Being a Writer

Getting More Article Viewers on StumbleUpon

Hey, I just stumbled upon a great way to get more article views on StumbleUpon--only, this should have occurred to me before.

I am so used to submitting my articles to StumbleUpon, only to get one viewer--myself. But I recently submitted two recent, but related, articles to StumbleUpon and guess who many article views I received? The first one got 74 views and the second one got 77 views--both in one day.

So how did I accomplish this feat?

Well, if you’re familiar with StumbleUpon then you know that there is a place to write a review of the article when you submit it. Because both of these articles were posts of two different parts of the same article, this is what I wrote in my review:

Part 2 of Celeste Stewart's article on how she became one of the top-selling writers on Constant-Content. Follow these tips and you might be at the top of the sales list too!

(For the last article, I wrote the same review, only I prefaced it with “here’s the third and final installment of”)

That’s it…and I got viewers galore.

So what did I learn from this little accidental exercise?

If you build a foundation of profitability for the reader--by offering them information that could lead them to make a lot of money--they will come…

In droves!

Do you have any advice on how to get more viewers on StumbleUpon?

Four Constant-Content.com Strategies that Work

 

By Celeste Stewart

Part 3

(Celeste Stewart is one of the top selling freelance writers at Constant-Content. Here she shares some of the secrets of her astounding success in writing for them. Follow these techniques and watch your sales increase at Constant-Content.) 

The "Sell it Over and Over" Strategy

That said, the "Sell it Over and Over" Strategy does work for some. With this strategy, articles are often offered only for usage. Unique and full rights licenses may not even be possible. For example, let’s say you wrote a blog post for your personal blog or an article for your personal newsletter and realized that it would make a great article to sell on Constant-Content.com. You can submit the article for usage rights only. Since you have already written the article, it doesn’t take but a few minutes to upload it to Constant-Content.com. Even if the article sells for a low price, that’s extra money for work that you already did and already benefitted from. Now, what if this same article sells again? Nice! And again? Really nice!

This strategy can get even sweeter. What if you also take that original article and post it on other sites such as Associated Content or Bukisa using a non-exclusive or display only license? Now you can earn a few additional dollars based on page views.

While I’m not a fan of writing original content and selling it on Constant-Content.com for usage rights, I do see the value of selling articles that you’ve already created and used for usage rights and then spreading the article around on other sites for additional income.

Another part of the "Sell it Over and Over" strategy kicks in when an article that you have posted for sale for usage, unique, or full rights ends up selling for usage rights only. When this happens, the article can never be sold for unique or full rights as it is no longer "unique." When one of your articles sells for usage, go ahead and post it on one, or more, of the revenue share sites. If you have other uses for the article, such as in your personal ezine or newsletter, by all means, use it.

The "Best of Both Worlds" Strategy

Take another look at the Contant-Content.com screenshots. Do you see any writers who are selling a mix of usage and full rights articles? Sure you do. These writers are taking advantage of the "Best of Both Worlds" strategy. This strategy may or may not be a conscious strategy. My guess is that the usage sales just happened rather than being targeted. Or perhaps the writers with a nice mix of sales also put up a mix of license types. For example, I can imagine submitting

several original articles each week as well as one or two recycled articles for usage. With this strategy, you’re getting the best of both worlds. You’re getting your money right away when your original content sells for full price as well as earning residual income on usage articles that you have repurposed for Constant-Content.

These four strategies do work. Of course, other nuances come into play including pricing, word count, topic, and even whether a full or partial sample of the article is displayed. Take some time to explore the profiles of each of the writers listed in the Freelancers Hall of Fame to get a better idea of what they are doing. However, don’t limit your exploration to these writers only. Pay attention to fresh submissions and current sales. Other writers are regularly submitting and selling articles. Watch and learn and join us as we all find success on Constant-Content.com!

Did you find this report useful? Want to spend more time with Celeste Stewart and learn more about how to succeed on Constant-Content.com? Check out her 39-page eBook,

Celeste Stewart’s Secrets to Success on Constant-Content.com. Reasonably priced and loaded with advice from a successful writer on the site, you can’t go wrong.  

Click here to view more details

Coming soon! A writer’s workshop for beginning online writers. Check Celeste’s Web site for details and availability.

Would you like more freelance writing tips? Click here to visit Celeste Stewart.

Want to buy Celeste’s eBook for your Kindle? By it at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00359FD3M

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Constant-Content.com

Four Constant-Content.com Strategies that Work

By Celeste Stewart

Part 2

(Celeste Stewart is one of the top selling writers on Constant-Content. She has generously agreed to share four of the strategies that she has used to get to the top. Follow these strategies and watch your sales increase on Constant-Content!) 

The "Write it and Customers will Buy it" Strategy

Remember the movie

A Field of Dreams and its famous line of "Build it and they will come"? Constant-Content.com is a marketplace of dreams and the strategy of "write it and customers will buy it" is the one universal strategy used by every writer listed in those screenshots as well as many other writers doing well on the site.

We all know that there are no guarantees that any article will sell at all. Just as you can’t expect baseball fans to flock to your cornfield, you can’t count on every word you write being a winner. However, articles DO sell all the time.

In 2009, Constant-Content.com did a detailed analysis of sales. David Kool, manager of Constant-Content.com, announced the findings in the Constant-Content.com forum saying, "Perhaps the most important stat that we discovered in our analysis was that accepted articles on the site have a statistical average of selling 70% of the time. If you submit five or more articles you have a 97% chance of making at least one sale! Now obviously this isn't as earth shattering as say the invention of cooked food, but it certainly is a buoy to those who work hard on articles and worry about all that work being for naught. If you write it, they will buy it. And if you write lots they will almost CERTAINLY buy it."

I keep a spreadsheet tracking all of my submissions and sales and my own experiences are similar to Mr. Kool’s 70 percent figure. In fact, here are my sales percentages from the past four years:

Private Requests – 100%

Public Requests – 74%

Non-Requested Articles – 58%

Using my past sales experiences, I know that if I write it, customers will buy it. If I write 100 articles, I’ll sell at least 58 of them. Granted, these articles aren’t necessarily going to sell overnight, but if I keep writing articles and adding to my inventory, I’ll keep selling. I also know that public request articles have a higher likelihood of selling in general as well as a greater chance of selling quickly (because there’s a customer interested in this topic right now). Even articles that the public requester declines eventually sell to other customers. Regularly writing articles for public requests is a strategy that works. It works for me 74 percent of the time and it works for the general pool of Constant-Content.com writers at a similar level. Write it and they will buy it

The "Get the Money Upfront" Strategy

In addition to being prolific, I also use the "Get the Money Upfront" strategy. As you can see from my sales numbers, my focus is on full rights sales. I rarely sell articles for usage rights. Why? Part of this has to do with my opinion that it’s rare to sell a single article on Constant-Content multiple times and that it’s just as hard to sell an article for usage as it is to sell it for full rights. In both cases, you need a customer wanting that particular article. This takes time. In the case of a usage article, not only do you need one customer, you need many of them. I’d rather find one customer than five.

For example, usage articles are generally priced dramatically lower than full rights articles. Let’s say you are offering an article for sale for $20 usage and $60 full rights. If you sell it for usage, you’ll need to sell it two more times to get your $60 price. Since the majority of customers buying content on Constant-Content.com are looking for full rights licenses, you have a much smaller pool of potential customers looking for a usage license. I find it’s easier to sell a $60 full rights license once than it is to sell a single $20 usage article (much less two additional sales to break even).

Sure, it’s possible that the article could sell several times beyond my full rights price. In fact, this has happened to me a few times, but not often. The "Get the Money Upfront" strategy means that you sell your article for its face value and be done with it. You won’t earn "residual income" but you won’t have to wait for the article to sell several times over just to break even and "possibly" sell a few more times.

Because I prefer to sell my articles for full rights, I price my usage rates high. I often price them at the same rate as my full rights license. This ensures that my articles aren’t sold for usage once, never to be sold again.

To be continued

Four Constant-Content.com Strategies that Work

 

By Celeste Stewart

(Celeste Stewart is one of the top selling freelance writers for Constant-Content, and she has generously agreed to share four of the strategies that put her at the top. Follow these steps and watch your sales increase at Contant-Content.)  

Summary:

Constant-Content.com is an online marketplace where writers sell their articles to webmasters and publishers. This unique site allows writers to submit articles, set their own prices, and work with customers on both public and private requests. With so many options, a variety of strategies exist. Celeste Stewart, one of the site’s top-selling writers, explains four Constant-Content.com strategies that work.

Introduction

As one of Constant-Content.com’s top-selling writers, I’ve found a strategy that works well for me. However, my strategy may not be the right strategy for you. In fact, it may not even appeal to you. For example, what if you don’t want to write five hours a day, five days per week? What if you don’t want to be told what to write about from clients expecting regular content on topics of their choice? What if you don’t want to offer full rights to your articles? While my strategy works for me, I realize that it’s not the only strategy available.

Looking at the list of top-selling writers on the site, it’s apparent that there are many ways to find success on Constant-Content.com. With that in mind, let’s explore the different strategies that have been used by other writers on the Constant-Content.com site. If you look at the top ten lists found in Constant-Content.com’s Freelancers Hall of Fame, you’ll see two different "top ten" categories (most prolific writers and top selling writers) along with different sales figures representing numbers of sales by license type.

Each writer listed has been recognized for finding success on Constant-Content.com. However

Each writer listed has been recognized for finding success on Constant-Content.com. However, when you look at the numbers, it’s clear that many of the top writers have chosen different paths to the top. By analyzing the strategies used by others, you may be able to replicate their successes. On the other hand, you might want to use bits and pieces of each strategy to come up with your own unique way to get the most out of selling your articles on Constant-Content.com. 

Another option is to just do your own thing and create a strategy that’s unlike any we’ve seen so far! Who knows, maybe someday someone will be analyzing your success?

Take a look at the screenshots below.

Most Prolific Freelance Writers

Author	documents	Viewable	Sold and Archived
1. beconrad	3787	1785	2002
2. Dr. Kristie	3769	3688	81
3. Word Gypsy	3760	989	2771
4. Celeste Stewart	2881	174	2707
5. J. A. Young	1248	167	1081
6. Mary M. Alward	1044	426	618
7. audrabianca	851	489	362
8. nichewriter	725	318	407
9. candicep	520	272	248
10. JD	478	249	229

Top Selling Freelance Writers

Author	Usage	Unique	Full Rights	Total
1. Word Gypsy	464	78	2640	3182
2. Celeste Stewart	82	22	2600	2705
3. beconrad	543	196	1819	2558
4. Dr. Kristie	1821	12	71	1905
5. J. A. Young	105	106	968	1179
6. Mary M. Alward	174	285	330	789
7. audrabianca	182	16	347	545
8. nichewriter	42	24	383	449
9. mattsterrr	34	56	293	383
10. candicep	128	82	166	376

You’ll notice that the top-sellers have one thing in common: They are prolific, each with sales numbering in the hundreds or thousands of articles.

Now look at how the numbers vary by license type. If you look at my numbers in the second screenshot, you’ll see that I sell very few usage and unique licenses. Most of my sales are for full rights articles. In contrast, another writer sells very few full rights articles but has sold over 1500 usage articles. In theory, these 1500 sales can happen over and over again. Both strategies are valid, but they are completely different.

Before we dig deeper, take a few minutes to think about your expectations. Are you looking for extra spending money? Do you want to earn as much as possible? Are you looking for residual income rather than immediate cash flow? How much time do you plan on spending?

Next, realize that while the "top ten" lists are neat and show you how the site’s top performers are doing, they aren’t the sole measurement of success. If your goal is to sell ten articles per year on Constant-Content.com, you’ll never be recognized on these lists; however, if you meet your personal goal, then you’re no less successful than these individuals. Decide what you want to get out of the site, employ a strategy that will help you reach your goal, and enjoy your successes!

To be continued.

Writing for Constant Content--and Making Money

 

 

 

Writing for Constant Content has probably been one of my most enjoyable freelance writing venues. Making money writing for Constant Content has made my experience even better

Constant Content differs from most other online writing websites in some key respects:

-   No Pay per View. Unlike the ridiculously plentiful amount of pay per view websites (where the writer’s pay is based on the number of page views her article receives, which translates into a really small amount of money), Constant Content is a content store which allows you to make money by showcasing and selling rights to your articles. You, the writer, control which rights you want to sell--either single usage, unique, or full rights. (Although once a client buys a single usage license, you can no longer sell it under a unique or a full rights license, which makes sense).  

-   No Set Price. Unlike content mills like Demand Studios, which sets the price of their articles (the writer can take it or leave it), Constant Content allows you to set your own price. If you want some quick money, you can set a relatively low price or, if you’re willing to let your article sit for awhile, you can set a higher price. I have seen articles for sale here for a couple of hundred dollars and more. This, more than anything else, sets Constant Content apart from other online writing websites--you really can make money writing for Constant Content.

-   Editorial Standards. Unlike almost all online writing websites, Constant Content has strict editorial standards. Every article that you submit to them has to pass an editor’s scrutiny before they will accept it on their site. (This process normally takes 2-3 days after submission). Constant Content wants to make sure that the articles that they accept on their website, and sell to clients, are written by writers who really can write.

Is There a Downside of Writing for Constant Content?

As good as writing for Constant Content--and making money--sounds, there is a downside. Constant Content pockets 35 percent of the fee that you charge for your articles. I guess that this fee is reasonable, because they provide a platform for freelance writers to sell their writing. You just need to be aware that whatever price you charge for your articles, Constant Content will take 35 percent off the top.

Constant Content also pays just once a month, via PayPal, for all articles sold for the previous month. You might consider this to be a downfall if you prefer more frequent paydays.

But I’m not complaining, I have sold six of my articles on Constant Content so far. I had my biggest sale when a client purchased a usage license on one of my articles for one-hundred dollars. See? You really can make money writing for Constant Content!

Online Writing Gigs

I have been an online writer for several years now, so I thought that I would share some of my online writing gigs with you. So far, I have written for:

1. Associated Content
2. Helium
3. Digital Journal
4. Demand Studios
5. Break Studios
6. Inbox.com (paid forum poster)
7. Today.com (now BlogDog) with my Mystery Tour blog
8. Interact Media 
9. Constant Content

...and I write for a few other clients that are not as well known. 

So far, I have had an interesting experience, but have not made an impressive amount of money. Making money at online freelance writing is hard, and it's made even more so by bidding sites such as iFreelancer that allows their clients to post ridiculously low rates (I'm talking $2.00 for ten 500 word articles, for instance) and the writers who are willing to take such puny wages. 

Listen up, people. Writing is an ART and a SKILL. Good writers should be paid well. Yet, the wages that many of these online writng sites offer is insulting. But to get my start, I wrote many low paying articles, like so many other writers are doing.

Sigh...

In coming days, I will post my reviews of some of these freelance writing sites. In the meantime, feel free to share some of your experiences with me.

Image of keyboard by soopahtoe's at http://www.sxc.hu/profile/soopahtoe