How to Make Money Writing for About.com

Website Guarantees Writers $675 Per Month Minimum
Online help information portal About.com hires freelance writers with expertise in a variety of fields and guarantees them a minimum of $675 monthly. Here's how.

They say that during any recessionary period, companies are still hiring for certain positions. Though layoffs persist, people still see movies, go out to eat, and visit healthcare specialists.

One company that continues to hire freelance writers is About.com. About.com bills itself as the web’s premiere portal for help information. Topics range from city guides to entertainment to sports, travel, dining, parenting, and national parks.

It may come as a surprise to some that About.com doesn’t staff its own writers. Rather, it hires freelance writers called Guides to add content to the site in a given area of expertise. Here’s how freelance writers who are interested in becoming an About.com Guide can get started.

What it Takes to Become an About.com Guide
To become a guide for About.com, the writer must primarily have expertise in his or her field of interest. This could be topics such as bowling, a U.S. city, technology, sports, or any other of the hundreds of topics available on About.com.

The process is very professional, often requiring clips or work samples of the applicant’s prior publications in newspapers, magazines, journals, or online. Some topics for About.com Guides require the person to be a journalist or professional writer.



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If the person is selected by editors to become an About.com Guide, the writer must go through About.com’s one-month training program.

Compensation for Freelance Writing on About.com
About.com guarantees new Guides a minimum of $675 per month base pay for the first two years, then guarantees $500 per month thereafter. Additionally, About.com pays Guides according to page view growth with payment incentives.

With base pay plus page view incentives, About.com Guides in their first two years average $1,000 per month. Overall average Guide compensation is around $2,000 per month, with some experienced Guides earning upwards of $100,000 per year.

To be compensated, About.com Guides must write a minimum of four articles per month with gaps no greater than 14 days in between. Also, they must write into their blog one to three times per week.

How to Apply to Become an About.com Guide
Freelance writers interested in applying to become an About.com Guide should point their web browser to the About.com Be a Guide page. This page can also be displayed by clicking Be a Guide in the bottom right-hand corner of About.com’s home page.

On the left-hand side of the About.com Be a Guide page, click Apply Now. The list of available topics to apply for is displayed on the left, with the topic description on the right. Read the qualifications, intended audience, and topics to cover.

If the topic fits into the writer’s area of expertise, click Next to go through a series of informational screens until a form displays. Fill out the form and submit.

If the applicant doesn’t hear back from About.com regarding the status of his or her application, the applicant can check application status on the About.com Check the Status of Your Application(s) page.

Becoming a Guide on About.com is a part-time professional freelance writing opportunity. But if the person is an expert in his or her topic and is willing to put forth time and effort in heavy research and writing, it could easily turn into a full-time writing gig that pays well.

See related articles, "Top 4 Websites That Pay People to Write," "4 Websites That Offer Work at Home Virutal Jobs," and "14 Websites That Pay People to Write."


The copyright of the article How to Make Money Writing for About.com in Choosing Careers is owned by Daniel Gansle. Permission to republish How to Make Money Writing for About.com in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.


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