Writing articles and publishing them on eHow is one of the best opportunities I have found to create a legitimate work from home opportunity. Even if you spend just 3 or 4 hours every week adding articles to your eHow library, you should be able to build a couple hundred dollar passive income stream in less than 1 year! Provided you spend some time researching your topics, paying attention to keywords, and publishing high quality authentic content, you should have no problems generating income using this tool.
While eHow can be a great way to build a long lasting passive income stream, there are some reasons why you may want to consider NOT publishing content using this tool. Don’t get me wrong, eHow is a legitimate opportunity that I plan on using for many years to come as a way to diversify my income. There are however some really valid reasons to not use it that you should at least think about before you get started.
Reasons NOT to Use eHow
Here are a few reasons you should consider on why you may want to think twice about spending the time to build passive income using eHow.
- Purged Articles – Just this past week, eHow went through and cleaned up their article library. As a result, several eHow authors had articles deleted from the system. I myself lost only 2 articles, but there are other writers who have reported losing well over 50! Ultimately, this makes eHow a more reputable site but comes at the cost of having your articles purged at any time that is out of your control.
- eHow Goes Under – While their are no current signs that would suggest eHow going under or shutting down, the risk is still there. Who knows, 5 or 10 years from now things could be a lot different. Just remember that by using a site like eHow, you have given up some control compared to launching your own site(s).
- Stolen Articles – There is a strong possibility that fellow writers will steal your content or the research you have already completed. Sure, this could happen anywhere on the internet today, but eHow articles just seem easier to duplicate compared to others. The reality is that there are some lazy people out there looking to take the easy way out. The reports of stolen eHow articles and research should be of concern to eHow writers.
- Burnout – Publishing a mass number of articles for a few consecutive months could leave you burned out. I personally believe that burnout from writing is more common when you use a structured site like eHow or HubPages. When it is your own site and content, I feel that you are more motivated and interested to keep producing quality content.
- Terms Change – The terms and guidelines set out by eHow today are really not that bad compared with other similar sites. But who knows, they could change their guidelines next week and it could have a negative impact on your passive income stream. For example, if tomorrow they decided to remove the ability to add affiliate links to your articles – what impact will that have on your bottom line?
- eHow Format – I personally enjoy writing eHow articles using the step format of a “How To” article. However, there are times when I find myself struggling to force some of my content into this structure. Anything that does not provide steps or a guide to help the reader figure something out is not a good fit for eHow. Be sure to keep this in mind when you are planning out your strategy.
- Payment Structure – One of the great mysteries of eHow is their payment structure. Nobody really knows how they split the ad revenue that is generated. You could wake up next week and see your earnings completely fall off and not really know why. At least with maintaining your own sites you can do some analysis on why this happened and take corrective measures.
Final Thoughts
I must admit that I am addicted to using eHow! I think it is one of the best opportunities to establish a passive income stream with basically no money out of your pocket. All you really need is a computer, internet access, and a creative mind to earn a very nice income. I also believe that building and controlling your own sites should be the ultimate goal of anyone looking to make money online. As long as you stay diversified and remain conscious of the risk factors, eHow can be part of an overall strategy to become financially independent!
What other risk factors do you see using sites like eHow or Hubpages?
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
I totally agree with burnout. I write all the time, but somehow my Hubpages are just making me mad. Fortunately I’m almost at my goal. Also, the article purge point is a real reminder to back up our work so that we can at least make alternative use of it should something happen.
I would add one more point to this list – eHow don’t pay writers outside of the US
Very good post though – it’s definitely important to remember that there are pros and cons to every method, which is why we should try to diversify our efforts wherever possible.
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passivefamilyincome Reply:
August 30th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
@Web Career Girl – Great point on eHow and writer’s outside the US. I will add it to the list!
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I have been writing all of my articles in word and saving them before I upload them to Hubpages or Infobarrel. I haven’t tried eHow yet. Some people say infobarrel is better.
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passivefamilyincome Reply:
August 30th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
@MiB – I will be checking out InfoBarrel soon. Next month my focus switches to HubPages and then probably InfoBarrel and Squidoo after that!
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I’ve been considering this, as I don’t want to deal with accounting or complicated taxes, etc. How easy is it to get paid from ehow and how does the income get reported for tax purposes?
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passivefamilyincome Reply:
August 30th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
@Early – eHow pays you each month a few days into the following month. Last month it took them almost two weeks to send out the payments, but normally it is in the first week. It just gets sent to your paypal account.
Yes, the income does get reported and you get the proper tax documents from the company. I think I got mine in January or February last year, which made it very easy to report!
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I’ve heard that #1 is a real problem for some eHow’ers. I’ve never lost an article but that is the benefit of only having a few articles written (or, at least that is what I tell myself). It seems, however, that the articles that are being purged are either poorly written (probably not the case with your articles) or way too similar to other articles that you have written. Do you find that to be the case with the two articles you lost? Also, lovin’ the new web template. Very crisp and visually appealling.
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passivefamilyincome Reply:
August 30th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
@Mace – I lost 2 articles this time. I think I have lost a total of 6 since I started. Ultimately, purging questionable articles makes eHow a lot better. But one of my articles that got purged this time as signaled as SPAM, which really surprised me.
Thanks for liking the new template! It is still Thesis but with a fresh look on top of it.
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Well, I tried to join but they are only accepting people from the U.S. right now.
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passivefamilyincome Reply:
August 30th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
@MiB – Yep. I can’t tell you how many people outside the US have been frustrated to learn that eHow only accepts US writers.
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I’ve just started writing on Infobarrel in addition to eHow for a few reasons:
-Some articles fit better in other formats than How-To as you had mentioned
-Diversify passive income streams
I only have around 8 articles on Infobarrel so far, but its generated a few bucks so far so I’m going to continue pursuing it.
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passivefamilyincome Reply:
September 6th, 2009 at 11:43 pm
@Captain – InfoBarrel will probably be next on my list after I finish this months challenge writing for HubPages.
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Hi,
Great post btw. Here’s something I posted on someone else’s blog about the recent sweep…
“Everyone’s frustration of the recent article sweep is duly noted. This made us realize that although we’ve made attempts to improve on the communication, we need make some upgrades to our current review process and in the comings months we will do just that. However, we feel that we can make some immediate progress to help members understand what an “eHow article” should be. We will shortly have a detailed submissions guideline available to the community in a .PDF file for download. Thanks!”
We’re going strong as ever and we’re seeing growth with the site, so we hope everyone sticks around because it will get better. We do appreciate the feedback though! Thanks again.
-Rich, eHow Community Manager
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passivefamilyincome Reply:
September 6th, 2009 at 11:44 pm
@Rich – Thanks for stopping by the site. I understand writers frustration with the purging of articles, but overall I think it makes eHow a much better site with a good reputation. That makes me want to keep using this great tool to build passive income, even though I lost a few articles myself.
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after reading richs comment,So the eHow purge was of articles that were deemed lower quality or in the wrong format?
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passivefamilyincome Reply:
September 7th, 2009 at 12:10 am
@Writing for money – It was my understanding that there were several factors taken into account when identifying which posts to purge. I believe as a general rule of thumb, articles that appear to be spammy or are written not conforming to the “How To” format were potentially purged.
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“eHow Goes Under – While their are no current signs that would suggest eHow going under or shutting down, the risk is still there. Who knows, 5 or 10 years from now things could be a lot different. Just remember that by using a site like eHow, you have given up some control compared to launching your own site(s).”
I am a HUGE proponent of diversifying online revenue streams….there are some very major things, however, that eHow needs to correct ASAP if it wants to remain a formidable leader in the article submission/revenue sharing game…..the truth is, there are a few up and coming websites that, are spearhead by determined young entrepreneur, who’s service offerings, and overall business models, will offer eHow a run for their money….
Keep an eye out for Info Barrel.
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