I've recently begun writing for Suite 101, and I must say I am extremely impressed with the site. It is a residual income site, meaning no upfront payment, but I was looking for something worthwhile to supplement my eHow earnings. I've tried Bukisa and InfoBarrel, and while I've had some results with both, I still don't think they'll ever equal eHow. Suite 101, on the other hand, has much more potential.- High quality or else. You must submit writing samples to Suite 101 prior to being given a position as a contributing writer. This means that you won't find the usual poor writing found on many online media sites (eHow, Bukisa, etc). They don't allow just ANYONE to write. You have to be good, or at least decent. :)
- Fantastic editors. Suite 101 has wonderful, helpful, editors who really push you to improve your work. I've only published five articles on the site as of this writing, and haven't had an intensive review yet, but so far my experiences with editors has been wonderful.
- High rank, more money. Suite 101, like eHow, also has high priority to the search engines, meaning your articles get indexed quickly and will rank high, if properly optimized. The revenue share model is similar to eHow, in that you get paid directly from the company instead of Adsense, and it's by some mysterious algorithm that no one is privy to. However, from reading the forum posts there, I see that numerous people are making hundreds to over a thousand dollars per month. Why does it seem that the sites that don't tell us how much we're being paid always seem to pay the best? :)
- Helpful, friendly community. The community at Suite 101 is one of the things I like the most. There appears to be a very pleasing lack of drama on the forums and all members are helpful and courteous. It's like writing for a site with.....other writers?? I write for several different sites where the forums have become a cess-pit of drama and negativity. There's none of that at Suite 101.
- Freedom of topic. You can write on anything you want, and you have complete control. When you sign up, you're asked to choose three topics you think you'll write about the most, or feel you are most qualified for. But, once you're in, you can write on anything you want.
- Bonuses. Unlike other sites (ahem, ehow) you are rewarded for your hard work at Suite 101. I see that they frequently have contests for new and old writers to win things (like money) that you'd actually want, instead of a cheap grocery bag and an umbrella (thanks, ehow). You also get a 10% bonus in revenue once you hit 50 articles, and if you are promoted to a featured writer, you can get up to a 30% bonus.
Negative Aspects of Suite 101 (If You Can Call Them That)
- Fear of the unknown. You don't know how much you're being paid. This is sometimes scary for people who have never written for a revenue sharing site. However, I am living proof that sites like these DO pay, if you can write well optimized articles. Suite 101 is very reputable, and they really seem to care about giving their writers a fair share.
- Work harder AND smarter. Articles are more labor intensive. The articles take more time to write than a 15-minute ehow article. Suite 101 expects well written and well researched content, so you have to do your homework. However, I've found that I can do one in about the same time it takes me to write an article for WiseGEEK, where I'll be paid a $10 upfront fee per article. With Suite 101, I could earn hundreds, possibly even thousands of dollars for one article over the course of time.
- Which one made what? No per-article earnings display. While you WILL be able to see your earnings and page views in close to real-time (unlike eHow, Lol), you are NOT able to see WHICH articles are earning what and how many pageviews individual articles are bringing in. I've found this only a minor inconvenience, as it doesn't really matter to me as long as SOMETHING is earning, aside from my burning curiosity. :)
***As I was writing this, I was taking a break and transferred over to my Suite 101 page (I'm always obsessed the first few days I begin writing for a new site) and I got my first click! Woohoo! We're not allowed to divulge specifics, but I'll say it's less than $1.00, but more than I expected in my first couple days.***
Conclusion
I think I'm going to hang on to this one, folks. I'm really encouraged by the residual earnings of others on Suite 101, and the great community, and freedom of creativity. You can apply at the Suite 101 website, if you want in on the action. Have your writing samples ready, and good luck!
If there are any other Suite 101 writers out there, please chime in and share your success stories with us. I'd love to hear how you've done there, and if you agree/disagree with my initial observations of the site.
23 comments:
I really like Suite. I've only done a couple of articles so far but I love reading the success stories of people who have been working on the site for some time. Many of them have sold their articles to magazines and after one year, you can sell them to online markets as well. Lots of potential for moneymaking there. I've only had one minor edit so far, but I like getting feedback if I do something wrong so I don't mind. I highly recommend suite!
Oh and P.S. I like the new design of your blog.
Hi, Donella! Thanks for your feedback. I also like the fact that you get a measure of respect for writing for Suite. I've heard of several people getting really good writing jobs for magazines and the like from their portfolio of work there. I won't be going anywhere anytime soon! :)
PS. I stayed up way too late last night tinkering with the CSS and making my header image. Lol.
You actually can see the individual page view numbers for each article. When you look at your page views for the day (click "today" on the stats page), you can then click "Articles" to see the individual page views.
Once you get used to doing that long term you can get to know which articles are the earners. Anytime I see specific articles getting higher numbers I know that I'm having a good earning day.
L. Shepherd - Thank you so much! That is fantastic, and I love being able to see where my traffic is coming from! I had no idea! Now, if only we could see how much individual articles earn! Thanks again!
Hey Willow-
That's a really open-minded review. The concept of residual earnings can be really frightening for many writers- and who can blame them? If you're a veteran print writer and used to being paid upfront the whole residual earnings concept can seem disconcerting (not to mention the fact that it's already a big shift to go from writing for print to writing for the web). Thanks for seeing the positive side of this.
You're featured on Suite's Limelight Blog -- check it out!
Thanks, Lima! I appreciate your taking the time to stop by, and thanks so much for the support! :)
I write for a bunch of sites, and I, too, LOVE writing for Suite101. In fact, it was their training and support (and lack of drama) that convinced me I could make serious money writing online. Thanks to my work there, I get advanced notice of things in my topics, invites to events from various companies, and all sorts of perks. They truly are one of the best sites to write for.
After more than a year's time at the site, I no longer care what individual articles are earning. I know that the better my SEO writing became, the more I earned. I even took a month off and still made at least as much as the previous months!
I agree, Suite101 is a great place to write. I pen the Western Canada Travel column and before that, the Eating Disorders column. It has been about 3 years (I think?) and I have gone from making little to a comfortable monthly additional income.
Thanks for this very inspiring review of Suite101.com.
I also love writing for Suite101.com. I'm learning so much from our brilliant Editors, and it's true that there's a caring atmosphere at Suite101.com. If there's a query or problem and you communicate with the Management or with Tech Support, you are sure to get a swift and helpful response from them. And with the writer's forum, the writers are very civilized and also quick to assist.
@Annalise - Congrats on your success! I hope to follow you soon. I've also grown to love writing for the site over the past month, and I've had nothing but positive experiences so far. :)
@Lori Henry - Wow, three years! I'll bet your doing quite well there. I can't wait to have that much time in. :)
@EyeingtheWorld - I agree. The atmosphere there is wonderful. I think most other sites could take a lesson from Suite on how to effectively work with writers.
Hi there Willow, I'm a FW at Suite 101 for Video and Online Games, and I've just hit 200 articles at Suite. You'll love it there as time goes by.
I've only been there 6 months and its much better than my years at Ehow in the long run;) Stick with it and reap the rewards.
Hi, Tina. Thanks for stopping by! Congrats on your 200th article! I love Suite so far, but I haven't submitted as many articles as I would have liked. It's difficult to find time these days as I've taken on so much. I will continue to write there because it's definitely more profitable than eHow. Good luck to you!
I am planning on trying out some residual income sites, and I am so thankful that you are sharing all this information on your blog! I have a question about Suite101 before I jump on the boat, though. Once you've submitted an article, can you edit it later? I will inevitably think of ways to improve articles after-the-fact.
You can edit 50% of the article within the first 2 weeks of it being published, and 10% thereafter.
Suite101 has a team of professional editors that review each article so chances are that any mistakes will, ideally, be caught within the first 48 hours.
Every single one of these comments is obviously written by the same person.
Thanks for the information. I have an account at DemandStudios, but I don't like writing only what they list in their topics. I have also written for Factoidz, but the editor changed my title. If it was better, I wouldn't mind, but it looks like a grade school child wrote it. Also, he/she added some incorrect content to my last article. As far as I can tell, I don't have any recourse to get it corrected. I won't work with them again.
Suite sounds like a place I will enjoy working with. Thanks again!
Hey this site looks cool. I am ver interested in it and i am wondering if its available in australia and how hard is it to get accepted as i don't have much if any previous work
Hi, Ninja-Cube!
Suite101 is really a great site, but they do have pretty high standard. If your writing skills are top-notch and you can prove it with a sample, I think you'll have a fighting chance even without much past experience. I only had a few credits to my name when I was accepted, and they were all online things I'd written.
As long as you are a good writer, you've got a shot. Good luck!
Willow, your site is wonderfully useful. Thanks for your posts! I write for many of these sites as well. I do have to wonder about the editors of these sites, however. I have had some great experiences with them, but I feel like most of these editors, particularly with Suite101 and DS, ask for a change that is quite minor and could easily be made on their end. While I like seeing what they recommend to fix, sometimes I feel like they are simply readers/commenters rather than actual editors. As a full-time editor (along with freelance writing), part of my job is FIX minor mistakes, and if there is something more in depth to discuss, I work with the writer at that point.
Does anyone else feel that way? I wondered how you felt, Willow. I strive for perfection in my articles, but slips happen, or style preference differ, and I always feel like it's a waste of time (on both ends) when something so minor (such as a reversal of two words in a subtitle) could be changed and wrapped up right then and there. Just wanted to get that out here. Thanks again for your work!
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I had some doubt about this site. However, I just made my first $.18 cents this week. So, I'll keep plugging at it.
Thanks for this great information, Willow. My question, though, is if you or anyone here knows whether Suite 101 actually gives your articles that much higher a Google search rank than if you just ran your articles independently on Blogger or some other blogging website? I have never seen a Suite 101 article pop up in any Google search I've ever done for as long as Google and Suite 101 have been in existence.
I could take back the entire Google AdSense revenue if I eliminate the middle man, but the cut is worth it if my article truly gets much more exposure on Suite 101. Do you know if it's true?
Thanks!
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