Review of Online Content Writing Sites

Revenue share sites pay writers for quality content through ads placed on their articles. These sites rarely yield profits quickly, but are a great place to practice your craft and gain a large audience. Hubpages is an example of a revenue share site and is the top platform in this category in my experience.

Sites that pay writers through a method other than revenue share typically use a pay per word or pay per character module set up. Writers gain access to higher paying articles after proving themselves as reliable, hard working writers who can produce content that pleases the clients. Although rates typically start off low with these types of sites, they can be good money makers if you stick to it.

In my experience, the best way to be profitable through online content sites, commonly referred to as content mills, is to keep your eggs in many baskets. Currently I write for one revenue share site and three content sites with fixed rate payment methods.

Below is a breakdown of sites I have worked for, and those I currently worked for, with a list of pros, cons, and my own personal experience.

• HubPages
• Bubblews
• Triond
• Squidoo
• Examiner

• Demand Studios
• Zerys
• Textbroker
• Break Studios
• About.com
• Writers Access

Personal Experience- HubPages is currently my favorite writing platform. Not only do I enjoy the freedom of writing on any topic that comes to mind, but HubPages has one of the most active and welcoming community of writers that I have ever found. Though it does take time to build an audience, a portfolio of quality writing that brings in profits, the community will keep you writing and it is an excellent place to master your craft.

Pros-

• Great community
• Fredom to write what you want, when you want
• Excellent platform to get feedback on your writing
• Good way to bring in an extra source of income overtime

Cons-

• Can take awhile to earn money
• Article lengths should range from 1000-1500 words, longer than many other sites
• Articles must be maintained overtime to avoid good articles dropping off of the map because of broken links or old, outdated information

Do I Recommend This Site? Yes

Personal Experience- Textbroker is a flat rate writng platform that I have used for over four years now. Although the articles start out at a low pay rate, the staff at Textbroker is excellent and is always there to help you out. On top of that, the clients I write for are professional and easy to work with.

Textbroker works off of a five star rating system, and writers get access to different articles with different pay rates based on their star rating. Five star writers can make good money on Textbroker, especially with the benefit of Team Orders, which pay higher than standard articles.

Pros-

• Good pay for writers who put in the work
• You know how much you are going to make before accepting an article
• Great customer service and help from staff
• Weekly payout directly to PayPal
• Ample work available

Cons-

• Takes time to build up a high star rating and gain access to high paying teams
• They have a large pool of writers, so while you are building up your star rating, work can be a bit tedious
• Clients can deny articles that are sub-par, meaning you won't get paid for those pieces

Do I Recommend This Site? Yes

• Diversify your portfolio, don't just write for one site
• If something seems to good to be true, it usually is
• Research a site before signing up
• When you are writing for online purposes, pay attention to SEO and keyword density
• Some sites may pay meager amounts in the beginning, but if they are reputable, they will likely reward you after you prove yourself to them
• Ask advice from people who have experience on the site, they know best
• Try out a site before assuming it won't work for you

Personal Experience- Zerys works very similar to TextBroker, and is a flat rate site where each article pays out a certain amount based on the authors writing level. I have been working for Zerys for several years and enjoy the site. They pay out twice a month, and clients can give you bonuses for going above and beyond.

Pros-

• Pays out twice a month
• Clients can provide writers with bonuses when they do great work
• Article payments are decided by how reliable you are, how well you write, and how satisfied your clients are
• For the most part, clients are very good, providing clear instructions as to what they are looking for in an article

Cons-

• Articles can be declined by clients, meaning you won't get paid for that article
• It can take time to build up a list of "favorite clients" who select you as one of their main writers
• Work can be bare on this site from time to time, articles seem to come in bursts, but they go as quickly as they come

Do I Recommend This Site? Yes

Personal Experience- This is one site that has really disappointed me. GoodBlogs runs a number of blogs, including Decoded.com, Routing.com, Renovate.com, Lend.com, Enroll.com, FlamingVegan.com, BreathingHappy.com and more. Topics range from technology and IT to vegan diets and health. Writers submit blog posts knowing that they will only get paid when their articles are "featured".

"Featured" articles are chosen by the public, based off of social media traffic and votes. Although the pay per post is high, ranging from $10 to $50 a blog post, I got the impression that something corrupt was going on behind the scenes. It seemed to me that the featured posts were all written by staff members, not bloggers who signed up for the site.

Excellent articles I wrote were left unfeatured despite plenty of social media traffic. I tried contacting the staff of GoodBlogs, but got no response. Since it is a social media based platform, I turned to social media to find answers, and when GoodBlogs found my posts, they fired me from the platform, deleting hundreds of posts I could have used elsewhere

Pros-

• High paying
• Ample topics to write about

Cons-

• Terrible customer service
• No promise of payment despite how much you write
• Suspicious behaviors on the part of the staff
• Total lack of concern for consistent, reliable writers

Do I Recommend This Site? No

Personal Experience- I have been writing for WritersAccess for several years. They are a good site but the work comes in spurts. They pay twice a month now, which is a new but helpful feature of the site. It can be difficult to get approved for WritersAccess, but it is worth the application process since they reward their best writers well. WritersAccess is a fixed rate site where writers get paid per word based on their rating on the site.

Pros-

• Great customer service
• Good pay
• Good clients

Cons-

• Long application process
• Sometimes the work is slow
• It can take time to build up a strong reputation

Do I Recommend This Site? Yes