Assessing My Income Opportunities

Well, I found out Friday that I am losing my best web site client. They want to go with a completely database driven site, and I don't have the software to do that. Sigh.

I need to look at possible ways to increase my income beyond just a few pennies a day. My best option is to continue to expand my online writing income. In general, here is what I currently do, with comments:

• Textbroker- some months there are enough good assignments to make over $100, some months the offerings are garbage
• Associated Content- I post only for Performance Views at the rate of $1.55 for 1000 views. The upfront payments process is so frustrating that I simply cannot deal with it. Here's a humorous look at that: My Wrong-Headed Journey Into AC Land. I earn about $3.50 a month there, but with effort I could earn a little more. I need to get enough articles posted that I move to a clout level 10. Then I would at least receive the highest PV rate.
• Shared Reviews- This is a site where real people review products that they own. I've blogged about it several times. They had a good beginning and then a rocky patch where they had to sink or swim on their own earnings. They are now fairly stable. It is an advantage if you joined early, but there are still good opportunities to make some cash there if you work hard. It should only get better as the site generates more income. This month $2000 is being split among the top performers (rules defining that change from month to month). My share of the pie last month was $47.81.
• Helium- You can write a ton of stuff for them without ever making a cent. I have sold one article there for $10, but can't cash out unless I have $20. Not a place I can talk myself into putting more effort into.
• Contests- I have entered several writing contests this month. Of course there is no money there unless I win. Pretty iffy, but at least it gave me a chance to be a little creative
• Undisclosed- by far, my biggest income generator is from a source I am not free to disclose at this time. Right now, I'm making about $300 a month there. But the articles are all repetitive, SEO heavy, pieces on topics of limited interest to me. I have a hard time making myself do them.

I would say that an average price (not calculated, just seat-of-the-pants estimate) per article is about $5. If I could make myself write four articles a day, I could cover my bills. Just FOUR articles. But I have to tell you, that yesterday I did three, and my brain was just about fried. They take varying amounts of research, but some take quite a bit. They have so many criteria to meet the client's SEO wishes that it can give me a headache! (Seriously... one article had 13 keywords it wanted included at least once, but not more than twice each- and two of those were primary concepts of the article with no good synonyms. They specified the number of paragraphs and subheadings. They wanted it in a natural writing style, and they wanted it all in 400 words. Took two hours, and only earned $5.50).

So... I think I'm off to write an article.

P.S. I'll report the results of the Adgitize click style poll tomorrow, with some analysis.

web ad income Nov 21 (4 blogs, 2 web sites, writing): Adsense $.04 Adgitize $.74 Project Wonderful $.03 My Survey $.10 Clixsense $.07 Chitika $.03 Neobux $.055 ______________________ Total: $.97