My Writing for Money Journey July 2010

About the beginning of July 2010 I made the decision to begin writing articles for ad sharing websites to promote my blogs and to develop new income streams. This is an account of my personal journey toward my goal of becoming a self-employed freelance writer and making my living from the internet.

My Strategy to Build Multiple Income Streams
My strategy to build multiple income streams meant that I needed to concentrate on signing up for some content sharing sites.

1. I choose Xomba to start with because it sounds like a good way to build backlinks. To experiment I started backlinking to a lot of my older articles on my Easy To Scrapbook blog as I have given very little attention to promoting any of them or indeed that blog. Find out more about backlinking and potential earnings on Xomba
   
   
2. My second strategy was to start writing for HubPages. HubPages shares ad revenue from Google Adsense and affiliate sales from Amazon and eBay earnings with writers. I chose HubPages because of the level of community support there and the ability to earn revenue by recommending articles by other writers.
   
   
3. The third site I concentrated on was RedGage. RedGage allows you to post links and articles that direct readers to websites and blogs. It is a good vehicle for me to start generating traffic to this blog. Plus links created at RedGage are "do follow" so it helps to raise the Google PR of I Make Money Blogger and other blogs and articles I choose to promote. Read about My RedGage Make Money Challenge
   
   
4. One other content sharing website that I have also joined is Triond. Triond is good for article writers because it pays by page view. At the present time it is approximately $3.75 per 1000 page views. In addition it has a 50/50 ad sharing revenue structure which I am hoping to take advantage of.

Set out below is the tracking I have undertaken of my article submissions to various sites RedGage, Triond, HubPages and Xomba and a summary of how much revenue I am generating at each website for my efforts throughout July 2010.

July 3

Xomba
Signed up for Xomba and wrote an article about Charlie the Unicorn video Also bookmarked a scrapbooking page.
Articles = 1, Bookmarks = 1
Balance = $0.00

July 5

HubPages
Signed up by way of experiment and began crafting my first article Make Money Writing on Xomba
Articles = 1
Balance = $0.00

July 6

Xomba
Bookmarked my HubPages article about Xomba.
Articles = 1 , Bookmarks = 2
Balance = $0.00

July 8

HubPages
Article number 2 submitted at HubPages. I doubt I am going to be prolific here but will slowly drip feed my articles. Travel Writing - 8 Story Angles for Travel Writers
Articles = 2
Balance = $0.00

July 25

Triond
Signed up for Triond today and published my first article Potential for Making Money Online with Xomba
Articles = 1
Balance = $0.00

HubPages
Published my third article. Complete rewrite.Work From Home Micro Jobbing at Microworkers
Articles = 3
Balance = $0.00


July 28

I Make Money Blogger
Published Make Money Writing on Squidoo
Balance = $0.00

July 29

HubPages
Published Article Writers Make Money on Squidoo. Virtually all my article traffic is coming from within HubPages.
Articles = 4
Balance = $0.00

July 30

Triond
Published Get Paid for Writing at Squidoo
Earned my first cent after only 6 page views!
Articles = 2
Balance = $0.01

Multiple Income Streams Make Money Online Writing Articles

If you have some writing skills and some know how about a range of subjects you have two of the main ingredients necessary to make money online writing articles. Some people will tell you that you need to be a writer to be successful writing online but the truth is that there are many people who are making a decent living from the internet without ever having had a writing lesson in their lives.


There are many ways to make money online writing articles. I began nearly 18 months ago by creating a free blog at Blogger and then mushroomed into writing more blogs. Other writers begin with revenue sharing websites like HubPages that pay writers a share of the Google Adsense revenue. Still others get paid a set amount for each article. All of these methods of generating income online are worthwhile and can be combined to form multiple income streams.

I have discovered that it is not difficult to make money online writing articles. Working from home suits my lifestyle. No travel, no workplace conflict and complete autonomy. I enjoy the convenience of working my own hours and at my own pace. I have little to waste my time like endless meetings and interruptions which means I have more time and energy to devote to producing articles. Making money online writing articles ticks all of the boxes for me.

When I started I had the vague idea that I could generate some income online but I had no real idea how to do that. Through trial and error I learned the basics of making money online writing articles. Other bloggers have kindly shared their secrets of success with me. In a sense I am gifting back to others the help I have received by creating the I Make Money Blogger blog.

The activities that support my online writing are still the same as when I started blogging. I spend a lot of time doing research for my article and its associated keywords. I try to learn as much as I can about the various ways to make money on the internet as I can. The internet is such a dynamic place that it is crucial that I stay alert to new opportunities to make money online writing articles.

I make it a rule to only pursue legitimate methods of earning income on the internet so if you are looking for get rich quick schemes you won't find information about them on this site. There are plenty of honest ways to make money on the internet now and more potential emerging everyday that I can't see the point in scraping other people's content or other backdoor methods like spamming.

I won't lie to you about the effort required to make money online writing articles. Let me dispel that myth right away - writing is not an easy option. Freelance writers need self discipline. They need the ability to stay on task without any prompting. They need to be motivated to get up in the morning and produce despite whatever else is going on in their personal lives.

I write everyday even when I don't feel like it. I write even if I am not making as much money as I thought I would from the last half a dozen articles. I write and I research and I produce quality content no matter what.

I currently make money on my blogs from Adsense and Chitika revenue together with affiliate referrals such as EBay and Amazon. This revenue is growing all the time and has happened largely without me actively promoting my blogs.


Now that I have moved from dabbling to trying to make some serious income part-time I have had to crank up my online activities to generate multiple income streams.

My first choice in considering new ways to make money online was to join ad revenue sharing websites such as HubPages, Triond and Xomba. Each of these sites is a way to make money online writing but requires consistent posting and participation in the community as well.


More recently I have also joined RedGage, Squidoo and Wikinut. Although I have been a member of each of these sites for nearly a month now my only revenue is $0.21 from RedGage. However I am hopeful that once I get established on these sites and build a community I will start attracting the traffic necessary to make money from article writing.

Another website that I have just joined this week to make a little extra money is Microworkers. Microworkers pays you for performing easy online tasks some of which involve writing. In my first week I made $2.46 from 5 micro jobs and 1 referral. Not bad considering I spent less than 1 hour to complete the tasks.


I have made quite a few mistakes in setting up my passive income streams. Although my earnings are enough to meet the Google Adsense threshold for a monthly $100 check I have had to learn experientially about what works best. I think my main downfall is in not actively promoting my blogs however I am currently beginning to address this by using social media to gain some valuable backlinks.

Generating an income from writing articles online requires me to keep publishing and marketing my articles on an ongoing basis. Search engines reward productivity. The internet is fast becoming more and more saturated with articles of similar content and competition for keyword dominance is growing. However, in real terms this just means I need to take a creative approach, research my articles well and stay informed so that I can easily identify any gaps. There are still plenty of keywords that have not been fully exploited yet.

That little pot of gold at the end of the rainbow with your name on it is there waiting for you once you figure out how to find it.

Best of all my articles will keep earning money for years to come. The opportunities for earning residual income writing on the internet are high compared to conventional outlets for your writing. I concentrate largely on writing what are known as evergreen articles (articles that don't date quickly) about subjects that people are searching for information on. This gives me a mechanism to be able to create a continuing source of income that has the potential for growth too.

If you are considering writing articles online then don't limit yourself with one or two sources of income. I believe the secret is to diversify. Build yourself multiple income streams that way if an earner stops generating revenue you are not so vulnerable to the decline.

If you would like to sign up to some ad revenue websites where you can submit your written articles I would suggest you try Triond and HubPages first. Triond because it pays for page views and that will give you a little encouragement to see your articles earning a few pennies. And HubPages for the excellent community and as a great training ground in learning to write keyword rich article against pretty stiff competition.

How to Add a Xomba Banner to Blog or Website

If you are a member of Xomba you will understand the importance of promoting your Xomba articles to get more traffic and making money on Xomba at the same time. One way to promote your Xomba articles is to add a Xomba banner to your website or blog.

By adding a Xomba banner to your website or blog you will encourage visitors to visit Xomba and sign up using your referral code. Remember that for every new user you refer you will earn 10% of their ad revenue for as long as they are a member of Xomba.

I found the instructions about adding a Xomba banner to invite friends and visitors to join Xomba was not clear and difficult for a newcomer to implement so I decided to write my own post about it.

How to Add a Xomba banner to Your Website or Blog

1. Log in to Xomba
   
2. In a new window go to your website or blog and copy and paste the following code there. In Blogger for example you would paste this code into an HTML/Javascript gadget in the sidebar or footer:
   

   <a href="http://www.xomba.com/referral/77834XXX" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.xomba.com/files/images/Xomba%20Banner%207.jpg" alt="Join Xomba Today" /></a>

   
   
3. Go to My Profile in Xomba and copy your referral code which is shown at the top of the page. You only need the code not the whole URL. Substitute the referral code for yours by pasting over the code in red
   
4. Go to the Share Xomba with your friends page and choose a banner.
   
5. Copy the banner code by right clicking on the banner and selecting copy image URL from the menu
   
6. Go back to the website code you have pasted into your blog or website and substitute the banner code denoted in blue for the new banner code
   
7. If you want to center your banner simply add the following html tags before and after your banner code as denoted in green:
   

   <center><a href="http://www.xomba.com/referral/77834XXX" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.xomba.com/files/images/Xomba%20Banner%207.jpg" alt="Join Xomba Today" /></a></center>

You should now have a banner like the one below or similar on your website or blog which links directly to Xomba. If a visitor clicks on it and subsequently signs up to Xomba you will get the credit for the referral.



If you are not yet a member of Xomba simply click on the banner or sign up using my Xomba referral link

Make Money Writing Potential on Xomba

Today I am excited to announce that I joined Xomba an online community where people get paid to write articles. If you want to join up too you can do so by clicking my Xomba referral link and giving me a boost at the same time.

As a freelance writer working from home I make money writing for a living. I am always looking for effective ways to make money online. Xomba offers me a chance to increase my monthly earnings from writing online with minimal effort.

Xomba offers an ad sharing revenue structure that means that Google Adsense ads get dislayed 50% of the time in my favour. Xomba keeps all the earnings from Kontera but I am not too worried about that as the Adsense revenue will be enough.

One thing that I really like about Xomba is that Xomba offers the chance for my articles to get better exposure than they would on a blog that gets no traffic. Xomba has a Google Page Ranking that makes it more likely that my articles will reach the first page especially if they are keyword rich and competition for those keywords is not too high.

Benefits of Writing on Xomba

• Free to join Xomba. No hidden costs
  
• Easy sign up
  
• Total freedom to choose own topics
  
• 50/50 ads revenue sharing
  
• Genuine potential to make money on keyword rich articles
  
• Create backlinks to websites, blogs, articles, videos, images
  
• Work from home or anywhere in the world
  
• Work own hours
  
• Residual income
  
• Make friends and build a community
  
• Earn referral income

How Much Money Can I Make on Xomba?
My research on the money making potential of Xomba has shown me that there is a genuine opportunity to make money writing on Xomba. Some Xomba members earn enough to pick up a Google Adsense check every month ($100 threshold) but many don't.

Contrary to what other bloggers may be telling you though Xomba is not a get rich quick scheme. I have investigated how to earn money on Xomba and there is scope to make some nice passive income once my articles are written and posted. There is also potential to make money on Xomba by referring new members.

Xomba will not however, earn me mega bucks nor do I expect that. Most bloggers and freelance writers online understand that revenue comes from many sources. Xomba is to become one of many of my passive income streams not the only one. If you are new to writing online and blogging I suggest you follow this model too because it is a sound one.

I will be writing about the best ways to make money on Xomba in future articles so please watch out for these articles. Better still follow me as I take you through the steps of making money writing on Xomba.

Easy Sign Up to Xomba
It takes only a couple of minutes to sign up for Xomba. You are only a few steps away from increasing your monthly online earnings. If you are ready to sign up to Xomba please follow this Xomba sign up link. If you need to know more about how Xomba works try my Inside Xomba help article.

Any questions please feel free to ask. I am also keen to hear about anyone else's experience on Xomba so you are welcome to drop me a line if you have the time.

Other Relevant Links
Make Money Writing on Xomba

A Blogger's Foray into Xomba

Today I have decided to focus on Xomba to market my blogs. Xomba is a social community that offers Adsense revenue sharing, opportunities to easily build backlinks and a referral program.

I am new to Xomba as of today having just signed up. I will be writing about my experiences of joining the program and what works well and what does not. In particular I will be talking about what actions made money what did not.