Writing Online: What Works and What Doesn't

November was a month to recovering from the eHow sweep, rewrite and rethink article placement and enjoying family and friends for the holiday.  Now its time to get back to work before the next holiday week arrives.

December will be the fourth month for me and I think I'm finally getting the hang of what works and what doesn't. Keep reading to see what I have found out. 

eHow
What works - short, quick how to articles; best earner - How to Make Money Easy and Still be a Stay at Home Mom; second best earner - How to Flush Your Water Heater
What doesn't work -Herbal Remedies and How to eHow articles; Holistic health related articles have been moved here to my Examiner page and I have created a second blog for all eHow related tips and tricks. 
Opinion - Also it is my opinion that while after a certain period of time, articles may do fine on their own, eHow friends and the eHow community do assist in boosting an article potential in the first 4-6 months.  (Note:  Others will disagree with me on this point, but this is what I personally am experiencing.)
December Goal - To have a total of 50 eHow articles by the end of the month. 

Examiner
What works - Time sensitive articles with an on topic twist; This is truely a news driven site.  It is possible to drive traffic to evergreen articles, but for earnings, newsworthy articles published every 3-4 days min. are best; linking to other relevant articles in my library and other Examiner's, as well as sources and reference articles.

What doesn't work - Publishing newsworthy articles on top of one another (one in morning and one in afternoon), over a three week period articles posted in this manner did not drive additional traffic but actually seem to compete against each other.
December Goal - Publish 3-4 newsworthy articles each week;
Experiment - Try to work in several evergreen articles that work well with the newsworthy article and link back;

Suite - 
What works - Still trying to figure out this site; and what works best.
What doesn't work - To be determined.

December Goal - Publish 2-3 articles in varying topics and 1-2 articles on topic per week to see what works and what doesn't

Looks like I'm going to be a busy camper this month.  I am working on the November earnings numbers and will aim to post results this weekend.

Recovering Your Deleted Articles - Tip 14

Hopefully anyone who is taking the time to write online is keeping either a hard copy or a back-up copy of their work.  If you are not doing so, stop everything you are doing and save your work right now!
Sites do not guarantee your articles will not be delete or lost due to a computer glitch.  Some sites (eHow) even have occasional sweeps where sub-standard articles are intentionally deleted by the site.  Writers are responsible for their own record and back-up keeping.

How come my articles aren't earning yet? Have Patience - Tip 13

Have patience with your articles, don't delete a low (or no) earner. Give them a chance to mature before deleting or tweaking any article.

It is not likely you will see hundred dollar payouts your first month. It is more likely you will see pennies (or nothing if your article isn’t keyword rich) the first month. Research consistently shows it takes time, 4 to 6 months – sometimes longer, for your article to reach peak monthly earnings.

Promoting Your Articles, Website or Blog - Tip 12

Starting to freelance, blog or run a website? Trying to get traffic but don’t know where to start? Then keep reading.

Increase Traffic with Social Network and Bookmarking Sites
Entering into the world of freelance writing can be tricky and a tad overwhelming for a beginner. Building readership and increasing page views is important to the success of your new career.  Social networking sites and other internet communities allow you to submit or post your article, blog or web-site, increasing your page views and hopefully build readership.

Promoting your Articles with Search Engine Submission Sites - Tip 11

Use free search engine submission sites to get your article noticed quickly. This step is essential for newsworthy or timely articles.

Deleting an eHow Article or Draft - Tip 10

You decided that your article will have better results at a different site or after reading it you really don't like it that much and want to delete it.

To Delete an eHow Article or Draft
Go into Edit as if you're going to change your article. At the top of the edit screen, click ‘expanded view’. At the bottom of the page, next to publish article in small type print (no box) click on ‘delete article’.

Notepad and Sending a Note to eHow Writers - Tip 9

Sending a Note

I know when I first began contributing articles receiving encouraging words and comments on my articles really inspired me to keep writing. I try to pay it forward whenever I can.

Sending a note to another eHow member is much easier than sending a message, but only friends can send notes. Click on the members’ profile. On the far right hand side of the screen a little ways down you will see "Notes", in the upper right hand corner of that box click on "More Notes". Then scroll down to the bottom and there will be a box where you can type the note to your friend.

Revenue - Tip 8

Where Does Revenue Come From?
Revenue is generated by the advertisements on our individual articles. All of the ads are based on the article content (by keyword). When a reader clicks on an ad, the advertiser is charged this is called, pay per click or PPC. Google (or whoever is providing the advertising for the site) then gives a share of this advertising revenue to the site owner (eHow, Suite, Infobarrel, etc...), who in turn shares it with the authors.

Friends, Friends and More Friends - Tip 7

The eHow community is very friendly and helpful for a beginner freelance writer. I have found everyone there absolutely wonderful.

With the exception of a few people, most recommend supporting the community by Reading other members work, Rating the articles, leaving Comments and Recommending authors you enjoy or have been helpful - RRCR. Although I have read this is not necessary, it is fun, a great way to meet like minded people and learn new things!

Using HTML to Create Addional Links on Your eHow Profile - Tip 6

How many profiles have you seen with links to their website or other articles and wonder "How do they do that?"  Well,  they use HTML to add additional links to the "about me" section of their profile.

Adding profile links in HTML is not all that hard.  Just follow the steps below:

RRCR - Read, Rate, Comment and Recommend - Tip 5

Are you still overwhelmed? Your profile is looking awesome, you have few articles w/ photos under your belt, your featured articles are turned on, you have your social networking sites set up and articles submitted – what about these friend requests? And what the heck is RRCR?

New Homes for eHow Misfit Articles

Have been working hard re-writing articles the eHow misfits and finding new homes for them.  After looking over the remaining articles I found there were several additional article written in the same fashion as the deleted ones.  Not wanting to cause anyone additional work, I saved them the effort and removed them myself.

Revised sweep totals, 8 articles deleted by eHow, 5 deleted/moved by me.  Most have been adopted in a new form elsewhere.  But I was having some trouble with what to do with the How to eHow articles.  I decided to create a new blog, Writing Online for Profit: Tips and Tricks for those articles.  Each tip will have it's own post, similar to an online writing guide and will be updated regularly.

Now I must update my blog links and add new articles to their respective posts, catch up on returning my comments and subscribing to friends threads and I can't forget the forum posts.  (Just think, a few months ago I thought all I had to do was write a short diddy, post it and whal-la!  This is quite a bit of work. )

Use Resource and Source Sections - Tip 4

A "resource" is different from a "source" and each section should be used.

Use the resource section of an article to promote related articles, specifically ones authored by you.  If you don't have any of your own.  Link to another author's related article.  Send them a note letting them know you liked their article and linked to it, send them the link to your article and politely give them the option if they'd like the link removed.

Turn on Featured Articles Option - Tip 3

This tip is strictly for eHow writers, be sure to turn on the featured articles links.  When people visit eHow profiles and do not see any featured articles, sometimes it is assumed the contributor has not written or published any articles; others may not want to be bothered trying to find them and leave without reading, rating or commenting.

Using Photos in Articles - Tip 2

Photos add to the SEO aspect of an article and are aesthetically pleasing.  Adding a  keyword specific caption to your picture will add to the likelihood of being found by search engines.

Keyword Use in Articles - Tip 1

Using keywords in articles is the single most important step when writing online.

Keywords are what the search engines (Google, Yahoo, AOL, Bing etc...)  use to find your articles.  The term SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.  People use SEO for their articles to make them easy for the search engines to find and to rank high in the search lists.

Writing Online for Profit is Born

I am giving birth to this blog in response to eHow's infamous article sweep.  Apparently publishing articles on eHow about writing articles on eHow is frowned upon.  Guilty articles are put to death in a swift, quick sweep.

Posts will be written from a beginners point of view and will build as we go along.  When I began my journey, information that was easily understandable has been hard to come by.  Articles that I was able to find were either so simple a monkey could understand it, therefor not very helpful or so techy it gave me a headache.  I have given myself a six month challenge and as a result put the learning portion in overdrive.  I will share my tips and tricks, as well as others articles I have found helpful and informative, not only for eHow but other online publications and for promoting your website, articles and blogs.




Sharing your Tips
Anyone who would like to share a tip (or correct/add to one of mine) is welcome share.  If I post your tip on this blog full credit will be given as well as a link to your site and article of your choice. 

Expect Regular Posts and Updates
As several articles with numerous tips were swept away by eHow, I will be posting these tips several times per week.  After they have been posted, new posts and old entries will be updated from time to time depending on new information or procedures discovered.  So check back often or better yet subscribe!

Socialmarker.com

Just finished submitting my articles to Socialmarker.com.  It is like the rest of the sites now-a-days, spotty.  It was working great, then once I hit the Examiner articles it got a glitch, then this morning the first two sites didn't want to work.

I did however notice a big bump in Examiner earnings and Suite page views yesterday.  Examiner's page counter is down today so I will be curious to find out the results tomorrow.  Suite earnings are usually about a day or two behind.  I'll post when I get the results.

The weekend is almost over, so I'm going to go lay in front of the fireplace and read a bit.  Have a good evening everyone!

eHow Deleted Articles: Answers Received

Well yesterday afternoon I received a revised email with a corrected link from eHow. The link took me to a list of my deleted articles along with reasons for their demise. The tally is as follows:

eHow Sweeps and deleted articles

The last two days on eHow there have been no earnings, which has been very strange. On the community pages, those in the same boat were piping up one by one about their articles getting deleted in the sweep. All day yesterday I could not get into my articles, so I suppose when I woke up this morning to 8 less articles it was not much of a surprise.

How to Make Money on eHow

Below are a series of articles that I have written about my eHow experience.  I have included many tips and tricks including how to delete and article, how to add more links to your profile, where to promote your articles and more.

• How to Make Money Writing for eHow: Newbie Guide - update: removed in eHow sweep 11/12/09
• How to Increase your eHow Earnings: Keywords, Featured Articles, Resources and Photos
• How to Increase your eHow Earnings: SPAM, Promoting Your Articles, and Patience - update: removed in eHow sweep 11/12/09  
• How to Increase your eHow Earnings: Profile Links, Friends, and Notepad - update: removed in eHow sweep 11/12/09
• How to Increase your eHow Earnings: More Do's and Don't's - update: removed in eHow sweep 11/12/09 
• How to Navigate eHow: Delete an Article, Send a Note and Revenue
• How to Promote Your Articles, Website or Blog
• How to Create a Map for Your Article or Website

 
For those eager to increase their earnings on eHow, I also highly recommend WriterGig's eBook, Earn Passive Income on eHow.com.  She shares with you actual screen shots of her earnings and give many more tips, tricks and guidelines for making a passive income stream.

November 14, 2009 Update - Several articles in this series have been deleted in the latest eHow sweep.  Hard copies of this info has been saved and along with remaining articles be turned into a eBook.  Remaining articles will remain for viewing until moved or deleted by the eHow powers above.

Writing Online for Profit - The Experiment

During the last week of August 2009 I decided to explore writing online.  That month, I applied and was accepted to Examiner.com, eHow.com and Suite101.com.  My first articles went live the 2nd half of September 2009.  As I write this my goal is to earn a passive income of $500-900/per month by March 2010.  This blog will tell the tail of my journey and what level I have attained at the end of my goal period.