Squidoo: Best for Residual Income

I know, I am not actively writing about making money online right now, but I am still actively writing online, if that makes sense! I have a couple niche sites/blogs as well as articles on places like HubPages, Infobarrel, Demand Studios eHow, Bukisa, Squidoo and more.

Hands down, Squidoo is outperforming the others.

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that my 20-ish DS eHow articles are bringing in an average of $90-$110 (I just checked: only a bit over $70 last payment) a month and that's a decent per-article residual rate.

But look at this. I have just four Squidoo lenses under one particular account, and my recent Squidoo payment -- for October's earnings, just delivered yesterday -- was $31.55. I actually only had three lenses then, so that's an average of over $10 per lens from Squidoo, double that of Demand Studios.

Also, I earned $52.54 in cj.com commissions via one of my lenses in October. My DS eHow articles don't have affiliate links at all, but lenses are allowed them. That means in October I earned $84 from the three lenses -- or $28 each.

My writing friend Felicia, who just returned to online writing, asked me how long the articles have been up to give people more perspective  I opened the account in December 2009 (three years ago) and I wrote the articles six months later. So they are about two and a half years old.

I think the uptick in earnings is partially because Squidoo is doing well in the search engines as a whole, and not just because the articles are "older." In fact, Squidoo just posted on their blog about October 2012 being their biggest payout, ever.

Looking at Squidoo again reminded me of how I got started using PotPieGirl's advice (aff. link). I am going to revisit that material and build on my current success with Squidoo to hopefully increase residuals there, affiliate commissions and traffic back to my own blogs and sites.

And I have no further to look for inspiration than my eHow writing friend, Virginia Allain. She is currently making $2,000 a month with her lenses! I am so impressed with her success there. She has 798 featured lenses right now, an impressive feat in itself. Definitely check out her work.

If you're not on Squidoo ... get there! I think it's one of the very best sites for earning residual income from your writing and has excellent potential for 2013. Are you a lensmaster yet?

Beating Panda with Affiliate Sales, not Adsense

When the Google Panda algorithm changes went into effect in the middle of October, I was already knee-deep in a site redesign for my pets niche site, one that would both improve the aesthetics and usability of the site and move the earnings focus from Adsense clicks to affiliate sales.

I took my inspiration, by the way, from my Wealthy Affiliate University training and the underlying theory that I could better monetize my traffic on the site with sales rather than ad clicks. 

The end result? When Panda slapped my site and took away about 50% of my traffic overnight, my earnings only went down by 20% (comparing this November, first full post-Panda month, to September, the last month before the changes).

Looking at it from another angle, with only 20% more traffic than November of last year, income from the site this November was up more than 35%.

The "traffic" designation in the graph refers to site visits; page views are at least twice that.  Thus September saw over 20,000 site visits and more than 40,000 page views.

Here is the precise breakdown of earnings and traffic by month, using the months before, during and after Panda as well as last November for a more accurate comparison. My site redesign happened Nov. 1, two weeks after the sweeping algorithm changes.

September 2011
20,670 site visits; total earnings: $516.35
Adsense $450.85

Amazon $5.55
Clickbank $59.95

October 2011
15,060 site visits; total earnings: $439.87
Panda strikes on the 15th, cutting traffic in half
Adsense $368.71

Amazon $31.24 (mostly due to a random large purchase)
Clickbank $39.92

November 2011
10,800 site visits; total earnings: $416.70
New site redesign launches on the 1st; traffic still low post-Panda
Adsense $175.76

Amazon $40.88 (virtually all from the two main books I promote)
Clickbank $200.06

compare this to
Nov. 2010
9,030 site visits; total earnings: $300.76
Adsense $258.80

Amazon $1.90
Clickbank  $40.06

The main differences on my site now are that the ads are less prominent than before (though I still have three units per page) and I have more focus on my two main affiliate products --an ebook from Clickbank and a hardcover book via Amazon -- with photos and in-text links.

If you haven't checked out Wealthy Affiliate, definitely do. It's the only online training community I've found enough value in to stay for the long haul and recommend to family, friends and my blog readers.

They're the reason I've been able to stay ahead of the curve through the recent internet upheaval. I gain inspiration and motivation from the other members and valuable tips and insights through the training material, blog posts and forum threads. 

Now, while I certainly am not happy that my traffic is still down so much, and have begun the process of increasing traffic and making the site more pleasing to Google, I'm relieved that my income did not drop off the cliff with the traffic.

What are your recent experiences with online writing and marketing?

September Passive Income Online

My passive income online in September 2011 came so very close to $1,500 ... just a few dollars shy. I know I won't be in the $5,000 a month range by the end of the year, but it's definitely attainable by the end of 2012. Right now, I'm building the foundation for future earnings through my network of websites and niche blogs, especially two in particular. Of course, I'm looking forward to my efforts paying off; but I'm also having fun as I go.

September Earnings:

Adsense $592.72
cj.com $349.27
RA commissions $154.24
Clickbank $149.81
Amazon Associates $132.57
Demand $84.08
WA commissions $65
NB commissions $39.92
ShareASale      $8.70

Total $1,492.23

 In addition to online income from websites and blogs, my husband and I earn a somewhat passive income from two two-bedroom rental homes here in our county. I'm planning to blog about that this month, just to give some insight into another residual income model with which I have experience. Diversification really strengthens your ability to survive economic downturns and industry changes, and diversifying offline makes sense to me.

How were your online earnings in September? If you're just starting out, what's the main challenge you face to building a reliable online income?

One Website or Many?

Should you focus on one website (or niche) or several?

This question has come up for me many times since I started my online writing journey, or more precisely, since I began focusing on my own websites for the foundation of my writing business. Part of my conundrum stems from having more great website ideas than I have time to build, develop and write. I've purchased a couple (okay, maybe a few) dozen domain names and yet the bulk of my income comes from just two of those. 

Oh, I've tried outsourcing, to mixed results. But ultimately, my best websites and articles are ones I've written myself. They tend to be so focused that a hired freelancer without preexisting interest or experience in the topic can't do it justice at the standard freelance rates I've been able to afford.

The problem I've discovered, when you have a large number of domains and thus websites and blogs (assuming you've made the first steps to turn the domains into traffic-generating, revenue-earning assets) is that your attention can become very fragmented, meaning that even your best niches and blogs become somewhat neglected.

In the quest to make every website reach its potential, none actually do. For example, my pets website earns $500-$1,000 a month. It could hypothetically bring in much, much more, but I still haven't gotten it a new and better template, or regularly added new content in recent months. I'm too distracted by other sites that may not be in as great a niche and I've barely touched, yet feel an odd obligation to take care of.

I don't think I'm ready to just delete -- or not renew -- my collection of great-idea domains that are languishing in various stages of completion. But my approach moving forward is to give my most focused attention to the ones that showed themselves early on as true winners. By winners, I agree with fellow WAHM Felicia at No Job for Mom: the website has to both do well AND be something I truly enjoy writing about.

By putting about 80% of my efforts into my two top niches (the pets site and a home/ family niche that is also doing very well, responsible for most of my affiliate sales) I think I can have my cake and not eat it, too (I'm on a post-baby diet.) That is, I can both hold onto all my wonderful ideas and still maximize my earnings by focusing the majority of my time, effort, and resources on the best income-generating ones.

With these two websites alone, I know I can get back to my previous income level of  $5,000 a month.

To keep myself on track, I will:

• Make a detailed work plan at the start of each week, and a checklist for each day to accomplish the week's goals. 
• Schedule my work time, with my family's cooperation.
• Use my prime morning work time (5-7:30 am) for my top niche sites.
• Work on the extra sites when I need a break, or during extra work sessions after my main weekly goals are completed.

 Have you faced the dilemma of how many successful websites you can truly manage? What was your conclusion or solution?

July Residual Income Report

My  July residual income from affiliate sales, Adsense and online writing was higher than June's, thankfully. I took most the month off writing and blogging to prepare for, welcome and enjoy my new baby.

I think that writing for passive income is one of the very best work at home jobs for moms you can find -- there is nothing like checking your accounts on a Monday morning (after spending Sunday hosting a post-baptism reception) and seeing a $250+ commission from a large sale over the weekend. That's the site that greeted me August 1, a great start to a new month.

I'm back at work now, getting up early when I can (baby Mark likes to wake up and eat at all hours, the little stinker, I mean sweetie) and writing during nap/ quiet time. I'm still working to build up my monthly income back to the $5k/ month mark ... as you'll see from the numbers below, I have a ways to go.

July Residual Writing Income:

Adsense    $577.30
cj.com      $338.15
Amazon   $114.73
Demand Studios $107.78
Clickbank $101.32
Wealthy Affiliate $66.50
Niche Blogger $29.94
Squidoo $5.62


Total $1,341.34 

I'll be writing, formatting, linking, backlinking and working on all the other fun tasks that writer-webmasters do throughout August to hopefully increase my numbers.

What are you working on? I love to hear about others' online projects!

June Residual Income Report: Lowest Month Ever

 One of the downsides of a residual income is that it can decrease from one month to the next,  with fluctuations caused by factors from the season to online competition in your niche to search engine changes. A roller coaster ride comes to mind as the perfect illustration for this reality.


During my highest months, I've earned $5,000+. last month, in stark contrast, was a fraction of that at less than $1,000 earned from residual income sources online. In fact, it's the lowest month I've had since I embarked on my residual-only business plan.


As those of you who follow my blog know, the largest source of my residual income, eHow.com articles, were purchased from me by Demand Media in March. Thus I no longer have that revenue stream, am and relying on my own small sites and blogs to earn money through ads and affiliate links.


2011 Still a Record
On the positive side, my residual income for this year as a whole will be my best ever, since the one-time buyout payment was also residual income. So, when I look at this year as a whole, I know it will be a great success income-wise. The monthly picture, at least during the summer when interest in my top niches wanes and traffic to my sites is down, is less encouraging. But, and here's the good part -- it's truly motivating. I have to re-focus my efforts, build up my best sites and work harder to make a go of this so that my 2012 income is back where it need to be.


Here are my sources of income and numbers for last month:

June Residual Writing Income

• Adsense   $488.89
• PCo affiliate $104.19
• Amazon    $92.07
• Demand Studios   $91.35
• WA affiliate  $66.50
• NB commissions $49.90
• clickbank $40.04
• cj.com     $5.40

 Total $938.34

 See what I mean? Nothing exceptional -- everything was down compared to May, the previous month, which saw over $2,000 in revenue. Time for me to get back to work -- what about you? How are the summer months treating your income?

Residual Income Report May 2011

 May was a great month for residual income, beating out April's earnings by more than $550, despite lower Adsense earnings due to the seasonal nature of my pets site (it tend to peak in March - April every year). The increase was due to higher afiliate sales at cj.com, which i explain in more detail below.

I added a couple more pages to my pets site and expect next year to be excellent, with even higher traffic and earnings than these past few months. As for the home/ family site, I keep adding a few blog posts every month and will be focusing more on it this fall, since fall and winter are the best time of year for this particular topic.

May Residual Writing Income

• cj.com     $1,060.81
• Adsense   $530.72
• PCo Affiliate $205.08
• Amazon    $150.85 
• WA affiliate  $89.00
• Demand Studios residuals   $88.20
• NB commissions $49.90
• clickbank $41.26 
• Squidoo    $5.66 
• Misc         $1.20 

 Total $2,222.76

As you might have seen from my earlier post about my niche blog income for May, my two best-earning sites made $771.93 combined. The rest of my passive income for the month ($1438.53) is from Adsense on other, smaller blogs and niche sites, as well as HubPages and Squidoo royalties, and affiliate commissions via my older Demand Studios and eHow articles.

When I first started writing for eHow's WCP and Demand Studios, there were no rules against affiliate links in the resources section, so I added a couple topic-specific ones to each of my articles. Even though the articles are no longer mine, they continued to earn money for me this past month -- I had two $400+ sales days in May thanks to my old eHow articles via cj.com links.

But as you might surmise, I can't depend on affiliate sales form those old articles lasting for any time -- they could be gone tomorrow as I no longer control the articles or their links.  That's why it's doubly important for me to build up the income through my sites, blogs and other projects.

Are you building up your online passive income? How did you do in May?

Five Reasons Why You Should Write for Residuals

 There's a good deal of how-to information when it comes to building a passive residual income online and in the real world, but not much about the benefits, about the why of residual income efforts. Until you've achieved your passive income goals, the efforts to get there can seem enormous compared to the returns: you might write 50 website articles in a month and only see a few dollars in revenue during those few weeks.

That's when a reminder as to what you're aiming for, and why, is important.

Having built up to a full-time residual writing income in the past, and earning one this year as well, I've experienced firsthand the peace and freedom that comes from passive income. A residual income allows you to:

Diversify your income sources: In an unstable employment market, adding to and diversifying the places from which you receive income is especially important. The more income sources you have, the better better you can weather most financial storms in any economy.

Increase earnings potential: By building a residual income stream that doesn't need constant attention, you can can earn more money over time. The more residuals you build through websites and digital media, the higher your overall earnings will be, even if your boss never gives you a raise at your 9-to-5 (assuming you have and keep a regular job). As a work at home mom, I am able to earn far more through residual sources than if I only wrote as a freelancer for hire.


Retire early or on time: Build income source for retirement through your own niche sites, blogs, revenue-share articles, ebooks, apps and the like. While many Americans are facing the threat of less less money in retirement, delaying retirement or even no retirement at all due to lack of savings and investments, savvy online writers can build an income stream to last throughout their retirement years with basic upkeep and maintenance.


Work less hours: If you want to quit your day job and work only as much as you like, building a full-time passive income is the way to go to achieve this without living on peanuts or handouts. Since passive income allows you to reap the benefit of years' worth of efforts, you can work much fewer hours -- even take off for weeks at a time -- if you aren't trying to build up to a higher level.
 
Enjoy life more: Whether it's a long commute, stressful deadlines, or plain old burnout in your current job, many people find their work stressful and their family and personal time too limited. With a strong passive residual income from writing, you can plan your days, have more time with children, a spouse, friends and the adventures and activities you enjoy.


What your motivation for working for a long-term passive income?

Try Wealthy Affiliate for $1

Okay, this is big news. For the first time in over a year and a half, starting March 1, Wealthy Affiliate University is offering a free one-week trial for only $1. That means you can access all of the training modules, community forums, keyword tools and  everything else for an entire week for practically nothing.

I joined Wealthy Affiliate in June 2010 and credit it for the near doubling of my online writing and marketing income by the end of 2010 compared to the previous year. For me, the 30 day article marketing club within WA was worth the price of my year's membership by itself. I was able to use what I learned there to boost eHow earnings (three months in a row have been over $2,000!) and dramatically increase my affiliate marketing income through my niche sites.

The point of my Work at Home Mom blog is to help others find legitimate ways to build significant residual income online through writing and marketing. Wealthy Affiliate is the best collection of educational resources, training, tools and community I've found. It is both an opportunity for those brand new to online writing to find success, and for those with a  few years' experience to supercharge their income.

I encourage you to sign up for Wealthy Affiliate's free Webinar that will not only show you the inside scoop about this great $1 trail, but also give you many ideas and strategies for building an online income.

Best of luck as you take action to meet your goals!

Protecting Your Work at Home Time & Space

As a work at home mom with young children, my writing time is limited and I have to make the most of the hours I have allotted to my online efforts. I've found that I am able to be most productive when my writing schedule is clearly set, family members are aware, and I make every effort to protect my work time and space -- and you should, too. It will make all the difference in your success or failure as an online writer or internet marketer.

 The first objective is to set a schedule for your work hours. Determine what's practical, keeping in mind your ideal time of day (are you a morning bird or does your brain function best at night?) and family schedules. For my situation, it works best for me to work from 5:30-8 a.m. three days a week. I also get some additional work time on other mornings if I'm up early and the kids are sleeping, but three days out of the week, my husband is "on-call" for the kids in the early hours, supervises morning routines and gives them breakfast as I finish up my writing time.

Make sure family members (down to the little ones!) are aware of your planned writing/ working time. Conversely, be fully present for them when you aren't working, minimizing computer time when it's not productive, and your kids will be more respectful of your set work hours.

You'll find that even with a set schedule and plan, you'll need to make an effort almost daily to protect your work at home time and desk/ office area from intrusion, distraction and even your own laziness. To that end, remind family members as needed that you're working, and you'll be able to talk/ help in 10 minutes, an hour -- at your designated stop time. Do not answer the phone while you're doing your work. Do not check your email unless you need something specific for the task at hand.

Keep your work desk neat as a pin -- you will find yourself much more productive when you have a clean, ordered space that feels professional. 

Avoiding distractions online -- unnecessary email checking, reading news or forums unrelated to your work at home daily tasks, and other time-wasting traps -- is crucial for your success. Keep yourself on track by writing a short list of items you need to accomplish at your next work session, after finishing the day's tasks and while everything is fresh in your mind.

I keep my daily tasks list in a notebook stored in my top desk drawer. Each morning, I take it out and keep it by my computer as I work, reminding me of what's next and giving me the satisfaction of checking off items I've accomplished.

How do you protect your work at home time and space to increase your writing income?

Double Your Residual Income in 2011

Have you set your goals for residual income in 2011? I did -- my reach-for-it goal is to double my monthly residual income within the next 12 months. If it sounds a bit impractical, especially since it's taken me three years to build to my current level, here's why I think it just might be doable -- and how you can do it, too.

Why I Can Double my Writing Income in 1 Year

Since I already have niche websites, blogs, and articles and profiles on revenue-sharing content sites, doubling my current residual income should take much less time than it did to get to the point where I am currently. Three years ago, I was starting from scratch -- any niche sites I had were brand new and not on Google's radar. Now, I have the advantage of domains that are several years old, and hundreds of articles that have already been online for years or at least several months.

This means that any new articles I add to my established sites in the coming months should theoretically  earn more, and faster, than previous articles. As I've shown recently, I can increase my earnings on existing eHow articles by adding backlinks.

Furthermore, I am aware of what niches, topics and affiliate products have been profitable for me and those that have shown promise and need more exploration. I wrote plenty of articles for eHow.com that earned very slowly and, conversely, dozens that have been great earners -- all of these give me an idea of what works, and how to duplicate success.

My skills in setting up niche sites, creating attractive, informative blog posts, researching quickly, and incorporating adwords and affiliate links with quality content have all grown over the years, putting me in a better position than ever to leverage my abilities to build long-term residual income.

Hopefully, much of what I've just described applies to you, too.

The Plan: How to Increase Your Passive Income by 100%

Double the amount of residual-earning content you have online.

Will it be that simple? I think so -- but will it be easy? Probably not -- it takes effort, discipline and dedication to work every day toward your passive income goals. This is especially true when you have a primary full-time job, whether it's as an employee or a stay at home mom to young children.But if you break it down into monthly goals, weekly lists and daily action items, you may be better able to follow the plan.

For starters, add up the number of articles, website pages and blog posts you have online -- even if you don't have an exact number, get a rough estimate. For example, someone who has 100 eHow articles, plus 20 at Bukisa, a blog with 52 posts, a niche site with 20 pages, three Hubs and four Squidoo lenses, plus 10 ezine articles, is looking at a portfolio of just over 200 pieces of content currently earning residual income. Adding 200 more in the next 365 days should certainly be doable.

Focus on building the niches and sites that are earning the best, adding more keyword-targeted pages and quality backlinks to your best-earning sites and pages. Don't try to start three more blogs in the coming year -- work on building your current sites to perform better. If there's a niche you just can't resist trying, build a Squidoo lens and a Hubpage on it and use them to test the market before diving into a new property.

If You're Just Getting Started

If you are new to making money online from writing, you'll have a different goal -- there's not much to double at this point and you need to get started and build, build, build in 2011. Use sites such as HubPages and Squidoo to experiment with writing and marketing, exploring different niches. When you find something that interests you enough and shows promise as a money-maker, start a blog or niche site on the topic, adding a page or a backlink every day as you work to gain traffic and eventually, affiliate sales and advertising revenue.

For those who really don't know where or how to start, as well as those who are serious about taking their online income to a higher level, I recommend that you look into WealthyAffiliate and give it a try. This is the only service (other than web-hosting and ejunkie checkout) for which I currently pay money to use. They have an amazing collection of resources, including step-by-step action guides, all in one convenient location. I've attended several recent WA Webinars on affiliate marketing and backlinking and those have been very helpful to me.

Using the WealthyAffiliate Article Club method to build and promote a new niche site, I was able to earn over $1,000 in affiliate commissions from a niche site I built in 2010 -- it has been hugely successful for me so far and I have to attribute much of that success to what I implemented after taking the WA course.

However, if you don't have the money for that right now, don't worry about it because you CAN make a go of this on a shoestring budget. It make take longer and there will be more trial and error to find what works best, but it can be done -- it's how I started out and so did many other work at home moms.

Best of luck in 2011 -- will you try to double your residual income this year?

Top Earning eHow Articles

Inspired by a post on the eHow Community Chatter forum, I've decided to share a screen shot of my highest earning article amounts.

I remember when I first posted about my eHow article earnings on a writer's forum. My initial article had earned less than a dime, but I wanted to share the info with other writers. Months later, in another post about writing for residual income, another poster scoffed about "WriterGig's six-cent eHow articles."

Now, just over a year later, I am please to say that that article has earned me over $100. I guess I had the last laugh after all. But I hope other writers, especially other moms and dads struggling to make ends meet during tough economic times, will take note and be inspired about the potential from online writing, on eHow and elsewhere.

Following is a screenshot of my highest-earning eHow articles. You can click the image to enlarge it.

(image copyright 2008 WriterGig)

I don't share the titles because some were quite original and I'd rather people find their own niches rather than try to duplicate mine. There is plenty of room on eHow and plenty of titles not yet written, so I encourage everyone to find their own groove, so to speak.

Learn how to Increase Residual Income on eHow.com to build your own passive income online. After one year of writing eHow articles with the site's Writers Compensation Program (WCP), I am consistently earning over $1,000 a month in residuals ... and I am planning to double and triple that in the coming year. You can too ... buy my eHow ebook and learn how, today!

What's the most you ever made from a single online article, on eHow or elswhere? Do you prefer to write for up front payment or long-term residual income?

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!

This WAHM is headed to California!

I'm going to California!

One of the companies I write for invited me and about a dozen others to join them in sunny California for a couple days in October. The company is paying for airfare and accommodations, and we'll be spending time learning more about the company and website and new things to come, as well as providing them feedback from a user standpoint.

Of course, there's always a dilemma involved when you're a work at home mom. I love the writing work I do, and am thrilled to be able to produce an income while staying at home with my kids. But when it comes down to it, I'm a mom before I'm a writer, these days.

As thrilled as I was to receive the invitation, and all the while realizing what an honor it is, I still had a hard time deciding about making the trip. Since I'm on the East Coast, the travel time will be lengthy and my kids will certainly miss me (and I them).

Having decided to make the trip, I am really looking forward to the experience and and will certainly post updates here on my blog as time goes on.

Working on an eBook

I made the plunge--I started writing my own eBook.

I didn't start writing because of all the hype about about eBooks and insane profits. No, this eBook came to me, I promise.

After fielding dozens of private messages and forum questions about online earnings and how to make money writing online, I decided to put it all together in a book. So that's what I'm working on -- an eBook on freelance online writing. it's actually more specific than that, but I won't spill the beans till it's ready. I'm hoping it will be fast to write so I can get back to my other writing projects.

I'm also hoping that an eBook will increase both my passive income and my writing income bottom line. I've had a successful work at home experience so far and would be thrilled to increase income, especially given the rising costs of everything.

I'm using some of the resources at All Freelance Writing's 14-Day eBook Challenge. While the challenge was months ago, the information is very timely for me.

I'll document my progress and eBook marketing ideas here, so check back for more posts on my eBook.

Freelance Writing Jobs: Persistence, Patience Pay Off

I landed two new freelance writing jobs during the past week, in addition to the blogging opportunity I wrote about. One is for a soon-to-be launched health-oriented website, and the company pays $30 per 450-word article. Since I am passionate about nutrition and fitness, I am thrilled with this gig. I got my first assignment of 10 articles last week and have completed eight. Since I already know these general topics, the material comes easily to me.

But if I hadn't been patient and persistent, I would probably be writing these same articles at $10 each. Here's the story.

A few months ago, I decided not to continue writing for a client (I'll call them Group W) because of a non-compete clause in the renewal contract. Just as I was tapering off my work on one website with Group W, they announced a new, large contract for another website, the one on health-related topics (I'll call it e-alive.com). Oooh, I wanted in on that gig! But I realized that if Group W was paying us writers $10 per article, they were receiving more than that for the articles from e-alive.com. Why not get the full amount by writing directly for e-alive.com? Also, I couldn't get past Group W's contract, which would not allow me to write for any of their contracted clients (such as eHow, e-alive.com, etc.) within a year of ceasing my work with them.

I decided to apply directly to the company behind the new website instead of writing for my Group A, much in the same way that I decided to write directly for eHow instead of the content company. Over a month went by before I heard from e-alive.com's parent company, but last week I received an email. the editor told me they received my application, were satisfied with my credentials and offered me ongoing work: when I finish my first set, I'll be assigned 10 more titles.

So you see, persistence and patience pay off. That's why I put the little turtle in this post, as a reminder. Set your goals, and work toward them. One of my goals is to write for myself and increase my passive income. While there is no passive, long-term income potential with this gig, I did cut out the middle man and increased my profits more than 100% in doing so.

The kicker? Some of the contracted writers at Group W still haven't received their approval for the health-related article gig at e-alive.com. While I had to be patient to get this gig on my own, I may not have gotten it yet if I'd stuck with Group W.

What are your writing goals? What keeps you motivated to achieve them?

Work from Home Writing eHow Articles

Here's a good side job for work at home writers: eHow. While the upfront pay is nonexistent (payments are made in the month following earnings, and only once $10 or more is due), there is the potential for long-term passive income. Through the Writer's Compensation Program at eHow, writers can earn revenue indefinitely for their articles, according to eHow.

While the specific criteria for earning payment is ambiguous, the more page hits and ad revenue an eHow article generates, the more money the author makes. Writers can track how much each article is earning through their "My Earnings" section of the website.

I wrote my first eHow article (well, the first one under my account) just over a month ago. To date, How to Conceive Twins has earned over $12.

So here's another eHow for you: How to Create Passive Income Writing eHow Articles. Enjoy!