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.

1. 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.
2. 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).
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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?
6. 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.
7. 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?

Related posts:

1. The Number One Problem with eHow
2. eHow 100 Article Challenge – Week 2
3. Create Passive Income by Writing for eHow

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