-publishing.
5. eBooks
In late 2018, I got my first Instagram writing client.
He saw my motivating content, clicked on the link to my bio, went to my writing website, and got in touch via DM.
The first project we worked on was an ebook magnet. I ended up creating several for him and they ranged from 5,000 to 10,000 words.
6. My eBook
I also tried my hand at self-publishing and bought a course to guide me through it.
Although my first book didn’t make me rich or famous, I did like the idea of generating passive income.
It goes without saying that this idea failed. I bet I made a total of $ 100, not enough to pay for the course. Also, it took a long time.
So if your goal is to self-publish e-books through the Kindle store, outsource as much as possible, learn about Amazon ads, and find your niche.
7. Email Marketing
Email marketing is not dead (despite what some online gurus say).
Yes, email marketing has been declining steadily for the past five to ten years, but it’s still the best way to sell anything to your audience.
Writing via email is a great way to constantly earn money as a writer.
Customers need writers to help tell their stories, and I helped create multiple email campaigns. Some of them include:
- Nutritive ropes
- Weekly newsletters
- Launch of the online course.
I’m still new to this category, but I intend to experiment a lot more with copywriting and email marketing in 2020.
8. Lead Magnets
Another way to earn money by writing is to create lead magnets for customers (AKA gifts, freemiums, list builders, signups, etc.)
This is another way to get paid as a writer and a method that has also been relatively easy. Since content isn’t published online, you don’t have to worry about SEO to speed up the entire writing process.
These projects generally have a fixed fee or per word, as some of them are short e-books, which really are like a long-form blog post.
9. Rewriting Content
As you know, not all content is created equally.
With Google constantly updating its algorithm, it is important to update the content.
Some experienced customers will also have you update previous posts from yourself or other writers.
For example, one of my golf clients is updating all of their content that is not rated on page one. To make the necessary updates, he sends me a link to the post on Surfer SEO to make the necessary updates.
The SEO tool shows you what to do to rank the article correctly. You can remove keywords, add a certain number of words, remove titles, add LSI keywords, and more.
To rewrite, we agree on a flat fee in advance. This is very easy since you don’t have to create new content from scratch.
10. Online Course Content
The online learning space is booming!
According to this survey, “the global eLearning market was worth an impressive $107 billion in 2015. By 2025, however, Research and Markets believe that it will reach a staggering total market value of $325 billion.”
With so many entrepreneurs, opinion leaders, and influencers creating online courses, they need writers to help them turn their knowledge into a course.
I wrote the content of two online courses in an entrepreneur’s personal development niche. I was in charge of creating lesson plans (basically blog posts), video scripts, and spreadsheets.
One is a six-module course that paid $ 3,000 and the other was a massive 12-module course that paid $ 11,000!
Remember, this is a growing market and I recommend that you continue as a writer.
11. Podcast
As online learning grows, podcasts are not far behind.
According to Podcast Insights, there are more than 30 million episodes as of January 2020. However, according to the same article, only 51% of the population listened to a podcast, which means there is tremendous growth potential.
I was hired to create:
- Introduction
- Others
- Show notes
- Podcast scripts
- Social Media Captions
If you are a new writer, it is a great way to meet podcasters, grow your network, and make money writing.
12. Social Media Captions
There’s nothing fancy here, just write captions on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn for multiple clients.
Usually, it’s a flat fee for each post or something that is part of a monthly retention package.
13. Voiceovers
While I haven’t done a ton of voice-overs, I did manage to write one that ended up going viral with 2,000,000 views!
One of my former clients, Fearless Motivation, stopped writing me video script posts.
But after hearing my voice on the “Inspire Your Success” podcast, I was forced to do the dubbing work, too. I sent the audio file (which took about three takes and only 40 minutes) and it was done.
The payment was a few hundred dollars, but the exposure was epic. They added the amazing look to the video and now two million people have heard it worldwide!
Don’t forget, money is not everything
Knowing that my message has impacted more than 2,000,000 people with my words is priceless.
14. Video scripts
Video is the future.
While the writing never goes away (don’t worry, writers), more and more people are watching video content than ever before.
After a client heard about my work with Fearless Motivation, he hired me to write video scripts and used his voice to create a series of motivational videos.
This was one of my favorite projects of all time.
I received 0.20 cents per word and each post had approximately 1,000 words. I did 20 video scripts, so I ended up making around $ 4,000.
Not only was it fun and highly profitable, but it was also great to see some of them go viral!
15. Press releases
When it comes to accepting gigs, I live by this quote:
“If someone offers you an amazing opportunity and you’re not sure you can do it, say yes — then learn how to do it later.”
Richard Branson
When a customer asked if I could make a press release, I said yes, no problem (although I have no idea what to do)!
Although I only did a few of them (and had to research what the hell I was doing) overall, they were pretty easy.
These were based on a per-word rate and contributed just a few hundred dollars.
16. Speech Writing
One of the final ways I got paid as a content writer is by writing a speech. Similar to press releases, I had no idea what I was doing, but I just said yes and found out later.
I ended up writing the talking points for a corporate presentation since I knew my client’s voice and history very well. Someone else did all the PowerPoint and I wrote it.
17. Medium
The last way to make money writing is to post to Medium.
Since 2020, I started earning money with the Medium Partner program, training students and affiliate sales.
Media is my top writing priority for 2020, so I hope to have more to share soon.
Final thoughts
Hopefully, you can tell that there are several ways to get paid for writing content online.
You don’t have to write emails or blog posts for clients.
While I think these two methods are great for generating consistent income, don’t be afraid to venture out and try new types of content.
Follow Richard Branson’s quotes and say yes. If you are a shrewd writer, I am sure you will find out.
Also, you never know what you’d like to write and what’s good until you try.
Keep an open mind, accept ghostwriting sometimes, and follow trends to make the most of online writing.
What are some ways you got paid for writing online? Let me know in the comments below!
