MakeUseOf is a cool site that offers how to’s, guides, downloads and shout outs to new and cool websites. It’s geared towards helping its readers make the best of the latest computer technologies. They cover Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems. If you’ve ever used a computer, I’m sure you’ll benefit from visiting MakeUseOf.

Writing Opportunities

MakeUseOf is looking for qualified writers. They don’t want folks who occasionally use the Internet and feel they can write a short blog post about the experience. They’re looking for bona fide computer people who go into apoplectic shock when the power goes out and all Internet connections are down.

They want techies that know their stuff and can explain it in such a way that a newbie can understand it.

For these gifts, talents, skills and abilities, MakeUseOf pays a minimum of $50 a post for starting authors. To that they will add an additional $10 if you write a post taken from their Story Ideas page. On top of that, if the post performs well, you may get a bonus (according to their site a hefty bonus).

Some Stats on MakeUseOf:

• Domain Name Registered: July 3, 2006
• Google page rank: 7
• Alexa Page rank: 992

I snooped around on the Internet and all info I’ve come across regarding this site has been positive. If I were looking to write for someone else, I’d definitely apply there.

If you currently write for them or have in the past, I’d love to hear your take on them.

Making the Decision

After the Panda algorithm change I spent a lot of time rebuilding my own residual income. I didn’t write for Suite because they were hit hard and financially it didn’t make sense to place more articles there. I had to spend my time placing articles where I could get the most bang for my buck.

In the meanwhile, I kept my eye on Suite and the changes that were occurring. There were a few things that I observed that helped me to decide to return to Suite:

1. Suite’s management is doing everything in their power to restore Suite 101 to its prior standings.
2. They showed that they value their writers by changing the bonus system, the minimum article writing requirement and the minimum payout threshold. Each of these changes makes writing for Suite a bit more attractive.
3. Most importantly, the earnings drop seems to have bottomed out and earnings seem to be picking up again.

Those three observations plus my long history in writing for the site were enough to help me make the decision to return as a Feature Writer.

During My Hiatus

During my hiatus from the site my articles earned a few hundred dollars. The last time I wrote an article for Suite was May 2011. Between May and October my articles continued to earn. Overall, my lifetime per article rate with Suite 101 is a little over $56 an article (I’ve been with them for 4 ½ years). That’s not a stellar per article rate, but not bad for online writing.

Because I like calculating my earnings based on the current year (can’t pay the mortgage on last year’s earnings), my current per article rate for 2011 is a little over $155 per article. No matter which way you slice it, I have little to lose and much to gain by returning to Suite.

My Freelance Writing Arsenal

My arsenal has reduced in size when it comes to online writing sites. Adding Suite back to my arsenal makes it the only non-owned content site I write for. At $155 per article, I’m willing to make the sacrifice.

Everyone’s experience at Suite is a bit different. On occasion I get the question, “Is writing for Suite 101 worth it?” I have a history with Suite and it’s definitely worth it for me. Is it worth it for a newbie? I still think it is. As I’ve mentioned before, the editorial feedback from Suite’s editors helped improve my online writing style. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be where I am today. That kind of feedback is invaluable.

UPDATE 10/18/2011:   After writing this post, Google released another iteration of its Panda algorithm.  Suite 101 came out on the bad side of this algorithm.  As a result, earnings have plummeted. Yesterday my earnings were $0.28.  You might want to wait until the dust settles before joining Suite.

Currently, Suite 101 and Demand Studios revenue share fall under the truly passive category for me. I haven’t written an article for Suite since May 4, 2011 and my last revenue share for DMS was written on January 4, 2011.

When I look at my revenue share earnings, I can only reminisce about the Demand Studio “good ol’ days” when we were able to submit writer-generated titles. In hindsight, I wish I wrote at least 5 or 10 more of them.

Comparing the Two Sites

I have 270 articles on Suite and passively earned $126.81 in the month of August. With Demand Studios, I have 9 revenue share articles and earned $122.98. My 9 articles with Demand Studios brought in $3.83 less than my 270 Suite articles.

It just goes to show how crazy this whole Internet journey is. I can say for a fact that the quality of my Suite 101 articles is far superior to anything I’ve written for Demand Studios. It’s not that I didn’t write quality for DMS, it’s just the nature of a How to article. There are some concepts that don’t fit within the confines of the How to structure.

Not Isolated Results

The above results are not a fluke. If you own several blogs on a wide range of topics, I’m sure you’ll find the blogs that provide the most well-thought out grass roots information pale in earnings when compared to those that promote a popular product, service or concept (there are a few exceptions).

I could earn a lot more money with a blog that promotes diet pills than I would with one that instructs readers to eat healthy, drink water and get plenty of exercise. The pill promoting blog would probably get a lot of spam comments while the other would develop a loyal following of helpful community members.

Always a Balancing Act

There is one thing I’ve learned about writing online. It is a constant balancing act. You’ve got to write to the masses in order to keep a roof over your head, but you also have to write from the heart in order to keep your soul replenished. It appears that this gal has a bit more replenishing to do.

Photo by Marília Florêncio Santos

Here’s a site that’s still under construction, but even while under construction, it provides more information than most sites (including my own). The name of the site is Entrepreneur Cure.

Check out their Employment Opportunities page and Pay per Task page.

The site hasn’t been updated in about a month, but I think it’s worth taking a look. What I like about this site is the job opportunities are not US and Canada only. The owner of the site lists international opportunities.

I couldn’t quite find out who is behind the site, but all I can say is, keep up the good work!

The sender’s address was Google AdWords <adwords-noreply@google.com>. At first I was a little concerned, but then I read the email carefully.  There were two things that struck me:

1. I don’t use Google AdWords
2. Just take a look at the grammar

There’s a hyperlink in the email that I’m sure will take me to a Google AdWords look-alike site if I were to click on it, but I’m not clicking on the link (and caution you against clicking on it too if you should receive such an email).

I tried reporting the phishing scam to Google using their suspicious email report form but received the following email auto response within minutes of submitting the report:

Hello,

We understand the urgent nature of your message and recommend that you
visit the Gmail Privacy & Security Help Center at
https://mail.google.com/support/bin/topic.py?topic=12784 for immediate
assistance.

If you’d like to report a Gmail user who has sent messages that violate
the Gmail Program Policies and/or Terms of Use, please fill out a report
form at
http://mail.google.com/support/bin/request.py?contact_type=abuse_phishing.
We’ll investigate your report and may send a warning or discontinue Gmail
service for users who violate our policies.

If your issue is not related to abuse, please visit our Help Center at
http://mail.google.com/support/ or click ‘Help’ at the top of any Gmail
page for troubleshooting tips.

Sincerely,

The Google Team

*********
This message was sent from a notification-only email address that does not
accept incoming email. Please do not reply to this message.

The response was a little disappointing since I’m not reporting  Gmail abuse.  Unfortunately, I didn’t want to spend the day going around in circles trying to report this phishing attempt, so it went unreported except for what I’m reporting here.