Make a decent salary from home by writing online? The idea that an entire writing industry existed over the Internet was news to me several years ago when I read an article in my local newspaper. The article featured a profile on a new local company, eCopywriters, which had made a splash in the content generation business and was rising in the ranks quickly. I was a mother with a toddler at home, and the possibility of putting my strong writing skills to work while staying home intrigued me. I looked up the website, signed up, submitted a sample and received a rating. Then I tried to reserve articles to write, only to find out how difficult it was to check out a job before another writer grabbed it.

That was several years ago. I found other sites where I could make money writing and dropped the effort at eCopywriters. However, eCopywriters was sold last year to Internet Marketing Incorporated (IMI), and the company began a complete overhaul of its online platform.

Soon after, I received an email from an editor at eCopywriters outlining the changes and asking writers to open a new writer’s account with the improved site. I responded immediately, and since that time, I have come to rely on eCopywriters as a good source of income.

However, and this is a big caveat, the website is still in development. Thus, while the work is consistent and high quality, it takes a bit of persistence to make it work.

The first step is to sign up. The process is relatively simple. You go to the website, click on the “login” link, then scroll down to the bottom and click the link that says Copywriter Registration. Here is the direct link. That page has an option to create an account with a user name and password. [Editor’s note: I first attempted to register using Firefox, and it did not work. you may need to try a different web browser, such as Google Chrome]  You will then be directed to submit a writing sample, and the site offers three different subjects from which to choose. One option was to write about a favorite activity, and I chose to write about why I like to climb mountains.

Once you submit the article, it will go to an editor, or community manager, for review and rating, although authors do not have ratings yet in the system. Once this has been completed, you will have access to your profile, which you should fill out completely along with a picture of yourself. Most importantly, fill out the W9 tax form. My experience was that had to be in place prior to receiving any articles to write.

At this point, you may have to take a wait and see approach. Currently, very few jobs are posted to the open jobs board or to group boards. All of the work I do for eCopywriters is assigned to me directly by my community manager. As the website nears completion, and this has been under development for over a year now, more jobs will be posted on the jobs board.

Now that I have developed a long-term relationship with my community manager, I get regular jobs that are for well-known national companies. They are all names that most people in America would recognize. The pay varies, but it rivals most other sites in the 5-star payment range and above.

For someone starting now, after your profile is complete, you will need to establish a connection with a community manager or editor as well. I had an easier time since I responded to the original email. Now, I would recommend sending one or two emails through the contact page on the website. Introduce yourself, briefly state your strongest writing topics and skills, such as blog posts, infographics or white papers. Ask to be connected to a community manager. You may not hear back for quite some time. When you do, most likely the community manager will send you small orders at first. A standard blog post pays 3 cents per word. Early on, I committed myself to submitting only the highest quality work, and many times, that meant spending extra time, which lowered my overall hourly rate. That decision has paid off in the long run.

Currently, eCopywriters has faced an uphill battle with its reputation among writers. The site has faced issues with making consistent payments to writers on time. Several times, I had to wait an extra week for payment; however, I have always been paid for every job. In addition, authors who rely solely on income from writing may not find it worthwhile to spend extra time trying to make it work. The upside to having to relying assignments from an editor is that once he or she knows your strengths, you will receive consistent jobs from high-quality companies. The downside to this system is that community managers and editors will quickly weed out any weaker writers. The ability to develop relationships directly with the clients, through the online platform, does not exist yet.

The dashboard is easy to navigate and understand. There are sections for grammar ratings, rankings and scores; however, all of my rankings still show “not applicable.” At some point in the future, eCopywriters will institute a grammar quiz and begin actual ratings of the authors. Moreover, the site still has quirks that need to be fixed. For example, each article has a deadline, yet once the deadline is past, the job remains open with the author rather than reverting to the community manager for reassignment. Occasionally, clients may request a revision, and the author never receives the request.

Thus, if you are a strong writer and have the time to work with a website that is still essentially in beta mode, eCopywriters can become a good source of income. Once the fully finished website launches, more opportunities with less hassle will become available.