6 Methods I Use To Make 6 Figures Online as a Content Writer
When I was pregnant with my twins, I knew I wanted to find a way to stay home with them and still contribute to our finances.
Writing has always been a passion of mine, so in 2014 when my twins were toddlers I decided to start freelancing and see if I could make it work. It turns out, I was able to make more than enough money to support my family by content writing. Fast forward to now and I make six figures from my writing.
When most people think of writing for a living, they imagine spending hours slaving away for pennies. Or, they think there is no consistency with it and it’s just a feast and famine cycle.
The truth is, writing for a living means writing online. There are a number of ways to make money as a writer, but I’m going to focus on six ways that made me a six figure writer.
The Thing to Remember
The bulk of my income from my writing stems from my own products and not from my freelance clients.
I’m sure there are content writers that make a great income every month, but I chose to diversify my income and diversify my interests by having several blogs and building a brand.
I honestly feel if you want to make six or seven figures you MUST diversify your income. You don’t know if one day half of your affiliates decide to slash commission rates or if your Youtube earnings take a big hit that you can’t recover from. That’s why it’s in the best interest to have different ways to make money with your writing.
1. Product Sales
I create online courses and have printables that I sell for both my sites, Elna Cain and Twins Mommy.
Disclaimer: There are affiliate links in this article, which means if you make a purchase after clicking on one, I may make a commission.
I host my products on Teachable
This income stream is what made me a six figure writer/blogger.
While one main course is what is fueling this income stream, having more than one course or product can really help a content writer or blogger create consistent income.
How?
- It helps with your email marketing efforts by opening up to funnels and tripwires
- A course can be a form of evergreen content that can be updated
- You can use it as an upsell or downsell in your sales funnel
If you have a website or blog, then chances are you already have some sort of audience. This is the perfect time to start thinking about ways to monetize that audience by selling products. Whether you create an online course, sell printables, or have some other type of product, selling products is a great way to make money as a content writer or blogger.
2. Affiliate Marketing
In 2021 amidst a pandemic, I made close to $70,000 in affiliate marketing.
I was shocked, since I don’t heavily promote my affiliates like Grammarly, Tailwind or Convertkit.
I also don’t have dozens of affiliates but I have enough to make a good side hustle income!
If you’re not familiar with affiliate marketing, it means promoting a product or service using a special link that’s designated to you and if anyone clicks on your special link, you get a kickback or commission for recommending that product or service.
If you want to do affiliate marketing for your blog or business here are some quick tips go get you started:
- Research the top affiliate networks that your favorite companies use — There are hundreds of affiliate programs and affiliate networks you can try. My suggestion is to think of your audience and what they need the most. For one of my sites, I’m an affiliate for six or so online birthing courses and a pregnancy planner. For another site, I’m an affiliate for stock photos and Canva.
2. Create accounts on the popular networks you researched
3. Write reviews of products, services, or websites that you’re familiar with — When I first started affiliate marketing this is something I DIDN’T do, and I didn’t make any income from affiliate marketing! It wasn’t until I wrote an educational tutorial on using a tool that I saw conversions! So, if you want write a product reivew or tutorial and pair that with a video, you will gain some affiliate marketing income!
4. Include affiliate links in your blog posts — Make sure to disclose you use affiliate marketing on your blog and have fun displaying them in different ways. If you need help I have a video on inserting affiliate links in your posts:
5. Share your reviews on social media and other websites — If allowed by the company, feel free to promote your affiliates on social and with guest sites or other platforms like Medium!
6. Monitor your affiliate income and track your conversions — It’s a good idea to monitor your affiliate conversions to see if you can tweak it or modify it in some way.
3. Display Ads
I also make a good chunk of my income from display ads. I use Mediavine for my ad network and they are amazing! Once a blog reaches 25000 sessions (it has since increased to 50,000 sessions) I applied and use it for several of my sites.
If you want to increase your income using ads I would format my blog posts to have a lot of white space, create long form content so there is more chance of more ads being displayed, and limit images in my blog posts.
Display ads are a great way to make money as a content writer or blogger because they provide a steady stream of income that can be quite lucrative. In fact, many content writers and bloggers make the majority of their income from display ads.
4. Client Work
I don’t make a full-time income with my freelance client work because I CHOOSE not to!
I enjoy building my brand and writing on my own sites a tad more. Don’t get me wrong — I still love writing for brands and I LOVE LOVE LOVE landing high paying clients or huge brands.
One of my recent clients, Zapier, is a pleasure to work with and my most recent client is billing a $3k retainer.
In 2021, I focussed on email sequence clients and enjoyed marketing on Instagram and working with wonderful mompreneurs and authors!
If you want to get paid to write for clients, make sure to enroll in my FREE email course, Get Paid to Write!
5. Youtube
I started my Youtube channel years ago but I only uploaded my Facebook Lives for a Challenge I was doing.
It wasn’t until around 2020 that I actually created Youtube videos and worked on making money on Youtube. So, in 2021 I earned $2910.
Not bad, considering for 8 or so months I didn’t post anything and still continued to grow my channel.
6. Medium
While I enjoy writing on Medium, I don’t make much money on this platform. I’m not sure why….
Maybe I don’t write viral content or I don’t write consistently (when I’m on a roll I may write three times a month). Who knows? I made less than $600 last year from writing on Medium.
For the longest time I was going to do a 30 Day Medium challenge but I just haven’t had the time! I may revisit this in the summer!
If you’re looking for a way to make great money without the need for a traditional 9–5, then you may want to consider becoming a content writer! With so many different ways to make money, there’s no reason why you can’t make six figures as a content writer. So what are you waiting for? Feel free to subscribe to my blogging Youtube channel or my freelance writing Youtube channel for more help!
If you are interested in writing on Medium, you can sign up here! Once you sign up you can read all my articles and thousands on Medium!