Make Money Online Using Craigslist.com
In this post I am going to show you how you can use Craigslist.com to help you make money online. As most of you all know, I make money online primarily using the Google AdSense program. While I experiment with other programs off and on, the Google AdSense program is and will continue to be my leading source of income for a super long time. I earn money using the Google AdSense program because I have create hundreds of sites where I have monetized the content using their program. Day in and day out, each site contributes a small piece to my total income pie.
The problem that many people face when attempting to duplicate the system I follow is time. It isn’t common that many people are fortunate enough like me to be able to stay at home and do this type of work full time. Most people, possibly such as yourself, have to devote many hours each week to a day job. This creates a huge challenge because much time is needed to build.
The site building process isn’t really all that difficult. In my opinion, while keeping things simple, there are three steps towards building a profitable site. These three steps are:
- Keyword / Topic Research
- Content Creation
- Site Design / Search Engine Optimization
For me, and possibly even for you, Step One and Step Three come pretty easy. For me, the keyword / topic research is very fun. It’s like picking apples off a tree. I find it rewarding when I pick excellent quality apples because doing so yields amazing rewards. Site Design / Search Engine Optimization is also easy because I have a stash of designs that I created and use. When I launch a site, I simply change a few colors, font family styles, and make a few adjustments to my layouts and I am done. Granted, it does help a lot in my line of business knowing HTML, CSS, and PHP.
With that said, the time killer is content creation. Writing high quality and unique content takes a lot of time. When I first started creating niche sites I would write the content myself. As my sites continued to generate money, I started to invest a portion of the earnings into hiring free lance writers. Doing so allowed me more time to devote to the things I enjoyed doing: keyword research and template design.
It is totally optional for me to hire free lance writers, but I choose to because I can honestly afford to and to be Frank, I am somewhat lazy and I find writing content to be a chore! However, if you are in a position where you simply don’t have TIME to write content, Craigslist.com might be the perfect solution for you.
I couldn’t help but notice a few days ago that Craigslist.com has a classified section called Writing / Editing / Translation. I decided to investigate this section and to my surprise I found it full of ads for free lance writers. While most of these ads were mainly for resume writing, college papers, and basic word processing, these free lance writers are all very capable of writing blog and website content.
After spending about an hour replying to close to ten ads in Craigslist.com, I had three people contact me back with interest in writing content for me. One person agreed to charge me $5 dollars for 500 words. Another person agreed to charge me $3 dollars for 250 words. The last person agreed to write as many words as I wanted at a rate of two words per penny!
The great thing about the new discovery is the fact that writers are writers. They don’t have to be bloggers or site masters to do their job. That, quite honestly, is your job. All you need is someone to write excellent content for you at an affordable rate. In my case, I hired all three writers and have instructed them to write about keywords I have researched and submit the content to me via email. From there, I will copy the content and paste it into NOTEPAD and convert their content into standard HTML. If you read THIS POST, you will learn about some very good SEO tips on how to convert content into powerful and search engine friendly HTML code.
If you are too busy, bored, or even lazy to write your own content and would like to tap into an excellent resource abundant in free lance writers, I would strongly recommend checking out the Writing / Editing / Translation category in Craigslist.com. You will be surprised to see how affordable it is to get very high quality content. Below is a screen shot of my local Clarksville, TN. Writing / Editing / Translation category:
Clarksville, TN. is a small town. If I am able to find freelance writers who are willing to write site content for me at an affordable rate, I am sure that you will be able to find free lance writers in your town too. Also, even if you can’t find writers locally, you can always expand your search to other cities. This is considered virtual assistant work, meaning, it really doesn’t matter where the free lance writer lives. As long as the writer can send you the content via email, you can live in Atlanta and they can live in Washington. In other words, location doesn’t matter and because of that, you can search as many cities as you want for hired help.
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35 comments
Bro straight up that was excellent.
RT/FB
Nothing more needs to be said but thanks
oh and
Stumbled
Excellent post. I never thought of using criagslist to look for a writer. I always checked out other sites like getafrelancercom.
Thanks so much!
What about me not in the US? How can I post in the US cities?
How do you double check if the content they created are pure ie. not copyrighted by others?
I like the way you focus on things you are strong at. Good point! Enjoy while earning…. Cool part!
Thank you for this. Writing content on a couple of my blogs is very hard for me (I get tired easy and I get distracted easily) so the option to pay someone to write some content cheaply is enticing to me.
Thank you Gary for all you do. I have never thought of looking at Craigslist that way for content writers.
Seems so simple now.
Jim Wright
http://www.wjameswright.com
You don’t have to post anything, just look for the ads created by the free lance writers.
Eric- You don’t have to live in the same country as the writer you hire. That’s the beauty of freelance.
Also, to check the content, you can use Copyscape, which allows you to paste in the entire document to run a check on, or simply pick a few random lines out of the document and post them, surrounded by quotation marks, into Google and hit search. It’ll tell you if that phrase/sentence is used elsewhere. You can then click on any results that show up to see if the whole thing or parts of it were copied.
Hey Garry, good to see you blogging, buddy!
I haven’t considered using Craigslist before for writing, but it stands to reason since they have all sorts of things over there anyhow. I recently tried another freelancer site and waiting on the content I’m expecting. They’re already behind, so I’m a little bummed about that. But the thing I like about that place as opposed to Craigslist (at least I don’t think Craigslist has it) is that they have an escrow service to coordinate the payments. Plus they have a rating system for both seller and buyer.
I’m a freelance writer. I write all of the content for my websites.
I have used Craigslist for several things, but never thought to look for writers there. I guess you can find them pretty cheap, but I wonder what type of quality you will be getting … especially 2 words for a penny? Good luck with that. I have no problem with content writing; I enjoy doing it and also I have no worries because my biz partner is a writer, so one of us will get ‘er done.
peace
Freelance writing is a very thankless job. It’s because of these people that bloggers around the world are able to generate large amounts of income. I believe that it’s very important to support these independent writers as they provide both quality content and they do their work for a very affordable price.
I never considered Craigslist to be such a great way to find freelance writers. Once I read your post I immediately logged onto the website and started typing away. I was fortunate enough to find 4 freelance writers available, all doing their work for a very cheap price. It’s unfortunate Craigslist has received all of this bad press lately about their “erotic section” as they really are a fantastic resource to find classifieds from virtually anywhere in the world.
Thanks Garry! Was confusing.
Thanks mate! Appreciate you laying out the steps!
As someone who makes her living writing copy, this post made me feel like the small, neighborhood hardware store owner who finds out Home Depot is moving in down the street. Ouch!
I guess Craig’s List is a viable option for finding cheap freelance copywriting when your main focus is Adsense revenue. However, if you’re looking for quality web content that not only ranks high on the search engines but also converts your site’s visitors into customers, then hire a true pro. And true pros, those with degrees in journalism and marketing plus years of hands-on experience, don’t charge $5 for 500 words!
Wow, talk about timing! I was just telling Dennis Edell minutes ago that time is killing me when it comes to my niche sites. My main sites have been suffering due to the time it’s taking to writing the content. Then, bam, there you are with the solution. Thank you for that
I think I’ll start trying Craigslist to try out a coupe of freelancers. Sites like elance.com and project4hire.com are such a hassle I’ve been avoiding them. I never considered CraigsList for content outsourcing before.
Dang, there is like everything on Craigslist. I was watching the news and they were saying how people were selling drugs with “KEYWORDS”, lol.
-Mike
Very true.
And there’s a world of difference between basic content writing and copywriting, not to mention keyword articles. It would save everyone a lot of time and aggravation if those wishing to hire freelance writers would learn the difference between types of writing as the various kinds come with different price tags, and if you use the wrong term to a writer, you may not get what you’re asking for.
Quick definitions for those who’d rather not study:
Copywriting- sales copy. You don’t want to bargain hunt here, because it’s not the same thing as content writing. Don’t simply request a keyword article with a “call to action” because it’s not the same. This, is expensive. But worth every penny if you also know how to promote and have a lucrative program/product to sell.
Content writing- You want it to be readable and searchable on the web. Good content writing can be expensive, but you’re trying to build reader loyalty here and not simply targeting search engines. You won’t find penny a word writing here if it’s any good, and if you do, that writer may ditch you the second a better offer comes along.
Keyword articles- Written for search engines and advertising. Being a good read is a plus but not necessary. A high quality keyword article writer may charge good money, but it’s much easier to find a bargain here. Keep in mind that if you have any quality standards whatsoever, you may need to explain how you want the articles written in great detail and be prepared to edit.
SEO writers- You don’t even want to go here if you’re looking for bargains. Stick with the keyword articles.
Keep in mind that if you get a low ball price AND a high quality article, it’s a blessing not a given.
The worst of it is, many people who are new to freelance writing will start with low ball offers just to get the experience. Often, they don’t know the difference between types of writing either, and will charge the same for a press release or sales copy as they would for a keyword article. But guess what? It’ll be written the same, too.
I’ve linked to my freelance writer directory in my name, but I will tell you that you won’t find the kind of bargains there that Garry found on Craigslist.
No problem! Hope it’s helpful.
Hi Susan,
I don’t think that you should feel like this at all. Keep in mind, the people who are seeking work in Craigslist aren’t corporations, they are stay at home moms, single parents, college kids trying to pay tuition, etc… In other words, they are people who need work during troubled times.
With that said, also too I want to stress that when people are using alternative methods to broadcast or market the skills and services they are capable and willing to do, such as the case with finding freelance writers using Craigslist.com, these people are those who are willing to do excellent quality work for lower prices simply because they need the money and also they know that people, just like them, don’t have much money to spend.
The same thing can be said for me when at one point in time I used to charge thousands to do web design and today I do it completely for free with the hopes of scoring $125 sales commission from HostGator.com.
There are true pros in Craigslist.com, newspaper classifieds, and forum postings. Many of which have degrees but don’t have jobs. One last thing I want to say is that I don’t believe that in all cases that a degree is absolute merit for determining qualifications. I would much rather hire someone who is trustworthy and COACHABLE rather than someone who has a degree, a chip on their shoulder, and a “I am better than everyone else” attitude.
Thank you very much. This is a valuable tip for beginners like me. Perhaps I can use Craigslist to promote my new make money online site.
Great tips Garry always great to out source because that person can be an expert in that niche. Gotta love craigs list!
Garry Conn ,Thanks for sharing.It is useful for newbiz and every body.
You are Mr.goodideal .
Wow, I never actually knew you could makea so much money from using craigslist. I had read about it, but never put it into practice until now.
Thanks!
Cheers
Thank you for posting such a informative post on internet marketing. Its very effective and impressive and I have never thought about it, I will use this internet marketing tricks for expanding my business.
Craigslist is definitely a good place to find good freelance writer. I often use freelance writers to get articles written for submitting to article directories. I like writing my blog posts myself because unlike you I don’t have 100s of websites.
just wanted to tell you mr conn…………….hmmmmm you VERY GOOD LOOKING!! Was just here looking how to blog…….thanks handson!!! melissa
For the writers… it’s important to understand what Gary implies in his comment: even some very highly skilled programmers are working for very low wages now.
To put this in perspective, I saw a guy on the street in NYC a month ago, in the SoHo area, peddling free websites for pocket change. Yep. I suppose he was sucking some free wireless from somewhere. So there he is, waving his laptop around in the air, trying to find someone anyone who wanted a website built. Nobody’s buying.
The only risk of hiring a freelance writer to knock out your articles is that they are not experts or experienced in the field you ask them to write in. They are just professional writers so will do some level of research but no more then your readers. Most readers can scan an article and tell if it is a keyword article or a genuine article written by a person who knows that they are talking about – so while you get on google’s good side, the down side is that you might turn away readers
Gary, Thanks Much for the Great Idea and Sharp angle on Taking Care of Business.
Many of your Stories are so Sharp I Always have to Copy Them so I can comprehend 100% of your Facts because they definitely will help Big-Time…
That is great news for us “lazy” marketers! Also, it would be an idea for anybody out there who is seeking extra cash as a writer, the market for writing must be pretty large these days, too.
Thanks Gary!
I tried to make some money with craiglist but always failed lol
Hey Garry. I have one question for you.
YOu say that adsense is your leading source of income but you are not dependant on it are you? I mean, if by any misfortune adsense fails you, you have always a backup plan or valuable sources of income besides adsense. right?
Don’t forget, though, that many freelance writers started out in other professions. For example, two of my professional freelance writer friends were paralegals or some other form of lawyer support before becoming freelance writers. One quit to be a stay at home, and the other simply saw a better business in helping lawyers market themselves. Another friend has a degree in herbalism.
Yes, to be a professional writer, you have to be able to string words together well, but that doesn’t mean that writing is all they know. You might be surprised at the things a freelance writer may be an expert in.
Also- there are other purposes to content than garnering readers. So whether you want someone that can attract readers, or someone who can make your visitors do something else depends on your end goal.
Your idea answers my concern about finding an option to outsource my writing jobs because I found it too difficult to put my ideas into the right words.
Thank you so much for sharing this good stuff of information.
You get what you pay for so if your content is important for you and the only thing that provides value to your visitors, then pay like you mean it.
Hi Garry,
I came here looking for Google local tips and enjoy your blog very much.
I write a similar blog and have not tried Google Adsense. I think I will give it a try and also get some of my hundreds of domain names up with content and adsense. I like the idea of using Craigs list to find writers. Great idea!
Clay
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