Cinco de Mayo

I got paid today! Woo Hoo! I am not yet in the megabux club, but eHow is now paying me via paypal regularly. And, since I am new at this sort of thing it can only get better as I learn more and do more. This also motivates me to dedicate more time to the cause as it were. Working two jobs means my free time is very limited. By getting a regular monthly payout I am more willing to donate those extra minutes.

I am becoming more familiar with Info Barrel and Xomba. I love IB's interface for composition. With a bit of HTML you can make the page awesome. The only issue I have is that I will spend too much time tweaking the look instead of actually writing. A bit more self discipline is needed.

I don't like Xomba's input boxes at all. But, I can deal with them. They are unique in that they also accept BBCode which folks rarely see outside of internet forums. BTW, I am looking to participate in writing forums away from eHow. Anyone got any suggestions?

I had to make a shift. I was looking at IB and XO through eHow glasses. These sites are separate and distinct enough that if you do as I did, you will likely lose views on your articles. So, rookie lesson number eighty-six...... go to each site and look at what is allowed and not, read the TOU/TOS. Browse and comment (another thing I am not great on yet) and make yourself known. Figure out the demographic of the average writer, member, visitor, etc. Then look at what you might be able to do at one site that another doesn't allow. This will expand your range of articles tremendously as well.

I've been told that eventually people who write articles for a living, due to the internet influence, will actually have a career path known as Information Marketing. For now, it's like the wild west. There is money to be made, creative needs to satisfy, and little to no regulation. So, if you are not at eHow, Info Barrel and Xomba then you need to be.

The best advice for Tuesday is to read and learn everything. Then write about it and make sure that content is always king. You'll sleep better at night.

C'ya Thursday with a post on increasing your productivity when you are time crunched.

-Phil