Freelance Writers: The 4 Fundamentals of Making Money Online

November 7, 2007

Part #1: Freelance Writer’s Technology Month
[Want to start a successful career as a freelance writer?]

As I announced on Inkwell’s blog yesterday, I’ve declared November “Freelance Writer’s Technology Month.” For a full understanding of what follows, I advise that you read this post first.

Now, on to the first post in the series. . .

Freelance Writers: How to Make Money Online – Going Back to Basics

It’s hard to forget what you know – especially when you think what you know has brought you some modicum of success. But, when you reach a plateau – as I feel like I’ve done in my freelance writing career, it’s time to re-examine systems and procedures so that you push through what’s holding you back.

So, here I am – back to basics. And, what did I learn?
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The “Oprah Way” of Making Money

I just took a quick lunch break and was watching E! Online’s show about the top money-making TV earners. Seinfeld was there ($60,000,000 last year), but Oprah made his look like lunch money. She earned a whopping $260,000,000 last year. Yes, that’s one year’s earnings!

As the show was signing off, the announcer was summarizing how Oprah makes her money. Eureka! This was just what I was going to write today in my post – more or less.

Oprah made her money in a systematic way. I don’t know if she had this plan from the beginning, but at some point in order to make real money, you have to have a master plan. So, what is the Oprah way of making money?

A) The first thing Oprah did was choose a career. She knew she wanted to be a journalist, so she did that. So, you’ve made the choice, you want to become a freelance writer.

B) The second thing Oprah did was choose a mass (think, popular) medium – TV. She didn’t choose to be a journalist in some obscure sector. This was perhaps one of the smartest things she did. You’ll see why in a sec.

C) Build a mass following: As she had the right medium (TV), she could now go to work building her following. How did this happen? She was spotted by some hotshot TV producer to host a morning show in Chicago.

Just being herself garnered Oprah a huge, loyal following (keep this part in mind). When she got her own show, she had a built-in audience.

D) Monetize the following: Oprah is the master at this. Once the Oprah talk show was established, Oprah deepened and widened her brand via tv, movies, magazines and radio and a host of other products and services.

Some of her holdings include producing the Dr. Phil show and The Rachel Ray Show; producing a Broadway play (The Color Purple); and hosting a radio show on Sirius satellite radio.

All Oprah has to do is mention a product on her show and it produces massive profits for the seller (think Oprah’s book club and O’s List of Favorite things (from her magazine)).

What if you could sit down, write an ebook and sell 10, 20 or 30,000 copies just by releasing it to your subscriber list? This is the power of monetizing a brand.

But, as you can see, it’s a systematic approach – and this is where most freelancers fail. Now, I’m not going to tell you that it’s going to take one, two or three years to make money online.

As my research has proven, it doesn’t. But, you have the big picture in mind before you can take “shortcuts” to make it work for you. This is the point of this post – to give you an overall picture so that you can pick and choose the best ideas – and take legitimate shortcuts to online money-making success. 

Now, that ends our Oprah segment.

Back to our lives …

The 4 Fundamentals of Making Money OnlineOut of some 100 or more hours of research (I’ve since put in more time that what I mentioned in my introductory post), I’ve learned that there are four fundamentals to making money online. They are:

 

1. Content: Before anything happens, you must have content. Why? When you think about how the internet works, it naturally makes sense. People use the information to find information.

Now, how they find and use that information will drive the two other points I’m going to discuss in a minute. But, you need the content first.

The Good News for Freelance Writers Who Want to Make Money Online

This is absolutely wonderful news for freelance writers because we are content providers.

So, you may be thinking, “Why then do so many freelance writers find it so hard to make money online?” Good question, and they are a myriad of answers to this question, which we’ll explore throughout the series.

Just keep in mind that content is the biggest piece of this online-money-making puzzle. And you’re the king of that jungle because you are a freelance writer.

2. Online Presence: Once you have content, you need an online presence. And, I don’t necessarily mean a blog or website. In fact, you don’t need either of these to make money online. But, you do need an online presence, which can come in many forms.

Again, we’ll discuss this later in this series.

3. Search Engine Optimization: Once you have your content and set up your online presence, you need to know how to get found on the internet.

Just because you have an online presence does not mean that visitors will start coming to your site. Many online web marketers find it hard to get a few hundred visitors a month – no kidding. You need much more than this to make any kind of sales, so you have to work on driving traffic to your site.

This is how many online entrepreneurs get sucked out of a lot of money. They spend money for get-traffic-quick schemes without fully understanding how traffic is driven to a site.

Understanding the basics of search engines and how they work will give you a leg up on 98-99% of online marketers. If you don’t first understand this, how will you be able to determine is PPC (pay per click); article marketing, or key word optimization is best for your business model?

Most online entrepreneurs are serious about making money online, but they are not serious enough to put in the serious time it requires to learn even the basics of search engine optimization.

Remember, search engines are the motor of the internet. They, for the most part, determine whether a user finds you – or not.

4. Choosing a Monetizing Model: The third piece of making money online involves choosing how you are going to go about it.

There are two basic ways to make money online: 1) create and sell products of your own; or 2) sell/promote the products and services of others (Affiliate Marketing).

Many subcategories fall under these categories – quite a few of which we’ll discuss as this series goes along.

NOTE: I’m not trying to be vague or string you along by telling you “we’ll discuss this later in the series throughout this piece.” Remember, this is an on-going tutorial. And, today’s topic is the 4 basic fundamentals of making money online.

I’m trying to divulge information in a systematic, organized, easy-to-digest format. This means staying tightly focused on the topic at hand, which leads to waiting to reveal information.

Series Tip: I can’t possibly cover everything in this series. I’m going to leave out things, forget to mention things and flat-out don’t know some things. So, if you have a question, send it in. The wonderful thing about making money online is that the majority of us wouldn’t be able to do it if we couldn’t easily log on and find information from others.

TODAY in Inkwell Editorial’s Newsletter: The new issue, which came out today, features ghostwriter Amanda Evans. She gives some great info on how to start, how she gets clients, what this niche entails, etc. Subscribe to read this and all previous issues.

Sincerely,
Yuwanda
P.S.: Make $250/day writing SEO content: I’m doing it – and you can too!
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P.P.S.: Remember, at InkwellEditorial.com, you’ll find everything you need to know about how to start, grow and/or maintain a freelance writing career (eg, writing for the web, blogging, forum posting, seo writing, freelance writing jobs, newsletter writing, article writing, ebooks on freelance writing and more).

UPDATE 11/30/07: Following is a link to every post in the Freelance Writer’s Technology Month series.

Intro Post: New Series – Freelance Writer’s Technology Month
Post #1: The 4 Fundamentals of Making Money Online
Post #2: SEO Content Development: How to Drive More Traffic to Your Website
Post #3: Niche Marketing: How to Choose a Profitable Niche
Post #4: Software Tools for Niche Websites
Post #5: Turn $1/Day into an Online Empire: How to Make Money with Minisites
Post #6: 4 Controversial Ways to Get More Traffic for Your Website
Post #7: 5 Ways to Get a Job Writing SEO Articles
Post #8: How to Determine What to Charge as an SEO Article Writer
Post #9: How to Optimize Your Website to Get More Traffic
Post #10: Social Bookmarking Software & 9 Money-Making Conclusions from Freelance Writer’s Technology Month


Related Posts

Making Money Online: Just How Easy Is It to Make Money with Minisites – The Real Pros & Cons
The Truth About Making Money Online: The Story Behind One Web Entrepreneur’s 6-Figure Income
Making Money Online: How to Find a Profitable Niche & Dominate It
How to Make Money with Minisites: Turn $1/Day into an Online Empire
Freelance Writers: How to Use Technology to Make Real Money Online

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