As experienced turkers know, the size of payments for writing tasks on Amazon MTurk vary considerably. I have done well with certain writing tasks in the past, but recently I’ve struggled to find ones that are worth the effort. I am not sure whether payments are gradually decreasing in value, or whether I am just getting more fussy. Anyway, there is never any harm in exploring alternatives.
My 3 favorite make money writing sites are HubPages, Wizzley and Squidoo. I will give you a general advantages and disadvantages of writing on these sites, compared to writing on MTurk, and then give you a brief overview of each site.
Advantages of online writing and earning platforms
Potential earnings are generally bigger on writing platforms than on a site like MTurk, at least in the long term.
The income from these sites is “passive”, which means that in theory at least, you keep earning even when you aren’t working and can get paid multiple times for the same piece of writing.
Online communities can keep you up to date with online earning opportunities and help you to develop the necessary skills.
Disadvantages of online writing and earning platforms
It can take months before you begin to earn even relatively small amounts, and a year or more before you see a decent return for your efforts - even then, the earnings certainly aren’t guaranteed.
You need to be fluent with English and have some skill at writing - especially with writing one page articles.
“Passive” income makes it sound like you don’t need to do much, but the real truth is that these sort of sites require a level of continual commitment if you want to succeed.
You will often need to set up accounts with external advertising/affiliate sites in order to earn money (for example Google Adsense and Amazon). Although free, it can take time and effort and sometimes it isn’t straightforward, especially for people in Asian countries, where the rules are sometimes stricter.
HubPages
Hubpages is the one of the biggest writing platforms. Users write one page articles called “hubs” and earn through HubPages own advertising scheme, plus Google Adsense, Amazon, eBay etc. All the advertisers and affiliates are optional apart from Google Adsense which you have to be a member of, if you want to earn money. HubPages articles generally rank well in Google, but Hubpages take a 40% share of your earnings.
Squidoo
Squidoo is HubPages’ main rival. It’s set up slightly differently and has its own unique appearance, but the underlying principle is very similar. One advantage of Squidoo is that you don’t have to set up your own Adsense or affiliate account. Squidoo pool all the money that’s made, take a 50% cut, then share the rest out to the writers according to how highly their articles (known as “lenses” within Squidoo) are ranked.
Wizzley
Wizzley is the new kid on the block. Set up by experienced Squidooers, it is similar to HubPages and Squidoo, in that you write one page articles and earn from the adverts and affiliate advertising. They take between a 50 and 60 percent cut of your earnings, depending on how many articles you’ve posted there. Each article posted is checked by a real person (as a pose to a bot) to make sure that it comes up to the required quality standard. The jury is out on Wizzley as far as earnings go, but I am enjoying my time there, so far.
Visit the Wizzley website (using my referral link)
UPDATE (February 2014)
I would no longer recommend Wizzley as a good earner. Income from Hubpages and Squidoo is lower than it used to be, but still worth it.
If you just want a quick and easy place to earn, I would recommend: Bubblews.
