A few months ago, an AC writer was lauded as getting more than 1 million page views in a month. What an achievement most of us would think. And “good for him”. But then the Jealous Janies came out of the woodwork, complaining that this writer didn’t deserve the page views because he was just “writing entertainment crap” and not anything a “serious writer” should be writing. When I took a look at the profile pages of the writers who were complaining it was obvious why. With several hundred articles under their belts, most had pitifully low page view averages and taking one look at a couple of their articles it was obvious why. They had no clue how to write for the internet. The one they were complaining about, on the other hand, was a superb internet content writer and knew exactly how to be successful online. No wonder they were jealous.
It’s not just writers on AC that have the jealousy streak when it comes to some writers being very successful and them not. I see it all over the internet. People who have decided to be an ‘online writer’, yet have no idea what that entails or how they need to write for the internet. As a full-time professional online writer myself, I couldn’t care less if these people want to write for the internet. Good for them. But when they start to put down other writers who are doing a damn good job of not only writing interesting and informative articles, but also getting excellent page views, then I have a problem with it.
If you want to be an online writer you need to learn how to write for the internet. Internet writing involves learning SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and learning how to use keywords correctly in your articles. Writing for the internet is a completely different animal than writing for print. In a magazine or newspaper article, you don’t have to worry about people doing a search to find you. If they pick up the magazine or newspaper, bam, there you are. On the internet however, it’s different. You have to learn how to write an article that’s structured for the internet in such a way the search engines will find it. If you don’t you will be struggling for the rest of your online internet writing career and, considering most internet ‘writers’, your career will be brief. Sure, you can rail against the system but where will that get you? Just out of breath and really really tired.
So, instead of bitching about other writers and their success, why don’t you learn how to get that success for yourself? When I first started writing online, I had no clue about SEO but I got off my rear-end and learnt. I didn’t go after other writers calling them “worthless” or “hacks”, just because I was jealous of their success. Instead, I figured out what they were doing to be so successful and I did it myself. A few years later, I now support myself full-time with online writing and my income increases by several hundred dollars every month. If I can do it, anyone can.
Jealousy is an ugly emotion. But it doesn’t damage the person you’re directing it at. They don’t care, they’re just getting on with writing and being successful. What it does do is damage YOU! So get your mind off the negative stuff and start figuring out how to be as successful as those you’re jealous of. But, hey, if not, keep doing what you’re doing. Like the definition of insanity, “Continuing to do the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result”, you’ll also have the same outcome. Maybe that’ll make you happy. Although I doubt it.
