In most cases, once you get paid for an article, it’s a wrap. You don’t get any other financial benefits from your work, no matter how successful it is.

But most cases aren’t all cases. And there is a way that you can keep getting paid for articles you sold. It’s called pageview incentives.

Understanding Pageview Pay

Pageview incentives (sometimes called pageview bonuses or traffic bonuses) are arrangements where you earn money based on how many people view your article.

For example, you may get paid $1 for every 1,000 page views an article receives. If you have a personal website with a small audience, thinking about 1,000 page views may sound like a lot. And that may lead you to assume pageview incentives aren’t worth your time.

But remember, many established websites get hundreds of thousands or millions of visits per month. So, increments of 1,000 or even 10,000 can be easier to stack up than you think.

Also, keep in mind that while the incentive may be modest, the point is that this is recurring additional income.

How Page Views Create A Revenue Stream

Say you write five articles for a popular lifestyle website in May. Each article got 20,000 views. Under the arrangement described above, that’s an additional $100 for that month.

Now, say the articles were on topics that can keep drawing readers attention. For example, one may be titled “10 Expert Grilling Tips.” That’s going to be relevant to readers all summer. So, June through September, your articles remain popular, and you pull in another $100 or so per month.

During the fall and winter months, you may get fewer views, and only get $50 a month. Then, next spring and summer, when those articles are more relevant, they may become popular again, and your pageview earnings may rise accordingly.

By the time those five articles finally die down, you may have earned an extra $500 or $600 for them. Freelance writer Kelly Clay reportedly earned $1,000 – $4,000 a month in pageview incentives for Forbes articles she wrote in 2014, according to a The Write Life article.

I haven’t experienced or met anyone who has pulled down those types of figures solely from pageviews. But the point is whether you make $100 or $1,000, it’s passive income. You’re earning this money while you’re working on other projects, taking vacations or whatever you decide to do in the meantime.

Pageview Pay: Consider The Terms

Notice earlier, I said, you can keep getting paid for articles you’ve sold. That’s important because there are different types of pageview arrangements.

With some, you get an upfront payment + pageview bonuses. Others only offer pageview compensation.

I call pageview income “additional income” because I’m referring to arrangements where you get an upfront payment for your work then get pageview payments on top of that.

Writing solely for pageviews isn’t a decision I would make lightly. Under the right circumstances, you could see huge gains. But writing for potential income also means you may do the work and get little, if anything, in return.

If you decide to write for pageview pay only, do your research and make your decision wisely. Otherwise, you may just be giving away content.

RElated: Extra Work For Extra Money Isn’t The Same AS a Higher Rate

What Sites Offer Pageview Incentives?

If you’re wondering what sites offer pageview incentives, here are three that I can think of:

Seeking Alpha – crowd-sourced investment site. Pays $35 upfront + $10 for every 1,000 page views.

MoneyCrashers – long-form personal finance articles. Pays undisclosed base rate + monthly traffic incentive.

PuckerMob – Relationship and lifestyle site. Offers pageview compensation only.

If you have any input about these sites or know of others that offer pageview payments, use the comments section to fill us in.