How to Make Money Writing Online Articles for Textbroker and Writer Access (The Basics)

Two of the most popular places to make money writing articles online are TextBroker and Writer Access. Why are they so popular with online content writers? Because they make it easy (and safe) to get paid!

Of course these means that you will be up against a good bit of competition. I’ll teach you one competition-beating strategy–the “simple” one–at the end of this blog post. Later this week, I’ll tell you how to start freelance writing using “power strategies” for these two sites.

Right now, let’s take a look at these two freelance writing sites.

Writing Online with TextBroker.com

Textbroker is one of the oldest, most well-known freelance writing sites around. They are a powerhouse in the online content writing industry. As such, they attract many clients–and many writers.

(I’ve used Textbroker both as a writer and as a client; I’ll give more of the client perspective later this week in a Textbroker review.)

There are two main ways to make money writing for Textbroker: grabbing an open assignment, and getting direct orders. Open assignments are the easiest to get when you first start out, but direct assignments pay better.

Open Assignments in Textbroker

Textbroker typically has a number of open assignments in 21 different categories. And it’s a good bet that at least two or three of these categories will be subjects in whcih you have an interest.

Any time you visit the site, there will usually be at least a few open assignments. Sometimes there are dozens–sometimes only two or three.

If you see one you like, you do have to be quick to grab it, though. Textbroker is a popular site and there are plenty of other writers looking for work.

How the Textbroker Rating System Affects Your Assignments

The downside? Textbroker’s 5-star rating system typically starts new users at 2-3 stars. Most of the better-paying assignments are at 4-5 stars. When you first start writing here, you can expect to make $5 or $6 on most of your top-paying assignments. There will also be those that offer even less!

But you can make more money writing here if you put in a little effort. You don’t even need to raise your star rating in order to make more money writing. I’ll talk more about direct assignments and bumping up your star rating later this week.

How to Start Your Day with Textbroker

Finally, Textbroker can be a great “engine starter” to help you get going every day. My girlfriend used to grab a Textbroker assignment every morning and write it to get her day started. The assignments didn’t pay as well as our “real” clients pay us, of course. But starting with these assignments helped kick-start her writing brain, and at the end of the month, we had extra money for gas and electricity.

If you’re just starting out writing for money online, getting paid anything for what you write can seem like a treat (and trust me, it never gets old…). But you don’t have to settle for $5 an article, either. I’ll talk about that later this week.

Writing for Writer Access

Writer Access has an entirely different look and feel to it than Textbroker. The biggest advantage of Writer Access over Textbroker is that you can start out getting paid more for your articles.

The downside is that there are fewer available assignments here. If you want to get good jobs at Writer Access, I recommend checking the site 2-3 times a day. If you have enough time on your hands, go ahead and check it every hour! That may seem like a lot, but it’s all part of putting yourself out there.

Getting in Good on Writer Access

Like Textbroker, Writer Access has open writing assignments that you can grab as soon as you see them. It also has a feature known as the “Casting Call,” where you basically audition to be on a client’s “Love List” of writers they will turn to when they need a project done.

Being on a Love List doesn’t guarantee you the work, but it does put you in the running. If you are diligent and attentive, they can really make your month. I have a close friend who supported his wife and son for two months on nothing but Love List assignments, and I seriously doubt he’s the only one who’s done so.

How Writer Access Rates Writers

Writer Access assigns its writers a rating from 1 to 5, just like Textbroker. You can actually start out with a higher rating here than at other places; I come on-board with 4 stars. You’ll need to pass at least one test (the system is different than it was when I first came on), and it really helps if you have a blog or other regular published writing that you can show them (I still think I could’ve come on at 5 stars if I had more work published under my own name…).

Which Site is Better?

These two sites are better at different things for different reasons. At the end of the day, they are both valuable sites to join, especially if you’re just starting out on your writing journey.

Each one provides opportunities not just to make money writing online content, but to build the kinds of writer-client relationships that are at the core of any long-term content writing business.

The Simple Strategy for Freelance Writing Websites

There are a lot of subtleties and moving parts to making money writing content on sites like Textbroker, Writer Access, etc. I’ll go into those subtleties in my next couple of posts.

Right now, I’ll leave you with a good simple beginner’s strategy for finding writing work on these sites:

The best way to find freelance writing work on Textbroker and Writer Access is simply to check in early and check in often. These to sites have gotten extremely popular with writers over the past couple of months.

The Double Edge of Popularity

In a way, this is actually a very good thing. It shows that these sites pay their writers on a regular basis, and generally pay a reasonable rate for beginners. More experienced writers can also make a respectable rate at both sites as well (although it takes a little more elbow grease to do this on Textbroker).

On the downside, it means that many other writers are grabbing up assignments as well–often very quickly. But the competition isn’t so bad that finding writing work here is impossible. Far from it.

Building Relationships and Getting Consistent Writing Work

Once you have completed a handful of open assignments, you have a better chance of developing customer-client relationships. Customer-client relationships are a lot easier to build when you a) write good content and b) have a complete write profile set up. That’s something I’ll go into a little later this week.

So that is the “simple” strategy for both TextBroker and Writer Access: check the available assignments at least two or three times every day. Pick an assignment that sounds like something you will enjoy–or at least, won’t find too boring (some days have better pickings than others).

You may not have access to the most fun assignments at first. Go ahead and take on anything you feel reasonably competent at–even if it doesn’t sound exciting. You’ll got to the good stuff soon enough.

Then, your best bet right now is to complete each assignment as well as you can, as quickly as you can.

“Power Strategies” to Make Money Writing Articles Online

I’ll post later this week about how to drastically improve your chances to make a living writing online with Textbroker and Writer Access. There are strategies specific to help clients find you; these same strategies will also help you consistently get enjoyable assignments that pay well.

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