Residual Income Update - What Does Summer Hold?

May is over and I did pretty well in residuals, but not as well as I'd hoped. It seems that my earnings on eHow were down somewhat, which I'm sure is a result of the beginning of summer, the ending of school, and families on vacations or out in the sun. However, I only submitted 22 new articles in May, and still managed to meet my modest monthly goal, so I'm not too disappointed.



I made $132.40 with 125 articles. My highest paying article has made $34 and some change, which I am extremely happy with. Some of the newer articles have made only pennies yet. I plan to submit at least 20-25 more articles this month, and hopefully get my earnings up to $150 (keeping my expectations low) for next month's payout. I've got a few new techniques I'm going to be experimenting with this month, and if they work well, I'll share them on the blog.

Summer is a rough time for residuals, as many people are spending time outdoors, on vacation, etc, and not really surfing as much or clicking on ads. However, we've just got to keep writing, and the earnings will catch up with us when people don their sweaters and go back inside.

And now for the low down on my other residual sites......

Suite 101

I continue to be impressed with Suite 101. I made over $2.00 per article there with 17 articles, in this, my first full month. I really, really, want to devote more time to this site, because the income potential is great - greater than eHow without a doubt. The only problem is, the articles take more time to write. I'm not as accustomed to the style as I am with the eHow/Demand Studios style, so there's more tweaking to be done, more research, etc.

My plan is to submit at least 1-2 articles per week to Suite during June. I wish I could do more, but I just have too much going on, so I'll have to build my residual income slowly with this one. I can churn out 2-3 eHow articles in the time it takes to write 1 for Suite, so that's the way it has to be, I suppose. Suite demands a greater quality of work, which takes more time, but the compensation is more than fair, in my opinion.

Bukisa

I have definitely let Bukisa fall to the wayside. I have found them to be the least profitable residual income site that I've tried. However, I did just receive my payment for the month - $16.88. I have 29 articles posted and I'm making around $16-$17 per month, every month.

Let me put that in perspective for you. In a year, I will have made around $192. For 29 articles, that averages out to about $6.50 per article. That's a pretty low wage, particularly for the work I put into some of those. It will take nearly three years to pass what I would have been paid by Demand Studios, but with several of my eHow articles, I've done that already in just a few months.

My verdict is that Bukisa is one of the lowest earners in terms of residuals. You might do okay, if you submitted lots of high traffic keyword articles and marketed them like crazy, or got a huge network of people under you who were actually making money. And it's probably okay to submit your rejects from other sites, etc. However, you can make ALOT more writing for eHow or Suite 101, where you're paid via ad revenue.

FireHow

This is not a site that I plan to devote much attention to at all, however I did want to update you on the status of my one measly article which I submitted as a test subject. I received an email from FireHow on June 01 informing me that my article had made $0.07. I wouldn't have even expected that much, so I'm pretty surprised.

It appears that the site is at least legitimate enough to keep track of earnings. However, I can't speak for payments. We'll have to wait and see if my one article ever earns $10.00. At this rate, it should take about 12 years! Perhaps I'll submit another test article some time this month which is actually optimized and see how it does.

Examiner

I've recently become the telecommuting examiner for my area, and I am VERY impressed with this site. I'll be keeping tabs on my earnings on the blog, as well. I've only just submitted my 1st article yesterday, so I don't have much to report this month. However, at a penny a page view ($10 per 1,000) I don't think I'll make out too shabby. Expect an in-depth review of Examiner soon.

Conclusion

All in all, i'm happy with my progress in the residual income department. With my eHow, Bukisa, Suite 101, and AC payments (not much and from long ago), I'll make a little over $200 this month in residuals alone. I hope to raise this by just $50 per month for the next 6 months, giving me a grand total of $500 in monthly residuals by the end of the year. This is my modest "I know I'll be able to make it" goal. However, my real dream is to get it to $1,000 per month. Only time will tell if I'm successful, and I'll continue to share my techniques, successes, and failures on the blog.

I'd love to hear about your residuals this month. Did you meet your goals? Were your earnings up or down? Which sites were most profitable for you?