eHow Earnings: June Earnings Update

My eHow earnings for the month were $148.03, which is down a bit from the two months prior. I added four articles in June, all of them in the last week of the month. To date none of them have started earning. So again, all of my eHow income this month was completely passive.

Another milestone: as I blogged about before, I did have my first eHow article reach $100 in earnings in June. In fact, that article now sits at $106.03 and it earns daily.

How was your June at eHow? Are you happy with your earnings?

Why have multiple accounts at eHow?

My friend, Kate, posted some excellent information on the eHow forums about why someone would want to have multiple eHow accounts. She graciously agreed to let me share it with all of you. The question posed was why would someone want to have multiple eHow accounts? Kate's answer:

I do it for several reasons.

1. If you have a particular expertise, you might find it reflects better on your credibility to keep 'How to Build a Computer' out of a library containing 'How to Make Super Duper Pancakes Like Grandma'.

2. Some of us have been targets for forum retribution... our articles have been given poor ratings or flagged for violations, we believe, as a result of forum conflicts. I don't use my other IDs to post in the forum and the articles for those IDs have never been attacked.

3. When applying for other writing jobs, I may want to use my eHow ID in a resume. Not all the articles I have written are suitable for all my clients.

4. A niche ID can be used to promote a niche blog.

The reasons vary from person to person, I am sure.

Excellent info! I only have one eHow account and I used my real name because of reason #3 in Kate's list above. Now, however, I am less interested in applying for other writing jobs and am more interested in working for myself. As I start to branch out with my online writing, I plan to create different online personas for different subjects I write about. I was first exposed to the idea in Potpiegirl's One Week Marketing.

My reasons are twofold:

1. It protects any keyword research I might do.

2. It is a kind of online branding. Once you begin to develop a lot of online content, it makes you a little less of an authority if someone clicks on your profile and sees articles written about everything from hot tubs to paying down debt to making the perfect chocolate cake.

At the moment, I'm a little more concerned with the branding aspect than the keyword aspect but I think they are both good arguments for creating multiple accounts where allowed.

Thanks again to Kate (Limowreck at eHow) for letting me share her list!

Passive Family Income and the Power of eHow Income

Passive Family Income illustrates how to use eHow to make over $400/hour. This is powerful!

eHow Earnings: My First $100+ Article

Today I had an article go over $100. The grand total, in fact, is $100.91. This article is a little over six months old. I'm really excited about this milestone and hope to have more articles follow suit soon!

eHow Ebooks on Sale

There was a question on the eHow forums about whether or not any of the eHow ebooks were on sale. Several authors responded to say that theirs were. Here's a summary:

How to Write for eHow: The Ultimate Guide to Writing on eHow by Janet Ford: Janet is working on a sequel to her popular ebook but there's no reason to wait for it. The current ebook is on sale for $15 and if you purchase it you will be able to get the new book for free!

Writing Online: Making Money and Residual Income with Online Content by Annalise Kaylor: Annalise is also working on an update for her book and you can grab it now for $12 (use the discount code SUMMER) and receive the update for free this fall.

Need Extra Cash? Write Articles That Pay! by Anthony Delgado: Anthony's book is currently being offered for $19.99, a $5 savings.

Can't decide? Read my eHow ebook reviews.

eHow FAQ

If you hang out on the eHow forums for any length of time, you'll begin to see the same questions asked over and over because, as new writers join eHow, they tend to have the same newbie questions. I've also found that a lot of people land on this blog by searching for the answers to some of these same questions.

Because of that, I've decided to do a short FAQ post to address some of those questions that we all had when we were new eHow writers. I need to say, however, that I am in no way an official representative of eHow. These are simply my observations after 175+ articles and over a year writing on the site.

Q. How often does eHow post earnings?

A. Usually it's once a day, mid to late morning (I'm in the central time zone). This is true even on weekends and holidays. However, occasionally the earnings will come in late, or not at all. Very occasionally they won't post for several days at a time. (This is usually when the site is undergoing upgrades.)

In the time I've been writing at eHow it has been my experience that the earnings will eventually post and, if one or more days have gone by, they will eventually catch up. Since eHow doesn't share the earnings formula with its writers, there's no way to know for sure that they've caught up, but the numbers seem to indicate that they do.

Q. I have x number of articles with x number of views, why haven't I made any money?

A. eHow doesn't pay by the view. There is an earnings forumla, the specifics of which are unknown to the writers, but revenue from the ads on your articles seems to be a major component.

Let me take this opportunity to warn you, however, not to click on your own ads and not to ask your friends or family to do so either. This could get your banned from eHow, since it is against Google Adsense policy.

Q. How many articles does it take to earn $500/month, (or $1000/month, or fill in the blank).

A. The answer to this is going to be different for everyone. The consensus on the forums seems to be that after you have a good base of articles (100 or more) and those articles have been on the site for a while (several months or so) you can expect to average about $1/month/article. That has certainly been true for me.

There are plenty of writers, however, who make much more per article and plenty who make quite a bit less. It depends a great deal on the kinds of topics you write about, whether your articles are unique to the site, etc.

One thing is a given, however: the more you write and the longer those articles are on the site, the more you will earn.

Q. Why can't I get my article to post, or my pictures to upload. Why did I lose my article when I tried to save? Why does my profile look funny? Why are the forums taking so long to load? Etc. Etc.

A. eHow is a glitchy site. It's been glitchy the entire time I've been there and I don't expect it to get better anytime soon.

If you want to know what's going on with a particular glitch or bug, the best place to post a question or look for other posts on your question is in the eHow Feedback and Suggestions Forum under the Community tab. I can't guarantee that you'll find satisfaction there, but Rich and Julie, the community managers, do occassionally post technical updates there.

Oh, and it's always best to write your articles in a word processing program and cut and paste into the eHow template. Besides insuring that you won't lose your work, there are other benefits as well.

Q. Is eHow a scam?

A. eHow is most definitely not a scam. It is owned by a reputable company, Demand Studios, and is one of the best paying sites on the web. As long as I've been a part of eHow they have paid reliably, each and every month.

eHow Ebook Author Interview: Janet Ford

Janet with Richard Rosenblatt, CEO of Demand Media, which owns eHow.

The eHow ebook author interview series continues with Janet Ford. Janet is the author of How to Write for eHow: The Ultimate Guide to Writing on eHow.

Anyone interested in making money with eHow would do well to listen to Janet, who expects to make $20,000 this year with over 400 articles! (Be sure not to miss her special offer at the end of the interview.)

1. What led you to begin writing for eHow?

I was looking for ways to promote myself as an expert in my field (dogs) after I published 'Guide to Ethical Dog Breeding'. I decided writing articles on my given topic was the way I wanted to go to acomplish just that. Ehow ranks quite high with Google so became the logical choice as a platform. I didn't anticipate making any sort of income from ehow when I started out. I figured a few cents here and there would be a nice pat on the back for my efforts but not my main priority.

2. How many articles have your written?

As of this writing, I have 466 published articles on ehow.

3. Do you have a background as a writer?

I did take some creative writing courses in college and wrote 'Guide to
Ethical Dog Breeding' and have worked the last 10 years on my memoir 'Love
You to Pieces', which is due to be handed over to my editor very soon.
Incidentally, I even met my editor on ehow!

4. What can you tell us about your eHow earnings?

My husband was laid off just before Christmas of 2008. He is currently
drawing up plans for working from home. Normally, you'd have to panic over the unemployment running out but ehow has afforded us this luxury.

5. What are your goals concerning eHow?

Financially, my long term goal is to make $30K a year off ehow earnings. I'm on track for making $20K or better this year so I do believe this goal is quite attainable.

6. What motivated you to write an ebook?

I found myself answering many questions about writing successful ehow articles by new members on a regular basis. Many of these questions were so similiar that I felt an ehow guide was in order. I wanted to inspire others to have the same success that I was enjoying. There is nothing special about me or my article topic choices. Anyone who has a good command of their
spelling and grammar can do this.

7. Tell us a little about your ebook and what it covers.

How to Write for eHow was fashioned after ehow's step-by-step style. I have assumed nothing when writing this guide, even filling out your profile for maximum benefit is included. Writing your article is captured in depth, not only filling out the publishing wizard but the explainations on why I suggest specific ways or styles. I've strived to ensure all the basic monetizing, SEO, keyword usage and writing were covered but also took the time to share tips and tricks I've learned during my 19 months of writing for ehow. You can literally sit down with my manual style ebook and go from opening up a new account to writing and promoting your first article and then just repeat it over and over for different articles. Those who have already begun writing for ehow have found a lot of the tips and tricks I share helpful as well.

8. What else would you want us to know about eHow and your experiences
there?

I'd like to see ehow members take the time to enjoy the social aspects of the website. eHow developers go out of their way to make ehow a social experience. This also aides in your getting noticed as a writer on the site and, therefor, increases your readership. Aside from that fact, the majority of ehow members are more than happy to help one another in our common quest
of becoming more successful ehow writers. Questions are always answered quickly on the forums by a variety of people. Those experienced with other work from home type websites can attest to the fact that an active forum can make or break the experience.

As far as my ebook is concerned, I have it sale priced due to having a sequel coming out very soon which will be more than double the size and a bit different format. Those who purchase this sale priced ebook will be eligible to get the new ebook FREE of charge when it comes out. It will be a limited time offering so they will need to keep their receipt and my url handy. I'll also be posting an announcement in the forums of ehow. Another reason to stay social! ;-)