October Residual Earnings
Below are my earnings for the month of October. I did not write any new articles or work on any websites this month. I’m sure it would have been higher had I done so. Suite 101 seems to have revived a bit, which is encouraging. Hubpages, although not something I will be pursing with intensity, has surprised me with it’s potential. I’m sure with the right topics and backlinks one could do very well there.
- Suite 101: $11.25
- Hubpages: $1.29
- Adsense: $4.44
- Amazon: $0.00
- Affiliates: $11.55
Total= $28.53
Not much, but it will pay our water bill! Additional upfront writing for Demand Studios and Textbroker continue to fill in the gap.
How was your October as far as earnings go?
My Summer Residual Earnings
As promised, here is my summer residual earnings report. Note that I did not write or work on any writing throughout the entire summer. I’m sure my earnings would have been much higher had I done so, but I needed a break. Also, remember that I am no longer receiving monthly residual income from eHow due to the buyout.
May Earnings:
- Suite 101 – $20.14
- Adsense- $4.39
- Amazon- $0.00
- Affiliates- $11.55
- TOTAL= $36.08
June Earnings
- Suite 101 – $8.16
- Adsense- $18.61
- Amazon- $1.71
- Affiliates- $11.55
- TOTAL= $40.03
July Earnings
- Suite 101 – $6.39
- Adsense- $4.01
- Amazon- $0.24
- Affiliates- $11.55
- TOTAL= $22.19
August Earnings
- Suite 101 – $4.65
- Adsense- $4.86
- Amazon- $1.99
- Affiliates- $11.55
- TOTAL= $23.05
September Earnings
- Suite 101 – $12.70
- Adsense- $5.42
- Amazon- $4.94
- Affiliates- $11.55
- Hubpages Ad Program- $0.71
- TOTAL= $35.32
Things have definitely tanked off on Suite 101, and I don’t think I will be contributing articles there anymore. Hubpages recently began their own ad program, which seems promising. I don’t have very many articles on Hubpages right now and have used them mainly for backlinks to my own sites, but I think I may start to write a bit more for them now that they have rolled out the ad program. If nothing else, they are fun to write and allows me much more freedom on formatting than any other content sites I’ve written for in the past.
I am currently spending time working on my own sites, writing additional content and building backlinks. Although they did take a hit during the Panda update, they are faring much better than I thought they would. I just recently renewed my hosting and domain names for another year after seeing the potential the sites still have.
How did your summer residual earnings fare? Did you work on new strategies or write additional content?
Where have I been?!
I haven’t updated this blog in quite some time. Life pretty much intervened and I took a 4 month writing hiatus, my longest since I started writing online 2 years ago. In late April, my husband and I learned I was carrying our second baby, and we couldn’t be more thrilled about the precious blessing coming our way! However, I am of the unfortunate few who is blessed with extreme morning sickness. I have also been taking care of our very active, walking 14 month old, which has left me quite drained to say the least! Writing has been the last thing on my mind during this challenging time.
However, I am eager to get back into to writing game now that my energy has picked up and my morning sickness is a distant memory. The great thing about this writing break was that I was able to still earn money even though I didn’t write a single article! I will be updating with a more thorough earnings report soon, detailing my residual income during the summer. Although it was nothing like it was in the beginning of the year (my Suite 101 earnings pretty much tanked after the Panda update), it was at the very least something, for which I am grateful.
So, keep your eyes peeled for more regular updates on this blog soon!
eHow Officially ends WCP
I received an email this morning from eHow, stating that the WCP is officially coming to an end. Beginning immediately, articles will no longer earn residual income, and writers have until May 31 to sign a contract that would sell their article to eHow for a lump sum. Each writer is being offered a different amount, depending on the earnings of their articles. My offer was akin to 7 months of earnings. You have the right to retain your articles, though, which I am sure many writers may choose to do.
When I read this email, I was not shocked or surprised. In fact, I pretty much expected something like this to happen. I knew something was underfoot as soon as the new earnings page was created, as it didn’t allow writers access to their articles anymore.
This is just another reminder for writers not to put all their eggs in one basket to diversify their work and income sources. Over the past few months, I have become convinced the best way to earn residual income online is through one’s own websites and niche sites. The Keyword Academy is a wonderful place to learn how to do just that, and I’ve seen remarkable success so far given the amount of effort I put into it. If you’re unsure whether the program really works and just want to check it out, right now the first month is FREE. I plan on expanding my KA niche sites and working on new ones to begin replacing my lost eHow income.
How about you? Were you surprised to find the email in your inbox? Impressed by the offer or not? What are your plans?
April Earnings Update
Below is a breakdown of my April residual income earnings:
- Suite 101 – $34.84
- eHow – $26.12
- Adsense - $13.66
- Amazon – $5.80
- Affiliates – $11.55
Total= $91.97
This is about what I have been earning for the past 4 months, but with little work being done to build up my sites, I am not anticipating any major jumps. This is fine by me since I am currently over-run with many different projects, including writing for a local paper. I am just pleased that even when I don’t do any work on these sites they continue to earn for me.
I wrote a lot for Demand Studios in April, which is another reason I wasn’t able to dedicate as much time as planned on my residual income. Most of my goals will therefore be carried over from last month until they are met.
How did you do in April? What are your May earning goals?
March Earnings Update
March was a busy month for us as we settled into our new home and worked on getting everything in shape and unpacked. I took a break from writing (with just a few up front payment articles written to help supplement), largely to identify where I might need to put my efforts thanks to the google change. Here are the stats:
- Suite 101 – $23.72
- eHow – $41.84
- Adsense – $7.88
- Amazon – $2.56
- Affiliates – $11.55
Total= $87.55
Not a great month for me, especially since I was previously earning much more with Suite 101. However, my main earner there took a hit with the google change and went from #1 in the search results to way down on page 2. So, I think most of that change is reflective of that one article losing its google juice. March was my highest month to date on eHow – I couldn’t believe the jump in earnings! It helped balance out the Suite 101 hit. My own sites are still chugging along, and despite the google change they seem to be doing around the same. Based on all this I have laid out some April goals.
I will be working to add more articles to my 3rd niche site. It is up and running, although I only have 5 articles there so far. It’s not earning much, but I chose a general domain name so that I could write on a large variety of topics. I also want to write 2 more articles on both of my other niche sites and backlink both of those with Hubpages or Suite 101. The plan is to create an additional 2 niche sites before summer, so I need to start researching niches for those as well (If you’re interested in how I structure and create my niche sites, please check out The Keyword Academy). And since I’ve seen some success from other writers with the Demand Studios revenue share, I also plan on writing at least 1 article for revenue share there as well.
How did you do in March? Where were your big earners?
February Earnings Update
Well, it’s mid-March, and I am just now getting around to updating my readers on my February earnings! Life has been very busy lately, with an out-of-state move and purchasing our first home. Now that things have settled down a bit, and our days are resembling a more predictable routine, I can finally turn my attentions back to residual income.
- Suite 101 – $33.26
- eHow- $33.51
- Adsense- $11.25
- Amazon- $5.80
- Affiliates- $11.55
Total= $95.37
It’s interesting to see how much my Suite 101 earnings decreased, but I suspect this is due in part to the larger Google Algorithm change and the impact it has made over there. My eHow earnings just seem to keep increasing, so I suppose it is balancing out. I was also pleased to see I made some headway on my amazon earnings – that has been a long time coming!
The month of March has been one spent in reflection over the current Google situation. I have not added any new articles to any of my sites, and I’ve watched my earnings drop dramatically. This is not as big of a deal for me since I don’t make a bunch from my residual income yet, but for other writers on the web it has taken away their livelihood. I will be analyzing the outcome of the change, and then proceed from there where to direct my efforts.
Has the Google Algorithm change affected you? How do you plan to work around it?
Filing Taxes as a Writer
It’s that time of year again… TAX time! If you’re a freelance writer, you’ll need to report your income for 2010. Depending on how much you made and who you worked with, you’ll likely receive a 1099 form and need to fill out certain schedules and forms to properly file as a self-employed individual. Since this time of year can get confusing for many writers, I’ve compiled a list of some tax tips for writers, which will help you not only get organized for the upcoming tax season, but help you keep taxes in mind all year round without a lot of effort!
How to Find Ideas for Articles
As a web writer, it can sometimes be tough to find yet another article idea. Every once in a while, it’s easy to get a bit of writer’s block and not know what to write about for the day. I try to never end up this position by having an article idea bank. Whenever I think of something that would make a good article, I make a note of it in my computer sticky notes where I keep all my ideas.
However, writing about something that comes to mind might not always be the best way to go about exploring that topic. You have to write something that will make you money. There’s no use storing up ideas if the articles revolving around them turn out to be duds. That’s why I run all my ideas through The Keyword Academy’s Niche Refinery Tool. This lets me know if the particular keyword for my idea is likely to have too much competition to do well or if it isn’t going to generate enough higher paying ads to make it worth it. I also use this tool as a way to store up other article possibilities via spin offs from the original. For example, if I wanted to write an article about saving money for a new house, I might find that ‘ways to save money’ or ‘down payment money for a house’ would be better choices in terms of competition, search volume and ad revenue.
I have been using this Niche Refinery Tool for several months now, and it has made a big difference in the way I not only structure my articles, but also in the way I write them., which leads to better payouts. If you haven’t checked out TKA yet, I highly encourage you to do so. They run a free trial for new members for one month, so you can sign up and see for yourself how valuable this tool really is!
January Earnings Update
2011 started off on a good note, with me finally breaking the $100 mark in residual income! See the breakdown below:
- Suite 101 – $53.76
- eHow – $28.74
- Adsense- $10.03
- Amazon- $0.74
- Affiliates- $11.55
Total = $104.82
It was my highest earning month at both eHow and Suite 101! I added a few more articles to Suite, but the majority of my earnings actually came from an article I wrote over a year ago. For some reason it ended up in the number 3 spot in google and has remained there for the past month and a half. With Suite 101 now providing a rudimentary earnings breakdown, I was able to see which articles have been high earners and which ones are duds. I’m hoping that with future analyzing of these reports I can structure my article topics better and eventually make more money there.
My increased eHow earnings are probably due more to article maturity than anything else. Although maybe more people are surfing the net due to extreme cold! I only have 36 articles there, and since that will never change, it is interesting to see my earnings increase each month!
My niche sites did about the same as previous months. I have not been able to work on them as much as I would like. My husband and I are in the process of buying our first house out of state, and between taking care of an energetic 7-month old baby I’ve had my hands full! My goal is work on these next month before the move.
February goals will be to make $100 in residual income again, and finally reach my first adsense payout! As mentioned, I also plan on beefing up my niche sitesby creating lots of backlinks on both postrunner and Hubpages.
How did you fare in Jan? Did you get off to a solid start for 2011?