Making money from writing articles

[Solo2]

I'm looking for a way to make some money through writing - probably not fiction but articles linked to my profession - but for lay people.

How do I begin and how much is the going rate per number of words?

Am I crazy to think I can make money this way? Would non-fiction be easier than fiction to get published and also to earn a small extra income?

Any ideas. shared experiences much appreciated. {smile}

I have written here:
www.helium.com
and earned about $100 in 6 months for around 50 articles - so not a lot!! Most of the money came from probably around 4 or 5 of the articles though.

You earn the money firstly based on how many people view your article (the rate per view is not specified, but it varies depending on the topic of your article based on what ads can be associated with it - some topics earn much more per view than others), but you can earn a lot more by entering the competitions and writing to the titles in the 'Marketplace' where you get paid a lump sum if your article gets picked.

Also, the more articles you have, the more your articles get viewed (people tend to see what else you have written) and the more you earn.

If you're really serious about being professional and already have some experience then this possibly isn't the sort of thing you're interested in, but I thought it was a nice place to start since any article gets published.