These are sites that I write for and that I’m willing to vouch for.

Examiner.com

Examiner.com makes you look like a newspaper journalist.  You get your own column.  I am the Seattle Homeschooling Examiner.  When I applied, there wasn’t a local edition, and I lived 3 hours from Seattle.  Now that there’s a local edition I think I may apply for an additional topic in my hometown.  Anyway. The articles are quick and easy, and when you write for Examiner, you’re seen as a local authority.  If being an authority in any topic area can help your business, then you should totally apply.  Because they encourage a lot of outbound links, you can provide links to your other work, whether it’s your blog, other articles or other websites. Earn money generated by your articles. Write for Examiner.com.

Cloud Crowd

Cloud Crowd is a brand new site, they launched in September 2009. I write for them and they keep sending me money. I’ve recruited a few people who have also had success with the company. Since they’re new, we need to watch them carefully. They pay daily, which is phenomenal.  Today I had to giggle, I got an 18cent deposit from one of my recruits’ efforts.  I don’t care if it’s a penny, waking up each morning to cha-ching of a paypal email is heavenly, for sure.

Click here for more of my posts about Cloud Crowd

Suite 101

Their site is professional and they have high editorial standards. Your work won’t sit alongside garbage, the editors care about your success and will help you write high quality articles that earn money.

From what I’ve heard lately, they’re not accepting new writers in parenting and education (but don’t let that stop you from trying if another category doesn’t appeal to you) Their reject-rate is higher than other websites and the income I make there is higher, too.

Content writers can get a raise by hitting 50 and 100 articles. You also get a raise when you become a featured writer. The additional commitment means that you must publish in your section at least once a week.

I am the Homeschooling featured writer. I made enough there last month for a house payment.

I want to clarify that this site has been around for almost 15 years and some of the older content actually is garbage.  Luckily, the date is prominently displayed on each page, which also makes it handy when searching for news and reviews because who wants old news?

Click here for more of my posts about Suite101

Ehow

They used to let everyone publish garbage, and now they are, thankfully, tightening up their standards a bit. There were times when I’d read an article and say “OMG my 8 year old spells better than this.” I think the quality improvement is a good thing. That said; they still don’t insist upon well-researched or referenced articles, like Suite101, so writing an eHow article takes 10-20 minutes at the most.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that the “friends and comments” thing will earn you any more money- eHow is a business, not a social club and while there’s nothing wrong with being friends with your colleagues, it does NOT translate into dollars. Your income comes when legitimate readers click on ads, which is more likely to happen with good keywording, which means your ads are relevant.

I made enough there last month for two full tanks of gas (I drive a Suburban)

Click here for more of my posts about eHow

Bukisa

Bukisa has a different pay structure. You’re paid per page view, according to the Bukisa index, which is a $/1000 number. Currently, it’s 3.45, which means that you get $3.45 for every 1000 page views. The awesome thing is, though, that you also get paid for all the page views of your recruits.

I don’t write a lot for Bukisa, I have enough articles there to fill the sidebar widget on my blog. I do well from my recruits, though and I’m sure the gal who recruited me is doing well, too. Whenever I have something random to publish, or I want to get paid for promoting my articles, I head for Bukisa.

It’s a good idea to use your Bukisa articles to drive traffic to your other articles, on sites that pay higher. A lot of eHow writers are using Bukisa as a place to double-print their content, and get paid both ways from the same article. If you do that, good luck to you. I haven’t tried it much.  $3.45 per thousand is just not worth it for me.  At other sites, I make $10-$20 per 1000, so I really just use Bukisa occasionally.  If you choose to sign up, click here. or here, to see more of my articles about Bukisa

Xomba

Add your Adsense publisher ID to your Xomba profile and you can get PAID to create inbound links to your articles on other sites. By creating a Xomblurb (which similar to a Digg) you can use your same keywords and just write up a little “this article is a great resource for…” and link to your articles on other sites. If the readers click on your article- great, you’ve got a hit. If they click on an ad instead- great, you just got paid! Either way, it creates incoming links to your articles and that’s a good thing. or click here to see other articles where I‘ve mentioned Xomba.

Here at 30 Queries in 30 Days

If you’re a WAHM writer, I’d love to share your story, with a linkback to any of your work, profile page, or personal site. I can add you as a contributor, and you can have your very own profile page, or you can contribute a guest post. Let’s talk

Demand Studios

This is my current “bread and butter” writing job. You get a flat rate per article ($5-$20) and no residual income. This is the perfect solution for tightening up your writing skills while still getting paid. Articles range from $5-$20. I’m a snob, I only write the $20 titles. DS supplies content to hundreds, maybe thousands of websites and the $20 rate is only available to some of the writers. The site has its quirks, but it’s a fantastic opportunity and I am so happy to write for them.

I need to clarify that DS does have a revenue share program, but according to their terms, you only get revenue for 5 years, not forever. No deal. For me, anyhow. I wrote a few when they first rolled them out because of a $50/10 promotion, but now I won’t. For my latest posts about Demand Studios, click here.

Squidoo

I am giving Squidoo HALF of a reccommendation. Here’s why: I don’t know.

I heard a lot of excellent things about them and when I returned to may account (after opening it and never signing on for a year) I saw a “change of terms” I just clicked- APPROVE- thinking it was inconsequential, companies change their terms all the time- if it’s really a big deal, someone will read it and raise a stink.  Well, someone is raising a stink but I haven’t paid enough attention to figure out why yet. So I’ve published a few. Their tool is easy to get the hang of. Until I figure out what the stink is, I’m not so sure.  If you decide to sign up for Squidoo, read the contract carefully because other online testimonials about their program may be inaccurate now. Things have changed.

Wanna see more posts about Squidoo?

Textbroker

They pay. That’s what textbroker has going for them. Their review process is questionable. A common review (after 50 articles or something) might say “commas” and nothing more. Too many commas?  Too few commas?  The writer wonders, but then quickly realizes that no one at the company seems to speak English very well. Also, the clients don’t speak English very well either. That’s obvious by the requests they make “Please write for me “Agricultural Pesticides Milwaukee” article.  I want for you to please make be 250 words. Thank you.” Still- they pay. Be sure to request a check at the end of the month, because pay isn’t automatic. When you first sign up they make you take a writing test. It’s lame. Sometimes the writing is fun. Usually, it’s very very boring.

And Maybe…

Infobarrel

Infobarrel is still up for debate. I haven’t explored the site enough to understand what’s going on with it. There’s a “things to do” section that you can click on to choose jobs editing other people’s work, but I’m not sure if you get paid for it, or how much.  I’m really not clear on the earning potential here. I absolutely hate that today I logged on to see a new member who had posted like 20 articles in one day (it looked like they had been deleted from eHow) and they all used the wrong form of the word “then” and they sucked. She couldn’t even spell google correclty (gogle)

BrightHub

I’m so confused by this site and apparently that’s the concensus I’m getting from toher writers, too.  It’s difficult to navigate and the article claimin/writing process just seems ridiculous. It seems as if you must send each paragraph in for approval before you write the next.  That’s so nonsensical, but that seems to be the way. And you can’t make up your own titles, they “release” a few each month and writers have to grab at them.  Don’t take my word for it, it really makes no sense to me. I wanted to write there because it’s $10 per article PLUS a revenue share. it just doesn’t seem worth the hassle, though.

Orato

I’ve submitted a few things to Orato. The site was recently purchased by a few Suite101 renegade editors. That alone impresses me, because Suite101 KNOWS how to make money with web content, although not in the guerilla-marketing way that Demand Studios does, Suite is more about relationships with the writers and creating a high quality website that pleases the readers and writers equally. I always hated the amount od ads on eHow, they must be running five different ad programs (counting in my head how many are on this page and justifying the five-is-ness with the fact that my pages STILL have more useful content than ehow)

Anyhow, back to Orato.  Their system is new. It looks like they’re taking a slightly different approach than Suite is (I mean, they wouldn’t have left if they’d had the SAME vision, right?) I saw preliminary complaints that the writers didn’t have access to their work after it was edited and that was NOT my experience. The editor changed something, she thought she was clarifying but she really changed the meaning. I logged back in and changed it with no problem.

I like that I can see how much each article is making. I only have three up at the moment, I’m recommending them JUST because I am so impressed with the job these guys did at Suite101, I totally trust that they are smart enough and savvy enough to create a site that makes money (which benefits the writers, of course)  click here to see if I’ve written anything about Orato