I’ve started thinking about my passive income goals for 2011 and have been doing some research into what things are bringing in the most money for me. I haven’t done much with any writing for content sites since about June so I really wasn’t aware of what my numbers really looked like. Well, I decided to check them over and what I found was actually pretty surprising to me.
What I did with my numbers is I added up all the revenue I had made from each site and then divided that by approximately how many hours I worked to get that money. For example, an average article at eHow took about 30 minutes to write and upload. I haven’t done any back linking or any promotions on most of these articles (maybe a tweet on a few articles) so my total average time for an eHow article is 30 minutes. For articles on Suite 101 it is a little higher, usually about 45 minutes, with some of them being a little shorter. So here is what I found:
- eHow.com – $16.50/hr
- Ste 101 – $13.85/hr
- Associated Content performance payments only – $6/hr (with upfront payments it is $31.80/hr)
Remember that I haven’t really touched these sites since June. I would say that this is some pretty nice passive income and there is definitely money to be made through these passive income opportunities.
Both eHow and Suite 101 have higher hourly pay than what I was making when I quit my administrative job 3 years ago. (I was making about $13.65 an hour). The awesome thing about this is that these numbers are only going to go up. So, in two months, the average hourly rate for Suite 101 may be $14 instead of the current $13.85. I would also say that ¾ of the articles on Suite 101 are from June so these numbers will definitely be very competitive by next year this time.
My Passive Income Plan
I decided that I should include these sites into my plan for earning passive income in 2011. Now, I am not going to focus on them too much as I have way too many plans for websites to do that but I figure I can show them some love in the New Year.
My plan is to submit at least 1 article to Suite 101 every week as well as publish 1 Hubpage every week. Now, you may notice that Hubpages is not even on my income list but since you can no longer submit articles to Ehow (Darn it!) except through Demand Media (which I don’t feel like dealing with) I am going to be pursuing Hubpages instead. There are many people at Keyword Academy who swear by Hubpages and make a decent income from their hubs.
So, this means that I have to write 2 extra articles a week for these sites. I attempted to do some math on what I could possibly be earning by 2012 by adding these articles and my math is probably off but 50 more Suite 101 articles adds up to about another $850 a year plus the ones that are still maturing and making money right now. I haven’t experimented with Hubpages yet so I can’t really say what these will earn but I’m expecting them to do the same or even more. This equals to around an extra $2000 a year in passive income through these sites (and if I can pick some awesome keywords and get ranked for them hopefully more like $3000 or more).
My goal is to have 50 more Suite 101 articles as well as 50 Hubs published by 12/31/2011. I will be taking some time off when I have the baby next year so that is why I am making it 50, figuring there may be a few weeks were I may have to write 2 articles for each site.
So, this is my first passive income goal that I have set up for 2011 so far. I’m slowly making a list of what I need to accomplish next year and most of it is dealing with work rather than actual monetary goals.
Have you started thinking about your income goals for 2011?
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Tiffany! I’ve heard of Suite 101, but I’ve never tried it. Do you use the Keyword Academy style of picking out keywords there, or something else?
I also have some recurring income from eHow, which is nice to have very month. My hubpages don’t make very much, but I only have a few of them.
Do you still write for Associated Content as well?
Steph – I basically use Keyword Academy style of choosing keywords for everything now including the content sites. I didn’t in the beginning and only started doing that this year, which means a lot of my old articles were not on the best keywords. I try to stay with keywords under 100 difficulty b/c I don’t do backlinks for the articles, so I am for easier keywords
I only write 3 articles a month for AC for a featured category position at the $10 each and that is it. I used to get partner calls all the time for $25, which is why the upfront payments average is so much
That is certainly an impressive hourly wage and proves that it is possible to make as much in residual income as a regular job. Imagine if you had put in 40 hours per week since June! Good luck with HubPages. I have had decent success there and it represents the largest portion of my income. Hopefully, you signed up under a referral so someone can derive some of the benefit from your work.
That’s such a good way of breaking down your earnings – and it looks like you are doing well. Good idea to be thinking about your goals at this point too, I’m seriously thinking what I’m going to be doing to build a passive income too (aside from my PLR website)
Kidgas – Yep I was pretty surprised at what the hourly rate was. The only problem I have with focusing on content sites more is that it’s controlled by other people. If they want to shut their website down they can and then I am out money. But I will enjoy it while I can!
Ruth – Thanks. I can’t believe it’s already the end of the year. It feels like just yesterday I was making my goals for 2010!
Aloha Tiffany, it’s a great plan and rooting for you and I hope you make great accomplishments with your formula. This is one of my weaknesses and I need to specialize in this field or get someone to do this. Glad I came by and thanks for sharing! Lanikee.com
PS.. come by and share a sweet comment. The benefits are sharing is caring. Mahalo!
Thanks Lani!
My Suite101 hourly is $25, but that’s down from the $30 that it was for about a year. I’ve been there for about three years, and having a few years of content behind you is a big help. My eHow hourly is now at about $33, and that will continue to go up over time. My HubPages is really picking up this year, and it’s looking like it will soon be about $12 an hour, and that will of course climb over time as well. The key to that one is really to play up the eBay affiliate links. It’s definitely worthwhile to find a couple of high-quality residual sites.
LS – Those numbers are awesome! Yep I expect my numbers to keep rising and will probably take another look at them in about 6 months to see how much they have gone up. I am really kicking myself now that I didn’t write more articles for eHow as my earnings keep increasing every month.
Tiffany -
You are too organized. My doctor said that was NOT good for health so I’ve decided NOT to organize…nor break down my hourly income…
I’m always impressed with how organized everyone is, the only thing organized in my life is my pantry. Otherwise it’s all a guessing game sorta.
That being said, thanks for the reminder of the money pages out there we really need to be leveraging (IMHO) – otherwise you’re missing opportunities.
Since using Magic Submitter and finding HubPages that way, and Squidoo – I have to say it’s a GREAT place to make an income (as long as you’re doing it the way that Dave and his wife from making money on the internet free dot info say to do – WOW)…
Actually, between Dave/his wife and Tracey Edwards…WOW. You’re covered in some serious tips (I’d really, really urge you to read their tips on Hubpages, I think it’s a waste of time the way most Hubbers do it, and if you break down the “success stories” on Hubpages, you realize that the “success stories” are NOT reading Dave and Tracey).
No offense, fellow hubbers. (I’ve managed to make some really nice sales on HP in a few months, it’s ridiculous how well they rank, and how well they can sell.)
Sorry for the long-winded comment, but I think you’ll love HP and just rake it in between that and Squidoo…and your own sites, of course! I’m really excited for your online success story (which you’re already in the middle of), and congrats on the new baby!
Thanks James, but I wish I was more organized. Actually IM is the only thing in my life that really has some organization.
I discovered Dave a little while back and have been slowly reading over his past posts and will def. look over the ones on Hubpages before I even attempt my first one. I don’t know if I want to get into Squidoo right now as I still have plenty of my own sites that need attention. So much to do, so little time!