eHow. An interesting community, that pays for content.
I’ve been playing around with eHow.com for about a month now, and I must say, I’m pleasantly surprised and possibly, mildly addicted. They invite user-submitted content on “How to” topics. This can be pretty much any topic of your choosing (no matter how much of a stretch), as long as you can present it in Step 1, Step 2-style format.
It may come as a surprise to some to find out that there are sites out there…tons of them actually…that will pay you to post content. The usual model works like this: we’ll build a site, you fill it with content — writing, photos, video — and we’ll split the ad revenue.
That’s fine, in theory, but many such sites suffer from two key failings. One, they just don’t (yet) drive enough traffic to generate much views on your content, much less clicks on ads, and Two, they’re not particularly generous in their sharing arrangements.
eHow may well be the rare exception. They’re a long established site, and pretty visible in search results. And while they don’t provide details on how they split the take on ad revenue, I’m already making more per day from eHow than I do from my two personal websites that I’ve been working on for years now.
It’s hard to generalize eHow earnings. Some articles sit and do nothing…no views, no earnings. Others get lots of views, lots of earnings. And there’s a few oddballs with a ton of views, but zero revenue, and vice versa.
Overall, though, a typical article pulls in about two to four cents a day…let’s say three cents, for the sake of discussion. It takes me about a half hour of work to write and post an article to eHow. So, you say, why bother, just to get three pennies for a half hours work?
Once you post to eHow, that article is up there. Presumably, forever! Three cents a day become ten dollars a year, and $100 in ten years. Which is not bad for a half hour of work. Post a hundred articles, and the figure becomes $10,000 in ten years. A thousand articles and….you get the picture.
I’m up to 60 or 70 articles so far (and I’m not proud of all of them, but so far, I’m leaving them there).
Of course, there’s no knowing if the model will hold for ten years. Things may go bust for a variety of reasons. But then again, they may improve. I’ve already gotten much faster at posting new items, and I feel like I’m learning how to target good themes, match up with the ad language, and drive a bit of traffic to the articles.
The money part is intriguing, no doubt. There’s also quite a nice community over at eHow, who I’m coming to enjoy. For anyone looking for a place to spend some time, earn some spare change, and tell the world how to do things, eHow is probably the place for you.
Cheers, all.
David
May 7th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
It would be really nice to know more about the compensation offered by companies such as eHow and Suite101.
I mean, supposing the compensation for each page turns out to be “3 cents per day for the first 60 days, then nothing”?
May 7th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
I hear ya, man. Though even if they clarify the compensation scheme, I’m sure there’s something in the fine print that allows them to change it down the road. For the time being, though, the eHow authors seem like a pretty happy bunch.
And by the way, since one of the key elements of success at a site like eHow is to generate traffic, I hope no one minds my blatantly self-serving use of web-owls to post this set of links (Hey…it’s not like we’re overflowing content now, is it…?).
A list of Dave’s eHow articles (so far) in case anyone’s interested:
How to Nominate Your Favorite Teacher as “Teacher of the Year”
http://www.ehow.com/video_2281396_favorite-teacher-as-teacher-year.html
How to See Reggage-Pop Star Sean Kingston for Free
http://www.ehow.com/video_2280987_reggagepop-star-sean-kingston-free.html
How to See the New Ian Fleming/James Bond Exhibit
http://www.ehow.com/video_2280916_new-ian-flemingjames-bond-exhibit.html
How to Correct Your Eyesight With High-Def ‘Lasik’ Glasses
http://www.ehow.com/video_2280722_correct-eyesight-highdef-lasik-glasses.html
How to Supercharge Outlook Email with Xobni (that’s ‘Inbox’ spelled backwards)
http://www.ehow.com/how_2279700_xobni-thats-inbox-spelled-backwards.html
How to See the Speedo LZR Racer Swimsuit at the Olympics
http://www.ehow.com/video_2277239_speedo-lzr-racer-swimsuit-olympics.html
How to Renegotiate your Mortgage to Lower Your Monthly Payments
http://www.ehow.com/video_2277196_renegotiate-mortgage-lower-monthly-payments.html
How to Rent a Porsche
http://www.ehow.com/how_2277024_rent-a-porsche.html
How to Find Old Newspaper Headlines and Articles from the Wild, Wild West
http://www.ehow.com/how_2275863_headlines-articles-wild-wild-west.html
How to Cite an Anthology (MLA style)
http://www.ehow.com/how_2274044_cite-anthology-mla-style.html
How to Avoid the “IRS 2008 Economic Stimulus Refund” Email Scam
http://www.ehow.com/how_2271249_economic-stimulus-refund-email-scam.html
How to Bcc in Outlook Emails
http://www.ehow.com/how_2271241_bcc-outlook-emails.html
How to Quit Dipping. Kicking Smokeless Tobacco
http://www.ehow.com/how_2270259_quit-dipping-kicking-smokeless-tobacco.html
How to Put Car Insurance Quotes to Use
http://www.ehow.com/how_2269921_put-car-insurance-quotes-use.html
How to Win with Online Casino Gambling
http://www.ehow.com/how_2269861_win-online-casino-gambling.html
How to Find the Secret History of Adolph Hitler
http://www.ehow.com/how_2269719_secret-history-adolph-hitler.html
How to find automobile accident lawyers
http://www.ehow.com/how_2269641_automobile-accident-lawyers.html
How to Zap PRAM on a MAC
http://www.ehow.com/how_2269385_zap-pram-mac.html
How to Stabilize Vista and Run a Memory Test
http://www.ehow.com/how_2269267_stabilize-vista-run-memory-test.html
How to Comprehend the Fundamental Laws of Life, Love, the Universe, Work, Shopping and Home Repairs
http://www.ehow.com/how_2269168_universe-work-shopping-home-repairs.html
How to Get Free Wi-Fi at Starbucks
http://www.ehow.com/how_2269126_free-wifi-starbucks.html
How to Make a Shiny Dorodango Mud Ball
http://www.ehow.com/how_2268956_shiny-dorodango-mud-ball.html
How to Spot an eHow-coholic
http://www.ehow.com/how_2268871_spot-an-ehowcoholic.html
How to REALLY Dance with the Stars
http://www.ehow.com/video_2268858_really-dance-stars.html
How to Recognize Hearing Loss
http://www.ehow.com/how_2268736_recognize-hearing-loss.html
How to Heal
http://www.ehow.com/how_2268716_heal.html
How to Get Help with Online Research
http://www.ehow.com/how_2268658_help-online-research.html
How to Know What Other People Think of You
http://www.ehow.com/how_2268650_what-other-people-think.html
How to Scream for Your Team
http://www.ehow.com/how_2268455_scream-team.html
How to See Galloping Gertie
http://www.ehow.com/video_2267819_see-galloping-gertie.html
How to get Lexis Case Law for Free
http://www.ehow.com/how_2267635_lexis-case-law-free.html
How to Discuss Medicines with your Pharmacist
http://www.ehow.com/how_2265122_discuss-medicines-pharmacist.html
How to Get a $30K Scholarship for Graduate School
http://www.ehow.com/how_2265105_k-scholarship-graduate-school.html
How to Get a $25 Class-Action Lawsuit Refund from your Credit Card Company
http://www.ehow.com/how_2265028_lawsuit-refund-credit-card-company.html
How to Become an Astronaut
http://www.ehow.com/how_2264900_become-an-astronaut.html
How to Identify Pills
http://www.ehow.com/how_2264873_identify-pills.html
How to Explore the North Pole of Mars on May 25
http://www.ehow.com/video_2264529_explore-north-pole-mars-may.html
How to build your own Sputnik
http://www.ehow.com/how_2264315_build-own-sputnik.html
How to Recognize and Avoid Tax Refund Scams
http://www.ehow.com/how_2264235_recognize-avoid-tax-refund-scams.html
How to Check the Status of Your Federal Tax Refund
http://www.ehow.com/how_2264218_check-status-federal-tax-refund.html
How to Find Old Newspaper Headlines and Articles for Illinois
http://www.ehow.com/how_2264173_old-newspaper-headlines-articles-illinois.html
How to Find Free Newspaper Archives for New York
http://www.ehow.com/how_2263868_free-newspaper-archives-new-york.html
How to Find Free Newspaper Archives for Pennsylvania
http://www.ehow.com/how_2263807_free-newspaper-archives-pennsylvania.html
How to Find Free Newspaper Archives for Florida
http://www.ehow.com/how_2263673_free-newspaper-archives-florida.html
How to Find Free Newspaper Archives for New Jersey
http://www.ehow.com/how_2263570_free-newspaper-archives-new-jersey.html
How to Celebrate Memorial Day
http://www.ehow.com/video_2263281_celebrate-memorial-day.html
How to Keep Your Food Safe from Bacteria
http://www.ehow.com/how_2263264_keep-food-safe-bacteria.html
How to Plan for Retirement
http://www.ehow.com/how_2262899_plan-for-retirement.html
How to Bargain and Haggle…Getting What You Want, Cheap.
http://www.ehow.com/how_2262750_bargain-hagglegetting-what-want-cheap.html
How to Stay Overnight at a Lighthouse
http://www.ehow.com/how_2262317_stay-overnight-lighthouse.html
January 10th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
I received an invitation to check out eHow a few weeks ago and just started writing a few days ago. I find it fun! I don’t expect to make much though. Am going to check out some of your articles! Good luck!
January 10th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Crabby!!!!!
How nice to hear from you. Make sure to get in touch with me at eHow (I’m under my own name there). And don’t set your sights too low, either. I’m earning $1K a month at eHow, and want to grow it to $2K this year.
David