Make Money Online: Why it Makes Sense to Earn Money Writing for Residually Paying Sites

This article is not for anyone looking to get rich quick. There are plenty of other sites, scam artists and junk mail that explain how to get rich quick (for a fee). This article is written for individuals looking to make money by creating a residual income though writing online for reputable content sites.

Residual income is the ability to create an income stream that continues to come in long after the original work effort has ceased. For an example, J.K. Rowling's residual income on the first Harry Potter book continues to come in even though she completed the book several years ago (that does not include all of the sequels).

Similarly, freelance writers that submit articles to online content sites continue to earn advertising and affiliate revenue from the article long after it is written. The beauty of writing for the internet is that the longer the article has been around, the more money it can earn.

Notice, the last sentence said “the longer the article has been around, the more money it earns.” This is not a get rich quick opportunity. However, anyone with enough SEO and marketing knowledge can expedite the income earning potential process.

In order to build a substantial residual income, one has to be willing to put in the time and the work. Writing one article a year will most probably not bring in the type of residual income to allow anyone to retire. It takes a large base of articles over a period of time.

Let’s ponder this for a minute. Think about the people in your life. How many people do you know were able to work hard for 5 years and then retire secure in the fact that they would have enough money coming in monthly so they would never have to ever consider working again? Think long and hard. Even ‘overnight’ movie stars spend years and years learning their craft before they had their big break.

Think of the typical worker. After graduating from high school or college and securing the ‘dream job,’ it’s highly unlikely that the college graduate is able to retire from the dream job in a period of 5 years secure in the fact that there will be enough money to live on the rest of her days without a financial worry.

It is conceivable, with hard work, learning the ropes and constant focused effort to be able to earn significant residual income in a period of 5 years to be set for life. It takes planning, learning, focus and continued effort. This is not for the feint of heart. It’s only for the folks who truly want it.

Many new freelance writers get discouraged because they place 3, 5 or 25 articles on a residually paying site and they don’t earn any money immediately. During this time of financial lack, it is wise for the writer to mix up the writing efforts by writing for residually paying sites and sites that pay up front  . After all, the rent, mortgage and car note must be paid.

The up front paying sites will keep the electricity on while the residually paying sites will build future earnings. Over time the residual earnings will increase. The more one writes, the more one can earn in the long run. Initially the articles are worth pennies, but as time goes on, each article written increases in value.

Nothing goes to waste when it comes to writing online. Every article is a foundation for the next.

Let’s say that Suzie writes 60 articles for an online content site one year and earns a modest amount. In the second year she writes 60 more articles. Now she gets to earn money from her current and last year’s writing efforts. Therefore she’s getting at least twice as much this year because she continues to earn money from last year’s work. What job does that?

The third year Suzie writes 60 more articles. She’s now earning money off of her first, second and third year’s worth of work. Here are Suzie’s rounded numbers (although it is not the actual amount, it gives a close representation of her actual figures):

It’s easy to see how residual income can create a nice nest egg (not too shabby for writing a little over one article a week). Notice the exponential jump in annual earnings? Where do you think Suzie’s numbers will be in 2 more years of constant effort?

The big trick to creating a good residual income stream is to duplicate Suzie’s efforts on more than one online content site. Suzie wrote a little more than one article a week for Site A. If Suzie had in her arsenal Sites A, B, C, D, E and F, she could conceivably write one article a week for each of her sites and in 5 years she would have enough money to retire. Additionally, it is the nature of online content to earn more as time goes on.

The above income does not take into consideration affiliate sales generated as a result of the 167 articles Suzie has written or the job offers that have materialized because Suzie chose to write quality content. Could Suzie have earned more? Of course, the more she learns about SEO and online marketing, her numbers should increase exponentially.

No, you won’t get rich quick with this method of earning money online. But neither will most people get rich quick by working a 9-5 job every day for 30 years. What will it be? Slow and steady or get rich quick, the choice is yours.