How many of you guys out there love to play video games?
How many times a week do you sit down for a competitive gaming match among your friends or perhaps you’re more into single player games with an awesome storyline?
What if I told you that you could get paid to play and write about video games?
Would you be interested in hearing more about what I had to say about it?
Well, if you answered yes to any of the questions above then you’re really going to want to stick around and read this article to the end as I have lots of exciting things to share with you guys today.
For years. I have wanted to pursue this niche but wasn’t sure how to approach it and I failed with this niche several times when I started in 2012.
It wasn’t until just a couple of months ago that I finally gave this niche another try and I’m happy to report that things are going well so far.
In the following blog post, I’ll be showing you how to go about doing this, what tools & training you need to get started, as well as how much you’ll need to invest in this opportunity to get started.
Sound pretty good so far?
Let’s get started, shall we?
Don’t Just Pick Video Games, You Need To Narrow This Down Further
While it may seem cool to write about Ninja Gaiden or Assasins Creed (Which happen to be 2 of my favorite video games) you’ll find it particularly challenging to do this when you sit down to write these ideas out.
This is the problem I had when I first started, and the reason why I failed multiple times within this niche.
For starters, I decided to go with a super broad domain name that I could very well cover thousands of different products at once an I thought I could cover it all on 1 site.
Boy, was I ever wrong!!
Shortly after I started this niche, I failed miserably and had to start over again.
Why?
Thats due to the fact that I didn’t narrow this down to find my targeted audience and I really didn’t understand how important keywords were or why I needed to target specific ones to get traffic coming to my website.
The gaming industry is huge and the reason why most people fail in this industry is due to them improperly narrowing their niche down into smaller bite-size pieces that are much easier to digest than taking on the entire niche by yourself.
Let’s take a look at a few examples below:
- Online Gaming
- Gaming Headsets
- Gaming Guides
- Gaming Reviews
- Gaming Accessories
- World Of Warcraft (WOW)
You could pick just 1 of these categories listed above and have enough to write about for years to come if you approach this in the right way.
Once you have narrowed your topic down and have a general idea of what you want to talk about we can now move forward to the next step and I’ll be covering this next so I encourage you to continue reading for all the juicy details.
Get Your Own Website
Now that you have an idea of what you’re going to write about you need to have a place to write it at or this won’t work and you’ll be wasting your time.
In 2018, just about anyone who is anyone has their own website.
Nowadays it’s becoming more common for you to have your own website as there are currently millions of people across the globe who run their own website and are earning a full time living from it.
Luckily for you, getting your own website is much easier to obtain and get setup than it was just 5 or 10 years ago.
As a matter of fact, you can have a fully functional website up and running, live on the world wide web in as little as 60 seconds or less.
Pretty crazy if you ask me, wouldn’t you guys agree?
Go Ahead Pick A Name For Your New Website By Typing It Into The Search Box Below!!
It’s as simple as choosing a domain name, giving your website a name, choosing a design, and clicking on the build my website now button.
You would obviously want your domain name to be highly relevant to the narrowed down category that you have decided to go with so that everything makes sense.
How To Determine What Gaming Keywords People Are Actively Searching For
Once you’ve got your website up and running as per the instructions listed above, it’s time to do some research into what people are searching for so that you know what to write about.
There are many different tools you can use to do this but the one that I use is Jaaxy.
You would be surprised at the various things that people type into Google & other search engines looking for information about gaming and how to make money from this hobby.
Here are just a few of the many search terms that people are searching for below that I was able to pick up by doing a simple search within Jaaxy.
As you can see in the screenshot above, there is a good number of people searching for info on how to make money with video games which is awesome!!
To give you a basic idea of what these terms mean they are as follows
- Avg- The number of people searching for this keyword phrase on a monthly basis
- Traffic- How many visits you’ll get if you rank in the top 3 spots on page 1 of the search engines
- QSR- Number of competing websites that are ranked for this search phrase
- KQI- A quality keyword indicator that determines how likely you are to rank on page 1
Now that you have a better understanding of these terms you’re now ready to move on to the next section which is writing all of this out and I’ll be going over this in detail next.
How To Write All Of This Information Out
Now that you have got your website setup, researched some keywords, and have a general idea of what people are searching for, it’s time to have some fun and start writing all of this information out.
When writing keyword articles about gaming or any niche for that matter, it’s vital that you’re targeting a specific keyword and you base your entire article on this keyword.
Remember the keywords that I researched above?
Well, I would need to pick one of these phrases and write an article on how to do this on my website.
You should make sure the keyword is in your title, in the first paragraph of your article, and it should be both natural and make sense to the reader.
All of your articles should follow these guidelines:
You should always start your articles out by greeting your audience and discussing the topic that you’ll be writing about.
This is known as the opening paragraph and this is where you’ll be putting your keywords and addressing your audience, engaging with them, and giving them a general idea of what you’ll be talking about.
From there you’ll want to expand on this topic and back it up with 3 or more supporting paragraphs.
Ask questions throughout your article and make people feel like you’re speaking directly to them just like if they were sitting right next to you face to face.
You should always end your writing with asking questions and getting feedback from your audience.
Find out what they think about this and offer to explain anything they are still confused about by having them leave you a comment.
What Type Of Gaming Articles Can You Write?
This is where things really get exciting as there is a plethora of different types of articles you can write within this niche and I’ll list these for you guys below.
Video Game Product Reviews– This includes anything from gaming headsets to actual gaming consoles and everything in between.
Just a few weeks ago I wrote a detailed review on the PlayStation VR and actually learned quite a bit about Virtual Reality that I didn’t know beforehand which was totally awesome.
This is how the majority of people earn money with a gaming website but this is only 1 of the many ways to go about this.
Writing List Posts- This happens to be one of my favorite pieces of content to write due to the fact that you could literally review 10 to 20 products all within a single blog post.
List posts also help you gain more authority in your niche and after you write enough of these types of posts people will start to take your advice and look up to you as someone who knows what they talking about.
If you’re looking to break into the video game niche then I would highly recommend that you start out doing list posts as you only need to give a brief overview of the product instead of reviewing the whole thing.
Sometimes this is all people are looking for anyway when they are researching a product online before getting out their credit card.
How To & Informational Articles- When was the last time you got stuck defeating a boss or mastering a certain part of a game you were stuck on?
It doesn’t matter what you’re looking to learn how to do, chances are that you can find it online.
This gives you a huge advantage to reach out to people and help them out by showing them how to do something and earn a nice commission in the process.
If you can write a how-to guide on something that you have mastered whether it be how to defeat a boss in the new God Of War game, or how to reach the highest score in Candy Crush then this would be the perfect style of articles for you to start out with.
How Do You Actually Make Money Writing About Video Games?
Once you have got a good idea of how to write content for your website, it’s now time to monetize it and start making some money.
What good is a website going to do you if it’s not making money?
Right?
There are a variety of ways that you can do this ranging from ads, to paid content, to selling other peoples products on your website.
This is otherwise known as affiliate marketing and this accounts for the majority of my monthly income.
The whole process is actually quite simple and this involves you applying to be an affiliate for places like Amazon, Gamestop, Bestbuy, and various other online merchants.
For example, if you base your site on gaming accessories, like headsets, gaming keyboards, and mice then you could hook up with a merchant who sells these products and applies to be an affiliate for them.
Once approved you’ll be given a special link called an affiliate link. This is your own personalized link that is hardcoded to you.
Once you start reviewing products you’ll need to place these links throughout your review articles.
When people read your content, like it, and are looking to learn more or make a purchase they will click your link.
This will drop a cookie into their web browser and whenever they make a purchase( Depending on the length of the cookie) you will get credit for the sale and earn a commission.
This is how I have been earning a living online for the past 5 years and it seems like I learn something new each and every day.
My Personal Results With My Gaming Website
Like I promised earlier on in this article, I told you guys I would be sharing my results that I was able to achieve over the past several months.
Take a look below at how much I was able to accomplish over the past several months with my gaming headset site below
As you can see I have been quite the busy bee here lately and I plan to really amp things up for the month of June and get this website to make a full time income like my other websites are.
While I haven’t really made much money with this site just yet, I was able to earn a few commissions and I’ll screenshot these for you guys below.
I know this isn’t a whole lot but the fact that I’ve been able to earn this much in such a short amount of time should tell you that this actually works and it’s not a scam that promises you’ll make thousands of dollars overnight for doing little to NO work.
As my site starts to grow I’m 100% confident that the income will grow as well and I’ll keep you guys updated on this as this site ages and I start adding more content to it.
An Added Incentive To Keep You Motivated
As if all of this stuff isn’t exciting enough, here’s an extra tidbit of information I was able to find out while doing my research online about this niche.
If any of you guys are hardcore gamers and you keep up on the latest games coming out, then I’m sure that you have heard about E3.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with this term, its one of the hugest gaming conventions in the world and it’s coming up next week.
As many of you may know, this isn’t open to the public and in order for you to get invited to this conference, you need to either work at Gamestop or another gaming retail store or be actively involved in the gaming industry somehow.
Did you know that having a website in the gaming niche qualifies you to earn an invitation to attend E3 live in person?
Well, it does and I was quite surprised when I found out about this myself.
This has given me quite a bit of motivation to continue working on my gaming website and if all goes well, I should be able to possibly attend E3 next year.
Ready To Get Your Career Started In The Video Game Industry?
As exciting as this opportunity is, the sad part is that the majority of programs you encounter in the online world claim to show you how all of this works but at the end of the day they fail to deliver.
I have joined several programs that claimed to hold the golden ticket to my success online, but in the long run, they were more concerned about taking my money and had no intentions of helping me build a business online.
After years of falling for get rich schemes and various other scams, I finally found my way to Wealthy Affiliate.
This is the place that has shown me how to finally make a go of this and learn the real and proper way for me to get paid to talk about, play, and write about video games.
Not only do they have some of the highest quality tools and training in the industry, but they also have personal help and support to assist you in everything from choosing a niche and narrowing it down, to picking the right domain name.
Another thing that I particularly love about these guys is the fact that everything I need is available under 1 roof for 1 low monthly or yearly fee.
There is no need to sign up for multiple services and pay multiple fees to get this business up and running.
Everything is included in your membership for 1 low price.
Want to know whats even better than that?
They even let you try everything out before you pay them anything with their free starter membership.
This gives you access to your first 10 lessons, a keyword tool, 2 free websites, and access to the amazing online community.
All of this for free without you having to enter your credit card information or think about investing in their premium services.
Pretty sweet deal if you ask me, wouldn’t you guys agree?
My Closing Thoughts
If you’re an active gamer who loves to play video games and you have always wanted to learn how to get paid to write about them but you were never sure how to go about this, then I really hope this article has helped you out.
I wish that I had read an article like this way before I initially did and If I had then I would probably already be a millionaire by now lol.
This is just 1 of the many ways that you could get paid to write about video games or any passion or hobby that you desire if you follow the technique that I’ve shared with you guys above.
There are a plethora of other ways for you to make money with video games but this is the most popular way and the one that I recommend to anyone interested in learning how to build a gaming website and earn a full time living from the comfort of your home.
I really hope this article has helped you guys out and has given you some insight into how to get paid to write about video games.
Still, have questions or need my help? I would love to help you guys out and answer any additional questions you may have about this in the comments below.
Until Next Time
~Your Friend, Scott~