Does self media writing make money? How much money can self media writing earn? 2026 Practical Guide: Part 1

Does self media writing make money? Of course, making money is just a matter of having a significant income gap. Today,Online earning alliance(en. wangzhuan. org. cn) brings “Does Self Media Writing Make Money? How Much Money Can Self Media Writing Make? 2026 Practical Guide”. I hope it is helpful to everyone.

1、 Industry Status and Opportunity Analysis

1.1 Market Size and Trends

Self media writing will enter a ‘deep content dividend period’ from 2025 to 2026. According to the “Report on the Development of China’s Self Media Industry (2025)”:

• By 2025, the size of China’s self media market will reach 218 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.3%
• The number of WeChat official account has exceeded 30 millionBut there are only 6 million monthly active accounts (20% activity)
• The number of creators in Zhihu has reached 15 million3.2% of individuals have a monthly income exceeding 10000 yuan
• Today’s headline creators surpass 5 millionHeadline advertising has an annual expenditure of over 5 billion yuan

🔥 Key trend changes:

1. Algorithm iterationFrom ‘title party’ to ‘deep value’,Completion rate>60%, interaction rate>5%Get more recommendations for the content
2. AI assisted writingBy 2026, 68% of popular articles will use AI tools to assist with topic analysis, material collection, and initial draft generation
3. Vertical field opportunitiesA sea of entertainment content, butThere are still huge dividends in professional fields such as law, healthcare, B2B, and investment
4. Multi platform distribution: official account+Zhihu+Headline+Little Red Book four platforms become standard configuration
5. The rise of paid readingIn the era of knowledge payment 2.0, high-quality content can be directly read for a fee

1.2 Analysis of Suitable Population

✅ Suitable for:

• Has writing ability (clear and logical expression)
• Having professional accumulation (knowledge/experience in a certain field)
• Can withstand zero initial income (usually 6-12 months)
• Continuous output capability (at least 2-3 articles per week)
• Strong ability to withstand pressure (facing online violence and data anxiety)

❌ Not suitable for:

• Expecting rapid wealth (writing is a long termism)
• Cannot guarantee continuous output (fishing for three days and drying the net for two days)
• Plagiarism and proofreading (may result in platform account suspension and legal risks)
• Poor psychological resilience (mental breakdown when criticized or questioned)

💰 Real income range (2025 data):

2、 Comparison and selection strategy of mainstream platforms

2.1 WeChat official account (in-depth content, highest value in private domain)

✅ Advantage:

• Supported by WeChat ecosystem, social recommendations+Moments forwarding
• Easy conversion of private domain (direct diversion to personal WeChat/community)
• Strong willingness of users to pay (high acceptance of knowledge payment)
• The long tail effect is obvious (some people still read good articles 3 years later)

❌ Disadvantages:

• The opening rate has declined (from 5% in 2018 to 1.5% in 2025)
• New account cold start difficulty (no initial fans)
• Strict review (sensitive words and illegal content are easily deleted/banned)

📝 Suitable content types:

• Deep and lengthy article (over 2000 words, with thorough analysis)
• Industry Insights (Finance, Technology, Workplace, Education)
• Personal story (real experiences, emotional resonance)
• Knowledge popularization (law, medicine, psychology)

💵 Redemption cycle:6-12 months (with 5000 followers and active users)🎯 Monetization mode:

1. Traffic main advertisement (click/exposure billing, 1000 views ≈ 10-50 yuan)
2. Paid reading (1-9.9 yuan per article, or 199-999 yuan per year package)
3. Advertising cooperation (soft article promotion, charged by reading volume)
4. Knowledge payment (courses, training camps, communities)
5. Private domain conversion (guiding WeChat to sell high priced products)

2.2 Zhihu (professional content, stable search traffic)

✅ Advantage:

• Search engine friendly (fast indexing and high ranking on Google/Baidu)
• There are many professional users and high trust in the content
• Long tail traffic is stable (high-quality answers will continue to bring traffic for 3-5 years)
• Zhihu Salt Selection (paid membership) enjoys considerable revenue sharing

❌ Disadvantages:

• Low flow ceiling (daily life of 80 million vs 1 billion official account)
• The requirement for content quality is extremely high (general remarks may be stepped on)
• There are many commercial restrictions (cannot advertise casually)

📝 Suitable content types:

• Professional Q&A (Law, Programming, Medicine, Investment)
• Experience sharing (job hunting, postgraduate entrance examination, study abroad, workplace)
• Product review (digital, home appliances, software tools)
• In depth analysis (industry trends, policy interpretation)

💵 Redemption cycle:3-6 months (1000 likes+activation of Zhihu Salt Selection)🎯 Monetization mode:

1. Zhihu Salt Selection (paid column, divided into 50-70%)
2. Brand Task (Zhihu Business Cooperation, Charged by Exposure)
3. Good product recommendation (commission for sales, 10-25%)
4. Paid consultation (one-on-one answer, 100-500 yuan/time)
5. Diversion of private domain (WeChat/official account for introduction)

2.3 Today’s Headlines (algorithm recommendation, strong traffic explosion)

✅ Advantage:

• Algorithm recommendations are accurate, and newcomers also have opportunities for explosive products
• Large traffic scale (280 million daily active users)
• Stable advertising revenue sharing (30-100 yuan per 10000 views)
• Micro headlines (short content) are suitable for fragmented creation

❌ Disadvantages:

• The quality of users varies greatly (with a high proportion of sinking markets)
• Short content lifecycle (almost zero reading after 3 days)
• Strong dependence on clickbait headlines and hot topics

📝 Suitable content types:

• Hot comments (current affairs, entertainment, social news)
• Content related to agriculture, rural areas and farmers (returning home for entrepreneurship, agricultural products, rural life)
• Historical stories (easy to understand, with plot)
• Life tips (saving money, DIY, health and wellness)

💵 Redemption cycle:1-3 months (open headline advertising revenue sharing)🎯 Monetization mode:

1. Traffic sharing (30-100 yuan per 10000 views)
2. Paid column (99-499 yuan, 30% off Headlines)
3. Headline Shop (commission for sales, 10-30%)
4. Brand advertising (soft article promotion, charged by reading volume)

2.4 Xiaohongshu (Grass Planting Content, Mainly Female Users)

✅ Advantage:

• Strong consumer willingness and high unit price per customer
• Strong grass planting attribute, suitable for brand cooperation
• Combining graphics and short videos, with low production costs

❌ Disadvantages:

• Low traffic ceiling (120 million daily active users)
• High aesthetic requirements for content (exquisite images)
• Few male users and limited product categories

📝 Suitable content types:

• Beauty and skincare, fashion, home decor
• Mother and baby, food, travel
• Personal growth, workplace tips

💵 Redemption cycle:4-8 months (1000 fans+activated dandelion)🎯 Monetization mode:

1. Brand cooperation (Dandelion platform, 10% commission)
2. Delivery commission (15-35%)
3. Knowledge payment (courses, training camps)
4. Private domain drainage (diversion WeChat)

2.5 Baijia Hao/NetEase Hao/Sohu Hao (search engine traffic)

✅ Advantage:

• Baidu/NetEase/Sohu search engine indexing is fast
• Suitable for “keyword layout” (long-term search traffic)
• Stable platform revenue sharing (20-80 yuan per 100000 views on Baijiahao)

❌ Disadvantages:

• Low user stickiness (read and leave without leaving followers)
• The platform rules are constantly changing (if you say you want to ban your account, then ban it)
• Not suitable for private domain (users are not on the platform)

📝 Suitable content types:

• SEO articles (written around keywords such as “how to manage finances” and “weight loss methods”)
• Hot news (quickly follow up, grab search traffic)
• Practical tutorial (detailed steps, solving specific problems)

🎯 Monetization mode:

1. Platform sharing (traffic, main ads)
2. SEO order taking (helping companies write soft articles, 500-5000 yuan/article)
3. Guiding official website (bringing search traffic to enterprises)

3、 Content positioning and account building

3.1 Three step differentiation positioning method

Step 1: Find your ‘super tag’Don’t be a ‘food blogger’, do it“Office worker 10 minute Kwai food blogger”Monthly salary of 5000 yuan, savings and wealth management blogger”Interview and coaching blogger of Internet factory”📐 Formula: Target audience+specific scenarios+unique value

💡 case

• Little A’s Savings Diary→ Goal: Monthly income of 5000-8000 office workers; Scenario: Bookkeeping, wool harvesting, sideline work; Value: Authentic and replicable
• Designer Ah Fei→ Goal: People who want to switch careers in UI design; Scenario: Software tutorials, portfolio guidance, interview skills; Value: Internal promotion resources of large factories
• Lawyer Lao ZhangTarget: Ordinary people who encounter legal issues; Scenario: Labor disputes, marriage and family affairs, contract review; Value: Free preliminary consultation+paid in-depth services

Step 2: Content Matrix Design

Step 3: Visual Identity System (VIS)

• avatar: Use professional photos for real-life appearances, use IP images or text logos for non appearance
• IntroductionIn one sentence: “Who am I+What can I help you with+Follow me for what I get”
• ❌ Negative example: “Xiao Ming, who loves writing”
• ✅ Positive case: “5 years as an HR director, teaching you interview skills and avoiding workplace pitfalls | has helped over 3000 people secure job offers”
• layout styleUnified font, color scheme, and image style (using Canva and Maker Post design templates)

3.2 Account Construction Checklist

✅ Basic settings:

• [] Nickname (easy to remember, location related, excluding rare words)
• [] Avatar (HD, square, clear theme)
• [] Introduction (as mentioned earlier)
• [] Menu bar (mandatory for official account: past highlights+contact me+paid service)
• [] Automatic reply (after new fans follow, automatically send a “welcome message+previous popular articles”)

✅ Content reserve:

• [] Prepare 30 articles (ensure 2-3 articles are not lost on the weekly update)
• [] Establish a material library (cases, data, quotes, illustrations)
• [] Design layout templates (Xiumi, 135 editor, Markdown)
• [] Prepare a title library (100 attractive title templates)

4、 The entire process of content creation (from 0 to 1)

4.1 Topic selection: 80% success relies on topic selection

📊 Three major sources for topic selection:

1. Hot list on the platform(Real time tracking)

• Zhihu Hot List, WeChat Index, Baidu Index
• New Rankings, Flying Melon Data, Cicada Mom (See Popular Products in the Industry)

2. Mining in the comment section(Real user needs)

• Go to the comment section of similar large accounts and look for questions such as’ Who else wants… ‘and’ How can I… ‘
• Use “5118” or “Webmaster Tools” to check keyword search volume

3. Scene based pain points(The most explosive type)

• List the 10 core pain points of the target user
• Each pain point extends to 3 specific scenarios
• Scenario → Solution → Article Topic

📐 Topic evaluation formula:

Explosive potential=Pain point intensity x Audience breadth x Novelty x Executability

• Pain point intensity1-5 points (the more painful the better)
• Audience breadth1-5 points (the more the better)
• novelty 1-5 points (counter common sense and counter intuition are easily popular)
• executability1-5 points (readers can do it after reading)

💡 case

• How to lose weight “→ Pain point 3, audience 5, novelty 2, executable 4=120 points(Generally)
• Why are you getting fatter and fatter as you lose weight? Unveiling 10 Lies in the Weight Loss Industry “→ Pain Point 5, Audience 4, Novelty 5, Executable 3=300 points(Potential for explosive products)

4.2 Title Writing: Deciding 80% Open Rate

🏷️ The four main types of titles:

1. Digital type5 Methods, 3 Years of Experience, 10 Misconceptions

• Example: “My monthly salary ranges from 5000 to 50000, and I only did these 3 things right

2. Doubtful typeWhy… “,” How… “,” Is it… “

• Example: “Why isn’t anyone reading your article? Here’s the answer

3. Suspense typeShocked! “,” Surprisingly… “,” I didn’t expect

• Example: “I didn’t expect it! This habit made me save more than 50000 yuan in a year

4. Interest orientedTeach you… “,” Help you… “,” Let you… “

• Example: “Teach you 3 Excel tips to triple your work efficiency”

✍️ Title optimization formula:

Title: How to Learn Python

🧪 A/B testing:

• Prepare 3 titles for the same article
• Sent to different platforms/at different times
• See which one has a high opening rate, and use which style in the future

4.3 Article Structure: Golden Template

📝 Explosive article structure (2000-3000 words):

Opening (200-300 words):

💡 Case article structure (taking “How to Double Monthly Salary” as an example):

beginning

4.4 Writing Tool Chain (Essential for 2026)

🤖 AI assisted writing:

1. Topic generation：Claude、ChatGPT、 IFlytek Spark (input “Give me 10 popular topics about financial management”)
2. Outline GenerationEnter keywords, AI will help you list the structure of the article
3. Draft WritingAI writes the initial draft, you polish it again（Don’t copy and paste directlyWill be judged as AI content)
4. Proofreading and proofreading：Grammarly、 Secret Tower Writing Cat (Check for typos and grammar errors)

📊 Material collection:

1. data collectionOctopus and Houyi Collector (Crawling Industry Data)
2. case libraryImpression notes, Obsidian (keep track of good cases seen at any time)
3. image materialsUnsplash (free commercial) Pexels、 Station Cool (Domestic Design)

📝 Layout release:

1. official accountXiumi, 135 Editor Markdown Here
2. ZhihuZhihu Editor (supporting Markdown)
3. headlinesHeadline Number Backend (with built-in typesetting tools)

⏱️ Efficiency tools:

1. speech-to-textIFlytek heard, Otter.ai (oral article, polished after converting text)
2. mind map：XMind、 Curtain (outline of article)
3. time managementTomato working method (25 minutes of focused writing+5 minutes of rest)

Continuation article《Does self media writing make money? How much money can self media writing earn? 2026 Practical Guide: Part 2》.