SO Ya Wanna Join an Online Writing Site....?
Maybe in 2010 joining a Site which promised to let you post your writing was not the stupidest thing you could do, (next to clicking on a 'You Won' pop-up, or answering an email from a Nigerian).
Towards mid 2014 reality began to emerge from fantasy.
Towards mid 2014 reality began to emerge from fantasy.
Most online writing sites pay badly, if they pay at all. In 2010 getting 1c for 6 views was expected. Today, it may be 1c for 1000 views.
As bad as that is many sites, which demanded a lot of work, have collapsed. Whether joined with another bad paying site or disappearing into the void, the number of sites one has available has gone down. Some, unmourned, some taking your work and money with them.
Those that are still up are infested with Crap Writers.
WHAT'S A CRAP WRITER?
A Crap writer is a pseudo-human being, who knows how to play a writing site. She/He/It either posts rubbish stuffed with Keywords and S.E.O. terms, so that it goes on for over 1000 words but says Nothing.
You've seen it before. You've entered a search term in a Google, and up comes a set of sites, and at the top is one which has all your words.
As you begin to read, you realise it says Nothing;
"Everyone is interested in Online Writing. All over the world people are thinking about Online Writing. There are many sites for Online Writing...."
On and on and on, repeating the term Online Writing, but saying nothing about it. However, the person who composed this crap, (using a template which substituted Online Writing for 'Diet', which was substituted for 'Bicycle' ... you get the idea.
If the Owners of the Site, or Moderators, blocked this crap, then the site would continue to have 12 Million hits a month. As the Owner was counting money and the Moderator is a glitchy piece of software, by the time the site has reached 6 Million hits, it is a little too late to do a patching.
Readers who had clicked on a 'Hubpage' in 2010 and saw the kind of crap I've used in the example have not been back. Advertisers, who see the views cut by half, pack up and leave.
One would think that having seen this happen to Hubpages, which now struggles to get 3 Million hits a month, a site owner would step out of the counting house and do something. Nope. Right now, Wikinut, which is actually moderated has crap spilling all over its Star Page.
THE RIP OFFS
Many sites do not pay. They either operate a Ponzi, like Bubblews, or disappear like Postanyarticle, without warning.
Some sites have funny or glitchy kinds of software so that you better write your article off line, then upload it, because it will simply crash, taking your prose with it, and you'll have to relog on.
ENTER THE BLOG
The reality is that creating your own Blog, getting into Adsense, gives you the freedom and the power you need.
You can write what you want, (you're the mod) and you can post as many or as few ads as you want.
You have to do a pile of networking, sure, but...
But so many online writers, so many of the best ones have taken this step, one suspects the entire zoo of online writing sites will evaporate, perhaps replaced by the level of publishing sites that existed in 2010.
Perhaps not.
As bad as that is many sites, which demanded a lot of work, have collapsed. Whether joined with another bad paying site or disappearing into the void, the number of sites one has available has gone down. Some, unmourned, some taking your work and money with them.
Those that are still up are infested with Crap Writers.
WHAT'S A CRAP WRITER?
A Crap writer is a pseudo-human being, who knows how to play a writing site. She/He/It either posts rubbish stuffed with Keywords and S.E.O. terms, so that it goes on for over 1000 words but says Nothing.
You've seen it before. You've entered a search term in a Google, and up comes a set of sites, and at the top is one which has all your words.
As you begin to read, you realise it says Nothing;
"Everyone is interested in Online Writing. All over the world people are thinking about Online Writing. There are many sites for Online Writing...."
On and on and on, repeating the term Online Writing, but saying nothing about it. However, the person who composed this crap, (using a template which substituted Online Writing for 'Diet', which was substituted for 'Bicycle' ... you get the idea.
If the Owners of the Site, or Moderators, blocked this crap, then the site would continue to have 12 Million hits a month. As the Owner was counting money and the Moderator is a glitchy piece of software, by the time the site has reached 6 Million hits, it is a little too late to do a patching.
Readers who had clicked on a 'Hubpage' in 2010 and saw the kind of crap I've used in the example have not been back. Advertisers, who see the views cut by half, pack up and leave.
One would think that having seen this happen to Hubpages, which now struggles to get 3 Million hits a month, a site owner would step out of the counting house and do something. Nope. Right now, Wikinut, which is actually moderated has crap spilling all over its Star Page.
THE RIP OFFS
Many sites do not pay. They either operate a Ponzi, like Bubblews, or disappear like Postanyarticle, without warning.
Some sites have funny or glitchy kinds of software so that you better write your article off line, then upload it, because it will simply crash, taking your prose with it, and you'll have to relog on.
ENTER THE BLOG
The reality is that creating your own Blog, getting into Adsense, gives you the freedom and the power you need.
You can write what you want, (you're the mod) and you can post as many or as few ads as you want.
You have to do a pile of networking, sure, but...
But so many online writers, so many of the best ones have taken this step, one suspects the entire zoo of online writing sites will evaporate, perhaps replaced by the level of publishing sites that existed in 2010.
Perhaps not.