My friend, Marty, always seems to know how to find the bright side of things. And the eHow scam is no exception. So for your entertainment, I present Marty’s eHow Mirror Wars coffee mug and T-Shirt. Great gifts for yourself or that former eHow addict in your family. Marty has more of these funny eHow mugs and t-shirts at the Zazzle store itself, Continue reading →
The eHow UK Scam Continues to Grow
Did you think the eHow UK scam couldn’t get any worse? Well it has. And remember that train wreck analogy a few posts back where I said I couldn’t bear to watch? I peeked. And I’ll tell you what: A scam is a scam, and that’s what this train wreck is.
Now, the eHow forums, where members could at least discuss their questions and opinions until they were banned and/or censored, have eHow member-minions helping the scam along. The last couple of days, the suspected “secret forum moderators” (oh, please, tell me I didn’t just use that phrase with a straight face), have been throwing red herrings into the forum like it was Lent. Continue reading →
Google Video Explains Why eHow’s Mirrored Site is Not Good for Business
Okay, this video (thanks, Howie!) doesn’t refer to eHow specifically. It was released about five weeks after eHow launched their mirrored site in the US that they called a UK site so they could try to excuse themselves from paying for content they didn’t own.
But if it isn’t clear to you yet how and why the fake UK site hurt residual income writers, (besides the fact that eHow decided that it was right and moral not to pay for the duplicate writer-owned content), this video may clarify things for you a bit:
Social Bookmarking to Promote Your Articles
Social bookmarking really does work for promoting your articles. I learned this from a sharp eHow member “Write Now,” (Robin) several months ago, and have seen it consistently prove true over time.
I use Traffic Travis (a free download) to find out which social bookmarking sites, and which user-generated content sites rank highest for any given keywords, and then focus on promoting my articles using those sites.
For example, articles submitted to Stumble Upon often get more traffic than articles that were not “Stumbled,” Continue reading →
Chart to Compare Various Content Sites
I’ve nearly finished a comprehensive chart comparing the top content sites, and am posting a link to it here. Former eHow members need to know where to write, either for residual income, up-front payments, or both. I will update it soon.
I included Zazzle.com, although it’s not an online writing site, because it’s a great way to make money online. And if you want to write witty one-liners and add them to t-shirts and coffee cups, you can do that on Zazzle.
Comparisons include traffic data from Compete.com (as of two weeks ago or so when I started making the chart), whether the sites pay international writers, and whether they have forums, how they pay, etc.
The sites in yellow are the ones that I personally recommend. Continue reading →
eHow’s Lies, Promises, and Blaming the Victims
Warning: this is a very long post. It is intended to be used as background documentation for anyone wishing to confront Demand Media / eHow in or out of court to demand fair compensation for consideration received by eHow.
Scroll to the bottom of this post to find a support forum and additional blogs and articles about this issue.
Supporting documentation is posted throughout this site, and will be added to during the next month. Please ask if you need documentation that you cannot find, as I have access to deleted forum posts and screenshots that are not yet posted here.
So let’s call it the way it is: eHow and Demand Media stole thousands of members’ articles, promised to remove the stolen content and “generously” compensate their victims. eHow’s illegal and unfair practices were uncovered and pressure was brought to bear on eHow to remove the articles and compensate the writers, which eHow agreed to do. Continue reading →
The Unofficial Official eHow Dictionary
Maybe you’ve heard.
eHow announced today via a casually indifferent video blog post that it had heard the “chatter” and the “buzz,” and although they were “unable” to pay writers for the profits garnered from the “UK” site, they had decided to pony up “generously” via early-February payments to writers. Continue reading →
Let’s Talk About Options for Content Writers
Okay, now that we all know where NOT to write to make money, now what? Disillusioned writers ask me that every day, at least those who just realized that earning passive income can be a sneaky little oxymoron.
I’ve seen comments suggesting that writers who don’t like some of the more unsavory content sites go find “real jobs.” Well, many of us live in states where it’s tough—impossible even—to find jobs, and still others must work from home. Continue reading →
eHow is Spinning Out of Control
As Ian Lurie noted in his eHow expose today, eHow is deleting forum posts “in attempt at spin control.”
And it’s escalating. Continue reading →
Blogger Ian Lurie Calls eHow Out
Ian Lurie of Conversation Marketing just called eHow out. Big time.
Notable blogger and Internet marketing and content whiz, Ian Lurie, has called eHow on the carpet for their less-than-savory business practices during the past several months.
Ian called eHow’s terms of service, “bullshit,” their actions, “evil,” and summarily denounced them as bullies.
And all I can add is, “I CONCUR.”
Go read Ian’s blog.
