5 Reasons To Keep On Writing

Whether your article gets 6 visits or 600, it's still getting visits. And who's to say that those 6 visits aren't important? One of my lowest ranking, least visited articles is the one article that's brought me the most success in the offline world.

I wrote about a little known medical illness that only gets like 6 searches a month. Because this subject was important to me, I made it one heck of an article. I'd even go so far as to say it's one of the best on it's subject. But being the best doesn't make up for the fact that there are only 6 searches a month.

Unless one of those 6 searches happens to be from a professor who's writing a book on that same subject and is looking for someone to co-author his book. Then, those 6 little searches matter. And since I wrote one of the best articles on that subject, who do you think he asked to help him with his book? That's right. Me. Come March 2012, I'll be a published author.

Now lets fast forward a few months. A well known television journalist is starting his own talk show and wants to do a show on the subject of my article. So he becomes one of those 6 searchers and lands on my article. A week later, his assistant is making plans to fly me to New York to tape the show. 

Yes, a few days later, the show got postponed indefinitely, but that didn't damper my mood. I still get to walk around knowing that Anderson Cooper thought my article was the best on the subject.

So don't focus on the 600 visits you aren't getting. Instead focus on how important those 6 visitors could be.

Writing online is a slow process. Even after you figure out that complex formula for how to attract Google and real people, you still have to write your article. Once you write an article, you have to wait for it to be indexed and you have to wait while it slowly builds traffic. You have to wait for it to rise in the ranks on the site you write for and you have to wait the "grace period" to get paid for anything you sell on that article. Basically, you just have to wait.

In my experience, the more articles you write, the more you get paid (unless you haven't figured out that complex formula). So while you're doing all that waiting I mentioned earlier, write more articles. Yes, it's going to take time, but after a while, the money will start coming in steadily. Your articles will even work while you aren't. 

So it takes a lot of work when you first start out, sometimes it may even seem like too much work. But with time, that work will pay off.

If you're writing online and trying to make a living from it, I'm just going to assume you like to write. I mean, who would actively choose to work for themselves doing something they hated? So now we know you enjoy writing.

So do it. Forget about Google. Forget about your potential viewers. Forget about making money from it. Just write for yourself. Pick a subject you love to write about and start typing. Write about your dog. Write about your favorite meal. Write about that trip to Alaska where you caught that 32 inch (ahem! 22 inch) fish. Write about how great your life would be if you had x-ray vision. Just write about whatever makes you happy. When you write about something you love, that love is clearly reflected to your viewers.

I wrote an article about how my husband doesn't meet any of the qualities I always thought my future husband would possess. I wrote it in a way that makes fun of his antics and mishaps and exaggerates our differences. I smile every time I read it because I love that article! And so do my viewers. They can see my love for my husband in every single word I wrote and you know why? Because I wrote it for me. I didn't use any keywords. I've never back linked it. I've rarely ever advertised it. But Google sees what it's about and send traffic my way. That lens has made me money every month since I wrote it.

So go write something just for you. I bet you'll be surprised with the results!

We all have opinions. We all have our own views and our own ways of thinking. Why not tell your side? It doesn't have to be about some huge controversial subject like abortion rights or who the next president should be. You can express your opinion about anything.

I wrote an entire article about why I think cats shouldn't be potty trained. I wrote another one about why I strongly believe you should never swallow your gum. And let's not forget my favorite. I wrote an article expressing my opinion that my neighbor's yard should be as trashy as he wants it! This article rarely gets visits, but each visit it gets serves a purpose. This article allows the local residents of my county to come somewhere and voice their own opinions on the subject. And when someone voices an opinion different from mine, I get to laugh at them. Because while they were able to write one tiny little paragraph, I was the one who wrote the whole article, so guess who's opinion is actually seen? Guess who's opinion actually matters? Mine. Muahahaha!

So follow my lead. Write an article about why you think Ketchup should be green. Write about your very strong opposition to the "no riding horses while drunk" law. Write why you think Batman would kick Spidermans butt. Get your opinions out there! 

On the other website I write for, we're always getting told what works. We're always getting told what Google wants. We're always getting told what our viewers are looking for. The staff are the ones telling us all this, so most of the writers just follow along. But what if they're wrong?

I've been hearing since day one that "niche is better". Always go niche. Narrow your niche down as far as possible. Write about just one specific product. Well, it's a good thing I didn't listen because I wrote an article about 15 different types of chess (and included 5 different products for each of those types). I went as broad as I could possible go. Any broader and I would've had to name the article "Games". And guess what? This totally un-niche article is consistently among my top 5 and gets sales almost every day. 

I'm not going to lie. My article was probably just dumb luck. But that's the good thing about luck. Anybody can get it. So go out and defy the norm. Write articles the way you want to write them. Make your stamp on the web. Maybe you'll get lucky! Maybe you'll be the exception!

Oh! And one last thing! Niche is better.