website

The Top Three Publishing Websites

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 07:23:27 PST

Before I mention the top 3 publishing websites I always ask myself one question when finding a site to earn cash......IS IT SAFE? The best way to know is research. It might be hard but you wouldn't get scammed. Make sure the site uses minimal personal details so you won't get scammed too badly if it’s a scam. I don't recommend going to the paid to click sites because it’s easier to get viruses and/or bulk mail that ruins your computer.

#1 Triond

In my opinion Triond is the best website that you can express your writing, pictures, or even media for money. Triond is one of the safest websites to receive a money transaction. Plus it’s my personal favorite and I've never had a problem with it.

#2 Helium

I like helium too and they have a lot of great articles about everything. You could find how-to articles or cooking or sometimes gaming articles. I've used some of the tips in some of the articles.

#3 Associated Content

The only reason why I have associated content my #3 is because I have had some account troubles before. It wasn't the payment but the confirmation code. Anyway...it’s the same thing like Triond or Helium but sometimes you can get paid more if your article is AMAZING.

I know everyone has heard of other great sites like treasure trooper but recommend these sites since I've experienced their content and it’s really safe. Not to mention that not a lot of personal information is needed unlike treasure trooper.

Have FUN contributing content and earning some cash!!

Triond Etiquette: What’s Your Purpose of Being Here?

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 06:43:08 PST

I’m back for another refreshing and idealistic view of the recent growing trends with the Triond community. As you all know, I love to stir the pot and I do it well. My opinions are not to be taken as an offense but, a starting point or even an ending point of why you choose to write on Triond.

The Growing Trends

I’d like everyone to take a moment and count the amount of friends you have in your friends sections, now I would like you to count how many of those friends actually read your work.

If you have a ratio of 10:120 then I’m sure you have the same types of concerns as many of the other writers. However, it has come to my attention that many writers are leaving due to the lack of page views that they personally say was by no fault of their own.

Did they make the most of the platform that was presented to them? And if they did, did they personally market themselves outside of the realm of possibilities?

It may be time to update your friend’s area and start making it a bit easier to keep up with your most loyal readers in the community section. The answer I use is “delete, delete, delete” for the ones that have fallen off the radar or just don’t take the time to read others pieces.

Lets Link to Each Other: The Wrong way to do it

There are so many ways to grow your content besides the use of social bookmarking. Personally, I love linking to material that is both interesting and of course pertinent to my own.

It’s always nice to hyperlink one of your articles to a previous user or an older article with the same type or related content. Remember that linking to an article that has little to do with the article you are writing is a dreadful way to get more views.

If you look at the analytics of Google, when your page is indexed by search engines and the links are basically useless, the search engines see no reason to rank or crawl your pages.

Lets Link to Each Other: The Right Way

Recently, some of my best buddies on Triond and I started linking to each other based on our content.

Anytime Chris Stonecipher has a recipe or article that pertains to my material, he links it and I do the same for him in return. As far as I have seen, I have received more views and so has he.

Rummage through the lists of articles written by your Triond friends and see if you can’t do the same.

Do you want your voice Heard?

As writers, our main purpose is to educate and entertain however; my point goes back to the present state of Triond. Are you trying to be recognized for your writing talents or the ability to write as many top 10 lists submitted in a day?

For the past month, I have stumbled upon some really amazing talents on Triond and my opinion is that their gifts are not being appreciated as they should be.

For that purpose, I set up a Blog called Friends Revolution to showcase the amazing talents of some of the best writers on Triond that may not be getting the recognition that they deserve.

A perfect example of one of these writers is Lost in Arizona who wrote a piece on the most memorable pictures taken of all time. How does this differ from the typical top ten lists you ask?

If you actually take the time to read the content instead of skimming over the pictures and leaving simple comments like “good post” or “good read”, you would realize that the emotional word painting conveyed in this article brought me to tears.

This was my exact comment at the time and my most honest opinion:

“All of these pictures really brought tears to my eyes. I was so enthralled with the photos and text that the music playing on my computer disappeared. I think this is one of your best and should be number one on the Hot List!”

Top Ten Writers Who Haven’t been Realized, Yet!

I have come to the realization that the best writers on Triond pay homage to other great writers and this is what I am trying to do.

I have chosen some writers on the basis of what they are exactly trying to convey with their pieces and should be receive more recognition:

James DeVere
Enzo Silvestri
Bruce A Tucker
Chris Stonecipher
Papaleng
Robert Brian Garza
John Turner
Countrymom
Marjoram1234
Virginia Morgan

If you have any further questions for me or you would like to check out Friends Revolution, a blog that showcases some really wonderful talents on Triond and the online community feel free to shoot me a line.

Regards and Blessing

Lauren

Writing for the Web

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 02:15:34 PST

    Writing about writing articles and getting heavy traffic from coaching other writers seems to me a job that only a few freelancers do well. Maybe you have read a few articles that are pitting one paying website/publishing service against another. Authors contend that site A is better than site B because of so and so… and the conclusion we get is simple and straight: We benefit from them.
    This type of which-site-pays-better article is prevalent and is even persistent in egging someone on joining a particular site. While I attempt to share my view on how freelance writers can benefit from writing for the web, I am not exclusively writing about the site nor adopt and share parochial views that will only lead to any writer’s demise.

What should I write?

    Anyone can write or claim that they can write but proving that you write it well initially depends on the subject you choose. Given the expansive world of human experience, why does the writer stop and search for the next subject, hatch a good though not bankable idea, throws one and accept the other and ended up talking to the blinking cursor?
    Not knowing what to write stems from various factors. Some slightly know and have the feel of writing about a particular subject and dismiss it simply because the topic may not generates thousands of page views every week. We cannot do away with the fact that, in the information age where the Internet figures on the center stage, the search engine rules. SEO articles are highly in demand because people are almost always looking for the same popular content. Hence, keywords are kings.
    If you think that the topic is not interesting enough for you, although it may not guarantee you heavy page traffic, think of ways that would make it interesting for others as well. You cannot force a reader online to welcome your views about a controversial issue but you may entice them into reading your article by crafting sensible arguments and engaging sentences.
    Most articles I’ve read that are intended solely for the search engine are stale and are lacking in perspective. Read articles that also discuss the subject that you wish to write about and see how differently or similarly they are written. Don’t forget that writing it not a solitary task. Reading is a pre-requisite for writing.

    Where should I write?
    Searching for the best paying website is a task that many freelancers have worked at initially for themselves and eventually for others. These authors are assumed to be credible sources because they are actually working for and paid by the paying website. While I respect their reviews, I would like to focus on the types of paying websites particularly the pros and cons of each.
    There are websites that serve as marketplace for employers and freelancers, both of which are active in looking for providers and companies respectively. This type of sites does guarantee payment but are not without pitfalls. Primarily, a reliable and credible company is hard to find. Some will pay you at a price different from the initial bidding. Some will request for samples and leave you behind without a trace of gratitude. The rule, therefore, is clear and simple: be careful in choosing the party or company to work for.
    Getting a contractor to pick you among the lengthy list of provider/freelancer is the next hurdle. The answer lies within how you present your competencies and exhibit your professionalism. Make sure that you beef up your performance by giving samples of your previous work. And don’t forget to provide a good profile and portfolio.
    The next type of website pays writers base on the traffic generated by an article. This is a relatively complicated than the previous type of website. Some sites belonging to this category pays well while others do not. I have tried almost all of them but I am not in the position to tell you which is better because, as I have observed, what works for a particular writer ma not work for others. Knowledge about this type of website should be acquired firsthand.
    After submitting quality article, it is up to the writer to monitor the progress of his or her earnings. If you wish to have quick cash, stay with a website that pays per article. But if you don’t mind saving your revenues for later, stay with a website that pays per page view. The former will save your need in the short term but the latter, depending on the site, will give you payoff in the long run. A mixture of both will even be necessary.

Triond Views: Hope for New Members

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 06:04:24 PST

The way to get your article thousands of views, is putting a lot of effort into your work. By writing an article that is short and not that informational or interesting, can bring the value of your topic down. As a writer, you may not want to overwrite where an article can get boring. Also, take note of articles you have that do best in the first 24 hours of the day. If my article on a baseball team gets 8 views and my article ways to save energy gets 25, maybe write more about that topic that succeeds. Building a friendship on triond is probably the greatest part. If you read an article that you enjoy, add the author as a friend. By adding friends, they will view your articles.

My number one article http://www.gomestic.com/Personal-Finance/Five-Ways-to-Reduce-the-Amount-of-Electricity-We-Use-in-Our-Home.231201 has 1,700 views in 2 months so far and growing everyday. It expresses the importance of how to save energy and what to use and buy.

What I found out on triond is to keep writing articles and show all the effort I can find from myself inside. More “juicy facts” can be more enjoyable to read. My goal is to have an impact on someone else as they read my article or give chills to my viewer has they see my photos. Think of writing has a long time investment. After months of your content being on the internet, you will get views. Think about years from now. Your articles will be seen for years to come. Have hope!

Online Comment Abuse: A Punishable Offense

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 04:11:08 PST

According to the definition from Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary, comment refers to a note of explaining, illustrating, or criticizing the meaning of a writing, or “an observational or remark expressing an opinion or attitude.” Specifically, a good and constructive comment should have a positive idea or suggestion that benefits writers from upgrading their quality of writings. Unfortunately, writing platform as like other types of cyber bullying (or net bullying) has been used as a medium by the pranksters or a hateful predator group to leave bullied, embarrassed, threatened, sexual, lewd or harassed texts so that the innocent writers are targeted for humiliations. The contents of the comments are designed to enrage, inflame, and cause hatred (including prejudice, sexism, racism etc.), create false criticism and patronising sarcasm among the writing community. They do this purposely to smear the writer's reputation.

The presence of these pranksters is annoying and disturbing. They send writer's profile to other sites like blogs, discussion boards, forums, online chatting with the aims to insult the writers. They are here not for a serious writing but making trouble and creating misunderstanding instead. Sometimes they are bored and looking for entertainment by posting nasty and abuse comments. And sometimes they exist at some writing platforms to hurt the other. They may perceive that they are righteous avengers, and righting the faults and wrongdoing of the targeted writers. They are such a harsh people lack of civilization as they will strike back the only way they could. The pranksters themselves prefer to abuse others out of their jealousy, hurtful and revengeful emotions by spreading the misunderstood comments to the world.

Abuse comments are indeed scary and horrible. Whoever has gone through the conflict firsthand can tell you the nightmare. There are moments that will send chills down your spine. Below are some examples of abuse comments:

I wish you were dead!

I'll kill you if you're still there writing!

If you try and report me, I'll hack into your computer!

I hate you! You're stupid and dumb, get out here!

I'll spread your rumors and abuse your image so that people won't believe on you…

I'll use your name to leave hurtful and threatening comments so that people will boycott your writings….

Imagine how hurtful for writers who read these comments from the comfort of their home. How frightening and distressful this would be for the writer! I'm sad to learn that the similar threats and vicious comments are circulated very rapidly via the internet every single day.

I respect the freedom of speech. But even, every one of us is given a right to say anything we'd like to say, please don't abuse the value behind the right to speak. It's not always a pleasant lesson to have spiteful and derogatory comments circulated around the writing world. The freedom of speech that fosters the bad consequence of comments or communications shouldn't be allowed but they must deserve the punishment.

The internet has fulfilled everyone's dream to voice their opinions with ease. Nevertheless, the pranksters have misused their comments either to criticize people in a hateful way or make fun of them in some vicious means. They have abused their rights by using these hateful and derogatory comments as a form of harassment and aggressive behavior intended to harm others via technological means. Their objectives are achieved when they send threatening and malicious comments directly to a person, or they may send humiliating or hurtful comments to other sites in order to harass and/ or threaten others online. Even though the comments may not be getting innocent writers hurt physically, but they will cause them hurting emotionally. When they hurt physically, their scars or wounds will heal. What if they are hurt emotionally? These comments will stay with them for the rest of their life and may not be easily healed. They're here causing trouble for writers and just would like to see the writer torn apart. The abuse comments are indeed hurting and distressing! It is emotionally devastating for the innocent writers!

The action of these pranksters - rumors, threats, gossip, humiliation - are nothing new, as their wicked campaigns have started to move to e-mails, blogs, websites, chat rooms, and even text messaging. Among the internet users, these vicious gossips, racists and threatening comments are growing so rampant and quickly that most of the targeted writers are affected emotionally. With wireless technology, they are distributed much more quickly than you could ever imagine as they're being put up and shared around the world. Their wicked motives are shielded as most of the websites and screen names give them a mask of using “unknown” names, making them difficult to trace. Bullies and abuse are often anonymous, and sadly to say, most of the harassment takes place off. The bully then sits back laughing from seeing the affected parties engage in destructive behavior towards each other. The pressure could be felt by the innocent writers when their names are misused somewhere by these irresponsible parties and that means bullies can even extend their harassment into their lives, jobs and studies. It's indeed horrible enough, if someone made a joke about you, or said something to degrade your sacred personality.

Their objectives to leave such hateful and spiteful comments are clear that they want to control, manipulate, dominate and colonize their “territories”. They take revenge by seeing you react, and they try to control whatever ways they could. And their final aims are watching the affected writers wearing down. In this case, the affected writers become their “Baiting Game”. They stay there, watching and stirring the pot with additional “ingredients” (provocation) and they'd laugh with a sense of gratification upon seeing the affected parties indulge in destructive interaction and behavioral pattern.

When you come across writers being threatened by these pranksters, please give your utmost support and encouragement to boost them to a level they should be. With regards to the recent abuse among the Triond community, Triond has acted promptly and timely by introducing the add-in new feature for their commenting system. They even put this issue on their blog Your Comments, Your Identity. But, I'm sad to find it not to be a compulsory requirement for every Triond user here. I hope every writer here can make full use of this new feature to curb the intention of using our name for leaving hateful and nasty comments by some irresponsible and immoral parties.

Helium is Down, Now What?

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 04:17:02 PST

Helium is a website kind of like Triond. You can submit articles to generate royalties. The only difference is that Helium's articles are ranked in categories. They aren't ranked by the admins. No! They're ranked by the users. There's also a more strict policy when it comes to word and character count. You must have 2400 characters or 400 words to submit an article. That's the main thing I hate about Helium. I usually end up trying to add things to my articles to get them to the minimum requirements.

Helium also has two opportunities that I love. One is the writing contests. I came in 5th place in one of the contests and won $5.00. The other is the marketplace. It's kind of like the Writer's Market except a lot smaller and easier to access. There's articles you can write and the companies will pay between $15 and $150 per article. You can also see how many other people have applied and how many days are left. Once all the submissions are in, you can read each other's articles and they are ranked by other members.

I checked the purchase date for the article that I wrote. It was about the freshman 15. (Something I know a lot about) The purchase date was Oct 16. So at about midnight on the 16th, I checked my ranking. I was number 1 out of 8! That means they are more likely to buy mine! (If they don't, I'll be so pissed). So at about noon I went back to check if they had made their selection yet.

"Helium is undergoing maintenance and will be back online at 2:00 ET."

So I checked back at 1:00 because I live in Illinois which is in Central Time. It still said 2:00 and then I reloaded it. It changed to 3:00. So an hour later I checked back. 4:30. Ugh! So after my class I checked at about 6:30 CT and it said 4:30 ET. I was very confused. I kept checking all night. I guess they mean 4:30 the next day. So here it is the next day and it's 2:00 here. I guess I have to wait until 3:30 to see if I won $32. This is very frustrating.

Monitor Your Website and Blog Traffic

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 07:56:57 PST

There are several ways to effectively monitor your traffic on the Internet. After a few years of research, the methods that work for me are: Google Analytics (a little difficult to navigate at first but you have to read the forums, the help files, M&P’s, etc.), Clicktale, and StatCounter.com.

Google Analytics can measure your site visitors’ trends, loyalty, what browser they use, provide a map to show you exactly where your visitors are coming from, unique visitors, pageviews, the average time spent on a particular page, and various percentages, such as the percentage of new visits.

For example, you might see "397 visits came from 12 countries/territories." Google Analytics will break it down country by country, state by state, and city by city. Of the 397 visits listed in the example (a real life example for a 2-week time frame), 213 were "absolute unique visitors" so that means that 184 were return visitors.

Google also gives you the opportunity to block your own views so that your stats will not be distorted or misleading.

Another novel approach to monitoring your traffic is through a company called ClickTale. With ClickTale, website owners add a small piece of JavaScript code to the page that you would like to have monitored. The JavaScript collects browsing data and transmits it to the ClickTale servers for processing.

From the code, ClickTale creates movies of browsing sessions in minutes, and website owners can log-in securely at any time to view these movies (don’t worry about your private information being viewed because hackers can’t place JavaScript code on a site they do not control).

That's right! Movies! You can view recorded events of how people browse your website or blog. You'll see what they clicked, when they clicked, and basically be able to follow their mouse movements as if you were looking over their shoulder as they browsed your website. ClickTale will not interfere with the JavaScript used by other packages such as Google Analytics, and the company only records the actions that the visitor makes while browsing a specific website. There is no audio or video recorded.

You can get more information about ClickTale here

A third method to monitor your website traffic is by using the free service offered by Stat Counter. Stat Counter is a free and reliable invisible web tracker. The company offers a highly configurable hit counter and real-time detailed web stats. All you do is insert a simple piece of our code on your web page or blog and you will be able to analyze and monitor all the visitors to your website in real-time.

The aforementioned methods will work for you and help you to get a complete grasp of your online ventures. Many people give up in the early stages because they find the programs "user-unfriendly." The problem is, most people want to jump right in and start swimming immediately without the lessons; or people want to walk before crawling. Bottom line for success, you have to READ the instructions; you have to browse the forums for answers. All the companies have help files and they are there for a reason. You cannot call anyone for assistance. Google has some contact numbers and if you are paying for google adwords you can get some phone help, but the free services are effective and they work quite well, but you're pretty much thrown in the water to eiter sink or swim.

Does Anyone Know John Clausen?

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 06:29:23 PST

Because I do have a daytime job I spend very little time looking for writing websites. However, I Google searched something today and a site called writeformoney.com popped up so I took a look. It is apparently owned by a guy name John Clausen who believes he is God's gift to writers. Has anyone else looked at the site, or does anyone else know about this guy Clausen?

At first glance the website is impressive. I thought I had found another avenue for my columns, possibly one that pays the big bucks for which we are all looking. I read the first page and it invited me to sign up so I started the process. There is the customary make up a user name box and the password boxes. When you complete those boxes you then jump to a page that asks you for a $7.95 per month membership fee. I have no idea what John or his site can do for me, but I can be a member for a monthly fee.

Maybe it is a prestige thing; the right to say that I am a member of John's something or other…I am not sure what it is…I will get back to you on that one. John must have been successful at doing something for someone at sometime…somewhere. There are other people with profiles posted on John's site. The only one with a picture looked a bit bewildered. Perhaps he just realized that he is paying a monthly fee to be on John's site that does nothing.

I bet John's site that does nothing is where Jerry Seinfeld got his idea for the show about nothing. I have a website. Should I be charging a fee to let people join my website so I can do nothing for them? There is no question that I would be good at it. In fact, I believe I am every bit as good as John Clausen at doing nothing for you. John may have met his match. He will certainly have competition and will have to stay on his toes and practice doing nothing; otherwise I will take away his business.

The amusing part of this is that I believe the advertisement on which I clicked is a pay-per-click advertisement. John paid for me to go to his site, create a user name and be insulted enough to sit down and write this column. I may just go back, click it again tomorrow so John will have to pay again. Rest assured I am going to ask at least one hundred fiends to Google him and click on the pay advertisement.

John Clausen may be likeable, he may have a talent for writing, he may be a great writing coach, but he is number one, the very best at, and has the fastest website in the country at asking for the money while offering absolutely nothing. I am starting to admire this guy, given the fact that there are profiles of others who claim to be writers on his website. He got them to pay money for nothing. I wonder if these guys posted their email addresses so I can direct them to my website that sells them nothing.

Oh, John, before you go into that line of work, remember you do need to show the customer a car before you ask for his down payment. In fact, most people want a test drive. You want my business? Let me take a spin around the block on your website before you ask for my money. I may even want to kick the tires before I sign up.

That is all I have time to write for now; I need to add a paypal button to my website. As soon as I get it on there John will have competition at doing nothing. By the way, if you sign up today, I will give you $1.00 off of the $7.95 standard monthly fee. “But Wait”, as they say on the television advertisements; sign up today and I will give you double the nothing I do for you for the first month. Can you beat that deal John Clausen?

How to Make a Ebook

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 05:09:26 PST

An eBook is the new type of publication. It is simply put a book that is electronic. To make a eBook all you have to do is make a book in Microsoft word or a pdf. After that you need to setup a free website or blog. Next you have to become a PayPal merchant so you can accept all types of payment methods. Finally you need to advertise that website or blog so you can get money for selling your eBook. If you prefer you could just make the eBook and then sell it on auction sites like eBay to make profit.

Write, Write, Write For Fun

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 07:19:21 PST

Enjoy what you do when you write and post your offerings on websites such as this one. Do it for your entertainment and as a way of sharing your thoughts with others. If you have a need to vent, get that out through the written word as well. However, do not do it if you are looking to make a living. If you need to make a living, find a job that pays the bills. Remember, the likelihood of this paying your bills is slightly less than the likelihood that you will be elected President in the next Presidential election.

The only ones making a living are the website owners and they have worked to set up contracts with publications and to sell advertising. This site is one of the better ones of its type, due to the fact that there is no membership fee, such as with gofeelance.com. The fee is only $2.95 per month, but there is a fee and for the fee one would think that they have a lock on the market. Not so! They just smile all the way to the bank with your money. As with all sites like this one you will be very lucky to make the price of a cup of coffee each month. I did on one site for one month and was elated. It was not enough for Starbucks coffee, but I did have a cup from the local convenience store.

This site and others are great venues for honing your skills and keeping the cobwebs from forming on your creative writing mind. I try to write more that one thing everyday. Any column that is not picked up by a newspaper from my own syndicated website, I post here and continue to write. You have to throw it all against the wall and hope something sticks. This site allows me to put all of my writings in the mix, even if the audience is only a handful of people.

My daytime job is that of an accountant and I have never been able to give up that job, but I've been writing enough that my income from writing does pay for nice extras in life and allowed me to take a few very nice vacations. It also keeps my name out there as a columnist, which opens the door to my other sidelines of motivational speaking and sales of my mystery/romance novels. Keep in mind with all those sidelines I still have my day job. Few make it on writing alone and I am not one of the few..

Would Erma Bombeck, Ann Landers, Dear Abby or even Dave Barry make it in today's world, if they were just starting out? There is no way they would. They came through an era that did not have the competition of the internet. People stopped every morning to pick up a newspaper on the way to work, or had it delivered to their homes. These days everyone gets their news online, from CNN, Fox News, Yahoo, Google or some other online venue.

Yes, you can Google and find all of those people I named in the previous paragraph, but you would not Google to find any of them if they had not made names for themselves before Al Gore invented the internet. Sorry Al, I had to write that.

Here is the astonishing thing. You can Google and find me. If you have been writing long I can probably Google and find you too. Guess what, you will not make a dime just because someone Googles your name. In my case there are many other people with the same name as me. One of them is another fiction writer and he has written about twenty more books than me. Of course that also means when people Google for him they find me. Actually, that is a winning situation for me, so I'm not complaining. Now I wonder if I should have taken the pen name of Sydney Sheldon, John Grisham or even Stephen King. More people would Google my name.

Pen names can get messy, so I suppose it is best if I just stay with the name my mother gave me. There is less confusion that way and at my age I need less confusion. It would be embarrassing to hear someone paging John Grisham and while craning my neck to get a glimpse of him, I realize they are paging me.

Anyway, continue to write if you aspire to be a well known columnist or novelist. The chances of you making it are slim to none. In fact you probably have a better chance of winning the lottery(note to self; buy a lottery ticket today) but writing keeps your mind working and it can give you a great deal of enjoyment. I've also met some wonderful people through my writing.