To make money writing online you need to have a web presence so you can refer potential clients to samples of your work and to a summary of your accomplishments.

The easiest way to do this is to start writing for any one of a number of different revenue sharing sites like Hub Pages, Associated Content, Squidoo, Bukisa, or even Helium.

These sites are all free to join, and you can pretty much write about whatever you want so long as you follow their rules and guidelines. (Usually the rules come down to obvious things like don't write anything profane or obscene, don't post spammy content full of links to your affiliate sites, don't steal content, etc, and so forth). Each of these websites has a different feel to it, and each has a slightly different means of calculating payment. You aren't really joining for the money though--not a first. You're building a body of work.

Your profile should be friendly but professional. If you've been published, say so and say where. Talk a little bit about your educational and professional background and about what your specialties and interests are. Use a real photo of yourself, not an avatar. When clients are looking for a freelance writer, they want a person, not a unicorn jumping over an endlessly sparkly .gif rainbow whilst flashing the peace symbol. Think of your profile as a kind of informal, friendly resume. Keep it short but don't be flip or sarcastic, take it seriously.

When you write for any of the revenue sharing sites, make sure you choose a good title and tags for your articles. You can research keywords (the words most often searched in Google) by using the Google Adsense Keyword Tool, which is free. You can also buy various keyword tools online.

Carefully read the agreement when you sign on with these sites. Helium retains all rights to your material. Once you publish an article at Helium, it's their article and you can't take it down or use it ever again. Associated Content gives you choices. At AC you can sell all rights, sell partial rights, or retain all rights and just earn ad revenue. Hub Pages asks that you not publish the same content you publish at HP elsewhere on the web, but otherwise you retain all rights to your own material.

I quit writing for Helium because I began to feel their payment system wasn't equitable; and because the culture at Helium began to annoy me after awhile. (They have this peer review feature that just isn't for everybody and can go badly wrong, and they're very big on contests and competitive writing. I'm not that into competitions. I would rather write in a more low key, supportive environment, which is why I like Hub Pages best.)

Really, you just have to try different sites out until you find one where you 'fit'.

Once you find a good site and put up a professional profile, try to publish at least 20 decent 600-800 word essays on informational topics that actually interest you.

Once you have 20 solid articles, a good profile, and some readers, you can start to apply for freelance projects on the job boards.

The most frequently used job boards are Elance, Odesk, Guru, and Craig's List. Craig's List has nothing set up to hold payment for you while you write, so it's easy to get stiffed there.

Guru and Elance don't have many jobs you can bid on without paying a fee of some sort for the privilege of bidding. I like Elance because for $14.95 per month I can bid on plenty of projects and if I don't want to pay the $14.95 some month I can pass. I always make more than $14.95 per month at Elance, so it's worth it to me. At Guru you choose between various membership levels and none are cheap, but I do know people who do well there. All of these job board sites take a percentage of whatever you make as a commission.

A lot of people don't like the job boards because so much of the work posted on them is very poorly paid, but not all of it is. What I did was bid on projects I thought nobody would want until I had some credibility built up at the site, then I started bidding on better work. Over time you build up a client base and don't need the boards so much anymore.

I'll be honest: I don't make much more than 3 cents a word on freelance work, and sometimes less if I really like the topic. Most of the articles I write for Elance are in the 400-600 word range, and I usually make between $10 and $30 per article, sometimes a bit less or a bit more. I can write 10 articles in a morning, so that's $100. Three mornings of work and I'm close to my call center salary. And I can work in my pajamas if I want.

Most of the people here at Hub Pages who are making good money writing do it by setting up their own websites and promoting them at Hub Pages and other free sites.

The idea is to buy a domain name that taps a niche market (i.e., ardvaark prosthetic devices, tiny teacups for Tasmanians, etc), set up Word Press or Blogger on it, plug in some affiliate ads, sign it up for Google Adsense, then fiddle with it and promote it 12 or15 hours each day.

You can set up as many of these sites as you want, and some will make money and some will make no money. Over time, if you keep at it, you will start to see some real moola though. Lissie, Mark Knowles, Eric Graudins, Uninvited Writer, and several other great hubbers make money this way, and they do very, very well for themselves.

I have not set up my own websites. Nor am I rolling in dough. I make a halftime income on writing alone that works for my personal situation. More money is always nice, but I have other interests, other projects. I'm working on a novel. I have a dog and a garden and a man.

The biggest reason I have not gone this route though is that I am technologically impaired. If I approach an electric can opener, it explodes before I am able to get near it. It is just trying to protect itself, which is very sensible really, and websites are no different. I know my limitations. Please, please don't tell me you know a really, really easy way to set up websites and make money off of them. Please, let's just respect each other, OK? The whole website thing is a painful subject for me. Just keep moving. Nothing to see here, move along, move along...

On a more serious note, setting up websites and blogging on them professionally is incredibly labor intensive. You can't just slap up the site and then sit back and wait for the money to roll in. Instead, you will be constantly setting up links and backlinks and sideways links and insideout links and fine-tuning your keywords and checking Google Analytics and all manner of other mysterious internet 'stuff'. You will be at work all of your waking hours. 'Passive' income is the biggest misnomer you will ever encounter.

There is no such thing as 'passive' income.

Let me say that again: There is no such thing as passive income.

That said, passive income is where the big bucks are online. If you want to know how to do it, check out Mark Knowle's website. He lays it all out, step by step.

You may well want to set up your own website to promote your freelance work, however. Several hubbers who earn a living freelancing, like Mighty Mom, Sufidreamer, and Robert Sloan (to name just a few) have done just that. It gives you a professional edge and can help you get more work and better quality freelance projects.