How to Make Money Through Writing

The author shares how they make money through writing.

They initially wanted to be an Instagram influencer or YouTube blogger, but nobody followed, the follower count stayed low, and there was no money to be made, so they pivoted to writing—and actually earned money. It's unstable, anywhere from $1 to $2,000 a month. Here are three types of writing that can generate income:

1. Pure content marketing—basically writing articles with product links to earn commissions.

2. SEO content writing—either take a part-time job doing it, or build your own site and combine content marketing with SEO to sell products.

3. Selling your articles—like submitting pieces to publications for payment.

Overall, none of them are stable.

Read original

As for the writing angle, domestic affiliate platforms like Zhihu and SMZDM are among the top earners in article-driven sales. SEO doesn't work as well domestically—it's heavily restricted with lots of issues. Abroad, Google isn't malicious and frequently updates its anti-spam algorithms, making things relatively fair. As for submissions, they feel even worse: too much effort for too little return. Working for someone else is less appealing than working for yourself. The most viable path is still Zhihu affiliate marketing—start an account, and it could become a side hustle generating passive income.