Are you spending your time wisely when you are building your passive income? I thought it would be interesting to run a test from my eHow income stream and see if I could apply the 80/20 Rule. I currently have written over 250+ articles and am getting ready to surpass the $2,000 total earnings mark in less than two years. I wanted to show my fellow eHow writers that not all content is created equal and not to get discouraged.
Just to give some perspective, only about 50 of my articles really earn anything. The majority of the other content earns a few cents here and there with the bulk of my passive income coming from a select few. Let’s take a closer look at the numbers and see if the 80/20 rule applies.
eHow Content
I have been writing for eHow for well over a year now and have had a lot of success building this passive income stream. To date, I have published 256 articles (actually 269 but I had 13 deleted) and earned $1,993.52 for my time spent. If I were to leave today and not publish anything else, I am confident that I could pull in another $1K with no problem in the next 12 months.
Since I am testing out the 80/20 rule, I need to identify my highest 20% earning articles and calculate their total income. Here are my results -
- Top 20% Articles – 51 (rounded for simplicity)
- Earnings – $1,354.58
My top 51 articles have brought in $1,354.58 in passive income which is incredible. Just think if I had not written any of that content? I may have thrown in the towel a long time ago. On the other hand, what if I had written 50 more the same way? I would definitely be closer to my goal of earning $500 per month from eHow.
Do my earnings follow the 80/20 rule? Based on my calculations, my top 20% earning articles have brought in 67% of my total income. While I am a bit off (should have been 80% of the income), I still think it proves a big point. The bulk of my earnings come from a small percentage of my published content.
February Results – 80/20 Rule
The calculation above was an overall snapshot of my total earnings and articles over the past 18 months. Let’s take a closer look at last months passive income and see if the 80/20 rule applies there. At the end of February, I had 249 published articles and collected $184.88 in eHow earnings.
Here is the breakdown for February -
- Top 20% Earning Articles – 50 (rounded for simplicity)
- Earnings – $161.69
Calculating the total percentage, my top 20% earning articles actually brought in 87% of my total income! Now we are talking. While the numbers did not work out overall, looking closer at my February earnings revealed the 80/20 rule (even greater actually) was intact.
What does this all mean?
While I am currently on a earnings diet, I still think it is a good idea to review your results from time to time looking for trends. By analyzing where the bulk of my earnings are coming from, I can focus in on maximizing my time and increasing my passive income. Let’s face it, my article about How to Read Wine Labels was fun to write, but it definitely is not going to let me retire early.
By focusing on where the majority of my earnings are coming from, I can eliminate a lot of the clutter and focus on what works. This is a real life example of how the 80/20 rule can be applied to your earnings. I have actually been using this rule for quite some time on writing my eHow articles but thought it was time to share it.
Miscellaneous Numbers
Here are some additional numbers that I found interested after looking at all of my eHow articles I have published.
- 17 have not earned a cent (some well over 1 year old).
- An additional 46 have earned less than $1.
- 2 have earned over $100 each.
Final Thoughts
Do I use the 80/20 rule only on eHow? No. In fact, I could argue that I should focus more of my time on affiliate marketing in place of writing content on eHow. The earnings potential from affiliate income is much, much greater than the income created from eHow. But that doesn’t allow me to properly diversify my income streams.
Calculating these numbers can give us a good understanding of where your time can be best well spent. Keep in mind however that these are just numbers and don’t portray the overall picture. If you are able to analyze and use your results to manage your time better, then your passive income will grow much faster.
Do you use the 80/20 rule to dictate where you are spending your time?
Related posts:
- Create Passive Income by Writing for eHow
- How to Make Over $400 per Hour in Passive Income
- eHow – A Passive Income Stream
- How to Calculate the True Potential of Passive Income Online Earnings
- What is Holding Back My Passive Income Earnings?
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{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
John,
I know exactly what you’re saying. It seems that a good chunk of my articles haven’t earned a cent while certain ones seem to be doing ok. I’m really new at this and so are the articles, so I can’t conclude much yet.
You can be sure though that the next set of topics I choose for me eHow articles, about 1/4th will be topics related to what I know is already doing well.
It’s important to cast your net wide, esp. in the beginning, so you can get a feel for what topics will do well.
@Moon – I have found about two different topics that do very well for me and another one that does average. Everything else seems to be difficult to earn anything from.
In my case, the money-makers are the articles that appeal to shoppers. They are articles that deal with products that people are thinking about buying, but the consumer wants more information. These kinds of consumers are likely to read the article and get the information they need. Then, they’re ready to buy, and the ads are right there for them to click.
This is a nice system because everybody’s happy. The consumer gets some free info, the advertiser gets a click and maybe a customer, I get some earnings, and eHow makes money.
@Russell – I am curious how you write a “How To” article based on a product? Topics like this I find difficult to get it into a step format.
Is it reasonable to assume that you’ll focus on writing more articles about topics that are bringing in money, while discontinuing the less profitable ones? Or will additional/complimentary articles dilute the income from your existing moneymakers?
@Ethan – Yes, I have not focused on non-profitable topics/keywords for some time. Every once in a while I will pick a new topic to see how well it does.
Any recommendations on how to find profitable topics, or is it more or less trial and error?
@Ethan – No real magic to be honest. Use the Google Keyword Tool to find profitable keywords, just as you would with any niche website. The one difference with eHow, is that you can pick some more competitive keywords than with a niche website as eHow articles tend to rank fairly high and quickly.
I know you mentioned an info product about making money on eHow in an earlier post, but can’t seem to find it. What do you recommend?
@Ethan – Yes, it is the How to Earn Passive Income on eHow.com: Maximize Your Online Earnings. That eBook changed how I write my posts to earn more income.
I just started with ehow this week, but I really like your thinking. I will have to keep a watch over my pageviews and earnings once my articles have matured in order to try to maximize my earning potential. Thanks for the insight!
@Clark – I think that this philosophy can be used in many different ways, not just with eHow. Good luck to you.
The 80/20 rule is a great point to make about article writing. I had never thought about applying it here, but it certainly holds true on my vending site, almost to the dot. It’s funny how many things 80/20 applies to.
Thanks for the application here.
Mark
@Mark – I never really thought of this rule until I read The 4-Hour Work Week. Now, I can see the benefits of using this rule in many personal and professional activities that I participate in.
I just calculated mine for a one month time period where I had 141 Squidoo lenses written and earned $1034.78 for the month. 20% would be only 28 lenses, so I looked at my top 28 earning lenses and added up the earnings from those 28 pages and they were actually 97% of my income. WOW. However, my top earners are not precisely my top ranked or the ones with the most traffic. So I’ll have to investigate further on why these pages turn visitors into buyers.