The traditional way of making money as a writer is to pitch your stories to magazines or newspapers seeking content to fill their pages. While this approach can still be pursued, the growing trend amongst digital creators is towards making money directly through online ventures.
If you’re looking to make your fortune through writing, examine the trends developing in the digital sphere and learn how to monetize your skills. Keep reading for some expert insights on how to become a successful writer in today’s ever-changing market.
Create and Sell Digital Content
Over the past decade, traditional magazines and newspapers have declined in relevance as more people seek out content online. That content is often created and consumed on mobile devices, resulting in the rise of native advertising and “content marketing.”
According to HubSpot Blogs’ newly released State of Inbound Marketing Report 2021, 72% of digital marketers plan to increase their investment in content marketing this year, and 79% plan to invest in native advertising.
What is native advertising?
Native advertising, or natural adverts within articles, are advertisements that appear to be like genuine editorial content. That means they are designed to look like they were written by a human editor, rather than a computer algorithm.
Why are people flocking to content marketing and native advertising?
The truth is that people hate being sold to. While there are obvious upsides to content marketing and native advertising, such as the ability to target an audience based on their interests and hobbies, the truth is that these marketing approaches can sometimes feel a little bit…invasive. That’s why many people are trying to avoid being sold to by creating content that is actually good enough to be purchased.
Monetizing Your Content
Let’s assume you’re skilled at writing and happen to land a publishing deal for your first book. Congrats! You’ve just earned a boatload of cash, right? Well, not so fast. The truth is that book publishing is a losing venture. According to Inkshares, only 0.25% of new book authors earn back their advance through selling books.
On the other hand, businesses can and do make significant revenue from online ventures created with content such as blogs and websites. In fact, the internet serves as a great platform for monetizing content.
If your expertise is in social media or content curation, you can take your skills and create content that will attract sponsorships and affiliate sales. If your content is consistently good, you can even create a membership program for your audience where they can pay you to provide content for their benefit.
There are many different ways to monetize content today, and figuring out what will work best for you can be a challenge. But don’t fret, experts are here to help. Keep reading for some expert advice on how to successfully monetize your content.
Find Your Niche
If you’re looking to make money online, it’s essential that you figure out your niche. In other words, you need to pick a topic that you’re passionate about and are extremely equipped to write about. Once you’ve found your niche, you can begin to build a following.
Make sure that you’ve chosen a topic that is currently in demand. Doing some research beforehand can help direct your choices. For example, if you’re passionate about travel, but don’t have any travel experience, you might not be the best person to write about travel pieces. However, if you’ve always wanted to write about art and fashion, you might be able to land a gig as a style expert. In this case, you’d be able to travel the world and learn about fashion and art.
Once you’ve found your niche, begin researching the market. You can do this by searching for similar content to see what others are doing and how they’re doing it. You can also search for forums and groups online that are relevant to your niche and create an account to participate in the conversations. This will help you get a sense of the direction of the conversation and, more importantly, allow you to choose your words wisely when answering questions. You don’t want to come off as a spammer, so make sure that you’re presenting a valuable opinion that will be of benefit to the person reading your content. This is likely to lead to more organic growth as opposed to paid growth.
Build A Following
The most effective way to make money online is by gaining a following. Once you’ve found your niche and identified an audience, you can begin to build a following. There are various options for websites where you can promote your content, but none of them can compare to the organic reach that comes with having your own blog. A blog not only allows you to post regularly but also gives you the opportunity to engage with your audience through engaging articles and meaningful interactions through social media.
You might think that creating content for profit is a no-brainer. After all, who wouldn’t want to make a quick buck? While it’s true that anyone can create a blog or a social media account and start posting, the key is in the content that you create. If your content is good, people will naturally flock to it and begin to trust your opinions. As a result, you can start to build a following. Once you’ve started to gain a following, it’s important to keep posting quality content, whether it’s on social media or on your blog. This will help establish you as an authority in your niche and make you more attractive to potential sponsors and affiliate partners.
Choose Your Words
One of the most important things that you need to do if you want to succeed as a writer is to learn how to choose your words wisely. If you want to write professionally, you need to take the time to learn how to choose the right words, how to build a good narrative, and how to make your writing sound as good as possible. One of the best guides to learning proper writing is the HubSpot Blogs’ new course, Write Better Fiction.
While it can be tempting to just copy and paste from other sources, doing so can result in poorly written, messy prose. Instead, learn to take good notes during your research phase so that you can incorporate that knowledge into your writing. If you want to become a better writer, take the time to learn how to do it correctly the first time around. Don’t hesitate to ask for help from more advanced writers if you’re having trouble figuring something out. If you’re looking for more inspiration, read some of the best fiction books available and get a feel for how writers create stories that keep readers turning the pages.
Distribute Your Content
One of the things that can help you make money online is distribution. You can take your content and put it out there for others to find. The more places that you distribute your content, the more chances that you have of someone finding it and, ultimately, making a purchase. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different distribution platforms to see which ones work best for you.
You might decide that Instagram is the best place for your content. Or perhaps you’ll find that YouTube is the best option. Whatever it may be, find a place that you feel comfortable distributing your content and begin building your audience.
Be Brave
Creating and selling content is a difficult, oftentimes lonely task. Many would-be content creators give up and go back to their day jobs because they feel like they’re not good enough. It’s essential that you ignore these thoughts because being brave means that you are going to take a chance and put yourself out there, even if you feel like you’re not qualified. Remember, you’re never fully equipped to handle anything in life. The only person you can truly rely on is yourself.
Being brave means taking a chance and being passionate about what you do. Even if you fail, you’ll still be better off than you would have been had you not tried. And that, my friend, is something to celebrate.