I hope you are all having a great week! I have decided to review one of the least known writing gigs on the Internet for this week: Wikinut. Wikinut allows writers to build a brand and earn an income at the same time. There are three main ways to earn an income here and I’ll detail all three.
Wikinut allows writers to openly express themselves in a number of different ways and pays on a pay-per-view basis. This is a great site for building an online presence or brand as well as having a lot of fun writing the things that interest you.
Getting started with Wikinut
Pay a visit to Wikinut.com and register for an account. It’s a basic registration form and you will need to verify your address. That’s it; you’re done. You are now a Wikinut.
Take a few minutes to look over the site. Pay specific attention to your dashboard. You will want to fill out your profile and add a photo. If you are using a logo as part of a brand for yourself, use that in place of the photo. Wikinut isn’t a stickler when it comes to photos so there are no issues in using a logo.
When creating your profile, you will need to use your real name but if you write under a pen name then you can use that as your display name. One area that is very important is the block where you list other sites where you write. Because Wikinut takes plagiarism very seriously, you want to include any sites where you might have previously published an article that you are also including on Wikinut. This is also important if you are reworking a previous article.
The biography block is just a teaser. Make it short and interesting. Review it to make sure that the text doesn’t cut off and adjust if necessary. You get about 200 characters here so use them wisely.
Your Dashboard
On your Dashboard you will see your tasks to complete, your nutpoints, a summary of your pages and your statistics.
The more articles you publish, the more nutpoints you gain. Nutpoints are nothing more than a gauge of how you are doing as a member of the Wikinut community. They are for you and have no bearing on anything other than to act as a reward for writing.
There are also badges available as you hit certain milestones at Wikinut such as publishing your first article, your tenth article and so forth. Badges along with nutpoints serve as little goals to help keep you motivated to write.
The list of tasks that you have will vary from edits that you might need to perform (rarely), a question from the moderator (even more rare) to the next milestone that you are attempting to reach (common.)
Inviting Friends
One of the ways to earn money is through inviting friends. For friends that write you will receive a share of the ad revenue collected by Wikinut. This is done because content is the life of this site. The site needs a constant supply of new content and also a constant supply of new writers. Invite your friends and everyone can earn extra money together.
Writing an article for Wikinut
On your Dashboard there is link that you can click to write a new page. After you click on it you will need to choose one of the category options. Most of the categories have subcategories. Keep choosing subcategories until you hit the writing page.
If you can’t find a suitable subcategory, click on the link under the category and suggest one. Wikinut is not only very responsive to writers but they are very fast at replying. Every subcategory I’ve requested was created within 20 minutes.
The writing area is extremely well done. They will step-by-step you through it but the basics are in place and you can include photos as well as alter the font. No issues with losing work or the text areas being unstable.
You have the option of leaving notes for the moderator. This is useful if your article has been reworked from another site or if you conducted an interview that you are publishing.
After you have the article looking the way you want and have included any photos or links, simply click the submit button to sent the article to the moderator.
Editing
There is very little editing on Wikinut. You will do your own editing and the moderator will scan for inappropriate content, make certain that the content is being placed in the correct category and so forth.
The only other thing the moderators are on the lookout for is proper sourcing of photos. As long as you properly attribute the material you will be fine. They are relaxed about many things on Wikinut but proper credit isn’t one of them. So far I have never heard of anyone having a problem with the editing or moderation on this site.
If you feel the need to edit something that has already been published, it’s simple to do so. Just click on your article and hit the edit button.
From the time you hit the submit button to the time the moderator approves the article can be anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of hours. I’ve only had the hour delay once. Most articles are approved and published to the site very quickly. You can even apply to be a Wikinut Moderator. That’s the third way to make money on Wikinut.
Payment
Payment is monthly and through Paypal.
This is not a site for earning a living on a weekly or monthly basis. This is a great site for posting your creative pieces or articles that don’t sell and for building up a residual income. As with any residual income site, it takes time to build your income. Fresh content that is interesting and timely is the key to building an income stream on Wikinut.
Wikinut is never going to bother you or demand that you write a new article. You can write as much or as little as you want. For the life of your account you will be paid for the views that your account generates. This is a unique concept because most sites require you to write every so often or at least log in periodically to maintain your account.
Your Stats
It’s easy to keep up with your statistics right from your Dashboard. At the bottom of the page is a chart that lets you see in an instant how many views you have had and for which articles. This is a great way to see where interest in coming from and where you should be focusing your writing efforts to get more page views.
Wikinut Tips
This is not a site that is likely to pay your bills on a monthly basis initially but it could be the springboard to much better writing assignments as well as the ability to create a brand and name for yourself. This is a very popular site in Europe and is used by millions. While it doesn’t yet have the same influence in the US, this could be a great way for you to spread your brand across the globe.
- Write things that you know a lot about.
You don’t want a topic that you have to spend a great deal of time researching or studying. You should be able to write an article off the top of your head without much preparation. Add a new twist to an old topic. Just don’t spend a lot of time on the prep work.
- Write articles with a wide appeal
News and entertainment topics are generally good but niche topics can also yield a great payoff. It’s important to write frequently and see where you market is based on your stats. When one area is thriving, write more articles to fit that topic.
- Write articles on several different topics
This is a great way to find out what people are interested in at any given time and then write more in that area. Always keep what you write based on your interests. This is supposed to be a place to have fun.
- Encourage discussion
People have the option of commenting on your articles. Encourage this. While controversy always sells, on a site like Wikinut the best way to sell is through engaging your audience. Be a writer that talks back to the people and they will keep reading and recommending your articles!
- Plan to build slowly
Think of this site as the one where you get to write what you want while other sites are for earning an income. This is the hobby site or a place to put articles that didn’t sell. Enjoy what you write here and let the income take care of itself. You can build up a nice income here over time. While I have never made enough per month to pay the bills, I can buy a new iPad based off of the monthly residuals. So there is that.
Important note: Wikinut does allow you to post already published articles here. So if you have articles on another residual income site then you can put them here as well. This taps an entirely different market and allows you to earn more money from a single article.
Those are the primary tips for Wikinut. The most important tip is to write. Write a lot. The more you write the more people have to read. But above all else, enjoy this site as a place where you can have a lot of fun with your writing. If you’re ready, register with Wikinut right now.