Ok, so I'm a newbie here - a newbie at writing for profit too. I hope my question belongs in this section. Bear with me. Recently, I joined Suite 101, an online content magazine that primarily gives writers revenue from page views and the accompanying ads that are clicked . It seemed to make sense (ha ha.."cents")..that is until I did some research and began to realize that Google's recent panda-related changes have severely affected sites like Suite.
Now, I don't yet pretend to get this SEO stuff entirely. I don't pretend to be an expert writer with a proven track record. I am a passable writer, at best, with some personal blogging experience and a lifetime of journaling behind me. In the past, I wrote a Master's thesis and numerous academic essays but to date, I have never made more than ah, 38 cents for my writing skills. After three weeks, seven articles, and only .38c richer - it has finally dawned on me. (Just slap me on the forehead)...I may have been had!
Today I did a little experiment. Choosing a few random articles, written by other writers on Suite, I tried googling their topics. Didn't encounter any of the articles. (Indeed, in the past I've really never encountered anything at all from Suite 101 as a source. ) In fact, with pointed keywords from actual Suite 101 articles, I couldn't find a single article within 3 Google pages.
Some of the veterans from this site are claiming they make money - or at least, they "used to make money". At this rate, I'll be about $5.00 richer by the end of next twelve months!
I also tried Google's advanced search. Choosing keywords from one of my own articles within the timeframe of "the past month", I produced one of my own articles. In order to find this, you would have to know how to use "advanced search" and be putting in the right time parameters. No wonder the revenue is so low! So-called key words are useless - at least so it seems to me.
My question is this. Is "content farming" dead? Did I waste my time writing for these people? Why do you need their "editors" to make no money for articles that no one seems to be reading? I followed most of their suggestions about writing on subjects that haven't been worked to death but it sure looks to me like the webmasters make what little money there is and the writers make ah…less?… Is that how it works?
Is this a stupid question? (I have more stupid questions but I'll save 'em for later….)
Signed,
A Knob and writer_wannabe
Now, I don't yet pretend to get this SEO stuff entirely. I don't pretend to be an expert writer with a proven track record. I am a passable writer, at best, with some personal blogging experience and a lifetime of journaling behind me. In the past, I wrote a Master's thesis and numerous academic essays but to date, I have never made more than ah, 38 cents for my writing skills. After three weeks, seven articles, and only .38c richer - it has finally dawned on me. (Just slap me on the forehead)...I may have been had!
Today I did a little experiment. Choosing a few random articles, written by other writers on Suite, I tried googling their topics. Didn't encounter any of the articles. (Indeed, in the past I've really never encountered anything at all from Suite 101 as a source. ) In fact, with pointed keywords from actual Suite 101 articles, I couldn't find a single article within 3 Google pages.
Some of the veterans from this site are claiming they make money - or at least, they "used to make money". At this rate, I'll be about $5.00 richer by the end of next twelve months!
I also tried Google's advanced search. Choosing keywords from one of my own articles within the timeframe of "the past month", I produced one of my own articles. In order to find this, you would have to know how to use "advanced search" and be putting in the right time parameters. No wonder the revenue is so low! So-called key words are useless - at least so it seems to me.
My question is this. Is "content farming" dead? Did I waste my time writing for these people? Why do you need their "editors" to make no money for articles that no one seems to be reading? I followed most of their suggestions about writing on subjects that haven't been worked to death but it sure looks to me like the webmasters make what little money there is and the writers make ah…less?… Is that how it works?
Is this a stupid question? (I have more stupid questions but I'll save 'em for later….)
Signed,
A Knob and writer_wannabe
