Making Money Online: My Early Experience Writing at eHow

I started writing for HubPages at the end of May 2009 after running across the site searching for information on Squidoo.  I was looking for a way to make money online without having to invest any of my own money but use time as currency instead—classic bootstrapping if you will.  I had signed up there and was just getting started, so I thought I would try HubPages as well. 

My initial impression was that the HubPages community was a little more friendly and willing to help out someone who was just starting out.  That may or may not be accurate but since perception is reality, that was my reality.  My initial success with traffic was overwhelmingly in favor of HubPages so I decided to focus my efforts here and work at Squidoo when I got the time.  After a little while, I discovered that there were lots of revenue sharing sites that I had no idea even existed.  I was not in favor of the tiered payout system at Squidoo so I decided to look for a revenue model similar to HubPages.  I looked at eHow and thought it would be useful to try it out.  I signed up in June but didn’t get around to posting my first article until July 23, 2009.  Many have asked about my experience there so I thought I would write this article.

Writing an article at eHow is somewhat different than writing a Hub.  A Hub tends to be free form and can encompass many subjects or literary forms including articles, stories and poetry to name a few.  At eHow, the articles are different such that you have to answer a “How to” question and explain the actions in steps.  All articles must start with “How to”, hence the name of the site.  An example would be “How to Make Ice Cubes”.  You write an introduction and list the items needed like water and a freezer.  Then you fill in the steps and offer tips and warnings at the end.  You can include pictures and relevant links as well.  I started writing there so that I could get some extra links to my Hubs but found that the revenue there is exciting by itself.

As most Hubbers know, the revenue model is such that 60% of the Hubs are shown with our Google Adsense account number so we get credited with any clicks on those ads and 40% of the time, HubPages gets the credit. It is simply a roll of the dice on any particular click whether the Hubber or HubPages gets the revenue. At eHow, there is no well defined payment structure. Quoting from their FAQ, “your article’s earning potential can be based on…the amount of times it’s been viewed and its category.” There is no clearly defined formula. Obviously the revenue comes from ad clicks so it only makes sense that the same concepts of keywords and traffic would come into play.

A few other differences related to their Writer Compensation Program that work well for me but may not for others is the fact that they only pay via PayPal to residents of the United States. Payout occurs when you hit $10 in earnings for the month. If you fail to meet that requirement, they will roll it over to the next month. At the end of the year, anybody earning $10 or more will receive a 1099 form, and one will be sent to the IRS. You don’t have to use your own Google Adsense account number. I presume that eHow uses their own Adsense account and tracks your ad clicks to pay you.

Some of the things that I like about eHow earnings:

• The payout threshold is relatively low so that the feeling of success and payoff comes more quickly
• It is possible to write without an Adsense account
• The updates (although only once a day and spotty on weekends) will show you which articles have earned and how much

Now I don’t know if eHow earns better than HubPages or if my ability to put together a coherent article with decent paying keywords has just gotten better. I suspect the latter since when I look at my early Hubs, I find that they kinda suck.

The bottom line for me is that eHow represents another source of income. I can take all the research that I put into a Hub and convert that information into a “How to” format in about 20-30 minutes most of the time. Some of the Hubs don’t lend themselves to that format but that is OK. I won’t post exact numbers but will save those for my quarterly earnings update on my blog. If you read my blog, you will know what my earning goals for the month of August were. Suffice it to say, that I have exceeded those goals on both sites. At this point in the month, my eHow earnings are about 75% those of HubPages. It has been a worthwhile venture, and I will continue to write for eHow. For me, it is a useful source of links and revenue with little additional time spent.