Tips and Tricks After 50 Pages on Wizzley

by JoHarrington

The first fifty articles on any site are hard work. Yet that crash course provides insights that soon become second nature.

At the beginning, it seems that nothing much happens. A new site, a new career, and a painfully slow building with little reward.

The hits bobble along, barely rising, before sinking again. The monetization sheets show rows of zeros.

The majority of on-line writers give up long before they see a return on their hard work; and it is hard work. More than many anticipated. Will you be able to stay the pace? Could you keep yourself motivated unto the other side of oblivion?

Image: Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (1818)
Image: Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (1818)
Caspar David Friedrich

How to Start Writing for Wizzley

First you create a page. Write it. Publish it. Rinse. Repeat.

Write often, write well.

That is the golden rule for anyone trying to build a reputation or revenue with on-line articles. Beyond SEO and page lay-out, it remains the key to it all.

But for those just beginning on Wizzley or anywhere else, it feels like there should be so much more.

Hours get lost in the half-formed panic of reading endless articles offering advice on how to make it big. Like this one, in fact. But the rest is refinement. The underlying principle never changes, no matter how the story is told. Write often, write well.

This was the philosophy with which I entered Wizzley.  I'm fairly new to this game. Nearly 130 articles on Suite101 helped me learn how to write on-line, but every site is different. Wizzley and Suite101 appear to me like chalk and cheese, but it didn't take long to realize that, beneath their differences, the same advice held true. Write often, write well.

I started writing for Wizzley on December 16th 2011. For three weeks, I struggled to get my daily hits above double figures. The chart trickled along, telling me that people were reading, but not really that many. Not enough for it to register in the monetization.

The wise souls talk of giving it time. But hours of research and writing are exhausting. Ploughing on with no guarantee of success takes a serious amount of will-power.  Then you hit a mental brick wall. 

Writing often and writing well is all good in theory, until you actually have to do it. How do you find the motivation to go on investing the time and talent?

Commitment

"Determination is often the first chapter in the book of excellence."
Commitment

How to Stay Motivated

Give yourself small, manageable and achievable goals.

Regular readers will know that I often write about Runescape. Zezima, a famous player of the game, has hi-scores which are the stuff of legend. He was once asked how he achieved them and his answer applies here too.

Zezima said that he gave himself tiny challenges on a daily basis. They were each small enough that he could attain them. They acted as little checkpoints, milestones, moments of real achievement. They gave him enough satisfaction to set the next goal.

In the days of few hits on my articles, I stole his technique. Today's challenge was to invite one more reader to look at my writing. Tomorrow's will be to get 50 hits, instead of 48. The next day, I will strive for three articles in one day!

I didn't lose motivation, because I was too busy wooting over all my little achievements.

Three Wizzles That I Wrote in One Day

I set myself the challenge on January 23rd 2011, and I did it!
In every pregnancy there is a moment when the new life is felt. When this happens to Mother Earth, we call it Imbolc.
The makers of Runescape have successfully prosecuted bot makers, Impulse Software. Jagex now has the names of all infringing customers.
Originating from Galway, in Ireland, Claddagh rings were historically worn by men. They were clues towards love and friendship (and politics).

How Does Wizzley Actually Work?

I'm not ChefKeem, Simon, Nightowl nor any of the excellent team here. But I have eyes in my head.

Another thing that an inveterate, old gamer like me has picked up from the pixel world is to inspect your area.

If you don't, then you could be working away forever without having noticed that the secret lever is just behind that boulder; or that a fire-breathing dragon is about to own you from behind.

(For the record, I've searched the entire of Wizzley and there wasn't a single boss monster lurking. Stay calm and carry on writing.)

Understanding how Wizzley works can help you from day one in crafting successful articles. This is, in no small measure, because the whole site has been set up by veteran writers. All the little tricks and tweaks are designed to give pointers to readers and writers alike on the best pages out there.

Take the front page. There are three sets of top seven articles on the site. Visitors get their value here, because they can tell instantly what's brilliant, up-to-date and worth reading. You want to be in that list!  Publicity is good!

So how do you get there? 

  • Editor's Choice. The first top seven are those latest articles to be awarded an accolade by the Wizzley team. The only way to be there is to write often and write well. If that fails, then you're doing something wrong, so go and study those that did make the grade. Work out why they're so good, then nick every tip and trick that caught your eye.
  • Popular. These are the individual articles that have most recently ranked 100% across the site. To be on here, you'll have to work on boosting your article's ranking. We'll come back to this.
  • Buzzing. These seven articles have got people talking. If you want to be on this list, then you need to start persuading visitors to leave comments on your page. Invite them to do so by asking their opinion or the answer to a certain question. If readers are returning to Facebook or a forum to discuss it, wade on in there and shepherd them all back onto your Wizzley page.

Just trying to achieve a listing, in any of those three, will mean that you're on the right lines to being a great writer. It practically forces you to be brilliant, to write fantastic content, promote it and answer any comments that come your way. All best practice stuff!

Editor's Choice Awards

Using the same word over and over again used to be a sure-fire way to get search engine hits. Now it will just get you fired.
'Will you marry me?' is one of the most nerve-wracking questions a man can ever ask. Tim came up with a very modern way to woo his Audrey.
For centuries, Welsh women have got the message when presented with a hand-carved wooden spoon. It means he's very interested indeed.
Frustrated by trying to fix a computer by telephone? Crossloop is a free must-have for family go-to geeks everywhere.

Your Article's Ranking

This needs to be 100%!

Take a close look at the little picture beside any article listed on Wizzley. There are plenty on the front page, topic pages or profiles to inspect.

Run your cursor over them and some information will pop up, including that article's Wizzley ranking. The highest is 100%; presumably the lowest is 1%. You're aiming for triple figures!

Several factors funnel into that score: the number of hits; comments; Wizzley likes (blue button); and social networking buttons pressed. It's all about providing content that people not only want to read, but tell the world about it too.

But it's a moving quantity. If people stop clicking anywhere near that page, then your ranking will fall.

By the same token, even if your article is languishing down in a single figure ranking, it's not game over. You can still recover it enough to take it right to the top.

Journey

A bend in the road is not the end of the road... unless you fail to make the turn.
Journey

How to Turn Around a Failing Article Ranking

Every Wizzley page starts at 47%. What happens next, for the rest of your days, is up to you.

If your article ranking is starting to fall, then that's your signal to promote it again.

Be careful though. No-one in your social networks will love you, if you spam them every day with the same thing.

Better still write something else on a similar topic. You can add a 'more articles like this' kind of link back to the one that's falling, as long as it's relevant. That might generate some more publicity, which will bring visitors to boost your ranking with hits, clicks and comments.

Obviously, this isn't suitable for all things. That clever percentage appears to keep things up-to-date by calculating how recently all the activity occurred on your article. If everyone liked it at Christmas, then it'll be slipping into the 90s by February. That's about right, if your subject matter is Santa Claus. No-one wants to be reading about him come summer.

If your page rank never crept too high to begin with, then a revamp might be in order. Take a good, long look at your content and work out why it's not very popular. Does it answer all that you set out to address? It is aesthetically pretty? Have you got lots of lovely keywords, but not over-stuffed it?

If you can't find anything wrong, then Wizzley has a whole forum category for article feedback. It's there for you to bring in the experts and let them point out the room for improvement. That might not even be a complete rewrite. Some solutions are surprisingly simple.

I had a page which was inspiringly called Studying History as a Timeline. It wavered around the 60% mark, then tottered and began falling.

I co-opted a couple of friends to read it and tell me why it was so bad. They aren't people to refrain from calling me on my rubbish, so when they informed me it was fine, I believed them. The only negative feedback they could muster concerned the extremely boring title.

All I did was rename it. The rank immediately began to climb all the way up to 100%, where it's stayed ever since.

This was once called 'Studying History As a Timeline'

History is an on-going tale, which directly affects the modern day. Each event is part of a domino effect causing ripples across the world.

Forming a Writing Strategy on Wizzley

The things I find to write about aren't as random as they may appear.

Wizzley is a relatively new platform in which to select your topics. So many categories, or sub-categories at least, are completely empty of content. Write for it and you're guaranteed a niche front page for a little while to come.

In a similar vein, the opposite can be over-subscribed. When there exists a plethora of excellent articles discussing a certain subject, it is difficult to make your own stand out.

Recently half of Wizzley were writing about love and romance, as Valentine's Day is fast approaching. While the articles came thick and fast, I noticed that only one aspect remained untouched. The Anti-Valentine's Day category was almost empty!

I went against the grain in writing a couple of articles for it. They are now both in my current top five most popular pages. I stepped away from the madding crowd and it was noticed. There is also a reason why I wrote two.

I've started to think in terms of 'support' articles, based on a snippet of information that I've carried with me since high school. That's when my music teacher finally got the class's attention by explaining how the Top 40 worked.

(A note for younger readers. Back in the days when dinosaurs ruled the Earth, we bought vinyl singles from the shops. The most sales led to a ranking in the Top 40 on Radio One. It was the most important thing ever, when I was a teenager.)

Mr Smallwood explained that bands always released their next single, while the first was starting to fall down the charts. That way fans got the publicity in waves and the rock-stars remained famous.

If it's good enough for the Beatles and Duran Duran, it's good enough for Wizzley writers. I tend to look at which of my articles the front page has listed, then write a second article on the same subject. When people finish reading the one with all of the publicity, they might check out others in the same category and get to my brand new entry in at number 47!

With this in mind, I'm trying out a cycle of subjects, with the same ones recurring. You can catch me at it, if you look to see what articles of mine are currently on the Wizzley front page. Visit my profile and it's highly likely that my latest page will be on the same topic.

I've also taken the advice of fellow Wizzley writers, in order to understand and improve my writing as I've gone along. This includes Jimmie's encouragement to write a blog series. I have several on the go, which are all in there in my writing cycle. I co-ordinate the backgrounds on them, so you can tell you're in the same set!

Two articles written to support each other

Alarms in your house warn of anything from a fire to a burglary. But what if the only person there is hearing impaired?
Unilateral hearing affects a significant percentage of the population. How would you welcome a client or guest with this kind of deafness?

Two articles which each began a series

Many initiates come seeking a world of witchcraft and spells. The reality of the Wiccan religion may not be the right path for all.
Enter a world where the true life stories read like the plot of a Hollywood blockbuster. This is the saga of your own family's roots.

My Wizzley Daily Visitor Stats at 50 Pages

It all improved after those first three weeks. I reached the fifty page milestone on February 6th 2012.
My Wizzley Stats at 50 Pages
My Wizzley Stats at 50 Pages
Jo Harrington/Wizzley

On Wizzley, Write Often, Write Well

Reflections at the start of an epic freelance writing quest.

I can't claim to know it all after less than two months on Wizzley. I haven't even scratched the tip of the iceberg with all of the possibilities that lie beneath.

However, those fifty pages have given me the opportunity to learn about the platform, and experiment with some fledgling strategies. It appears to be working well enough so far.

On the day I started, forty-six people read my only article. Fifty-two days later, 458 unique visitors were recorded; and that was when I added my 50th Wizzley article. Nearly 11,000 people have been to peruse my content here.

The monetization channels are starting to notice too. The clicks are registering and the zeros are starting to turn into odd pennies. It's not enough to take off on a world cruise nor buy a Ferrari. It's not even going to get me a cup of tea in a greasy cafe; but it's a start. It tells me that I'm on the right track.

For now, the future is simple. Keep on learning, experimenting and refining my writing strategies, but most of all, write often and write well.

Do you reckon that you could do better on Wizzley?

If you're not already here, then a referral link is over there ------>
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More Wizzley Tips and Tricks

A Tweets RSS feed can add value for the reader to your article. It provides constantly updating content on your page.
The learning curve goes on and with it comes some amazing insights. But what will work in the long term?
Wizzley is one of the few on-line writing platforms which allow publishers to monetise with their Chitika advertisements.
My articles are consistently amongst the most popular on Wizzley. But I'm new to this writing game. This is how I'm doing it.

My Book All About Wizzley

After a year of writing for Wizzley, I had enough information to share with the world. This is the result.
A Writer's Guide to Wizzley

Wizzley is one of the youngest and brightest writing platforms on the internet today. Online livelihoods are made in writing articles there. Jo Harrington is one of its foremost...

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Updated: 11/01/2013, JoHarrington
 
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JoHarrington on 09/06/2014

Then my work here is done. :D

AngelaJohnson on 09/05/2014

All of your tip pages are great. I learn something from each one.

JoHarrington on 04/03/2014

You are very welcome. It carries on up to the 600th. :)

JoHarrington on 01/11/2014

Increasing your page rank comes down to three things: likes and comments in the first week, then traffic thereafter. Other factors do come into it, but those are the biggies.

Are you sending links out into your social networking? That's the best way to get the message out that these articles exist.

CeresSchwarz on 01/11/2014

This is very encouraging. It does take a lot of hard work and it's good to know that things might improve. I don't have 50 articles on Wizzley yet. I keep writing but it can be very discouraging to not see much traffic and earnings and it can seem like nothing is happening. Do you have any more tips on how to increase the score of your articles and the author score and maybe how to get more traffic to your articles?

JoHarrington on 09/15/2013

Yay! And it's great to see you in the game too!

jptanabe on 09/15/2013

Now I know the difference between Popular and Buzzing articles!

JoHarrington on 09/16/2012

I'm pleased that you think so, and I hope that it comes in very handy.

brlamc on 09/16/2012

This is very useful information you have here, thanks.

JoHarrington on 08/16/2012

You're welcome. I hope that you find it useful. :)


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