How To Leverage The Skill Of Writing Into Other Areas
“Anyone can write.”
“Is it possible to make money writing? No! If it were, everyone would be doing it!”
People get hit from all angles when they suggest that they might be tempted to pursue the noble art of exchanging words for money.
The crux of the matter is that everyone is going to tell you that writing has no barrier to entry and, as such, there’s no money to be made in writing.
Those people are obviously wrong.
However, you can’t just type words on a screen and hope that the money fairy will deposit coins in your vault.
If you could, then my exercise for curing writer’s block (seriously, click that link it’s amazing) would have made me a billionaire by now.
What you can do is take a rudimentary skill with words and use it in all sorts of ways to generate income. In this article, I’m going to tell you how you can learn auxiliary skills that’ll turn your wordsmithing into money.
Content Writing
Writing content online is the easiest and quickest way to make money with words.
Essentially, if you can sign up for an Upwork account, look up subjects on Wikipedia and write simple information, then you can make money as a freelance writer.
If you just follow the above advice, you won’t make millions, but you’ll make a reasonable income working the hours that you want, and you’ll be able to get on the ladder as far as earning money online goes.
It’s pretty easy and it pays ok, but I know you’re not here for a simple, “write articles online” piece of advice. Let’s look at some other ways you can make money with words, and what it takes to do outside of those words.
Copywriting/Writing Sales Letters For Clients
If you want to move beyond content writing for general internet people, you could –and I’d argue should – learn about copywriting.
Copywriting is basically the term used for writing adverts. Whether you’re writing scripts for videos, long-form sales letters for online products or a few sentences here and there for short-form adverts, copywriting is the art of directly telling people to buy a product in a convincing way.
I’ve written a lot of articles about this.
Check out How To Start Copywriting and What Are The Best Copywriting Books.
If you’re really serious, then check out Gary Halbert’s 30 Day Challenge and check back to this site in January, when I’ll probably do this challenge myself.
Building Websites
Another way to turn words into money is to build websites.
Again, I’ve written a lot about this in the past, so check out the archives.
Web design is as complicated as writing itself, and there are a million and one things you can do and learn as far as web design goes.
However, if you’re a writer looking to make money by starting websites, you don’t have to get complicated with your learning.
Buy a domain name.
Get web hosting.
Start writing for your website.
That’s all there is to it. You can figure out the rest later, once you’ve got into the habit of writing.
As for what to write on your website and what to do with your website?
I’d recommend starting with writing reviews of products you use and own. It’ll help with copywriting and getting to grips with how to make money online. It’ll also help people who are looking for information on products before you buy them.
It’ll also help with the next thing I’m going to suggest.
Building Funnels Online
If you take all of the above elements, you can make money making machines, and I mean that quite literally.
Build a website with a product offer; write content such as blog posts, emails and social media posts promoting it. Use your copywriting skills to funnel readers from one place to another, and ultimately, to buying the product and beyond.
Every word you write in a system like this is an asset that’ll push people towards your ultimate goal of having them exchange something for their money, with you being the collector of said funds.
When you have the basics of this skill down – and if you’ve learned the above skills, this is a case of learning structure more than anything – you have an entire system that you can work into any niche product offer or market. You can add to it, subtract from it and learn all kinds of new things that’ll increase the effectiveness of your funnels, and also of every other skill.
For instance, once you know how to make a sales funnel with video sales letters, you’ll find that that helps with creating content, building better websites and helping to write non-video sales letters as well.
Final Thoughts
The above started as a simple list of things to earn money with if you’re a writer. It turned into a kind-of step by step system for moving through starting as a freelance writer through to becoming a complete copywriting/affiliate marketing mastermind.
It’s basic (it’s late and I’m exhausted) but it’s something you can go away and look into. Also, I’ll come back to the system later.
Bear in mind I’ve written how to make a good living as a writer without talking about writing books, reports or anything remotely like what a traditional view of a writer is, according to the people from the questions at the beginning of this article.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned about being a professional writer, it’s that the opportunities are more varied than you think, and in areas which you probably wouldn’t imagine yourself in. You can do it!