20 Sites That Pay You to Write Articles Online

Performance Payment (Revenue Sharing) Sites

The first option for getting paid as a writer is through what we call performance payment. As the name suggests, the amount of money you earn from each article varies based on how it performs, or more precisely, how much traffic it gets.

With performance payment which is also known as revenue sharing, earning comes from ads and affiliate links placed throughout the page where the article resides. The total earning is then split (usually 50/50) between the host site and you (the writer).

Here are some of the top sites where performance payment is how they pay you to write articles for them:

1. Squidoo

Squidoo is one of the biggest revenue sharing sites where you can write about almost any topic. You earn money through Amazon affiliate links, Adsense ads, etc.

One good thing about Squidoo is that getting traffic to your article is much easier since Squidoo lenses (Lens is what they call an article) tend to rank in Google a bit easier than articles from other sites. You are paid via PayPal.

3. Helium

Helium is one of the very first sites I ever tried when I was starting out. Not only you can You can earn money in a few ways: incentive payments, exclusive assignments and performance bonuses.

4. Bukisa

Bukisa is a lot like Helium, but it’s more focused on how-to style articles. You can write on just about any topic you can imagine. The earning comes from displaying ads alongside your published articles. You are paid via PayPal.

5. Triond

They have a publishing networks with a whole bunch of sites in it. Once your article is approved, it gets published on one of the websites in their network. Money is earned through ads displayed on your article pages. They also pay via PayPal.

6. InfoBarrel

Again, you have total control on the kind of articles you want to submit here. They promote advertising sharing so you need to have an Adsense account in order to receive your split.

There seem to be other ways of monetization of your articles but I am not really that familiar on those arrangements.

The plus side of this site is that the content out from InfoBarrel generally receives good ranking with various search engines, so that is an assurance of decent traffic if you write well.

7. Snipsly

I call this the Mickey Mouse version of InfoBarrel. They share the revenue from advertising with you through Adsense. But over your, the article length can start anywhere from 150 words up. If you are a prolific writer, you are able to submit more works on the same time-frame.

8. Hubpages

Yet another site that shares advertising revenue. It is highly popular with netizens and you’ll earn money through Adsense and by being an Amazon affiliate. Capitalize on your pet subjects and slowly build up hubs. The site enjoys huge patronage so it is entirely up to you to drive traffic to your hubs.

9. Blogging
My favorite means of getting real income as a writer. The control you can exercise here is absolute. It would not turn you into an overnight millionaire, but I suggest you would dedicate some time daily to bring it up to speed over time. Until then, it may still be worth your while to continue explore other income avenues.

More and more writers have taken to blogging to supplement their income. And the nice thing is that they just focus on topics that are close to their hearts anyway, rather than seeking high and low for fresh and unfamiliar content.

Sites that Pay Upfront

The more interesting option for me is the so-called upfront payment. This is an arrangement where the hiring company decides to pay you in advance after you agree on the writing assignment.

Since this is a prepayment arrangement, how your written article going to fare in the search engine rankings or how many page views your work is going to help generate would not influence the payment. In short, there is no string attached upon submission of the agreed articles.

10. About.com

About.com is one of the most popular and visited sites in the world with an average monthly visitors of about 55 millions. You can make very good money if you become an About “guide”. But you have to be really good to be approved.

11. Break Studios

Everyday there is a list of titles that you can choose from to write your articles around. The best thing about this site is that every article earns you $8 regardless of the length. Your article can be as short as 250 words and as long as a 700 words.

You are paid at the end of each month via PayPal for every published article.

12. Love To Know

LTK is another site that pays up front payment for your articles. You can write about topics like Money & Finance, Shopping, Fashion, Beauty, Technology, Home Improvement etc.
You can expect to earn anywhere between $15 to $50 per article. They pay via PayPal.

13. Writer Access

Once you are approved, you will be graded with their unique star system by taking a test, which determines how much you get paid per word.

Here is a break down of how much you get paid per 100 words depending on your star level:

• 2 Star – earn $1.61 for 100 words
• 3 Star – earn $2.73 for 100 words
• 4 Star – earn $4.27 for 100 words
• 5 Star – earn $5.46 for 100 words

Once you have earned $10 you can request a payment.

14. Demand Studios

Chances are you are aware of their existence, but do you know that the pay out for every article is between $7-$15 (sometimes in excess of $30)?

This is not a place where free-form writing is all the rage. Instead, your work has to conform to certain guidelines. The nice thing about this site is that you simply focus on work that interests you.

If that is not easy enough, they have a library of over 1000 titles so you can take your pick from there. Say you are some sort of DIY guy, you probably can write article on how to do things, detailing every step and process along the way.

The content from Demand Studios can go to several different sites, so that would maximize your reach. One site you should be familiar with is ehow.com. Payment is made twice-weekly through PayPal, of course for work that has been approved.

15. Freelance Writing Gigs

This is an all-encompassing website. Here they will dispense advice on readying one to become a competent freelance writer, while posting fresh jobs everyday. If you are just getting started, this is a great site to get started with.

16. TextBroker

This is yet another fabulous site make money off writing. It doesn’t impose on stringent criteria so newbie writers may like this site better. The payout ranges from $3-$8 per article. They generally accept articles of shorter length, and in my opinion this represents an excellent opportunity to boost up your productivity.

The site is not restricted to just individual freelancers, as they are open to both companies and entrepreneurs. Again, you go to the archive and choose to write articles that would be of interest to them. Payment is done twice monthly through PayPal for work approved by them.

17. iWriter.com

Here writers are divided into 3 main categories (i.e. Standard, Premium, or Elite). A Standard writer can expect around $2.43 for a 500 words article. Elite writers are the ones that are paid sometimes $25-30 or more for a 500 words article.

18. Blogging.org

This is a rather new site where blog owners go to find content for their blog. You can make money here by writing blog posts. Expect anywhere from $1.50 – $20 per article.

19. Craigslist

This may not be your conventional source of paid written work, but there are occasional writing assignments posted here that pay well. I once chance upon a work where I was required to write 10 short articles every week for a stretch of 2 months. The work concerned my experience on article marketing.

My compensation was $100 a week, so you just do the math throughout the 2 months duration. I put 2 hours a week aside for this assignment and I must say it was a pretty generous payout.

20. ProBlogger Job Boards

This is effectively a job board for writers. Here, new jobs are posted almost on daily basis. Stick around here if you find your work volume need to be boosted up.

The topics here could vary a lot. You could be writing blogs on major sporting events or simply do up a review on your experience using a specific product.