Knol for Writers

I've begun a Google Knol adventure. Gogole's new site, knol.com, has been touted as a rival to Wikipedia as well as article directories such as About.com and Associated Content. Since the site just launched to the public this summer, it really is brand new.

My first knol is about eHow Earnings and links to both an eHow article on passive income and my eHow eBook sales page. It's monetized both by the presence of these links, which lead to sources of income for me, as well as the Adsense ads displayed next to my knol.

I don't expect the knol to earn much, since knol is a new site and according to Google not receiving favortism by their search engines. I imagine eHow will be superior for earnings for some time, as the how-to site has been in existence since 1999 and is highly ranked by search engines. Knol will take time to build up the kind of traffic eHow gets on a daily basis.

Earnings aside, Knol looks like a great place to author content, articles, essays and reviews, and build a presence as a niche authority or a freelance writer.

I wrote a concise guide to Google Knol and earning money with the site; I plan to expand it as I learn more through my writing results with Knol.

Residual Income for July 2008

July was my biggest month so far for eHow earnings, and affiliate sales were good as well. One reader asked me by email if my only writing income is from these sources--the answer is no. I have several freelance writing clients and several editing gigs that keep me busy in addition to writing "for myself" as much as I am able. I don't share my regular writing income because it's just not my style, but I do like to show others how certain residual income streams are producing. I hope it's encouraging and helpful. Here's my newest tally.

July 2008 Residual Income

eHow earnings $500.56
SBI affiliate sales $74
eBook $71.52
Amazon $25.78
Google Adsense $3.20

Total $675.06

These are all true residuals. The links for Amazon books and other affiliate earnings were put up months or even a year ago in one case. I don't have time to promote my eHow articles, so those are also quite passive.

If you aren't focusing on building your residual income streams on the side, I highly recommend that you start today, even if you just write one eHow article. Start simple, and keep it up. Try setting aside 30 minutes or one hour of each day to your own writing that will continue to produce income long after you've left the computer.