I got a bunch of responses, including a few recommendations for Textbroker.  The site was laid out simply, with little distraction.  I signed up immediately, and wrote up my first order within 10 minutes.  The funny thing was I found myself at a loss for how many words to request.  I never look at the word count for my own blog posts, only when writing for someone else, so my judgment needs honing.

You pay per word, based on the quality of writing/writer.  For example, “4 – excellent” costs $0.20 per word, while the highest level, “5 – professional” costs almost three times that – $0.67 per word.  Since I was seeking an overall introduction to a city, the article’s length necessitated that I go with level 4.  Based on the samples from each level, I was comfortable with this decision.

Two days later, I had a finished piece, which only required the correction of one misspelling.  Otherwise, I was hooked from the first sentence, and found it easy to read, hitting all my requirements and sounding like something I’d write myself.  At a cost of $14, it saved me a few hours of time, and left me with a new writer to consider for future assignments.

Seriously, I couldn’t be happier with my first experience with Textbroker. And as part of the deal, I get the full copyright to what was written.  Cool, eh?

By the way, this is in no way a sponsored review!

I’ve already submitted a few more orders to help jump start my newest site.

I’m going to adopt Lissie’s approach to writing for my ever-expanding web empire.  She mentioned it in a comment here last week.

GoBackpacking (flagship site) – I will continue to write my best stuff for this site, though will slowly open it up to more guest posts.

Medellin Living – I will maintain an editorial role, ensuring content is created by volunteer contributors (living in Medellin, of course)

Blog to Travel – I will continue to write for this blog, however it will be more informal.  I’ll use this blog to experiment and play around, and share my earnings month to month.  Along the way, there will be tips, but I’m not going to try and be the authority for making money online.  I’d rather tell you the authorities I trust and follow so you can do the same.

All other sites – I will pay for content, seek contributors, and/or write a minimal amount myself to fill in the gaps

Join Travel Blog Success and learn to build a better travel blog.

Related posts:

1. Web Earnings for April 2009
2. Another $9 Domain Name Purchased via GoDaddy.com
3. Stay Organized with Google Docs and Spreadsheets

First, and this applies to all of the below forums, you can add hyperlinks to the sites you want to promote in your signatures.  This is a great way to pull in some extra traffic immediately when posting, and to a lesser degree over time. The downside is it takes time and energy to post useful questions, responses, and anything in general.  The more useful and authoritative your posts, the more traffic you can expect to receive from readers clicking the links in your signature.

Second, by using consistent usernames across all forums, especially ones that apply to your niche, you can build authority by helping to solve other people’s problems.

Digital Points

Digital Points forum covers all your typical web topics from making money with Google AdSense and affiliates to copywriting, picking domain names, and programming.  And I don’t use it for any of those topics!  I found out about Digital Points through the eBook by Working Nomad, and began using it to sell text links.

Every few weeks, I’ll search the text link sales subforum for keyword “travel” and send private messages to interested buyers.  I’ve made a few sales through the forum, and deem it a worthy resource.  Actually, a big selling point is that accessing the forum is FREE.  I’ve seen others where you have to pay monthly for access, and I’m not going to go there.

Problogger

Like I said, I have no desire to pay a monthly fee for access to a forum, but there is always an exception to the rule.  That exception is the new forum at Darren Rowse’s Problogger.  I’ve been reading Darren’s blog for a few years now (well, not while I was traveling the world for 20 months, but both before and after) and learned a lot.  I trust him and therefore I was sold after watching his video pitch, even at a cost of $1.95 per month.

I was pleasantly surprised when I logged in for the first time.  People seemed friendly and helpful, and lively conversations were occurring already.  I’m sure I will be visiting it on/off for the foreseeable future, and I’ll keep you posted on the benefits and what I’m learning.

Working Nomad

I signed up for the Working Nomad forum back in 2007, but never posted until a few days ago.  It is a smaller community than the others, however I like the fact that it is tied to my niche – travel.  I can’t report much yet, however I can say that I intend to visit a few times a week and participate in the dialogue now that I have some moneymaking experience under my belt with websites.

BootsnAll

BootsnAll is the travel forum I used when I needed help planning my trip around the world.  I prefer it over Lonely Planet’s Thorntree, but I can’t exactly say why.  I just think the quality of posts is higher, though LP has a bigger reach, I think.  For example, there’s not a lot of messages about travel in Tibet on BootsnAll, while when I was seeking daily updates on my chances of visiting last March from China, I accessed useful info on Thorntree.

So there you have it, 4 forums where I feel my time is best spent.

Do you have a preferred forum for learning how to make money online or building authority in your niche?

Join Travel Blog Success and learn to build a better travel blog.

Related posts:

1. New Link Sales Through Digital Point’s Forum

I have less than 3 months to focus on growing these new domains and any others I buy before I’ll want and need to put them in auto-pilot mode. By auto-pilot mode, I mean the site design and affiliate/advertising placement is established, enough inbound links are created to build traffic, and the only work is to post new content.

Posting new content from the road should be easy enough to do from internet cafes and the occasional couchsurfer’s residence (for free!). Any money spent at the internet cafes will be an investment recouped through future web earnings. If I want to be savvy, I could even write the costs off on my federal taxes.

For those just starting out, I would recommend picking one killer domain, and investing your time and energy in building a blog or website around it. Once you learn about the various steps involved in developing an audience, and begin to earn a little money (by subscribing to this blog), you’ll find it’s easier and faster to develop additional ventures.

Join Travel Blog Success and learn to build a better travel blog.

Related posts:

1. 5 New Domain Names Purchased
2. Textbrokers & Outsourcing Content Creation
3. Nomadic Matt’s Make Money Travel Blogging eBook