If you’re looking for a couple of places to get started freelance writing online for pay, there are a few good places to start.

Suite 101 is a website where you write articles about whatever topic you want to and get paid for your efforts.  Sign up for Suite101.com and get started. I know a few people who make pretty decent monthly checks from Suite101, but of course they write quite a bit AND they write smart, keeping keywords and research in mind.

The first place I started writing freelance online was Associated Content. It’s not a bad place to write and earn if you know how to write SEO copy that targets specific keywords.

The reason is that you get paid per pageview (on top of the initial fee you are paid for your work, which can be anywhere from a dollar to twelve dollars). As you move up the ranks at AC, which are dictated by how much traffic your articles receive over time, you earn more money per thousand pageviews.

But this isn’t exactly going to pay your bills since the highest you can get paid is $2 per thousand views. Still, it’s a good place to write and make money. You just need to know that it’s not going to be a career for you.

Hubpages is another very good place to write online, even if it takes time to start earning. You don’t get paid anything up front but you do get a 60 percent share of the revenue your written pages earn from Adsense, eBay affiliate links, and Amazon affiliate links. This is a cool site because you can edit your work for eternity and write pretty much anything you want as long as it meets Hubpages decency and quality standards (which really shouldn’t be a problem for any serious writers).

A lot of people start at Hubpages thinking it’s a good place to promote their personal websites and blogs, and often these same people realize that they can do better the other way around.  Read an article I wrote a while back about how to make money online with Hubpages.  When you’re done reading that article, you may also be interested in 5 ways to make more money with Hubpages.

Try out all three of these online writing sites and get a jump on your freelance writing career.  The reason I think it makes sense to try out as many writing sites online is because you should keep trying to find one that clicks really well with you.

It may be the style of the publishing system that gets you or it may just be the look of your published articles, but you should keep trying until you find a writing site that works well for you. The more comfortable you are writing somewhere, the more writing you will do, and that’s really the point.

Where do you do your freelance writing online? Leave responses in the comments below.