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The internet is both a blessing and a curse. While on the one hand it has opened up a vast number of opportunities for people especially writers, it is also a veritable minefield of cons, scams and low-paid jobs that make freelance writing at an entry level a particularly difficult one to achieve. Regardless of this, there are a vast number of sites that offer paid work to skilled, dedicated and hard working writers, to the extent that it is possible to make a decent living online.

Here are a few ideas, along with a few sites I've tried for freelance writing opportunities.

REVENUE SHARING SITES

A revenue sharing site is a site which works with the freelance writer to generate advertising revenue which is divided between the writer and the site. You need not look any further for such a site, as you are already at one. Helium is a paying site which serves to generate revenue based on advertising clicks. Used in tandem with promotion and other methods of money-making, it can be a useful means of making a steady, if low income. The key to writing for Helium is consistency. You do not receive a great deal of revenue per article but income is cumulative and therefore agglomerates over time. Other sites which operate on this basis are Associated Content and review sites such as Reviewstream. Associated Content normally requires you to be an established writer in a given field of experience. Having a functional blog helps sell your articles to them. The bonus with Associated Content is that a flat fee is sometimes offered, which can be useful in determining income. Reviewstream offers a steady stream of work, however it can be extremely difficult to reach the $50 mark which is required to receive payment.

LISTING SITES

Many sites operate which act as conduits between freelance writers and those who require freelance writers. Online-writing-jobs.com, Freelancewriting.com and Craigs List all contain lists of potential clients. However, one has to be careful for scams on these pages; when writing your query letter, make sure that you ask for payment, and a physical address. If the email looks dodgy, it's best to ignore it. I have found these sites to be useful in getting keyword articles, although they can be used to find all sorts of work, both high paying and low paying. The best option for these types of site is to remain vigilant about being scammed. In my experience, most clients on Online-writing-jobs.com are reliable whereas Craigs List are more touch and go.

Other types of listing site include pay sites such as Elance and Writerlance. While these are more reliable than more informal sites, the sheer popularity of Elance and the proliferation of cheap, high-quality writers from India has made it very difficult to find competitive work that justifies the cost of the subscription charge. Although there is plenty of work available, it takes a lot of effort optimizing your profile and your comments to attract potential clients. Similarly, Firstwriter.com is a comprehensive pay site which allows you to find magazines and sites for publishing your work.

The final type of listing site are ones that can be found by scouring through blogs. Technorati is a useful tool for finding these, but, as an example I can recommend Beboauthor and Freelancewriting.com to start your investigations. Remember to get into the habit of bookmarking good sites.

ACADEMIC RESEARCH

Despite its bad reputation, academic research is often a useful way of supplementing your online income. While there are a lot of scam sites out there, there are also plenty of high quality sites which pay very well. Custom Essays, Academic Knowledge and Manuscript Services all pay extremely well for work completed. ESWO pay less well but can still provide a source of income if you are desperate. The drawback is that work has to be to an exceptional standard, and you automatically lose all copyright to the work that you produce. This can be important because it hinders the development of a portfolio of work you can use in markets that are regarded by some as being more legitimate.

BLOGS

Although it takes hard work promoting, writing and sustaining a blog, sites such as wordpress and blogger can theoretically generate income for you straight away by integrating your blog with an Adsense account. In addition, a blog can be a useful place to store a portfolio of work and to refer people to other forms of your work. Although it is increasingly difficult to get blogs noticed in an increasingly blog-filled internet, with extreme hard work it could still be a useful avenue for potential revenue. Blogger in particular integrates very efficiently with Adsense. As such, you can get a pay-per-click adsense account almost instantaneously.

There are many ways of finding writing work on the internet. Although I have offered a number of suggestions here, the best way to do this is by continuing to use search engines such as DMoz and Technorati to find new sites. Remember to bookmark the useful sites, and send out query letters to potential clients who sound interesting. Overall, it may be useful to try doing all of the above. While all of the suggestions provide potential sources of income, it is often difficult to accumulate enough money to survive simply through a single source. It is important to manage and promote your material.

In addition, you could always pay for a subscription service like firstwriter or Elance for you. I've been a member of both for two years and have found them to be a constant source of paid work.

Good luck!