May 14, 2009 Mommy Discovers eHow

Another great online writing site is eHow. The whole site is based on being the online database of how to do everything. If you know how to do something, you can write an article on it. When you look through the site, you'll notice that all the articles are in step-by-step format. When you write an article on eHow, you just type it into a numbered template. You can add pictures, tips, supply lists and pretty much anything else you could possibly need to help people follow your instructions. Payment on eHow is based entirely on residual income. There are no upfront payments, but there is also no requirement to remain active on the site. You will be paid whenever you reach $10 or at the end of the year (whichever comes first). If you make less than $10 by the time they clear their books at the end of the year, they do subtract $1 from your earnings, but they emphasize you will never owe them money.

A good way to get started is to look through their suggested titles. Every title is supposed to be unique and in "how to" form. I'll admit it can be a little difficult to come up with an original title when the same topic is already written on. At least you know the suggested titles haven't been used. The suggested titles also have a tendency to earn more because somebody is interested in the information and eHow knows it. Concrete example: I've only had time to write two articles, both of which I wrote mid-March. The first one was my own doing and I've now made $0.22. The second article was a suggested title which I just threw together when I saw it because it seemed easy enough and I've made $1.22. I know neither of these amounts is impressive, but remember that these articles will sit on the site earning money as long as the company continues to exist, so their eventual earning is unknown. What is important to notice, though, is that I've earned a whole dollar more on the suggested title, despite the dozen or so articles on the same topic. eHow suggests titles based on what they think people want to know and will be looking for in order to keep the site relavent to users.

Overall, eHow is another good writing site for moms who don't have a lot of time. Any writing site that pays decent residual income is probably worth it in general, but since eHow is based on what you know instead of research, it is very easy to just sit down and start writing. While you may not earn a lot, just knowing that someday you'll get a small surprise payment when you weren't even thinking about it makes it worth the initial effort, especially if you enjoy writing.

~Beth~
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