December Payments and Notification Issues

I'm happy to say that I once again qualified for a Paypal payment from ehow.  My combined earnings from October and November totaled $12.80 and my payment was received on 12/10/09.  Maybe "happy" isn't the most accurate adjective to describe my feelings, since the amount doesn't actually inspire me to do cartwheels. But in comparison to the 3 months it took me to qualify for the last payment, then I guess you could say I'm pleasantly surprised and content at the moment.

I've heard some rumblings from other writers that they are still waiting for payment. I have noticed that my payments have been arriving later and later in the month. My first one was received on the 5th, second one on the 6th, third one on the 8th and now this one on the 10th of the month. Should I be worried about this?  I'm wondering what their system is for sending out payments. Do they pay the smaller amounts first, then the larger amounts, or do more established writers get faster payments than newbies? Maybe there is no system. If you'd like to share your payment results and receipt dates please do so.

Has anyone else stopped receiving comment notifications or the ehow of the day?  I checked my notification settings to be sure that nothing had changed and verified that every box was checked to receive every notification possible. But I've definitely not received any comment notifications or ehow's of the day since the end of September.  I do, however, still receive friend requests and subscription updates.

One other strange thing that happened was that I received an expiration notice on an article that I had published and had already started earning money from.  Apparently, this article was also still listed under my unfinished drafts and the date of expiration was fast approaching.  I responded to the email and told them that the article should no longer appear as a draft since it was alive and earning money.  I never got a response but I see now that the draft is gone.  I was worried that ehow would delete the live article by mistake but this issue seems to be resolved now.  Anyone else have this situation?

I've added only one new article, "How to Find Out When Someone Unfollows You on Twitter", since my last blog post which brings me back up to 24 articles.  The most I've ever had running live at one time was 26 before the last sweep.  I hope to bring up my total in the future. This may be a good time for an ehow inspired New Year's Resolution.

Well, until next time....On a personal note, I'm looking forward to having the kids home on winter break and relaxing stress free without homework deadlines and extra curricular commitments!  WOOHOO!
Know of any good ehow articles on how to do this?  I think we may have forgotten "how to."    : )

Wishing you all a relaxing, happy and healthy Holiday Season and prosperous New Year!!

Note: If you'd like to be added to my friend list in the left sidebar, just leave a comment and follow or subscribe to this blog. Then send a note on ehow to bestmommy asking me to add your ehow profile link to the list. Hope to hear from you! There's always room for one more!

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow---How Many Articles Did You Lose This Time?

After posting several new articles without any major glitches I was starting to feel positive again about the prospect of making money with ehow. My outlook had improved and I actually felt productive on the site again.  Things were running quite smoothly when I posted my newest articles

How to Claim a Title for Your Next eHow Article
How to Finance Medical and Dental Procedure Interest Free
How to Make Easy Rotisserie Chicken Soup
How to Peel a Tomato Easily


and I was inspired to make notes of new ideas for articles and get the titles claimed in my article library to complete in the future.

Then a few days later I come to find my inventory of 26 articles had diminished to 23. I've yet to receive an email telling me which ones were axed and why, (just as I have never received prior notice from the October sweep) but thanks to another clever ehow writer I was able to locate the information on my deleted articles through a URL. This is what I found regarding my deleted articles.

- Title: How to Find or Make Inexpensive Halloween Costumes for Your Kids, Reason: Common Sense


- Title: How to Subscribe to Specific Categories on Ehow, Reason: Common Sense


- Title: How to Use Vinefire to Promote Your eHow Articles, Reason: SPAM

Here's my take on it.....
The first article on Halloween costumes received over 400 views and earned $1.67.  Deleted for Common Sense--There are other similar "how tos" still alive and well on the site so I am perplexed by this one. I can understand if they felt the info was outdated, since Halloween has passed but as far as common sense goes, that's a very gray area.  What is common sense to some may be enlightenment to others so this reason is very hard to justify, in my opinion.  I do enjoy reading about how others come up with creative ideas on how to make things fun for their kids and save money as well, so I did feel this article provided helpful ideas and useful information. Anyway, what's done is done and this article has been edited slightly and now has a new home on infobarrel. 

If you're interested in trying infobarrel as another source of online income and a place to post your ehow rejects you can sign-up here. They share adsense revenue as well as Chitika ad revenue with their writers.  

The second one on subscribing to categories was also deleted for Common Sense. Well, I guess I have no common sense, because it took me months before I realized you could subscribe by category and not just by choosing individual writers.  LOL!! I wrote the article because I wish I had known how to do this a long time ago and thought there might be others who, like me, did not know that this was a feature of the site. I'm curious to know how many ehowers do know how to subscribe to categories.......Maybe I'm just slow.....

The last one on vinefire was deleted as Spam. So what classifies an article as spam? My definition of spam would be linking to sites that do not relate to the subject matter of the article, just to drive traffic. Ehow's definition is apparently something else I have not figured out yet. The link in the resources was a link to the vinefire website, which is what the entire article was about.  In order to use vinefire to promote your ehow articles you must first sign-up at the vinefire website. It was not a link to amazon, ebay, or any other affiliate site not related to the content of the article.  So, if we write an article about how to do what the article is explaining which includes using another website to accomplish the "how to" are we not allowed to put the link in resources?  All of the guides and blogs I've read on how to use ehow to make money say that you can and should be using the resources link for promoting other money makers as long as the links pertain to the subject matter of the article.

From the complaints on the forums I can see I'm not the only one still trying to figure out what ehow really wants from us so I would like to recommend toogie2's blogposts on Surviving the Sweeps at ehow.  Spend some time on this blog. I was very impressed with the information provided here. I felt like I had found the "hidden secrets" to ehow success. There's some very valuable points made here that should help you understand how and why your aticles were cut for the reasons stated. You may not agree with ehow's reasons and logic, but consider applying this info to future articles and you may find it reduces your losses in the long run. Thanks toogie2, for your insight into the article sweep process and what ehow expects from its writers.

Care to share your losses, vent your frustrations, ask questions, offer advice, etc? Looking forward to your comments and insight.

An Ehow Friend Needs Your Help!

I'm posting this request in order to help one of my ehow friends prepare for a job interview.  I wanted to help her get the word out about an incredible opportunity that has presented itself.  Please help Janice get to 1000 subscribers! See below for explanation.

Here's YOUR challenge: I have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity knocking at my door and REALLY need your help and support! I may have the opportunity to land a spot in t.v. land with a local network to my area WOTV Channel 4. I want to see how many of my eHow friends can SUBSCRIBE to my channel on eHow. Remember, I'm loaded with information about consignment, personal styles in clothing, putting outfits together, and general clothing knowledge that eHow has given me the chance to share with you. PLEASE SUPPORT ME IN SUBSCRIBING TO ME! My goal is to have over 1000 subscribers in 2 days, just in time for the interview process. I'm already getting a FREEBIE 2 minute spot in radio tomorrow morning to plead my case on why I should be picked for the job. I WOULD LOVE YOUR SUPPORT! Click on the link below to go to my profile page, read about me, maybe rate an article, but most importantly, if you haven't SUBSCRIBE to me Consignmentchic!!!!


http://www.ehow.com/members/consignmentchic.html?view=3rd


I truly appreciate all your support! THANKS in advance for your help!


Sincerely,

Janice Penny a.k.a. CONSIGNMENTCHIC

Let's all help Janice reach her goal. Feel free to tweet this post, forward to your other ehow friends, post the link on your own blogs, social networks, etc.  Thank you everyone!

eHow's "I Did This" Feature: Have You Used It?

While studying my ehow account and trying to come up with more article ideas I came across an "I Did This" post I made back in May 2009.  I completely forgot about this feature of the site and noticed that now they want you to post at least 5 photos (mine only has 1--which at the time was sufficient, I guess) and explain in at least 300 words how you've done something that has already been explained in a previously posted eHow article. Are we compensated in any way for posting these? I noticed a group of "related ads" on my page but I've never seen any earnings reports or page views for my lone "I Did This," so my guess is no. I'm not sure if I would spend the time again, now that the pic and wordcount requirements have increased. What are your thoughts on this feature? Have you used it before and do you think it's worth investing the time? Or is this the first time you're hearing about it?

eHow Back From the Dead?

I hate to speak too soon but the technical issues at ehow seem to be resolved. I was able to publish 2 drafts, one last night and one this morning.

How to Get Your Big Fat Ebates Payment | eHow.com
How to Earn Amazon Rewards and Gift Codes | eHow.com

You will notice some changes on the site. In the article library there is a new column "Expiration Date" where they give you 30 days to publish the title you've selected. New articles now need to be reviewed and approved before they will publish them. They send you an email when this is done. Both of my articles were approved and published within 10-14 minutes. I certainly don't mind waiting a few minutes for approval if in fact this new procedure will eliminate or at least minimize the article sweeps we all dread. I can't imagine that a living breathing person is reading and approving/rejecting them. Has anyone else published recently? Let's hear about your experience with the latest changes. I'm curious to know what happens if an article is rejected...do they just delete it or explain why and give you a chance to correct the problem?

Strange Happenings at eHow--Forums Erupting with Complaints and Frustrations Over Editing/Publishing Issues

I've been trying to post a new article since yesterday and have yet to be successful. It's a draft I had saved a few weeks ago and wanted to put the finishing touches on it and now my edits and additional info won't stick. I checked the forums and found that many people are complaining about this issue. I've also seen forum posts about deleted articles appearing live again on the site. There's a post about the glitches being related to the Top Requested Articles but none of my drafts are Top Requested Articles. Maybe I'm missing the point here, so if anyone can explain this better please comment here and/or post on the forums. Have any of you been able to publish or edit recently? And have you found any other solutions on your own or on the message boards other than the Top Requested Article explanation?

The eHow Broom Strikes Again: The Latest Article Sweep

I know it's October and Halloween is fast approaching but I was not expecting to be visited by the Wicked Witch of eHow so soon.  These so-called "article sweeps" conjure up visions of a menacing green-faced, black cloaked evil sorceress swinging her broom at our pages while she diabolically throws her head back and cackles at our misfortune.

"Spelling errors?  Be gone! Too spammy! To the dungeon with you!" She screeches wildly as she sweeps our dreams into online purgatory.

Okay, enough drama, but seriously it's frustrating and confusing and for those of us who don't have hundreds of articles posted, a few casualties here and there can mean whether or not we make the $10 minimum payout each month.  I know the answer to this is to keep adding to our article inventory so if a few get the axe it won't be so damaging. However, in the meantime, I would really love to know what in particular is causing each article to be deemed unworthy of remaining on the site. I'm willing to listen and learn from my mistakes if given the chance. I've had 2 articles deleted this time and have yet to get an email explaining why. How about you?  How many have you lost and have you been told what your violation was?

I've updated my article list above to reflect the loss of 2 articles and shifted a few that have gained in value.  The top three best performing articles remained the same and a few others have moved up the ladder.  I now have 5 at the bottom of the list that have not made any money yet.

On a positive note, my list of eHow friends in the left sidebar has grown to 27! This includes people who've either posted a comment, subscribed via email or clicked the follow button. Whenever I gain a new eHow friend I invite them to this blog and link to their profile page. If you're new to eHow and want to have your profile linked here just comment, subscribe or follow and add me as a friend on eHow.

The Awesome, Helpful, Knowledgable eHow Community

After I published the first post on this blog last Wednesday I sent messages to my 300 or so eHow friends announcing the birth of yet another eHow blog, this blog. I've come across many blogs about eHow and I appreciate the perspectives of different writers and try to absorb some valuable tid-bits of knowledge from each and every one I read.  Since there are quite a few eHow blogs already, I really didn't expect the enthusiasm I received from my announcement and request for support on this blog. Within a few minutes of hitting the send button I had my first response from Edieness, then as the day went on I received 10 more comments and follows from other eHow friends.  On Thursday and Friday, several more arrived.  Anthony Zerrer was kind enough to link my blog to his eHow Field Guide which, by the way, is a must read for anyone wanting to understand the inner workings of eHow and how to make the most out of the site.

As I acquire new eHow friends I'll be introducing them to this blog and asking them to be a part of it too. By offering them a link to their profile in exchange for comments and follows I'm optimistic that the positive responses will continue. Had I not offered anything in return when I made my request for comments on this blog.....I bet I would have gotten a good amount of sincere and enthusiastic responses anyway by those eager to help out a fellow ehow pal. Most people I've met on eHow are very supportive of each other and are happy to answer newbies questions or reciprocate with comments and recommendations. The success of both the site and the individual writers, hinge on the team effort we all put forth in promoting our articles and strengthening the community. Thanks to everyone who so kindly responded to my request and contributed to the kick-off of this blog! Looking forward to meeting here again and of course at eHow.com.   

First Post- Casting Your Lines in All Directions

I've been submitting articles to ehow since March 2009 and wanted to create a page to document those articles and their earnings and also ponder and discuss the entire ehow experience with others.  Currently, as of today 9/23/09 I have 20 live articles on the site and a few brainstormed titles that I need to finish and publish.

The articles I've listed above are in order of top money maker to zero money makers.  The first article was published on eHow on 5/12/09 and has earned $5.92 with 585 page views.  The bottom 7 articles, which have yet to earn any money, consist of 3 being less than 10 days old and the other 4 being published during 3/30/09 thru 08/11/09 with much fewer page views than my top earners and obviously less popular topics. 

Although, those unlucky 7 articles remain penniless, any one of them may have been responsible for attracting some views and ad clicks on my other more lucrative articles so I do not feel that writing any of them was a waste of time. Here's why.....If a web surfer finds the eHow site while searching for "How to Find or Make Inexpensive Halloween Costumes for Your Kids" they may also be intrigued by my other articles and stay awhile to read more and click some ads.  So, that one article may have been the bait and another one could become the line that actually hooks the fish.

I know I can increase my earnings by posting more articles on a regular basis. I envy those writers who set goals for themselves, like 100 articles a month or 5 new articles a week and actually meet those goals. I'm sorry to say I'm not one of them.....yet! For now, I'm happy to just continue writing when I'm inspired to do so. What about you? Do you set article writing goals? Do you have so many eHow articles that you can just sit back and relax and collect your Paypal payment every month without a care?