Freelance Writing

Those of you with writing ability will be pleased to find that there are many sites that will pay you for well-written articles, reviews, and other works. Some sites will even hire you as a dedicated writer to work online from home.
About.com offers a freelance writing program for serious writers. You can sign up to be a "Guide" in a number of different areas of expertise and then manage a "GuideSite" on that topic. To see if you qualify, there is a mandatory training program for new Guides so that you can show a sample of your work. Guides earn a minimum of $725 per month writing for About. com, with the amount increasing as you publish more content and get more pageviews.
Appingo is a full service provider for publishers. They hire freelance writers to work from home and do copy editing and proofreading. Note that they are looking for writers with some previous experience and thus, you must submit a resume in order to qualify.
Associated Content provides a wide variety of different ways to produce content and be paid for it. All types of original content are accepted - the focus is on written articles, but you can also send in videos, images, or audio clips. These can be on essentially any topic you like. AC will then review your submission and make an offer - generally between $3 and $20 - before publishing it on their site. You can also earn an additional monthly bonus if the content you create becomes popular on the site. Note that Associated Content is only available in the
United States.
Constant Content is a site that supplies articles, reviews, tutorials, and other types of content to clients looking to complete web sites or other web projects. You can register on the site as an author and begin publishing content of your own. You are able to set the price someone must pay to use your articles and Constant Content takes a 35% cut from this. You also have full control over the rights to your work. You can sell usage rights, which earn less but can be resold over and over, or you can choose to sell the full rights to the work and earn
a larger one-time fee for it.
DayTipper is a site with a huge collection of tips which are supplied by the site's members. A tip can be any sort of practical information on a wide variety of topics. Tips are generally around one paragraph long. If you submit a tip, DayTipper will then review it to see that your tip is original and helpful. For every tip you write that is published on the site, you will receive $3.00.
Digital Journal is a frequently updated news site where all articles are submitted by users of the site, known as "citizen journalists". Users also comment and vote on which articles make the front page. Digital Journal shares a portion of its advertising revenue with the users who submit articles. You can increase your share by submitting more articles and submitting articles that become popular on the site. Digital Journal discloses how much money was paid out to its users each month, as well as which users were the top earners.
Helium is a full writing community where anyone can post original articles or other writings and then be paid for it. All works on the site are rated by other users. The amount paid for articles depends on how well it is rated, how popular it is, and the overall topic of the article.
Helium also offers frequent writing contests where publishers pay up to $150 to the winners, and a "Marketplace" where you can browse freelance writing tasks from various publishers, who pay anywhere from $20 to $200 for specific works.
Review Stream is a review site that pays for reviews of just about anything - movies, music, stores, hotels, electronics, web sites, and almost anything else you can think of. The amount paid for reviews changes from time to time. As of this writing, they pay $1.50 for a review with an additional $0.10 paid every time someone rates your review. Review Stream asks that you are very specific in your reviews, and that you do not submit reviews that you have already published elsewhere.
Shvoong is a site that specializes in abstracts, which are essentially condensed versions (summaries or reviews) of larger written works. Anyone can sign up to write abstracts, and you can write your abstracts on anything you choose, in any language. You then receive royalties based on how popular your abstracts are.
Software Judge is a software review site. They pay writers for honest, original, opinionated reviews of software. The software you review must be chosen and downloaded (for free) from the Software Judge site itself. At the time this was written, there are over 100 titles to choose from. You can submit a maximum of three reviews per day, and they pay as much as $50 for a review. Besides cash, Software Judge also offers free software incentives for their top reviewers. You must be able to accept Western Union payments to get paid for your
reviews.
Squidoo is a site where users share their knowledge on various topics. After you sign up with Squidoo, you can create a "lens" - this is basically a page that acts as a starting point for a particular topic. The topic can be just about anything and you can include information, links to other sites, and other references. Squidoo provides ready-made modules to make these pages easy to set up. You then receive 50% of the ad revenue and affiliate royalties from the pages that you create.
Thisisby.us is a writing community where anyone can submit their original works. These can be articles, opinions, how-tos, or just general musings on just about any subject. 50% of the advertising revenue of the site goes to the writers. Readers of the site vote on which content they like the most, and more popular writers will receive a higher portion of the revenue. An additional 10% of the advertising revenue goes to those who sign up and comment on the articles.
UserTesting pays you to review other web sites. In addition to a written review, you are also asked to use a screen recording program (supplied by UserTesting - you must be using Windows to run the software) to record your mouse movements, along with spoken comments, as you use the site you are reviewing. UserTesting pays $10.00 per full review.
Before being allowed to review, you must supply a sample video using their screen recording program. When making a review, it is important to be critical and try to find flaws in the web site that you are reviewing.
Wise Orb is another writing site that allows anyone to submit original writings and articles on most topics you can think of. All submissions are screened by an editor before making it on the site, and they prohibit adult and/or "controversial" content. The more popular your articles are, the more you will get paid, although Wise Orb does not disclose exactly how their payment system works, so it is difficult to judge. You must also wait until your account has reached $100.00 to be paid.
WordFirm is a book and report publishing site that hires freelance writers to work online on various projects. Tasks include writing, editing, proofreading, and even graphic design. WordFirm requires you to fill out a detailed application to see if you qualify. They promise a flexible and professional writing environment for serious writers.
WorldStart is a computing site that features articles, newsletters, and more. They are looking for article writers as well as tips for their "Computer Tips and Techniques" newsletter.
Submissions should include all relevant screenshots. All content is geared towards the "average" computer user and not meant to be highly technical. WorldStart must approve your idea before you begin, and pay ranges from $35.00 to $65.00.