Wednesday, 25 March, 2009

Why I Decided to Start Writing for eHow for Free

eHow currently won't let me participate in their Writer's Compensation Program because I'm outside the U.S. This means I can write but I won't get paid. But, I've decided that I'm going to write for them anyway. Why? Self-promotion, article marketing, and in the hopes that eventually they'll change their mind.


I've written for eHow in the past. A little over a year ago I wrote about 100 or more articles for their site and was paid $10 a piece to write them through a writing company that was contracted to provide content. Because of that, I had to learn about their preferred style. In those few months I did a combination of choosing articles in a queue and suggesting titles I wanted to write. If only I'd known then what I know now..

You see, I have quite a few HIGH TRAFFIC articles on eHow that don't have my name on them because I sold the copyright. I wrote a lot of great how-to articles for the site about subjects I know a lot about and subjects I know are in demand online.

When I submitted titles for approval I chose titles that I knew would bring eHow traffic (because I'm all about bringing value to my clients) and as a result I'm sure I'm earning them a pile of money from those articles. I write my own niche blogs and today I find that I'm regularly outranked by eHow for page one Google results with some of the eHow articles I ghostwrote. My point is, this site can get you great search engine results!

eHow Writer's Compensation Plan

eHow has a writer's compensation plan that I've talked a lot about in the past. In fact, I refer many of my readers to an eHow earning guide by Maria O'Brien (a.k.a. WriterGig) who spells out in a step-by-step format how she makes over $1k a month in residual income from eHow. I reviewed Maria's book a few months back and it is very well done. I was jealous when I reviewed it because I wanted to implement many of her techniques and blend them with what I know about the site and SEO. I know I could be making great passive income with them on a monthly basis!

I know many writers who have implemented her techniques who are now earning a few hundred a month and their monthly amounts climb continuously. That's the thing, once you get a lot of traffic to the article, it can bring you money indefinitely. eHow has monetized their site very well. I can only dream about how much money those 100 articles I wrote would've paid me by now rather than the $1,000 flat fee I earned. Sigh.

eHow, owned by Demand Media, currently only pays U.S. based writers in the WCP (writer's compensation program) so it probably sounds like it doesn't make sense for me to write for them. But I've decided that it does. Here's why:

-I get a byline. My name goes on the articles so this works well for writing samples and for building credibility in my niches

-I can put links to my own sites in the resource section of the articles. This brings traffic to my websites and that traffic could convert from a visitor to a buyer and also improves the SEO of those linked sites due to backlinks from a high ranked site

-I can put affiliate links directly in the resource section of the articles which could result in even more income through affiliate marketing. Due to the traffic ehow.com gets, this is a powerful tool for article marketing and I already do put articles on other non-paid sites for this purpose

-At some stage, eHow may change their mind (they told me they're looking into it as I've been hounding them just a little ) in which case I might start getting some decent passive income of my own. This could work well if I've got high ranking articles that suddenly get a switch turned on for earning!

In the last week I've posted just a few articles which are already getting me traffic to my websites so that tells me my efforts are definitely worthwhile.

Dear Ehow...
If you're reading, this little blog is getting a lot of traffic based on ehow.com search terms that come from writers interested in writing for you and I say wonderful things about you on a regular basis!

Doesn't that suggest that you should consider letting Canadians into your Writer Compensation Program? I also have some U.K. friends who I know would love to write for your WCP programme as well. Seriously, we can fill out an IRS W8-Ben form and you don't need to worry about the taxman.
Hugs,
Dana

How to Videos & Articles: eHow.com



Monday, 23 March, 2009

Article Sample Scam Alert

Today I read about a new Craigslist AC scam on the wahm.com forum and as many experienced freelance writers know, there are a lot of scams to watch out for. People lure you into applying for a gig when in reality they really want you to opt in to their email marketing list so they can sell you something. Or, people want you to write samples so they can spin the articles with their software and make them 'look' unique so they don't have to pay you a dime.

The most recent one involves sending samples to potential clients who aren't just looking for free content for their sites like some of us are accustomed to, but scammers who've figured out that they, too, can get paid to write so they sell the samples they receive to companies that pay upfront fees.

Writing on spec can be lucrative in certain markets such as freelancing for magazines but when it comes to writing for the web, it's best to follow the following guidelines when someone asks you for samples:

-Point potential clients to your online portfolio (if you don't have one, start writing for an article directory and build some samples that way or start your own website or blog where you can post samples.)
-Point them to links online of articles written in that niche (another reason why it's great to have a niche or two!) online on passive income sites like eHow and Bukisa.

If you need to write a fresh sample and you've taken the time to determine that it is worthwhile and the gig does appear to be legit, consider posting it on your own blog. That way, you are making it clear that it's posted online with your name on it. If the client wants to buy it, you can have it removed before it necessarily gets indexed and cached online.

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*Craigslist is a free online classified site that relies on its users to flag inappropriate content so be careful when responding to any ad.

**AC is Associated Content which is an online article site that will pay writers for articles. US writer can get an up front fee plus revenue sharing. Non-U.S writers can write for their cost-per-impression program that pays pennies per X # of views.