Why do you write or why do you have an online business?

Why do you write or why do you have an online business?

I've slowly come to understand (no, I'm not a rocket scientist), that when you have an online business ( are a self publisher, a visual artist selling for royalties or via PayPal buttons and shipping originals or even just a blogger making money from advertising) it all comes down to what you write.

I suppose that might sound strange to many especially artists who sell directly, but it really comes down to the text you publish. Your words are what the search engine looks at when someone searches for artwork and until you have built your e-mail list and your client base, search engines and perhaps any social networking you do will be most of your sales traffic.  Can you make many sales without doing much writing about your products and services?  From what I can tell in selling art online that very few print on demand websites will get you any sales at all. Even with amazing tags and description on the print on demand website, there is too much competition to expect high sales from that alone.

Do you publish books online?
 There are print on demand book services like Lulu or Blurb and you can also publish for the kindle or other e-book formats, but how many sales will you get at first?  I suppose if you offer an e-book for a dollar, you'll get some people who are curious and buy your book online from the different services that have started appearing in the last couple years, but your main source of sales is you!
When you share a sample on your blog, announce your e-book when it is ready on Facebook or Twitter, when you  share about what you do and how you do it, people get interested in who you are and will be more interested in buying that one dollar e-book. You have to get the ball rolling!

Do you love to blog or write articles?
Perhaps you are on Squidoo, Hubpages, Infobarrel, or one of the many other revenue sharing websites for advertising and some affililiate revenue. That's great too if you want to make money. We all have bills to pay and we need to eat. Very few of us have inherited fortunes to live off of.

Why do you write?

I started this post mentioning desired outcomes and needs for writing. You write in part because you need the search engine traffic, you need more eyes on your work to make sales for commission or royalty payments, and of course you write so you can eat, and have a roof over your head, but WHY do you write? You could have gotten a job at the supermarket, gas station, etc. There are plenty of entry level jobs anyone with a high school diploma can get.

Writing because you enjoy the process & sharing your work

Some people write because they really love the activity and the process of doing it. Even if they don't make any money they enjoy typing or pressing the pen on paper. If you are in this tiny group then you'll do well creating e-books, writing articles for money for Elance, and similar freelancing sites, revenue sharing sites or just a monetized blog if you do non-fiction.  The internet was made for you!

Writing for publicity and exposure (don't forget networking)

If you are a musician, actor, visual artist, or business consultant you probably belong in this group. You write out of the need to get people to see what you are really passionate about.  It does not have to be a dreary task. As long as you are writing about what you enjoy it isn't so bad. :-)  You may even start to enjoy yourself. That's why you should always focus on what you like. It won't feel like work that way.  Of course if you like work that feels like work, you could always study to become an accountant.
If you are in this group, focus on your passion and try to convert yourself into a member of the next one. Brainstorming and mind-mapping help find topics so you aren't just writing about your artwork or service.

Writing to help others by sharing your knowledge and experience (Educate)

Some of us are natural teachers. No, I don't mean teachers in the formal school sense. Instead we love to teach. We enjoy informing and educating others. We dislike ignorance and misinformation. You'll probably enjoy writing How-To articles and list articles full of data for others to absorb. You'll probably add quizzes and surveys to your posts and articles to verify understanding and you'd also enjoy giving training courses. If you know of a product that can fix a problem, you'll do well writing product reviews as an affiliate.

Writing to Entertain

Some people write because they love to tell jokes, write stories, and in general make people feel motivated and happy. You'd be a great blogger and you could sell your novels and short stories as e-books. Even when you write about your books for sale, try to keep some of that storytelling style to your blog posts and articles.

Conclusion
I mentioned several reasons for writing and I'm sure you can think of more. They are not exclusive. You can share, educate, entertain, and promote all at once and they can all be reasons that you have to write.
It is hard to separate the reasons for writing from the need to prosper in a world that runs on money, but if we remember why we do something it makes working online easier and it will help us select the most productive writing tasks.

If you have the indirect need to write, but have trouble keep practicing it gets easier over time. Also remember that you can hire freelance writers to write articles for your website or blog if you have more money than time.