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Saturday, November 15, 2008

eHow vs. Bukisa


Bukisa, a new online content website with its own revenue-sharing compensation program, has captured my interest in the past few days. I signed up ten days ago, following covewriter's lead. I have to say, I am impressed with the site's structure, layout and possibilities.

I really like their three-tier earnings structure, where users make money for their own content as well as a smaller portion of the page view revenue from writers they refer to the sight. This means two ways to earn income and eventually, two residual income streams: your articles and your network's articles. 

In my quest to build up a variety of residual and passive income streams through online writing, I've added Bukisa to the mix. I began writing for eHow's new Writers Compensation Program (WCP) as an experiment, and I'm happy to jump in with Bukisa in its early stages too. 

Several readers have asked me if it's okay to copy their eHow articles onto Bukisa. While it's allowed by both eHow and Bukisa as long as the material is owned by the author, I wouldn't reccomend doing it that way. Here's why.

Duplicate content, in general, is not well ranked by Google. It appears as having been copied, and Google likes original content. Secondly, since you can choose to allow syndication of your content on Bukisa, there is the possibility, at least, that the same article will be published multiple times online.

Some argue that eHow has sucha  high page rank that it's better just to write there, but I disagree. I am doing well with eHow, but diversifying and having a variety of sites -- both for income and increasing traffic and backlinks --  is important. 

So, for the successful eHow writer who is, what is Bukisa good for?
  • Original content that doesn't fit on eHow (i.e. not how-to format) or has already been written about by another eHow author.
  • Re-written articles from your other sites or content database profiles.
  • Articles written specifically to drive traffic to your blog, websites or other content.
  • Diversification.
After ten days, with five articles to my name, I've earned $4.85 on Bukisa. Half of that is from page views on my content and half is from my network's earnings. This is the first article promotion I've done as I've been focusing on eHow and a few other projects.

Ways that eHow is better than Bukisa:
  • High page rank, established site, credible company (Demand Media).
  • Strong user community.
  • Amazing monthly traffic stats.
  • History of prompt payments.
  • Good to excellent earning potential.
  • Revenue sharing is based on actual earnings.
Ways that Bukisa is better than eHow:
  • Allows far more flexibility as far as article structure, layout and title format.
  • Can link to resources and other sites or articles in body of article.
  • Allows do-follow links, building back links to whatever you like.
  • Earnings are based on page views, so popular topics pay well regardless of ad revenue generated.
  • Tiered earnings structure allows more residual income streams.
I'll blog more about Bukisa vs. eHow in regards payment and other aspects as time goes on.  Long term, I have no idea yet which will win out, eHow or Bukisa. I suspect a combination will be ideal. In the mean time, check out ... 

eHow articles I've written about Bukisa:
Do you write for Bukisa? Let me know your thoughts! Want to sign up for Bukisa? Use this link to join my fun and growing network!

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Heh heh, I'd take the same information and make it into a slightly different article for all these different services. Research once, get paid multiple times. What's the term? Repurposing content? Something like that. :)

~Lindsay
P.S. Thanks for mentioning my Adsense post on the WAHM forums!

Anonymous said...

Hi Maria,

I agree with you on this one. Actually, with one site paying based on actual ad clicks and the other based on page views, I find them to be a great compliment to each other.

eHow has a proven track record. We’ll see how Bukisa works out.

Great post!

Felicia

Maria said...

Lindsay,
It's in the works. ;) I'll have to do more research, but I do have hands-on experience with several others.
Of course--your post was very inspiring. I also Twittered it, had to share!

Felicia,
I think you're right. A combination of eHow, Bukisa and one's own sites could be a good recipe for success.

Andrea said...

I love the banner! Did you make it?

I'm excited about the possibilities of Bukisa. I hope this venture proves to be profitable.

I think for now, I'm going to concentrate on using Bukisa to generate traffic elsewhere so that any money earned will feel like a pleasant bonus but I won't feel disappointed if I don't suddenly wake up to dollar signs flooding my inbox.

Maria said...

Andrea, yes, I did. :)
I agree about focusing on building traffic and any money that comes form it is a bonus.

Anonymous said...

I am a fan of both, and a "recycler" of content. An important precept of passive income is to let your work repeatedly work for, so one time's research equals multiple published pieces.

Bri said...

Hi there! Thanks for checking one of my blogs. I gotta say, you sure are an inspiration to me! My husband and I are expecting our first in February and our dream is to be able to raise her at home together. It's a slow start but it's encouraging to see moms like yourself doing it. I'll look forward to keeping in touch with you. :)

Maria said...

Bri, Thanks so much! It really can be done. I wish you the very best and let's stay in touch :)

Julie McElroy said...

This online writing world is becoming filled with so many options. I am tempted to sign up with Bukisa now as well. You and other writers out there Felicia) have been such an inspiration! Keep up the great work!

Michele | aka Raw Juice Girl said...

I've just recently joined Bukisa and have 3 articles up. Actually, my network has brought in almost as much as my own articles have. I also like the flexible article submission format.

As for eHow, I've had an account with them for a while, but only recently started really submitting (when I read that interview with you on writingforyourwealth.com!). That was such an inspiring article! I'm already earning on eHow as well. I'm truly amazed by both eHow and Bukisa!


*smiles*
Michele

Gayle said...

Maria--I followed you to Bukisa--I just copied and pasted several articles. Now I think I need to reword them or something. I have made about 3.00 but I am not sure when or if they really pay. Any word on that?

Anonymous said...

Oh, wow!!! I just saw that you gave me a link. Thank you so SO much. Very good post by the way. That's why I came back to read it again.

Anonymous said...

I have 9 articles up on Bukisa now, and in two days already made more than on eHow. Interesting..

Anonymous said...

Good Blog. One thing not mentioned is that the big B has great customer service both by email and twitter.

Anysia said...

Another huge difference between eHow and Bukisa is that eHow basically tells all non-US citizens that they are free to post but will never get paid (good for eHOw, lousy for the writer). At least Bukisa pays worldwide.

mulberry said...

I just came across your blog. I just started posting on Bukisa last week. However, it appears to me that the links are all "nofollow". Is there something I'm missing?