I have wrtten my first travel article at last, it will be put on display within two days I guess (that's if it passes Ed's finicky review process ) I guess I did a good job by doing a lot of research on Puerto Rico before writing this piece. I need your opinions on improving, so I have put the whole article in display. It is for a public request. I am reluctant to attend to the public requests on travel articles because it is really difficult for me, who has never set foot outside my country.
I don't know of Puerto Rico and anything about it, but I read about it a whole lot and tried my best to come up with a guide. If you have time, please look at this article, when it comes out of review, and give your opinions (if you were to the island, it is the best!!) I would much appreciate it, as I need to improve more on travel article writing and write more in that line.
Good for you. I've been wrestling with the same thing--breaking out of the topics I'm comfortable with and experimenting.
And the other day sold my first article on a real estate topic! A subject I'd never even thought of trying.
Here's how I'm learning to think of it: We (you, me, other writers) have the ability/skill to gather information and present it in a way that's useful to people. A lot of people know more about Purerto Rico--or real estate--than you or I. That's THEIR skill. They don't hae the skill set to put that information out there in a way that's useful. That's what we do--and they are willing to pay us to do it
Breaking out of your comfort zone is tough. I find that my inexperience has forced me to do this rather quite consistently. In terms of travel articles, I have learned a few things from the downfalls of other writers to take note of when writing about a place I've never been to.
I noticed that because prices change consistently, it is best to either eliminate them all together or give them a general range.
On another site, there was an excellent piece written about a place in California. It was well written, however, the information was for a place by the same name in a different state.
The constant change that occurs in most locations also seems to give me a lot of problems. Sometimes, the attractions (usually restaurants, hotels, and shopping centers) go out of business or change hands. I find this extremely difficult to keep up with.
Yes, Angie, you are very much right. It is extremely difficult to get the correct info on a place particularly when you were not there, and if you are have not been to there for the recent days, it is much difficult to give correct info. However, the travel articles are in that category which includes trashable-after-a-year sort of content. So travel content readers need to read only the most current infromation.
In my article research, what I did was just that. I went about to a dozen sites, and found info on puerto rico, and checked for the most current information available. I checked the places of interest, and doublechecked each one to get further info. Generally reading about the place gave me some suggestions, and to give it a unique voice, I had to read about each keyword, researching inside researched content. Metaresearch! So that I could write liek I actually was there in Rico. Please read this wehn in comes out of review and give me suggestions.
Do you find that the large amount of research required for these projects is a help or a hindrance? Do you find that you can make enough money to make the project feasible?
I am trying to transition my writing into a full time position, but I find that in order to make money I need to jump around to various subjects. This causes me to spend a majority of the time researching in order to ensure I have the facts straight. I am beginning to wonder if it's possible to make a decent living. (right now I'm only pulling in about $400 dollars a month working evening and weekends. The way I see it, I need to make three times that before I can quit my real job.)
Maybe, but it all depends on the work you are putting in right. Since you say you work on the weekends and evenings only to make that kind of cash, I guess you will be able to do far better on concentrating full time here. But one thing is if you research well on a particular subject, you can get material for more than one article. You can even write five or six articles on that single research, and I guess that's worth the time. Well, about me, I am in a country where the financial requirements are far less than the US. So, I can be better off at 400 500 dollars a month. Are you saying that you are pulling in 400 dollars a month from CC? or by writing in other places as well?
My time is divided in between CC and my blogs. I do heavy promotion on my blogs, enabling me to get a PR1 within 2 month's time. That will be a great source for my income within some months. Cutewriting.blogspot.com
I suppose you are right about using the research for more than one article. I guess for me that option is generally rare. I am working through several sites at the moment. I did manage to sell four articles through CC since I started here in the beginning of March. I will also be starting out with three established writing companies shortly.
I have created a "test" web site for my new company at thewritingpad.bravehost.com to see if I can attract additional work through there. I should send in more articles for CC simply because they pay considerably better than on other sites.
I'll check out your blog after I submit this![/url]
Wow Lenin, very nice. I found it very interesting and informative. Having learned to write "old school," I have a blog, but have yet to add anything to it simply because I'm not sure what to write about yet and I find the idea of writing in the first person to be a bit unnerving. Eventually, I'll get up the nerve. lol
Thanks for seeing through the blog, yes, I am working hard on its promotion, and all this promotion and linking techniques will one day get it to the top of writing related websites, i guess. Maybe firstperson POV is not good for normal articles, but it can be really nice in blogs. Blogs express personal opinions than general one, still, i have written more articles not in firstperson, only a few there.
hey, that's interesting. That itself proves how important is writing in making money online. content is king, and only content rich sites can have any remote hope of making great money, thanks for the post.
I have definitely noticed that you and a few others are very popular here. Way to go! So, what's your secret? Did you focus on the popular topics? Do you advertise? (Just curious, it is alright if they are top secret. I understand.)
I did recommend one of my regular clients to come here for some of his content simply because he needed way more than one person could provide. Unfortunately, he only purchase a few and hasn't returned. I haven't talked to him about it yet to get feedback.
I just don't seem to get enough on a steady basis to make it worthwhile. I suppose that the amount I make here is also dependent on the number of articles you have available. I need to keep that in mind too.
I find that this can get a bit discouraging at times. The whole point in doing this is to enjoy it right?
I guess I did a good job by doing a lot of research on Puerto Rico before writing this piece. I need your opinions on improving, so I have put the whole article in display. It is for a public request. I am reluctant to attend to the public requests on travel articles because it is really difficult for me, who has never set foot outside my country. 
Several of us regulars are doing just that. Good luck!