eBook Review: How to Write for eHow by Janet Ford

Janet Ford is a legend on eHow. At the recent eHow summit I attended she received the award for most friends on eHow. In my opinion, that is due to one thing: her willingness to share with others what she has learned. That quality is truly evident in her new ebook, How to Write for eHow: The Ultimate Guide to Writing on eHow.

But Janet is not just a friendly writer. She's a website designer with SEO experience and she knows her stuff. She was among the first to see the revenue-generating potential of eHow and she's created enough income with eHow that her husband has quit asking her to get a "real job."

First the nitty gritty. How to Write for eHow is 82 pages long and it covers everything from creating a profile to promoting articles. Each section includes not only the basics, but Janet's tips for success in that area.

Janet has included writing tips, information on keywords, and a great section on the importance of eHow friends, which is of course her specialty.

Janet attributes much of her success at eHow to the social promotion of her articles. She uses sites like Digg and Stumbleupon with great skill and she shares her approach in the book. In fact, her section on Promoting Your Article includes information on the twenty different social networking sites that she has found the most effective.

My favorite section of How to Write for eHow is Earning with eHow, where Janet touches on the kinds of earnings she's seeing and the amount of time she puts in. She also explains how to move beyond the money earned from eHow directly and to begin earning with affiliate programs and your own site.

In short, I can highly recommend Janet Ford's book. It is well worth the $27 price. Anyone who reads it and follows the advice in it will earn back that amount and much more.

Big Site Changes Underway at eHow

Yesterday eHow began rolling out some new and exciting changes to the site. Perhaps one of this biggest changes is the addition of eHow Groups, which will allow more social networking within the site.

The site is a little (understandably) buggy right now while the changes are being implemented but that situation seems to be improving rapidly.

A great way to keep up with all that is going on at eHow is with the new eHow Blog. The blog even includes a video which will give you a peek at the eHow offices.

eHow vs. Your Own Site

Pat at Smart Passive Income has a pretty good conversation going on his blog. You may remember that Pat set an eHow goal to write 5 articles/day for a year in order to generate a large passive income stream.

It seems that a commenter on Pat's blog told him he thought he could make more money by posting those articles on his own site, rather than a revenue sharing site like eHow. That got Pat thinking and now he's asking for input.

So why would someone want to put content on a revenue sharing site rather than creating their own and keeping 100% of the advertising revenue?

In my mind, and the mind of many of those who commented, there are two great reasons.

First, a site like eHow allows you to write about anything and everything, without focusing on a niche.

If you look at the compilation of articles by the average eHow author, you'll see a wide variety of topics. That's one of the things that most eHow authors enjoy. Do you know how to change the oil in your car? Write an eHow about it. Got a good banana bread recipe? Write an eHow about it. Know how to get out of jury duty? You get the idea.

Those articles would not make for a very compelling blog. At least not as far as Google and other advertisers are concerned. But they can represent a nice little residual revenue stream at eHow.

Another great reason to write for eHow is that the site ranks so well in major search engines.

It can take a lot of study, a lot of effort, and frankly, luck, to get a blog or site of your own to rank well. Not to mention time. I think most would agree that developing your own site is much more time consuming than cranking out how-to articles in the eHow template.

With eHow you need only focus on creating the content and let eHow do the rest. While it's true that a little bit of study regarding keywords and search engine optimization will help with your eHow success, it's not mandatory the way it is in getting a site to rank well.

There are other reasons that eHow is a great resource for some:

• No web hosting to secure
• No domains to purchase
• No out of pocket expenses
  
• No need to know HTML
• You have Demand Studios and Richard Rosenblatt behind you.

Sounds great, huh?

So why would anyone want to set up their own blog or site instead of writing for a revenue sharing site like eHow?

First, there's the issue of control.

The revenue stream you generate from eHow is completely dependant on eHow sticking around, staying profitable, and continuing to share revenue with writers. With your own site, those things are within your control.

Secondly there is profitability.

eHow is a revenue sharing site. With your own site the revenue you earn is 100% yours.

But if you, like Pat, are trying to decide which way to go, my message to you is that you don't have to do one or the other. In fact, a site like eHow can work very well in conjunction with your own site(s). They can create links for each other and send traffic back and forth.

eHow articles that fit with the topic of your blog or site can be highlighted there and those that don't can stand alone on eHow.

I'll be eager to hear what Pat decides and, either way, watching his experiment unfold.

eHow Writer Featured on Local News

eHow writer Desula was featured on her local news station about ways to earn money from home. Way to go Desula!

For the time being you can view it here:

eHow Author Work from Home Video

The video in on the right hand side of the page.

Here's an eHow Writer to Watch

Pay Flynn at Smart Passive Income has set out to write five eHow articles a day for a year. His goal is to see how much passive income he can make by doing that.

He has committed to update his earnings once a month, although for now he is updating more frequently.

This will be a fun experiment to watch!

Bukisa: Another Place to Earn Money Online

Because of my great experience with eHow, I was eager to try another site that pays users go generate content: Bukisa.

Bukisa pays based on the number of unique views an article, video, or image generates. It also pays users for referring others who generate content as well.

Because Bukisa is so new, I am eager to jump in and see what kind of income I can generate. If you're interested, I hope you'll join me at Bukisa.

What If You Don't Want to Make Money with eHow?

Does is seem like a silly question? Well, it was asked on the eHow Community Chatter forum tonight.

The writer just wants to write some articles without all the "red tape" of Paypal and taxes.

Leaving aside for a moment just how much "red tape" is involved, the answer is yes, you can write for eHow without getting paid. You can sign up for eHow without signing up for the Writer Compensation Program.

You have to be an eHow member to be part of the Writer Compensation Program. You don't, however, have to be part of the WCP just because you are an eHow member.

Why would someone want to do write for eHow without being paid?

Well, some people just enjoying sharing what they know. Others might want to drive traffic to their website or blog. Still others might enjoy the community aspect of eHow. In all of these cases, money might not be the main priority.

So how much "red tape" is involved in being paid by eHow? According to the FAQ on the website, if you earn more than $10 in a year, a 1099 will be sent to the IRS at year's end. A copy will be sent to you.

It's not really a lot of red tape, but depending on your tax situation, you, like the person on the Community Chatter forum, may be wondering if it's possible to write and not be paid. And the answer is definitely 'yes'.

Can You Really Make Money with eHow?

I've seen this question posted all over the internet and had many ask me the same thing. The answer, in a word, is yes.

What am I basing that answer on?

First, my own experiences. I've seen my eHow income grow as follows:

• June $1.49
• July $20.02
• Aug $58.02
• Sept $62.09 (including a $2 referral bonus)
• Oct $76.18

Secondly, last month I was privileged to be invited to an eHow user gathering in Santa Monica with sixteen of my fellow eHow writers. eHow shared with us that some writers were just beginning to break the $1000/month level (remember the eHow Writer Compensation Program is fairly new). At least two of the writers in the $1000+ club were in attendance at that conference. I was able to speak with them directly and pick their brains for what they were doing. (Incidentally, those two writers have written the eHow eBooks I recommend on this blog.)

It's true that the algorithm that eHow uses to figure writer compensation is a mystery. It's proprietary information, and therefore the exact forumla is not available to us. I can tell you, however, that the following actions will help you maximize your eHow earnings:

1. Have at least a basic understanding of search engine optimization and keywords. You don't need to be an expert, but you do need a general idea of how it works.
2. Some promotion of your articles is helpful.
3. Write, write, and write some more. This is how you will learn what works and what doesn't.
4. Give it time. The search engines usually need a little time to pick up on your articles.

eHow is not a get quick rich site, but it is also not a scam. It's a legitimate site where you can make money by writing and the more you educate yourself and the more time you give it, the more money you'll make.

Who is Behind eHow?

eHow is a Demand Media site. Richard Rosenblatt is Demand Media's co-founder, Chairman and CEO.

Never heard of Richard Rosenblatt? Have you heard of MySpace? Read on to learn more about who is behind eHow.

eHow Earnings Update

Recently I attended an eHow User Group gathering in California. The gathering was organized by eHow and part of the purpose was to get feedback from those who write on eHow.

There were seventeen writers in attendance and time and again I heard this story: "I wrote a few articles for eHow and then forgot about them. Later I checked back and found they had made money and I got excited."

That is my story as well. I wrote two articles for eHow, How to Make Homemade Pancake Mix and How to Figure Your Car's Gas Mileage, and promptly forgot about them. I checked back a month or so later and saw that together they had earned $1.49. I have never been so excited about $1.49 in my life!

Obviously I wasn't excited about the amount of money, but about the potential I saw in eHow. It took me just a few minutes to write those articles because it was knowledge I already possessed. I just needed to put it in the form of a few steps.

And if those two bits of knowledge could earn me $1.49 in a month...what would they earn me over their lifetime at eHow? And what if I could add other bits of knowledge to them?

That was five months ago and, to date, those two articles have earned $10.11. Since then I've added 125 other articles to eHow. Some have earned great, some just so/so, and some not at all. Many are new enough that the jury is still out.

Here's a screenshot of my earnings to date (click for a bigger view):

Meanwhile I'm learning about what makes a good eHow article and how I can promote articles to boost their earning power. And...it's all fun!