1. Discussion Forums
    2. Club House
    3. Club House Discussion
You must Sign In to post a response.
  • Category: Club House Discussion
    Points:5

      

    Is content writing a good source of income?

    After the advent of internet, a lot many changes have come in the sphere of employment and earning opportunities through internet. What we currently do on Techulator is a good example of this opportunity.
    We have been seeing ads for the content writing opportunities on sites like Freelancer or guru.com which appear quite lucrative on the face of it. Are they really worth as a full time job? I have heard ( or read about) many of them boasting that they need not work as they get enough income with this avenue of earning alone. It appears a little blown out of proportions to me.

    What are your views on those avenues or the ability of them to sustain a good earning possibility.
  • #24095

    Points:2
    It depends on two factors mainly : the writing skills of the person and his knowledge of the current opportunities in this field. I consider myself an average writer but still managed to good money writing for others. To sustain in any field, you have to be good at what you do. This applies to content writing as well.
    Krishna Verma

  • #24096

    Points:5
    Content writing jobs require very high quality content. And you need to have a better command over English. By better command I am referring to usage of the words depending on the context. This is something most of the highly paid content writers are struggling with and also work on regular basis.

    My personal view is that for small jobs that offer payment of around 1$ for words upto 1500$ cant be a good source of income. Also the sites that require you to be native English speaker will reject you as well. So you have to find the projects which doesn't have any such criteria. You may initially need to do some low paid odd jobs as a content writer. But as you build your reputation, you'd be able to get better payment.

    However issue with the content writing jobs is that the transition from low paid writer to highly paid writer is not easy. Also if you plan to do office job as a content writer then they require you to have a better command over English. And such jobs are going to be harder in terms of writing if you're not seasoned writer.

    Compared to other fields, writing requires adapting to the topics and able to deliver the good content. It takes time but if you are building portfolio then such jobs can be really good. If you get offshore clients then you're likely to earn more money than your day job. I have few such content writers earning around 10-12L per annum doing content writing jobs for offshore clients.

    I am not a seasoned writer as of yet. But I am working on it. I am building portfolio and slowly going to take some better jobs. This is one serious field to make money from if you are serious. There are plenty of SEO and marketing companies who offer jobs but require a lot of hard work to establish yourself.

  • #24097

      

    Points:1
    Those are indeed a few great inputs. Especially Mahesh has let us gain a better insight into the demands of the trade. I would welcome other seasoned writers as well on board this discussion so that it will help members and guests to be more acquainted with the opportunities in this field and the requirements thereof.
    Live....and Let Live!

  • #24098

    Points:2
    In my opinion, every content writer should diversify his income sources. Content writing is not something one can do for his lifetime. For instance, in addition to writing content for your own website, you may start developing your own website.
    Krishna Verma

  • #24099

      

    Points:1
    Yes indeed - working with a couple of clients will not essentially be a good idea. You cannot be sure when will the source dry up. Having multiple sources - including your own blog - would be a great strategy.
    Live....and Let Live!

  • #24103

    Points:3
    Yes Timmappa, let me tell you my own personal experience. There was a foreign client who contacted me for content writing work in bulk. Since he was ordering in bulk, I gave him discount. This continued for two months and then he asked for more discount. I declined his projects thereafter and he moved on to another content writer. In my opinion, we should ignore the clients who do not value our work.
    Krishna Verma

  • #24105

      

    Points:1
    Well, I too had an offer from one such person. He was being much kiddish in his demands - like I need to write at least three articles a day! He promised heavens in terms of income - like I will get Rs. 50K in just 3 months. I did not pay interest and that was the end of it.
    Likewise, I have two more who have been quite considerate and understanding. They keep guiding me. Though the pay is less, the experience has been great.
    Live....and Let Live!

  • #24106

    Points:4
    For some reason I just don't accept the work in bulk these days. I try to get 2-3 content writing pieces and then hope I get the new client. Most of the bulk requests demand to have low rate and longer work hours. And also promise of regular work. But regular work even if low costed won't do much benefit and instead takes the energy out of you. So it's often not worth such jobs. It is really hectic type of work compared to even programming or social media jobs. But the pay if given good this can be really good work too.

  • #24107

      

    Points:1
    My basic query seems to have been overlooked. Can the content writing alone help you sustain without the need for a job? I have been hearing a few such success stories. Are they really true?
    Live....and Let Live!

  • #24113

    Points:5
    Yes those stories are true.

    But a lot of information in those stories are hyped. For example, if you are earning more than your regular job then you're going to treat the content writing as your new job. So basically it's not do it once and you earn forever type of gimmick. Content writing compared to other skills require active work in order to sustain compared to regular job.

    You can make money from content writing to replace your job. However content writing can be a good job for those who have yet to reach their 60s. I am being specific here of age because writing, voiceover and video jobs have power to replace real jobs but they require energy. I have slogged a lot on low paid jobs in content writing so I can't see myself doing this for long. So I am thinking of this as a way to get some funding to start things which I can do passively.

    Content writing jobs if done in freelance mode will be struggling job. You need to get employed under some SEO or web design agency for regular work or full time job. I hope that answers the question.

  • #24118

    Points:5
    Yes, writing content is a good source of income until and unless one gets the right opportunity at the right place. There are many ads / requirements for Content writer, however, only some of them are offering good perks for the deserving candidates. If one gets a good client or project per knowledge or related to his / her field of interests / niche then he / she can earn enough money out of it.

    You may try to become one of the best content writer by contributing at this site itself. Plus, if you are an expert in content writing other than Technology related niche, you may try a different online source to get the right project for you. Also, There are many bidding projects at Freelancer where one can bid and get the desired opportunity to earn from content writing too.

    You may try to establish yourself online to get many offer as such.
    Regards,

  • #24122

      

    Points:1
    I checked out a few sites like Guru.com, workonhire.com and a few others. They do not seem to have much reliable clients. Is it safe to bid through them?
    Live....and Let Live!

  • #24123

    Points:3
    In freelancing world no client is reliable and any client is going to leave you unless he or she is locked in with some contract with you. If you are establishing your new portfolio then whether safe or not, you have to bid. You have to get those first 100 client ratings. Once you establish 100 ratings of 5 star (which is hard and you'll get lot of 3 and 4 stars), keep bidding for low and high project.

    It goes both ways. Most of the offshore client who are asking you to write content for low cost are not at all reliable. Their typical sales pitch is - "If you do this project with quality, I'd send you more future work". Guess what? No matter how much quality you put into the project, the client is just going to use you until you burnout with low budget project.

    The thing with the freelance sites is that be it content writing, programming, support and other jobs. It is hard to find reliable client. And clients too claim that they didn't get better quality workers. The reality is that it's hard to work in freelance model for workers. Unless the worker has not much corporate experience, he's forced into this loop. There is good earning than regular job. But if you have an option in between regular job and freelance working and unless you are above 60, choose day job.

  • #24162

    Points:4
    To succeed with content writing here are some useful tips:

    1) If you want to make full time income with content writing, you need to have excellent writing skills. In case, you do not have that good skills, try to improve it first. Then only, you can demand $1 per 100 words or more.

    2) Always try to retain customers who need content in large quantities. This will ensure that you do not waste time looking for more writing assignments.

    3) Prefer clients from outside India as they pay better.

  • #24166

      

    Points:1
    How can one get a day job? Are there organisations that indulge in providing such jobs? Are there any in India?
    Live....and Let Live!

  • #24235

    Points:5
    I seem to have missed this interesting discussion about 'content writing'. Well, let me tell you that it is definitely possible to make a living out of content writing. And as mentioned above, one need not rely only on content writing, and instead, open up different related avenues for income flow. It is also safe to bid for clients via platforms like Elance and Freelancer, as long as you go for clients that have a good rating.

    I am able to say these things with surety because I have seen a real-life success story. My husband, who used to work in the IT sector (Capgemini as an Analyst and Team Leader) quit his job after 8 years and started on his own as a freelance content writer. Initially, he started taking up small writing assignments from Freelancer and later on joined few Facebook content writing groups, from where he got 3-4 more assignments. He also started writing brochure content and website content for local businesses who were going online, or wanting to go online. He approached them with the entire package - website development plus content writing. The site development work used be outsourced with some commission earning and he used to handle the entire content writing part. Slowly, he started taking interest in businesses selling quality products offline, and offered them the opportunity to sell online via online portals like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Shopclues, etc. His package offer now contained tie-ups with top eCommerce sites and eCommerce consulting as well. Thus, he managed to grow and get hold of 4-5 long term business clients.

    At the same time, he opened couple of blogs and started writing few articles initially to attract traffic. Later, as he got busy with other assignments, he hired couple of freelance content writers to regularly post on those blogs. Now, he has started to earn consistently from those blogs as well.

    Parallelly, he learnt some tricks about stock trading and related technical analysis, got in touch with couple of Moneycontrol experts (on their forums) and offered them the option that he would manage their Facebook and other social media pages by writing content regularly. Thus, he started out by handling social media marketing for them and some other businesses. The moment he was unable to handle any new assignments, he would outsource the same to other freelance content writers in his network ,which was growing every day.

    He even worked as a freelance Instructional Designer for couple of projects by writing detailed storyboards for academic subjects of school grades. He has now even tied up with a start-up for preparing training material content for their online learning and development app on various topics. And he has now even written an e-book about how he earned great profits from the stock markets last year as a common man, with no market background. He shall soon launch the same on Amazon.

    Clearly, I have seen him achieve all this in the last two years and felt that nothing is impossible if you have the well to learn and grow!
    Thanks & Best Regards,
    Bhakti Savla

  • #24236

      

    Points:1
    That is really a wonderful and inspiring story of how can one become a self-made businessman just on the basis of content writing. But, I must say it needs a lot of hard work.

    By the way, your husband seems to have inspired you too into the world of content writing!
    Live....and Let Live!

  • #24237

    Points:2
    That was Inspiring Bhakti. It's really good to see that content writing skill can open plenty of doors for anyone who is ready to work hard. I have heard similar stories of other copywriters and content writers. Your personal story made me think that this is really possible while juggling with job before venturing into it for full time. It is a lot of hard work. But everything that makes money is a hard work one way or the other. Very motivating to me and many others on this forum.

  • #24267

      

    Points:1
    Though it was not unheard of, but it seems that the genre is fast picking up these days. I have been witnessing a lot of advertisements for the recruitment of content writers. The task which was earlier outsourced seem to be on the track of becoming in house jobs.
    Live....and Let Live!


    • Sign In to post your comments
    Submit New Thread
    Return to Return to Discussion Forum

    Top Contributors

    Today
      Last 7 Days

      more...

      About Techulator.com

      We believe in providing quality content to our readers. If you have any questions or concerns regarding any content published here, feel free to contact us using the Contact link below.

      Reviews
      Quick Links
      Technology

      Digital Marketing by SpiderWorks Technologies, Kochi - India. ©