Writing Articles For More Than One Website
74Some people believe that diversifying our articles is a good idea and limiting our writing to one location is a poor decision. I agree that you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket but at the same time you can also spread yourself too thin.
If you write full time and are great at keeping up with your writing and know right where everything is then that is great but I personally prefer to keep to just a scant few. I have two on Blogger and one here on HubPages. That’s less than many but it is manageable for me.
Quality versus quantity:
Quality is better than quantity. Over a matter of years your stories will climb in numbers but it takes time and work. If you write fast and furious hoping to get as many stories as you can, posted in a short amount of time more times than not your end product won’t be very good.
You can have 400 articles on the web but if someone reads over a couple and isn’t pleased with the content and feels your writing isn’t up to par they probably won’t read any of the other 398. They’ll write you off as an amateur and your efforts will be wasted.
Quality writing is important. Yes, the more you write the better you get but that doesn't mean we should post everything we produce. Much of what I write never sees the light of day. Quality content writing takes time, editing and more editing. And even after posting I go back and do even more editing. An online writer work is never done. Bad writing is not my goal.
More articles means more money:
Yes and no. Some websites only share profits after you’ve posted 100 articles with them. For this reason having less places you post stories can be better. On the other hand sometimes you write that really great article that makes more than all your other work combined so it still goes back to that quality versus quantity rule.
Keep record of where your work is located:
It is also helpful to keep a spreadsheet with titles, locations (where your work is posted), dates and even amounts of income you made from them if possible. Sales revenue is also important for tax forms. You'll need this information later on when you file your taxes.
Don’t worry too much if you don’t know how much money each piece has brought in it’s mainly for research purposes. If say for instance an article you wrote on diabetes is making a lot of money you might consider doing a similar story. Be careful though because this can backfire and cause the first story competition dragging down its totals. If they are different enough it can work well and they can compliment each other.
Keep stories updated and edited:
Over time you will need to change information on some stories as facts and trends change. Take for instance the food pyramid; it is now being changed to a plate format with different portions. If you wrote a piece on diet or nutrition including the old rules you might want to go in and make changes to update that story.
After a few days or weeks we often find spelling errors, typos or grammar we need to change. These aren’t always evident when we first write them even after going over a piece many times.
If you wrote a compilation article you may want to add to it as more information becomes available.
Don’t post a story and forget about it:
Articles stay on the web for years unlike newspapers or magazines that are read and after a while put in the recycle bin. You want to make sure your work is as fresh today as it was when you wrote it.
If you write an item about a celebrity in present tense but months from now it is old news you can go in and rewrite it in past tense adding any new information. Performers and Politicians stay interesting to people even after they are no longer popular, your audience will shrink but that is no reason to delete your work, just make sure your facts are accurate.
Reread your own stories every once in a while especially the ones not getting much traffic. It may need to be edited, rewrote or key words added.
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Some wise advice. I know that I, for one, am spread too thin.
Thanks for reading, Zia.
WannaB, it is easy to do. Trying to make money is good but we have to be careful we are keeping up with all those eggs.
Hi Pamela,
I am bookmarking this little gem as well as voting up.
This one is without a doubt going to come in very handy.
Take care
Eiddwen.
Thanks for reading, Eiddwen. This is part of the Writing Articles and Blogs For Money but it was getting too long so I split it into two stories.
As someone who have been in the Banking Industry I believe in not putting all the eggs in one basket. I write on a couple of Sites apart from HubPages. When my income from Google took a major dip on HubPages where I have nearly 600 articles in 3 accounts I saw a boost in my Blog income. Now my Blogs earn 3 fold of what I earn from Hubs so I think putting my time on Blogs was a very wise decision.
Thanks for the hub. I am new to the online writing scene so I am still trying to feel my way around. It is interesting to see everyone's views on these issues.
Anamika, mine fluctuates. Sometimes my articles make more money and sometimes my blogs do. I've had my blog sites for several years so my traffic there has always been good.
Scauthor, welcome. I hope you do well. Everyone had their opinion of what works. You have to find your own method because everyone is different.
Good article with excellent advice. This is probably a stupid question, but, since you write on different sites, is it kosher to publish the same articles on both?
Thanks for this hub. Voted up and useful. I am very new to writing on web sites and appreciate you sharing your experience. I also wonder about d.william's question.
Great advice, useful hub. Voted up, useful and bookmarked.
I more or less figure to expand out when I feel comfortable with it.I'll keep your advice in mind.
No, D. William. You should write new stuff for all the sites you write for otherwise it can be flagged as plagiarism. They have no way of knowing it is you posting in both places. You can, in some cases, post a link to your other work.
Marsha, I hope I helped you.
Thanks for reading, Leni.
Dahoglund, good luck with your writing.
Very inspiring hub. I do believe there are many good writers here. I hope we can keep our passion in writing field. I know there are many options out there. We can grab all the chances with good responsibility. Well done, Pamela. Rated up!
Love and peace,
Hi Pamela,
I believe what you say is good for people because they can relax and not get too stressed like me. I am a crazy person (ex MMORPG gamer) and was trained to spend 48 hours fighting monsters and people without sleep. If I am able to work, I will sometimes write for many hours. After that, I get sick of it and need to do something else for 5 minutes before I come back to writing again.
I voted you up. Thanks for this!
Thank you so much for answering my query. Your reasoning is impeccably rational. I am glad i asked. Thanks again.
Honestly, Pamela, I can't understand how some people can write an article or a story a day. and maintain such quality. I mean that there are very few who are capable of such. A lot of the hubs that I have posted have been written years ago, and gone over and refined and gone over again... Thank God I don't write to make money, but just because I like to write.
But are there any controls on the output of some people? I have seldom seen adults misusing words and spelling them as badly as I have on Hub Pages. I wouldn't have allowed Primary School Children in my classes to get away with what appears to be first drafts.
Sorry! End of moan.
Twilight Lawns, I really hear you. I used to teach English, and much of what I read makes me cringe. I make allowances for those who are speaking English as a second language, but a lot of the mistakes I see are not the kind English Language Learners make. What really makes me cringe is seeing that what some of these people write get better Google placement than that of those who write better articles on the same subjects. They also get higher lens ranks on Squidoo than better writers. I don't know how they do on Hub scores.
I agree again. It has little to do with ESL people, as I know several people who have English not as their mother tongue, and my best friend speaks Hindko first, Urdu second, and yet he has a better understanding of the workings of the English language than I do... and I majored in English at Teachers' College.
No. The mistakes are in understanding little about punctuation, grammar, spelling, and that old favourite, homophones. There are several people on HP who write "poetry" which is so bad it used to make me laugh. Now it makes me cringe. Just a selection of rhyming words with no reference at all to meaning.
I won't continue; I feel that I am preaching to the converted.
Thanks for reading, Prasetio.
Whoisbid, we all have our writing styles and methods that work for us. Good luck in your endeavors.
D. William, glad I could help.
Twilight, since our writing doesn't go through an editor for approval we get all levels of writers here; from really bad all the way up to advanced. Sometimes a pretty avatar gets a person further than being a great writer, not fair but I see it happen on a daily basis.
WannaBWriter, some are better at marketing than writing. Unfortunately a lot of people aren't as concerned with good grammar as they once were. Personally, if a writer's work is poorly written I stop reading early on. If a person lacks grammar and spelling skills I doubt their credibility. As you say if it's not their mother tongue I give them more leeway but if they grew up in English speaking schools there is no excuse for it.
Thanks for your input.
Nice insights. It's too bad that many publishing sites don't let you update your work the way HP does.
That's true, jponiato but most news sites delete old stories after a certain period of time. It's how they keep their articles fresh and keep their servers from being overloaded.
Great advice, quality over quantity~ Voted Up & Rated Useful~
Thanks for reading, Powerpoe1.
This is very good advice. Your hubs are very enjoyable to read, and also contain much wisdom and useful tips!
Thanks, Charlotte.
I too believe that we should not put our eggs in a single basket. But HubPages has been great for me, so I'll wait for some time and develop my portfolio here, then I'll diversify my writing. Having a blog is always good, something than nothing. But I've not given much time to my blog and my blog is not as active and fresh as yours.
By the way, do you write for other websites apart from HubPages and your blog?
No, I only write for Blogger and HubPages at the moment. I've thought about others but haven't yet. I'm also working on a book so not much time.
Thanks for replying, all the best for your book!
Pamela, great article on the, or part of the insights to branching out. I came to read and do 99 percent of the time and have no desire to write anywhere else, as I'm not interested in making any money at it so I'm happy with the community here. They are fun to interact with and there is much respect here for the most part, as long as you leave the forum topics on politics and religion out. Getting tied up with those are just inviting one to be, belittled and disrespected as the hateful thrive there.
I'm off track of your point, sorry 'bout that. You presented a fine article, peace dust
Thanks, Dusty. I don't go in most of the forums either. I think those people are mostly looking for an argument and I'm not very good at that.
So good to be encouraged, thanks.
I started with Hub Pages about 6 weeks ago because I like writing and I need to write; to be published anywhere is just great.
I am slow though. It takes at least 24 hours to mature an idea from when I first 'get it' - to when it is clear in my mind, ready to be written. Striving for quality, it then takes a day to research and write the Hub,(sometimes a long day).
I'm sure in time I'll improve my speed, but reading your Hub has made me feel OK about the rate I'm going at today.
Many thanks.
Goodlady, I don't worry too much about how much time it takes. I'd rather do my best than hurry through. Some stories take more research so don't worry, just keep writing.
Thank you for this wonderful advice! Great hub for me to read right now, as I am bouncing around trying to settle down on my stories. Such a fine line, quality, quantity. Thanks for the reminders of why better stories are best!
Some new Hubbers write many stories, still have a low score and can't figure out why. They need to work more on quality and less on quantity. Thanks for reading.
ZIa Ahmed khan 11 months ago
Simple but nice insight.