eHow User Forum 2008: weHow!

I had a wonderful time at the 2008 weHow event. For its first ever eHow user forum, Demand Media created a wonderful two-day conference to exchange information and ideas, as well as receive feedback from site users. That it was held in sunny southern California of course added to the appeal, and I certainly enjoyed the three-day respite from rainy cold East Coast weather.

It was fun to visit the Demand Media offices, which have the flavor of a pre-bust dot com, and meet the staff who work hard behind the scenes at eHow as well as on some of the other Demand sites. I am completely reassured about Demand's approach to their sites, as profitibility is an immediate goal and not a long term idea. I believe Demand, and eHow, are here to stay.

While I previously was wary of putting all my eggs in one basket and concentrating too much on writing for eHow, in case they yanked the Writers' Compensation Program, I am now reassured to the company's long-tem commitment to theis program as they see it as an integral part of eHow's success.

I've returned even more excited about the residual income opportunities at eHow and with many ideas for articles to write.

As a mom, I certainly missed my kids, and the first day I was a little emotional about having left them. But the trip was a great experience and I am so lucky to have such a wonderful, supportive and accommodating husband who took two days off work to be home with the kids.

The eHow forum was one of my most fun experiences as a work at home mom. I'd love to hear about your favorite times as a work at home mom (or dad!) in the comments, below.

HowHub.com: the jury is still out.

Well, I wrote my first two HowHub.com articles a couple days ago, but they still have not moved beyond "pending" status. I also noticed that How Hub's featured members layout has not changed and the article list on the front page remains the same as well.

Now I am curious as to whether this is currently an active site or not. Anyone know?

I haven't been able to uncover much information about the site, as the domain name is registered to a proxy, and there are virtually no blog posts about it.

If anyone has insight...let me know! I'll report back if anything happens with my articles.

HowHub: "A How-to Community"

I stumbled across a new user-submitted how-to article site, HowHub.

At first glance, HowHub looks like a good way to diversify writing income as well as add another residual income source. I will update as I learn more, but here are some reasons why I am impressed thus far:

• HowHub was created by the owners of Article Dashboard, an online article database that has seen some success.
  
• Writers start off earning 50% of the Adsense revenue generated from their articles.
• Earnings increase to 100% (yes, that's right, all the earnings!) once a writer has referred 10 active users to HowHub.

Since How Hub's page rank is still lower than eHow's (and likely will be for some time if not indefinitely) I wouldn't reccomend writing just for HowHub, or even primarily. I definitely think eHow has higher overall earning potential. But in addition to diversifying your income sources, How Hub allows you to stand out in your niche on yet another platform.

Also, if you're winning for your eHow article keywords on Google, why not have additional articles with the same keywords on the front page, too? You'll monopolize those particular searches.

I would not advise putting duplicate content up on HowHub, however. Use the same or similar keywords if you like, but rewrite your articles or write new ones to keep the content fresh. Google prefers it.

HowHub articles are not published immediately after submitted; they must first be approved by an editor. Depending on how long this process takes, it could be cumbersome for writers used to the speed of Ehow publishing.

If you decide to give it a try, I'll see you at How Hub!

eHow Earnings Just Shy of $900 for September

My eHow earnings jumped considerably this month, even with little new writing and minimal article promotion (it's been a busy month for this WAHM!). At $892.78, it was my best month of passive income to date.

With 202 published articles, I have just 11 more than I did in August when my earnings were $617 for the month. My article on How to Survive Total Economic Collapse (Google it--it's on the first page of the search results) earned $10 a day during the past week due to the economic turmoil. It was also listed on eHow's front page under "Top 10 eHows," along with my article on How to Earn Extra Money. I am sure that boost helped, in addition to increased searches on these topics.

The following screen shot shows my eHow residuals to date, by month. Click on the photo to see it magnified (and legible!)

I include my earnings information in great detail, as well as my strategy for success, in my eHow eBook. In addition to the residual income from eHow, I also earned several hundred dollars in other sources tied to my eHow articles. Tips on this topic are also included in my book.

I've set up an eHow eBook Affiliate Program and my affiliates have found great success promoting the book on their own blogs and sites, and earning money through these sales. In fact, eBayCoach Suzanne Wells won my September 2008 affiliate contest and a bonus for bringing in the most sales.

Do you write for eHow? How did September treat you? I'd love to have your comments!