One of my goals when I started writing this blog was to see if I could start making money online. My day job is a casual position, meaning that when there is no work, I do not work. Most of the time, I get full time hours, but about a month ago I was only getting 3 or 4 shifts a week. Money is tight, what with saving for a wedding, trying to pay rent, and staying out of debt. So after a few days off, I wanted to see if I could start making money while "working" from home.
My initial foray into the world of making money online came through Associated Content. I created an account, started writing content, and even managed to attract the attention of a PR manager and a category editor. I even got one of my articles featured! Now, this hasn't been the most profitable venture to date, as during the month that I've been apart of the site, I've made about eighty cents. Which, actually, is a fair bit more than I thought I would have earned by now.
When I started looking at various online money making sources, one of the one that attracted me was blogging for money. Essentially, you create a blog, get followers, and somehow monetize it, whether through advertising, selling paid posts, sponsorships, etc. I'm not a huge fan of any of those options, sadly, but I do have an idea or two for the future. The problem is, before I want to try to make money off a blog, I need to have a readership. And the best way to get readership is to put yourself out there. And the best way to put yourself out there is to brand yourself. And blog.alan.schram doesn't exactly scream "personal finance".
So I've started messing around with a few options. One of the potential ideas can be seen here. It's a blog that will eventually be called "Saving For Serenity", and that is a potential look for the new site. What do you think? The site explains a bit more about what it would be, the ethos, the direction, the motivation. Let me know what you think.
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Apr 2, 2009
Mar 17, 2009
Motivation
One of my dreams is to be able to earn an income writing. A few weeks ago I took the first baby step by signing up to produce content for Associated Content. It was a slow start, but that was exactly what I expected. So far, I've earned a whopping twelve cents from AC. That number is based off of the 5 articles that I've written for the website, all of which were published. My most popular one, to date, is the introduction to mixed martial arts. If I look at that as an hourly rate, I am probably make one to two cents per hour of work. Not the best return for my time.
At the same time I signed on to be a part of The Great Blog Off, a month long foray into the world of competitive blogging. This means that I have a lot more writing to do in my spare time compared to what I did a month ago. Combining these two new projects alongside my regular work schedule, planning a wedding, looking for a new place to live, and maintaining friendships means that I don't always have the chance to write when I want to.
Lately, when I do get the chance to write, I don't always want to write articles for AC. I have a couple ideas for articles that I want to write, I just haven't had the motivation to sit down and work through them. Instead, I've had a number of ideas for this here blog, and have pre-written a number of potential posts. A few weeks ago, I spent a Saturday writing and I wrote three of the articles that are now on AC, yet I couldn't find anything to write for the blog.
The wonderful benefit of writing for myself is that I can work on whatever I'm inspired to write on. If I want to blog about budgeting, I can do that. If I am excited about the articles that I wrote for AC, I can publish a post sharing my excitement. If I want to write about MMA, I will do just that.
This is why I want to be a writer. I want to be able to work on what I want, as I want, when I want, and where I want. It is part of the ethos of personal freedom, financial and otherwise, that I am striving to achieve in my life.
At the same time I signed on to be a part of The Great Blog Off, a month long foray into the world of competitive blogging. This means that I have a lot more writing to do in my spare time compared to what I did a month ago. Combining these two new projects alongside my regular work schedule, planning a wedding, looking for a new place to live, and maintaining friendships means that I don't always have the chance to write when I want to.
Lately, when I do get the chance to write, I don't always want to write articles for AC. I have a couple ideas for articles that I want to write, I just haven't had the motivation to sit down and work through them. Instead, I've had a number of ideas for this here blog, and have pre-written a number of potential posts. A few weeks ago, I spent a Saturday writing and I wrote three of the articles that are now on AC, yet I couldn't find anything to write for the blog.
The wonderful benefit of writing for myself is that I can work on whatever I'm inspired to write on. If I want to blog about budgeting, I can do that. If I am excited about the articles that I wrote for AC, I can publish a post sharing my excitement. If I want to write about MMA, I will do just that.
This is why I want to be a writer. I want to be able to work on what I want, as I want, when I want, and where I want. It is part of the ethos of personal freedom, financial and otherwise, that I am striving to achieve in my life.
Mar 13, 2009
A Slow Start
Through Associated Content, in the past week I've managed to earn three cents. Granted, there have only been two articles that were published, and both of them were album reviews. There was the Synchronicity review, and there was Pink Floyd's The Wall review. Both of these were test articles more than anything else; something to put up to see how long it would take to get published, what the process is like, etc. When I wrote those reviews I was writing for myself as the audience, but as I read more articles on AC I think I've begun to tailor my writing towards that specific audience.
For me, personally, I've been enjoying writing "How To" articles. Such as, How To Propose, an article where I give some thoughts on what I learned from proposing to Ashley. Within the article, of course, there are some personal examples as illustrations. I also wrote How To Plan an Inexpensive Wedding, something that I'm learning about as I'm doing. My third article of the week was A Beginner's Guide to Understanding and Enjoying Mixed Martial Arts. It is partially informational, partially a tribute to men wearing nothing but shorts and trying to hurt each other.
So that's the good news. The bad news is two fold. For one, as mentioned, I've only made three cents. I can recycle a can for more than that, so why should I put significant time into writing, editing, and publishing articles. The second is that all those articles that were published (finally, yesterday and today), were written and submitted on the weekend. So not only does it take forever to get it up on the site, but I also haven't had a scrap of time to write more for the site.
It's frustrating, to have a number of ideas for short articles, or a series of articles, and not be able to express them. I suppose it would be like having a song, or a photo, or a video in your head, and be without the tools or the time to pursue it. So a very frustrating week. This weekend is also extremely busy, so amongst wedding planning, visiting friends, and attending an engagement party (rough life, I know), I must find time to continue to write, so that I can earn three more cents, and hopefully, save you a hundred dollars.
For me, personally, I've been enjoying writing "How To" articles. Such as, How To Propose, an article where I give some thoughts on what I learned from proposing to Ashley. Within the article, of course, there are some personal examples as illustrations. I also wrote How To Plan an Inexpensive Wedding, something that I'm learning about as I'm doing. My third article of the week was A Beginner's Guide to Understanding and Enjoying Mixed Martial Arts. It is partially informational, partially a tribute to men wearing nothing but shorts and trying to hurt each other.
So that's the good news. The bad news is two fold. For one, as mentioned, I've only made three cents. I can recycle a can for more than that, so why should I put significant time into writing, editing, and publishing articles. The second is that all those articles that were published (finally, yesterday and today), were written and submitted on the weekend. So not only does it take forever to get it up on the site, but I also haven't had a scrap of time to write more for the site.
It's frustrating, to have a number of ideas for short articles, or a series of articles, and not be able to express them. I suppose it would be like having a song, or a photo, or a video in your head, and be without the tools or the time to pursue it. So a very frustrating week. This weekend is also extremely busy, so amongst wedding planning, visiting friends, and attending an engagement party (rough life, I know), I must find time to continue to write, so that I can earn three more cents, and hopefully, save you a hundred dollars.
Mar 7, 2009
A Day of Writing
Don't forget to check out The Great Blog Off! Personal finance posts will continue on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Check back soon!
So my quest to become a writer has begun. A full week has not yet passed, and yet in that time I feel as though I have taken the first few baby steps towards the potential of a dream.
As I wrote earlier, I signed up for Associated Content. What happens when you first agree to be a "content publisher" for AC is that you write a few articles, submit them, and wait. Someone behind the screens reads your articles, presumably, and either accepts or rejects your work. After you have had three articles confirmed (as in, you are not a robot), you can then publish content instantly. It took a couple of days, but my first two articles were published.
Now, I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so I'm not terribly keen on linking to them. I often find that I dislike the majority of what I write, thinking that I could have written it better, communicated more clearly, or picked a better way of saying it. However, I've read a number of the articles on AC, and I have no shame in admitting that I think I am terribly better than them. Unfortunately, there are also a lot of decent writers out there as well, and they are getting all the traffic. So I am going to link to my articles, not because I want your page views (and those miniscule fractions of a cent), or because I want you to share them with your friends (though I suppose it would be nice). I am going to link to them because I have to get used to other people reading what I write, no matter how bad it is.
Like this article - a review of The Police's album Synchronicity. When I first signed up for AC it had a section called "Calls for Content", where it basically suggests articles that you could write. One of them was a review of an album from the 1980s. So I popped open my iTunes, found the only album in there from the 80s, and wrote that joke of a review. Its not that I have terrible grammar, or that what I'm saying is completely pointless, it's just that I know I could have done so much better. I have done better before. In college I had a class called Rock Faith and Pop Culture, and our three major papers were album reviews, essentially.
In fact, they were so much better that I decided it might be worthwhile going through one of those old papers and seeing if I could publish that on AC as well. There's no law against publishing a paper I wrote for a bible college, now is there? So I quickly edited and published my review of Pink Floyd's The Wall. They are essentially the same thing, these two articles. Two reviews on albums that were released three years apart. Yet they're written completely differently.
I've submitted two more articles that need to pass the publisher before I can link to them as well. I've got one article about watching mixed martial arts, and I wrote a how-to about getting engaged. I think the nice thing about this "work" is that I enjoy it, and that it has such variety. In what other profession can I spend a lazy Saturday listening to old rock albums, watching men hurt each other, and dream about my fiance? I'm going to continue to post links to my articles here, as a form of encouragement to myself. Five days ago I was just another guy sitting in his sweat pants on his couch, but as of today, I'm published.
So my quest to become a writer has begun. A full week has not yet passed, and yet in that time I feel as though I have taken the first few baby steps towards the potential of a dream.
As I wrote earlier, I signed up for Associated Content. What happens when you first agree to be a "content publisher" for AC is that you write a few articles, submit them, and wait. Someone behind the screens reads your articles, presumably, and either accepts or rejects your work. After you have had three articles confirmed (as in, you are not a robot), you can then publish content instantly. It took a couple of days, but my first two articles were published.
Now, I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so I'm not terribly keen on linking to them. I often find that I dislike the majority of what I write, thinking that I could have written it better, communicated more clearly, or picked a better way of saying it. However, I've read a number of the articles on AC, and I have no shame in admitting that I think I am terribly better than them. Unfortunately, there are also a lot of decent writers out there as well, and they are getting all the traffic. So I am going to link to my articles, not because I want your page views (and those miniscule fractions of a cent), or because I want you to share them with your friends (though I suppose it would be nice). I am going to link to them because I have to get used to other people reading what I write, no matter how bad it is.
Like this article - a review of The Police's album Synchronicity. When I first signed up for AC it had a section called "Calls for Content", where it basically suggests articles that you could write. One of them was a review of an album from the 1980s. So I popped open my iTunes, found the only album in there from the 80s, and wrote that joke of a review. Its not that I have terrible grammar, or that what I'm saying is completely pointless, it's just that I know I could have done so much better. I have done better before. In college I had a class called Rock Faith and Pop Culture, and our three major papers were album reviews, essentially.
In fact, they were so much better that I decided it might be worthwhile going through one of those old papers and seeing if I could publish that on AC as well. There's no law against publishing a paper I wrote for a bible college, now is there? So I quickly edited and published my review of Pink Floyd's The Wall. They are essentially the same thing, these two articles. Two reviews on albums that were released three years apart. Yet they're written completely differently.
I've submitted two more articles that need to pass the publisher before I can link to them as well. I've got one article about watching mixed martial arts, and I wrote a how-to about getting engaged. I think the nice thing about this "work" is that I enjoy it, and that it has such variety. In what other profession can I spend a lazy Saturday listening to old rock albums, watching men hurt each other, and dream about my fiance? I'm going to continue to post links to my articles here, as a form of encouragement to myself. Five days ago I was just another guy sitting in his sweat pants on his couch, but as of today, I'm published.
Mar 4, 2009
Life Worth Living
In April of 2008, I graduated from college. At the time I was dating a lovely girl I had met at the college, and together we decided to move out to North Vancouver to live and work for a year. We weren't sure what direction life was taking us, individually or as a couple. As April of 2009 approaches I am still living in North Vancouver, but now I'm engaged. My fiance and I are planning on getting married in August of this year (only about 5 months away), and staying in North Vancouver. A lot of big changes are going to come over the next few months. I'm going to stop living with roommates and start living with a wife. I am going to combine my finances with another human being. I am going to start creating a home.
All of this makes me think about what I'm doing with my life. When I entered college I actually thought I was going to graduate to become a youth pastor. Now I'm not sure I'll even use my Biblical Studies degree. Instead, I'm currently working as a meter reader for BC Hydro. It's a decent job, I work 8-3:30, am responsible for only myself, and get to stay in shape walking around all day. While it doesn't exactly provide me with a sense of fulfillment or purpose, it pays the bills. It's just not what I want to do for the rest of my life.
One of my dreams that has begun to form over the past year is finding a way to work for myself. There's something about owning your own business, setting your own hours or deciding your own future that really intrigues me. So I started doing some research, looking for what I might be able to do in order to create for myself a dream life and a dream job. There are precious few options, when one is not as talented or as gifted as others. I know that in the past people have appreciated my skill for writing, so I decided to check out what opportunities my writing and the internet might offer me.
After a fair few nights of research, examining all the ways the internet wants to scam stay-at-home mothers, I settled on a website called Associated Content. Over the next few months I will be writing articles for the website, hoping to generate page views and an incredibly pathetic income. I will not be jumping in headfirst, this is something that I will work on with extra time that I have. I don't want to become unemployed again any time soon.
This blog will then serve two purposes. For one, it will record and track my attempt to make money online, from stage one. Secondly, over the next month I will be posting a few of the things that I've learned over the last few months about money, personal finance, and how to create a life worth living. I will be posting at least three times a week, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so check back frequently for updates. My hope is that I will benefit by being able to write more frequently, teach myself about writing/blogging, and win The Great Blog Off. I also hope that you, the reader, will benefit by learning something about how you can create a life worth living also.
All of this makes me think about what I'm doing with my life. When I entered college I actually thought I was going to graduate to become a youth pastor. Now I'm not sure I'll even use my Biblical Studies degree. Instead, I'm currently working as a meter reader for BC Hydro. It's a decent job, I work 8-3:30, am responsible for only myself, and get to stay in shape walking around all day. While it doesn't exactly provide me with a sense of fulfillment or purpose, it pays the bills. It's just not what I want to do for the rest of my life.
One of my dreams that has begun to form over the past year is finding a way to work for myself. There's something about owning your own business, setting your own hours or deciding your own future that really intrigues me. So I started doing some research, looking for what I might be able to do in order to create for myself a dream life and a dream job. There are precious few options, when one is not as talented or as gifted as others. I know that in the past people have appreciated my skill for writing, so I decided to check out what opportunities my writing and the internet might offer me.
After a fair few nights of research, examining all the ways the internet wants to scam stay-at-home mothers, I settled on a website called Associated Content. Over the next few months I will be writing articles for the website, hoping to generate page views and an incredibly pathetic income. I will not be jumping in headfirst, this is something that I will work on with extra time that I have. I don't want to become unemployed again any time soon.
This blog will then serve two purposes. For one, it will record and track my attempt to make money online, from stage one. Secondly, over the next month I will be posting a few of the things that I've learned over the last few months about money, personal finance, and how to create a life worth living. I will be posting at least three times a week, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so check back frequently for updates. My hope is that I will benefit by being able to write more frequently, teach myself about writing/blogging, and win The Great Blog Off. I also hope that you, the reader, will benefit by learning something about how you can create a life worth living also.
Mar 2, 2009
So It Begins
I've begun to write content for www.associatedcontent.com. They are a paid to write website, where they host various articles for all sorts of writers. The basic idea is based on ad revenue, where the host gets paid for advertising, and distributes it to the content providers (freelance writers) based on page views.
So my understanding is that the more (and better) articles that you write and publish on AC (Associated Content), the more income you will earn. It is not much. You need 1000 page views before they will pay you $1.50 (US), and that can take quite some time. However, it also becomes a passive income. Other pay to write sites (including AC if you're American) will pay you upfront for an article. Anywhere from $.50 to $4, depending on the article and the site. However, once you are paid, you're done. The website then gets all additional revenue from your article, regardless of how well (or how poorly) of an article you've written.
It's my intention, therefore, to write for AC a little bit each day. I might not publish an article everyday, but I'd like to work towards putting up 2 or 3 good articles each week. Hopefully over the next couple of years I'll make a bit of a name for myself, and when people start looking through other articles that I've written, I'll continue to get passive income on the articles that I'm writing today.
It is also my intention to start blogging about this aspect of my life, as well as some other topics about my life that I'm planning on starting or continuing. I'm hoping to write a little bit about what's been interesting me and keeping me busy. Personal finance, wedding planning, and life efficency stuff. Should be good!
So my understanding is that the more (and better) articles that you write and publish on AC (Associated Content), the more income you will earn. It is not much. You need 1000 page views before they will pay you $1.50 (US), and that can take quite some time. However, it also becomes a passive income. Other pay to write sites (including AC if you're American) will pay you upfront for an article. Anywhere from $.50 to $4, depending on the article and the site. However, once you are paid, you're done. The website then gets all additional revenue from your article, regardless of how well (or how poorly) of an article you've written.
It's my intention, therefore, to write for AC a little bit each day. I might not publish an article everyday, but I'd like to work towards putting up 2 or 3 good articles each week. Hopefully over the next couple of years I'll make a bit of a name for myself, and when people start looking through other articles that I've written, I'll continue to get passive income on the articles that I'm writing today.
It is also my intention to start blogging about this aspect of my life, as well as some other topics about my life that I'm planning on starting or continuing. I'm hoping to write a little bit about what's been interesting me and keeping me busy. Personal finance, wedding planning, and life efficency stuff. Should be good!
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