Review: Squid Pro Quo - Building Squidoo Lenses

The Online Article that Got Me a Job

Recently, I started doing some writing at a new residual earning site called Zujava.  I like it so far.  It is fun and I'm enjoying being creative.  I started the account with the intention of writing about television shows because I love reality shows and crime shows.

But at the suggestion of a post in the forum, I decided to write a leaf (that is what they are called there, kind of like articles on Squidoo are called squids) about my home town.  So, I wrote this nice indepth leaf about Swan River, MB.

I didn't really think too much of it.  It was really just for fun.  What I didn't know was that the president of the Chamber of Commerce had a Google Alert for "Swan River" and found it through that! And he seemed to like it because he forwarded the article to his mailing list.  Once that happened I started getting comments from various people in Swan River that are involved in the town and the tourist committee.  That was pretty cool.

I also wrote a bio for myself on Zujava because it is important to get the word out about yourself when you make a living online.  For one person that read my Swan River leaf, it lead him to my bio.  And that person was Brian Gilroy, the general manager of the Swan Valley Star & Times, our local paper.  It just so happened that they were in need of another reporter for the paper and he invited me to come and talk to him if I was interested.

After a few emails and a discussion, I got a job as a freelance reporter for my local paper!

There's a point to all of this, other than just being proud of the work I've done to promote myself.  The point is that you never know who is going to read your online work, so make it good.  And you never know where it is going to lead you so make sure it is representative of what you are really capable of.

Would you like to do some writing at Zujava, too?  It will give you exposure and you can earn money from your writing!

Writing at HubPages has Taught me a Few Things

Join HubPages (Photo credit: sharonrosen)

I've been writing at HubPages for 9 months now and I've written 100 hubs.  I've learned a thing or two in that time.

I've learned that certain articles get more views.  And there are good reasons for that.

I've learned that the way your present your articles gets them read more.

I've learned your subject and how your write about it can get more comments.

And I've learned that HubPages really can bring more traffic to your sites!  And that's a big one for me!

And of course, I've learned that the more your write, the more money you make!  Isn't that what we are all writing for?

CLICK HERE and read about the things that I've learned while writing for HubPages.

Update on the 30 Hubs in 30 Days Challenge

I not only complete it - I killed it!

In 30 days I put up 45 hubs and now have a total of 100 Hubs!

How did I do it?  I wrote like a SOB!  A lot.

I put up a variety of articles.

I tweeted, liked, Google+, and Pinned each one.  Sometimes twice

Traffic was decent, got a lot of new followers, and earnings are more than double the highest I've ever had in a month (that will come with my income report).

So, I'm glad I did it.

But now, I need to build some backlinks!

And that brings me to my next challenge....

300 backlinks in 30 days!

Yes, I'm nuts.

But I have a plan.

And you can join me if you want.  Just come and like my Facebook page.  There will be challenges throughout the week and good reading on backlinking.

Come and like the HubPages Writer's Community and take part in challenges and discussion.

New HubPages Writers - Tips for You!

Passive Income 3 (Photo credit: casperam)

If you're just getting started writing for residual income online you'll likely find that it is a bit of a challenge!  There is so much to learn.

Some people want to learn it all before they start.  They read and read and read.  And eventually, all that information becomes so intimidating that it can be hard to get going.

My biggest advice?  Just get started.  Don't waste all that time trying to learn everything before you start.  You can learn as you go.  The best thing you can do is just write something and get going.

Another thing you should do is treat your online writing seriously.  Don't just write when you are inspired.  Write with a purpose. Your purpose is up to you.  But if you treat it as a hobby that is all it will ever be and you will likely never fulfill the purpose that you have started with.

If you really want to write online and be successful at it check out these 8 tips for newbies to HubPages.  They'll apply to writing for other sites, too.

Are Your Articles Being Read?

Cover of a Read All About It novel (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One of the toughest things to learn is how to write articles/hubs that are actually being read.  So, many new writers spend their time writing articles that never get read.

One of the ways you can tell that your articles are actually being read is that they get comments.  You might have lots of traffic but without readers your articles are just a waste of time right?  And if people are actually reading your articles they will sometimes be inspired to leave a comment.

It's great to get comments on your article because it makes you feel like your time writing online is well spent. Even if the money isn't coming in yet (be patient, it will!) you can feel rewarded by the comments that people leave.

If you want people to read your articles there are several things you can do to encourage reading.  Remember that online readers tend to scan first and then decide if they want to read so making your articles scannable is very important!

You can find more tips for making your article reading here.

30 Hubs in 30 Days and the HubPages Writer Community

Image via CrunchBase

If you already write at HubPages you likely already know about the 30 Hubs in 30 Days Challenge.  I've decided to do this for May.  If you don't know about it...

Well, you could read my hub where I declare my intent and talk a little bit about what it is and how I'm going to manage it.

I'm pretty excited about doing this!

And if you do decide to join me you should come and like my HubPages Writer's Community on Facebook.  I'll be sharing my challenges and I'm always sharing helpful items whether you doing the challenge or not!

I hope I see you there!

RedGage for Backlinks and Residual Earnings and Prize Money!

So, I'd been hearing about this site called RedGage and one of my online friends said she won $25 there in a daily contest.  I wasn't sure what it was but I decided to check it out.

And was I ever glad I did when I won the Daily Contest in my first 24 hours!

Seriously - it was that fast!

The Contest

You see, the first thing you should know is that every single day they give away $25 to one of their users.  And it isn't terribly hard to win.  You get entries into the contest by doing things and then there is a random draw.

You get 2 entries for adding Knowledge Based Content (anything that provides value really) on the RedGage platform.  This is pretty simple; it is like a short blog post (or a long one if you want) that provides information on a topic.  And you still earn residual earnings on that.  But more on that to come.

You get 10 entries if you mentions RedGage on another site like your blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc.  You can get credit for up to 3 mentions per domain per day but you have to have them approved by RedGage.  I think the key is to say something valuable and not just say the same thing over and over again.

And you get 20 entries for referring a new user!  Yes, 20!  That's how I won  my first contest - I referred a friend.

Now a couple things to note about the contest:

• You can only win once a week
• If you try to manipulate the system they'll be onto you so don't bother
• All entries are verified by a real person so don't say you mentioned them on your blog if you didn't!

Backlinks

Now, on to the important stuff.  If you're like me you are out there getting backlinks for your articles.  Backlinks are critical.  They bring you traffic and you are more likely to be found in the search engines if you have backlinks to your articles.

You can create links on RedGage in a couple ways:

1. Post a link directly to your article
2. Post a "blog post" with a synopsis of your article and a link

Links are dofollow and RedGage is a PR4 site.  

Can't go wrong with that!

Residual earnings

Yes, you earn with everything you do on RedGage.  Post a link?  Every time someone views it you earn money.  Post a blog?  You earn every time someone reads it.  Post a picture? A video? A document?  Yes, they all earn with each view. 

The amount per 1000 views varies per person but I start at .60/1000 views and in a week I'm up to .85 from views.  

I'll give you a hint - the blog posts and pictures do great. Promote them on your social networks just like you would anything else.

Actually, I'm no longer adding pictures to Facebook. Why should I when they can do anything they like with them once I've added them?  Instead, I'm adding all my pictures to RedGage.  You can create Categories to make it easier for people to find your pictures.  And remember, now when your friends view your pictures YOU make money!

Payout

This is one of the few sites I've seen that does not offer payout through PayPal.  Instead, when you hit $25 (yes, that is the minimum payout) you can request payout and they send you a pre-paid VISA card. The first one has a $5 fee but after that you can request payout to your card every $25.

RedGage is awesome!  Residual earnings, backlinks, and a daily contest - that can't be beat.

CLICK HERE and join me on RedGage!

Hey, Guess What?

First of all, yes, I'm still here and I apologize for not updating here in absolutely ages.  Yes, I have been neglectful.  Bad blogger!

Second....

I FINALLY HIT PAYOUT WITH ADSENSE!

Yes, it has taken more than a year but I got there and I am so damn happy about it.  I have heard that once you hit that first payout the time in between gets shorter and shorter.

What I've Been Doing

Well, I've been doing quite a few things.  As always, I bounce around.  I think I have IADD - Internet Attention Deficit Disorder.  But that is one of the things that I love about working from home.  I can do what I want when I want for however long I want.

Some of the things I have been working on:

• Writing for clients
• Writing  my own blogs (I have 3 that I try to keep regularly updated and several more that are more sporadic)
• Writing articles
• Coming up with new ways to make money online.

First, let's talk about residual earnings.  Obviously, that has been going ok.  I see my earning creeping up a little bit each month.  One of the biggest differences has been my YouTube Channel.  I mentioned awhile ago (in November I think) that I got approved for monetization and that it was good.  Each month, I've continued to see those clicks come in and on average, they have a higher CTR than my articles or my blogs (with one exception, which I'll get into in a second) so one of my goals has been to make more videos.  Now monetization is good - but Partnership would be even better!  So I am going to make an concerted effort to make more videos and get more subscribers so that I can make Partnership by the end of the year.

The other venue that has been increasing my residual earnings is the site that I started back in August.  I don't know if I actually mentioned it or not but it is called Live Without a Job (LWAJ) and it is all about the various factors that should be considered and that are important.  I cover basic living (food, entertainment, etc.) as well as sources of income and I often feature blogs that I think have value for my readers.  I'm not as high as I would like to be with traffic yet but it is getting there and the CTR on that site is pretty decent.  And the amount earned from clicks are pretty good, too.  So that is definitely a site that is on my radar.

Between those two earners I've decided that I need to really put some effort into 1) making blog posts on LWAJ and 2) turning those blog posts into videos.  This is especially good when I do a Featured Blog because then the person that I've featured often links back to me or embeds  my video, which brings my ads on YouTube into a new place.  Love that.

I continue to do my article marketing on InfoBarrel and the earnings there have definitely increased.  Not posting as much on Bukisa or Hubpages because I don't really think those are worth my time.  I am using  Best-Reviewer for backlinks because they are fast and pretty easy and they also have an adsense program.

I have added one more venue to my residual earnings plan and that  is Examiner.  Your earnings there are based on views, not clicks, so you can do pretty good if you know how to promote yourself.  I haven't been there quite a month yet and I've only posted 6 articles and I've almost made $2.  So I think it is worth doing.  The hardest part for me is that I have a local channel for a city that I don't actually live in.  Thank goodness for the Internet.

I'm actually thinking of signing up for another sight that offers pay per click.  I'll let  you know how that goes.

Oh, and on the home front....I'm a grandma!  Well, Naenae.  Same thing.  My baby had a baby - much earlier than I would have liked but it is what it is and I have a beautiful little granddaughter that makes me smile every day.

So...what have you all been up to?