Writing for Profit
By
Hello. I recently decided to do some writing for profit, so that I could report back to you on how I found the various aspects of it. So, I enrolled at Elance as a service provider (for free) and I bid on some jobs. I bid on 5 jobs and I got 2 of them. One was writing a blog for a travel niche blog (vacation rentals – holiday homes for those of us in the UK) and the other was writing 20 articles on a provided list of child related subjects. I was comfortable with both topics, and familiar enough with them to write a good proposal and have them accepted. In my proposal, I simply stated who I am, gave links to my blog and to my EzineArticle expert author page and quoted a price. I will be paid $10 for each 500 words I write. I am half way through the blogging experience and have nearly finished the articles. I have done it all in my “spare” time (not my usual working hours) and it has fitted in really easily.
It isn’t impossible to make money online and writing is a great way to start. Swapping your time for money is easily achievable.
love
Sarah
Hi Sarah,
I make most of my money writing. I do a lot of writing for Regional Parentint Pubs (print mags). oDesk.com is another place to find writing work. I am now ghost writing for several clients as well as doing article rewriting and spinning for other Internet Marketers. Those who want to get ahead can write for AssociatedContent. They don’t pay a lot but its a start getting your name out there.
Belinda
Hi, this is Nicole from Rent a Coder. Rentacoder provides access to programming, writing, illustration, even data entry jobs. (You can get a sense of the broad scope of work available here: http://www.rentacoder.com/RentACoder/SoftwareCoders/BrowseWork.asp).
I’m so thrilled you were able to find online work opportunities. At the same time, I’d like to point out a few issues with using services like Elance and oDesk since those issues could influence your satisfaction and earnings.
Fees:
Workers on Elance cannot place more than 10 bids a month unless they pay a subscription fee ($10/month for 20, $20/month for 40 or $40/month for 60). It also charges workers a monthly subscription fee of $10/month – $40/month just to show test results on their profiles.
Odesk charges 10% for all types of projects versus 6.5-10% on Rent a Coder. So we let you keep more of your money and if you bring a repeat buyer from Odesk, you’re guaranteed a cheaper 9% maximum rate (and perhaps lower – see http://www.rentacoder.com/RentACoder/dotnet/Docs/FindersFeeComissionSchedule.aspx).
Rent a Coder does not have any subscription fees or any other types of hidden fees. Our project fees are as low as 6% and we guarantee all types of unlimited work.
Escrow/Guarantee of Payment:
With pay-for-time type projects, Elance doesn’t allow you to verify your time on pay-for-time projects by punching in and out of a real-time system, and cannot conclusively prove to the buyer that you were working. As a result they do not guarantee payment, and if the buyer does not wish to pay you, you may end up with no money.
Rent a Coder allows you to verify your time spent on a project by punching in and out of a real-time card application which records your desktop and webcam. The end result is indisputable proof that you’ve worked and deserve payment.
In addition, Elance does not offer escrowing on pay-for-time projects so payment is not guaranteed on these types of jobs. And oDesk does not require escrow for pay-for-deliverables projects. But Rent a Coder protects your money with escrowing on all job types.
Arbitration:
Elance charges $66.66 or $133.33 for each arbitration, which may make it too expensive to be a legitimate option on your project. In addition, a buyer intent on abusing the system can stall the start of arbitration on Elance for 21 business days and during this period your money is not available to you. You also won’t find any detailed rules on how Elance arbitrators make their decisions.
oDesk’s limited arbitration could prevent you from getting rightfully paid for the work you do. And they won’t test your work to make sure it meets contract requirements.
At Rentacoder, we offer arbitration on all projects free of charge and we test your deliverables to make sure they meet requirements so that you can get paid. We also prevent abusive buyers from stalling the start of arbitration. As a result, 45% of our arbitrations are completed under a day. 75% under a week. We additionally publicize the detailed rules of how our arbitrators make their decisions.
There are other differences as well. I invite everyone to compare the 7 major services through this link to learn even more: http://www.rentacoder.com/RentACoder/DotNet/misc/CompetitorInformation/WhyRentACoder_ForSellers.aspx
If you have any questions, please let me know. You can also call in to talk to a facilitator 7 days a week, or email us (see http://www.rentacoder.com/RentACoder/misc/Feedback.asp).
Nicole
http://www.rentacoder.com