Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Writers Can Make a Difference

There will be times as a writer trying to make a buck online, that you get so caught up with the whole process you forget why you are writing. This is time when you need to sit back and remember your purpose. Why are you writing? Most of us write not only because we have something to say, but because we hope to evoke some sort of response from our readers. When we lose sight of that, our work becomes meaningless, and worse, it becomes robotic, and that shows in the words we put down on paper or the screen.

Finding success as an online writer is not all about links and keywords and SEO research. To truly be successful, you have to write what people want to read. More than that, you need to understand that your readers want to trust you, they want to be entertained, informed and feel like they haven't wasted their time on you. Keeping your readers happy means that you have to meet their needs.

Write about things that matter. Not everyone will be interested in everything you write, but you can make a difference. This morning as I was reading the local news, I came across a story about a wheelchair garden at Loma Linda University in California. This garden was a community project involving 40 volunteers and 5 master gardeners. What they created was a garden where wheelchair patients undergoing treatment could have a gardening experience, much like they would at home. I thought, "Wow! What a great idea. This needs to be shared because wheelchair gardens could benefit so many people." So I wrote a story for my eHow library, How to Plant a Wheelchair Friendly Garden. This article made me feel like I did something good today. Hopefully, it will inspire projects across the country.

This was a story that had meaning for me. I believed in it, and I believe it will do good for others. If it makes money, great. But that wasn't the point. Sometimes, money isn't everything.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Don't Let Impatience Ruin Your Writing Career

Starting an online writing career requires enormous amounts of patience. In no way is it a way for you to get rich quick, or make fast, easy money. The earnings, in the beginning, are not much to speak of. High expectations and less than stellar results are the reason many would be writers throw in the towel. Those that give in and give up will never realize the opportunity they had. Long term income is possible. Higher earnings are possible. It just takes times, diligence and hard work. Nothing of value in life is free. Everything comes with a cost. Why should your writing career be any different?

Developing a plan, sticking to it, and systematically working toward your goals may seem like drudgery. If you consider your writing as your business, then consider your plan just like any other business plan. Taking time to plot out how you will conduct business, how you will market and promote your content, and working out an order of operations is a logical approach to building a reputable career as an author. One that any entrepreneur will tell you is worth the time spent. Otherwise, you are taking a poke and hope approach to achieving success.

New businesses generally don’t make huge profits right out of the gate. There is a growth period. Any business that is growing is succeeding. Most writers are a one man show. They do it all, from SEO research, writing content to quality control, marketing and promotion. That is a lot for one person to do. Organization helps tremendously. A simple writer’s to do list can keep you on track and moving toward your financial goals.

Many authors post their content on a number of sites. This is wise for several reasons. First, it is always wise to diversify. Putting all of your content on one site is a gamble. What if that site goes out of business? Then you’ll be scrambling to get your content back online with another service. Second, publishing through a number of sites creates the opportunity to build numerous incoming links and increase your search engine page rankings, which increases the potential of making more money writing online.

How long it will take for you to reach the point where are you making the money you want depends on many things. Subject matter, quantity and the quality of your content are deciding factors. The more you write, the more your earning potential will grow. But if you are not following your marketing plan, you will hurt your bottom line. At any rate, it comes down to patience. Writing online is a process, which if pursued, can result in long term residual income. It just takes time to get there. The more you work, the more you learn about online publishing and the longer you stick with it the greater your chances of success.

Winter Gardening in Inland Southern California

The Inland Empire, and here at home in the Wood Streets, we are blessed with a nearly year round growing season. Growing vegetables in the winter is easy. Learn what to plant, and how to protect your winter vegetable garden from the Santa Ana winds and the occasional frost. November is a great time to plant many cool season crops. You can be enjoying home grown vegetables throughout the winter. Winter Gardening in Inland Southern California

Sunday, November 15, 2009

The Craziest Things Can Inspire a Great Article

Sometimes when I am sitting at the computer working on my daily writing and related activities, something will happen that inspires me. This morning, it was one of my three dogs. Since they were lying behind my chair, I can't pinpoint the culprit who let one go. Now, you wouldn't think that dog farts would be much of a topic to write about. However, since it is becoming a serious problem in my home, I decided to do a little research. What I found out is that their flatulence may be caused by the food I give them. With the weather turning colder, they will be spending more time in the house. I just can't face another winter of waking up in the middle of the night to the stench. I cannot be the only dog owner in the world that deals with this problem. "How to Stop Dog Farts" may seem like a crazy thing to write about, but it actually offers some decent advice about how to stop the stench coming from your dog's rear end.

The craziest things can spark an idea that turns into a great article. This is part of what makes writing fun. A good writer will listen to the muse, and act on it. Let your thoughts wander, let your mind go where it will and see what comes out of it.

How to Stop Dog Farts | eHow.com

Saturday, November 14, 2009

The Language of Italian Cuisine

The Language of Italian Cuisine

Amo la cucina italiana. I love Italian food.


Italian. The language of romance. The food, equally sensual. Does it need to be said that if one is going to practice the art of cooking Italian cuisine, that one should learn la lingua della cucina italiana, the language of Italian Cooking. Read more...

eHow Experiment: Saturday November 14, 2009-11-14


Link. Link. Link. That is the name of the game if you want to get views. The more links, the higher the search engines will rank your pages. And, my friends, that equals more views and more money.

Today, the buzz is about Yahoo! Buzz. This is a free service provided by Yahoo that is definitely worth taking a look at. Some of you may be familiar with it, so please bear with me. You might even learn something new.

On your eHow article pages there is a share button. When you mouse over or click on the share button your will see a box with a number of options. Click on Buzz to go to the Yahoo! Buzz site, and the share a story page. If you are signed into Yahoo!, you will be allowed to buzz up the article that you were on. If you don’t have a Yahoo! account, you can sign up for free. A Buzz is a link with the title and first few words of your article that will appear on the Buzz activity page.

Posting the link to your article is not all Buzz is good for. You can share updates on Buzz from your blogger account, every time you use Stumble Upon and every time you tweet on Twitter. There are actually a number of sites that you can set up in your automatic updates. What is cool is that this service allows you to automatically create links for just about everything you do online. To get this set up, go to your Yahoo! profile page, click on “Updates”, and then on “Share More” to enter your sites.

For example, you’ve published an article on eHow. As soon as it is published, you Buzz it up. Then you bookmark your article on Stumble Upon. That bookmark shows up on your Buzz activity. Then, you post a summary with a link to your article on your Blogger blog. That also gets a link on your Buzz activity. Next, you bookmark and Buzz your blog, and all of those actions get posted on your Buzz activity. The possibilities are endless. Want to keep going? Go to Xomba and write a Xomblurb about your article (don’t forget the link), and buzz it up. Then write a longer Xombyte and do the same thing. I think you are getting the picture. You can use Buzz to promote all of your articles, blogs and websites, get everything linked together, and generate more traffic to your pages. Yahoo! Buzz makes it simple.

One last thing, you can blog on your Yahoo! account. Click here to check out mine. You will find the post button on the right side of the page on your profile. Just another way to promote yourself.

eHow Experiment Week One


eHow Experiment Update November 11, 2009

Promoting Your Articles-Xomba

eHow Experiment Update November 14, 2009

Follow me on Stumble Upon, my member name is JulieMcM.
Follow me on Delicious
Follow me on Yahoo! Buzz
Follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/juliemcm

Read more articles by Julie on eHow.

Oh, and please, buzz up this page if you have found it helpful.

Friday, November 13, 2009

How to Tips for a Green Kitchen Redo | eHow.com

How to Tips for a Green Kitchen Redo | eHow.com

Promoting Your Articles

For my eHow, HubPages and InfoBarrel friends. We are always looking for ways to promote our articles, boost our page ranks and increase page views. Here is a really easy, fast way to get more links posted to your articles and maybe even earn a few dollars.

Xomba.com has a great little website (okay, maybe not so little) where you can post Xombytes and Xomblurbs. Corny, I know. But check it out. For each article you want to promote you can write a Xombyte, which is a minimum of 150 words about your article or a related topic with your link. You can also post a Xomblurb with a link to your article. Xomblurbs are a minimum of 50 words. As for earning on Xomba, you can plug in your Adsense publisher ID and start earning 50% of the revenue for your pages. In all, it is a good deal. They even have a referral program. This is a deal you don't want to miss out on.

Go to Xomba.

eHow Experiment Week One


eHow Experiment Update November 11, 2009

Promoting Your Articles-Xomba

eHow Experiment Update November 14, 2009

Thursday, November 12, 2009

The eHow Experiment: Update 11/11/2009

11/11/2009
I am earning approximately $4 per 1,000 views. In order to earn $1,000 per month at this rate or return, I would need to have 250,000 views per month. My current average is about 425 views per day, or 12,750 views per month. I have a ways to go. However, page views are not the only deciding factor. Keywords play an important role. Even though I am averaging 425 views a day, which is barely more than I was getting a month ago, my average daily earnings have significantly increased, going from an average of $1.02 per day to $1.69 per day as of today, for the month of November. What is the increase in daily earnings due to? I believe a number of things.

First, I am taking the time to market my articles. I post on Buzz, Stumble Upon, Delicious and submit my URLs to the search engines. Posting those back links is crucial.

I have spent numerous hours in the eHow community, reading and rating articles, and building my network. Even though most eHowers don’t make a lot of money off views from other members, the comments help to increase page rankings. (if they are made with SEO friendly wording).

I have written a number of new articles: 41 new articles between 10/16 and 11/11/2009. Many of these articles, which I have done SEO research on, are beginning to earn.

I have also continued to market older articles on Twitter and by posting links in newer articles. Some of my ‘dormant’ articles are getting views again, and earning a little bit as well.

I took a few days and resubmitted my old articles to the search engines. Page rank is a competition among web publishers. Just because you are high on the list one day, doesn’t mean you won’t get bumped was down in the results the next. Stay on top of your Internet marketing, and don’t forget to take care of your eHow babies.

My conclusion is that earnings will increase with more articles and marketing. Don’t take the poke and hope method, in other words don’t guess with your keyword selection. Even if you are writing articles about topics that interest you, do your best to pull down the best keywords. Use them in your title, in the first paragraph and throughout the article, with a saturation of about 3% keywords.

My next phase is to blog every single article in my library, as well as post Xombytes about my articles on Xomba, and hubs on HubPages. I am hoping this will increase my page views and earnings significantly.

Check back soon for my next update on the eHow experiment.

eHow Experiment Week One


eHow Experiment Update November 11, 2009

Promoting Your Articles-Xomba

eHow Experiment Update November 14, 2009