Why you May NOT Want to Use eHow

John S. — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 11:35:49 +0000

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?

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Tips for Making Money Online for Free Using Twitter

John S. — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 11:20:22 +0000

Are you just starting out on your passive income journey and are looking for legitimate ideas for making money online for free? Maybe your working to pay off debt and want to accelerate the process? Either way, it is imperative that you take advantage of any FREE tools that you can get your hands on.

There are plenty of free passive income opportunities that can be used to start generating income. Most of these opportunities are found online by leveraging tools that can be used at no cost to you. For example, you can head over to eHow and create a free account and begin publishing “How To” articles within a matter of minutes. The service is no cost to you and you have the potential to earn passive income based on the articles you publish.

Using Twitter as a Passive Income Tool

Most people by now have probably at least heard of the Twitter phenomenon. Individuals, businesses, and celebraties are just a few of the groups of people taking advantage of Twitter for various reasons.

So how can we use Twitter to create passive income? One option that I recently came across is called the Tweeder Method. The basic concepts around the Tweeder Method are to leverage the free Twitter platform, along with several of the other web applications that use this social networking tool.

One of the keys to creating passive income using the Tweeder Method is automation. That is where other API tools and applications come in. SocialOomph for example offers a free service that will let you schedule future Tweets minutes, hours, days, weeks, or months in advanace. The important point is that once the Tweet has been scheduled, it is automated.

The concepts that the Tweeder Method are built off of resemble niche blogging or bum marketing. The only difference is that you are leveraging a social networking tool instead of a blog or website. You pick a niche topic, find and link up with other users, and market a product or service that is specific to your niche.

There are obviously more details to the Tweeder Method then I mentioned, but the ideas are nothing new. The only differences is the platform and tools that are being used.

Other Twitter Strategies

The Tweeder Method is just one of many strategies being used today to take advantage of the power and popularity of Twitter. Pat from Smart Passive Income has been using Twitter to build traffic to his site along with other strategies to generate income from what this FREE tool has to offer. The point here is that there is no right way to leverage Twitter.

Ignoring the power of Twitter and how it can be leveraged to your advantage may be costing you money. There is no simple recipe to immediately generate income from Twitter, just as there isn’t one for building a blog or website. See what other’s are doing to leverage Twitter (like Pat is) for building income. If you think creatively, I am sure there is some strategy or plan out there that can take advantage of what Twitter has to offer.

Own Your Content

As much as I love to leverage free online tools, it is still important to own your content. Using sites like eHow or Twitter should only be tools to help you build passive income streams. At the end of the day, it is critical to build and own your content and not rely on other companies and websites for all of your income.

Do you take advantage of Twitter to build passive income? What other FREE social networking tools do you use to generate income?

Disclaimer Notice – Please understand that I benefit financially from any products or services you may decide to purchase as a result of clicking on one of the links contained in this article.