Web Content and What Topics to Write About to Make Money

Before there is any possiblity of earning from web content either on an article revenue sharing site, a blog or website, you need to write something! So in this section of my "How to make Money on Online" series, we're going to look at:

• What Topics to Write About

• How Much to Write

• Quality of Writing

• Other Considerations

So what topics can you write about to make money through web content? There's no easy answer to this question because almost any topic can be monetized - that is you can earn money from it. My suggestion is to keep an ongoing list of topics that you could write about, as new ideas will frequently come to mind as you go along.

When people start thinking about writing as a career whether it's online or offline, the advice they receive from more exxperienced writers is, "write what you know" and it's very good advice. There's not a lot of point writing on subjects that you know little about, have little interest in and could take many hours to research. You may decide to do this later on, but to start with write what you know.

You may be thinking but I don't know much! Well, I will challenge that strongly - you know more than you think you know! If I can jot down 100 writing topics in half an hour so can you.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Topics to Write About Could Include:

• Skills you've learnt in your day job and jobs you've held in the past.
• Special interests you have and hobbies.
• Topics you've researched previously for other reasons.
• Places you've lived in or holidayed in.
• Health problems you or someone you know has had.
• Problems or issues that you have overcome.
• Products you use and could write a useful review on.

Let's break these suggestions down some more and to help you, I'll use myself as an example. I'll show you the hundreds of things I could choose from to write about and illustrate how we all have tonnes of knowledge and skills to share.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Think about the jobs you've had, paid and voluntary, and what those jobs required you to do or to know about.

The main jobs I've had and in no particular order are: working in a restaurant - Nursery School Assistant - Youth Worker - Writing and Delivering Training in a variety of topics - Community project manager - Community development worker - Family support worker - Youth offending worker - Chairperson for a local charity - Counsellor - Advocay work - Mentor - Co-operative business advisor - Freelance writer.

When I break these down even further to look at what skills I have and what topics I know about, I can come up with a huge list and so will you once you do it for yourself!

(I'm sorry this next section is a bit listy, but there was just no other way to do it! Just make sure you use the headings to write your own lists as you go through - this will give you plenty of writing ideas for months, if not years, to come.)

Work Skills

• Business Models
• Legal Structures for Businesses
• Staff Supervision
• Volunteering
• Confidence and Self Esteem
• Anger Management
• Multi Agency Working
• Sexual Health
• Writing Accurate Minutes
• Building Relationships with Teenagers
• Making Reports Interesting
• Time Management

• Food Allergies and Intolerance
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Drug Addiction
• Personality Disorders
• Alcohol Addiction
• Smoking
• STD's
• Abortion
• Miscarriage
• Health in Pregnancy
• Breast Feeding

• Home Birth

Write About Problems You Have Overcome

• Baby Sleep Problems
• Potty Training
• Depression
• Parenting Problems
• Relationship Difficulties
• Marriage and Divorce
• Single Parenthood
• Managing on a Small Budget

• Learning to Cook

Write About Products You Use and Review Them

• IBP (internet business promoter)
• Homestead Website Builder
• Ducati Motorbikes
• Ducati Motorbike Gear
• Novels
• Non Fiction Books
• X-Box/PS 3/Computer Games
• Facebook
• Internet Tools
• Dairy Free Products
• Digital Cameras
• HD TV

• Science - Physics, biology, geology, climate, geography, astronomy.
• Cooking
• Dream Interpretation
• Signs and Symbols
• Tarot
• Womens Issues
• Politics
• Travel
• Sociology
• Spirituality
• Religion
• Reading
• Scrabble

• Films

Write About Topics You've Researched Previously

• Evolution
• Creationism
• Mormonism
• Creating PDF Documents
• Setting Up a Forum
• Starting a Website
• Website Hosting
• Editing a Blogger Template
• Basic HTML

• Creating HTML Emails

Write About Places You've Lived, Visited or Holidayed In

• Spain
• Turkey
• France
• Touring with a Motorhome
• Touring on a Motorbike
• Norway
• Finland
• London
• Cambridge

• Essex, UK

All of these topic areas can be broken down even further, so for instance where one of my personal interests is reading, I could decide to review the latest books I've read, or write about my top 10 science fiction books, the worst books or the most inspiring books I've ever read.

I could write many articles about one of the places I've lived in and write about the Pretty Villages of Essex, Best Pubs in Essex, What to See in Essex, The New Towns of Essex, and Essex Girls.

The list of what topics to write about is almost endless when I start to think about all the possible aspects and viewpoints in the various categories and subjects, but how to choose what to write on from the miriad topics and subtopics available?

Choosing What Topics to Write About

To start with I'd say choose what most interests and excites you! Learn your craft and develop your voice through these first few articles. Then once you've learnt all about keyword research, look back over your list of ideas and find out which subjects and subtopics have the most value and the least competition or in other words - find your niche or niches. There's no need to stick to one topic unless you really want to. In fact, I'd suggest trying out quite a few topics - you may be surprised at what earns and what doesn't.

When I first came to HubPages I was really interested in writing articles for the Flagship Hub Program (which sadly is not currently operating) and it was the format required for these flagship hubs, that helped me start writing top quality hubs. The instructions to get approval for the program were to:

• Create the World's Best Web Page on the Topic
• Write a minimum of 1500 words
• Add at least 3 Videos
• Add at least 5 Images
• Add at least 10 highly relevant links with descriptions
• Add a news or RSS capsule
• Excellent Page Structure

This is what I began with and it's what I have, in the most part, attempted to stick with. The areas on this list of requisites that I have stuck with are to: try and write the definitive guide on the particular area I am writing on. I always add at least 5 highly relevant links, a news or RSS feed and I make sure that my page structure is pleasing to the eye and easily readable.

Areas I have not kept to 100% of the time include, word count - while most of my hubs are over 1500 words some are shorter. I make sure I write a very minimum of 800 words. This gives search engines enough content to crawl through and enough for readers to feel you are not just bumming them off with some tat.

Images

Depending on what I'm writing on I may use just one image. If it's a sales page I don't want to detract too much from the reader buying. I do like to include a good amount of images in my travel hubs. My travel hubs can use many more images.

Videos

I sometimes use YouTube videos in my hubs, sometimes I don't. For me it depends whether I believe that a visual representation of information will enhance my article or not. For instance if I wrote a hub on "How to Tie Knots" then videos would help a lot. For an article like this one, I don't think a video would help the reader in any way.

Crap Writing = More Clicks?

I wanted to include my two cents on this issue. Some people say that if your writing is poor quality you will get more clicks, because the reader will click on an ad to get to the information they want. This may or may not be true, but I can't see how it would work really. If your content is crap, then unless you have done tonnes of work getting backlinks (which would actually take more time than writing a good article in the first place), you aren't going to get good search potitions - so a lot less visitors. Less visitors = less clicks.

Anyway writing crap would bore me to death as well as go against my principles, so I won't be doing this.

There are many other things to consider when you are writing for the internet, such as:

• Spelling and Grammar - I will only say it once - your spelling and grammar need to be impeccable!
• What tenses to use
• Active vs Passive Words
• Emotional and Psychological Marketing Techniques

• Use of Pronouns (you, you're)

Write for Your Reader

But I think more important than any of these things above (except for spelling and grammar), is to put yourself in the place of your reader and ask yourself - what will my reader want to know? How would my reader like to be spoken to? As well as writing to be found by search engines, we are also writing to share information. The reader should never be lost in the midst of our need to get good search results positions and get clicks and sales.

Proofread, proofread and proofread some more

There's nothing worse or more off putting than trying to read online content with numerous spelling and grammatical errors. Make sure your spelling is perfect by proofreading your work a few times and using spellcheck.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hope this article, (which is number 2 in the series on how to make money on online), has given you ideas on what topics to write about and how to write quality web content for the internet.

Did you forget to sign up to HubPages? SIGN UP NOW and start earning!