What eHow Has Taught Me So Far (And What It Can Teach You)

I started writing for eHow around mid-November and before I left for my December trip, I had written a good 20-23 articles. In my first month, I broke the very humbling $10.00 payout. Man, was I excited? I’ve never been so excited over a measly $10.00 before. The excitement came from the sheer fact that perhaps passive income is real and that I can do it. I think before you get started with anything related to “passive income”, you should start with eHow first.

Why eHow?

Writing for eHow is a quick way to realize the potential of what you could earn from some part-time effort. The income might not matter in the first six months, but in a year, it could end up being a nice chunk of change for your bills. Another couple of reasons that eHow is a great place to start is because you not only sharpen your researching and writing skills, but you also shape your strategies. You have nothing to lose, except time, and you don’t even lose that since you learn some invaluable skills and lessons that will shape your success.

What Exactly Has eHow Taught Me

Where do I start? From the perspective of someone who holds a degree and earns a decent full-time income, it’s been a interesting (yet trying) experience to learn everything that I have so far, thanks to eHow.

1. Researching Topics And Analyzing Demand

For people who write for the sheer joy of writing, great for you, but since I’m in the quest of building passive income sources, I not only have to write about topics that people care about, but also that can earn me some money. Both go hand in hand. If you do proper research using the Google Keyword Suggestion Tool, you can find what keywords are being queried and how many people are querying for it. Researching topics is an essential skill that you will need wherever you go in life! Whether you want to create and sell ebooks or delve into e-commerce, you have to know what people want. If the demand is high and supply is low (or quality of information is low), this is your cue. Start writing!

2. Click Per Cost

Click Per Cost, or CPC for short, is an important term that you need to familiarize yourself with. CPC is exactly that. If you were conducting a Google Adwords campaign, it would be the cost you’d incur if someone clicked on one of your ads. How does this relate to eHow? I have a theory that you can earn more money from ads if you write about topics that have a high CPC. I’m currently experimenting with this, but you still need to know about it, especially if you want to market any of your goods quickly using Google Adwords. Why not write about a topic/keyword with a CPC of $5.00 instead a CPC of $1.00? (Assuming that the queries per month number is decent). Know your CPC!

3. Testing

That’s a very broad term. Before you start dabbling with any market, or testing, you need to understand all of the things I’ve already mentioned. In order to conduct quick testing using ads, you need to understand CPC, researching if there’s a demand for your product, etc. You need to go into the situation with at least this must preparation. This will get easier with time, since you’ll need to learn it once and then you’ll keep applying your knowledge. A lot like rinse and repeat, people!

4. Evolving Your Strategies

This will pay off whether you’re experimenting with eHow, affiliate programs, or e-commerce. With eHow, I wrote an initial set of 20 articles. I wanted to prove to myself that I could even make a dollar online! I did that and now I want to make loads of dollars a month, so I’ve evolved my strategy from “write about various topics in some sort of demand” to “write about various topics that are in demand, not too crowded, with a high CPC, and mix in some good SEO”. This is a necessary skill to apply in real life. You’ll find most people will lean towards giving up, instead of thinking, “Hey! Wait a minute. How can I do better?” This is the key difference between a winner and a loser!

5. Learning How To Outsource

Thanks to eHow and the realization that between a full-time job and this blog I cannot keep building articles, I have finally hired a writer through Guru. I have hired him for $50 and will probably keep him around to grow my library of articles. I am now learning how to be an effective manager and editor!

6. Your Writing Skills

You knew this was coming! I was about to state: “No matter how bad you think you are, keep writing and your skills will evolve” when I realized that might not be necessarily true. I have, unfortunately, seen quite a few articles haphazardly put together that follow no conventions of grammar, spelling, or human laws. In all seriousness though, you will grow as a writer over time, as long as you keep trying!

In Summary…

If eHow isn’t your cup of tea, then check out Associated Content, Suite101, Info Barrel or Squidoo. I suggest eHow because I believe no matter the shortcomings of eHow, the articles can start earning money right away, the rankings can be improved within a matter of days with a bit of sweat, and most importantly, the eHow community is a great one.

What are you waiting for? Link with me on eHow and see how much you can earn your first month (be realistic though!)

Are you part of eHow? How much do you earn (on average) from eHow? Do you write for another site like eHow that pays you on a similar model?

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