On Bukisa I have a network of close to 200 people (of which 10% of my folks actually placed articles on Bukisa). I earn a small daily amount from my Bukisa network. I have a little over 50 referrals on HubPages and of course, no referrals on DMS since they don’t have a referral program.

The Numbers…

For both Bukisa and DMS, I have to earn at least $10 during the month to reach payout.  Therefore, if I earn $9.99 I won’t get paid until the following month. HubPages pays directly through AdSense and I won’t receive an AdSense check until I earn $100.

With my DMS articles, I reached payout in July of 2010 and have done so every month since.  With Bukisa, I reach payout every other month. On rare occasions I earn over $10 in any one month. With HubPages…well, let’s just say that for the 10 months of this year, I would not have received an AdSense check if it were solely based on my HubPages income. As a matter of fact, my HubPages income is less than my Bukisa income.

Reading Between the Excel Spreadsheet Cells

If you read between the lines, my numbers tell me that I’ll get a better bang for my buck if I write a few Demand Media Studio WCA articles rather than post anything else on Bukisa or HubPages.

Although the DMS WCA articles seem to be performing the best, I’ll continue to add the occasional article on Bukisa and HubPages.  I guess I don’t want to admit defeat and would like to reach the minimum payout each month on a consistent basis. Since the Bukisa earnings are so small, they can go directly into a separate savings account. I could always use the money on my birthday for something special such as a spa treat (or half a spa treat).

Work on the Work

Just a note to say, I don’t work on my work once it’s done.  In other words, it’s very rare that I spend time socially networking my articles (I write too many in any given month to socially network them all and I’m lazy). I’m sure my Bukisa and HubPages numbers would increase if I spent time Digging, Xombing, Facebooking and Tweeting them, but I don’t.  I don’t socially network my DMS articles either.

Your DMS WCA, Bukisa, HubPages Experience

I’m interested to hear how well other folks are doing with Bukisa, DMS WCA and HubPages. Which one is working out best for you?

The one piece of information that impressed me is that they are now implementing stricter article guidelines. They will now reject poorly written articles that contain poor grammar and obvious self advertisement. Finally!

I stopped adding content to my Bukisa account for two reasons:

1. With all of the Bukisa spam going around, I was embarrassed to be associated with them.  The spam wasn’t Bukisa’s fault.  Bukisa spam was caused by some over zealous writers looking to earn big.
2. I read some of the articles on their site and was not impressed with the caliber of some of the articles written.

After reading the newsletter I decided I won’t kick Bukisa to the curb just yet.

I know that we are all looking for ways to earn money as freelance writers, but sometimes we have to pick and choose our publishers just as carefully as they pick and choose their writers. Although as an individual you may produce stellar, well written content, but if it’s placed on a site with a reputation for spam, it won’t do much to boost your writing credentials.

Just like with the eHow cleanup, I’m glad to see that Bukisa is taking the quality of their content seriously.

Here’s the scoop

Just like most of you, I’m always looking for new ways to make residual income. The upfront payment (you know trading time for dollars) is grand, but it takes constant work.

It’s sort of like sitting in a ship with 1 gallon of water seeping into the bottom of the boat every 3 hours. In order to stay afloat, I’ve got to bail out the gallon of water every three hours. I can probably take a rest of a day or so, but when I get back on it, I’ll have to work harder in order to stay afloat.

Well, the same thing with upfront payment. If I work like the dickens every day and write, write, write, write and write, I’ll get paid for my writing. Taking a much needed and deserved break from writing will only mean that when I get back to it, I’ll have to continue to write to keep my financial boat afloat.

Residual earnings are different. A strong base of residual articles is like a sealant for the hole in the ship. The more you write the stronger the seal. If you’ve been on this blog for more than 15 minutes, you’ve probably heard me ramble on about the benefits of residual income.

Back to My Main Point

Sorry for wondering off. The reason I’m writing for Today.com is because they pay a rather meager $1 per post per day (no more than $1 per day), but the post requirement is only 100 words. Man, I write more than that in my sleep. If I find I’m getting a bit long-winded, I can break the post into Part I and Part II and post them over a span of two days. Why offer $2 worth of work for $1?

On top of the $1 per day, I earn residual income based on page views (something like Bukisa). I chose a topic that I can write in my sleep (onlinewriting.today.com) so I won’t have to stress about what to write.

It takes me about 15 minutes to write, format and upload the post. It takes a little longer because I like to add pictures. So, for about 15 or 20 minutes of work, I earn a buck and residuals. I don’t think it’s too bad.

Today’s Referral Program

Today.com also has a referral program. You get paid for referring folks to sign up for an account. Currently they’re paying $5 for every qualified referred blogger. Among a host of other requirements, a qualified blogger must sign up and upload at least 10 posts within a 3-month period of time.

My Take on It

The way I look at it, I’ve created several other blogs. At least I know that with the blog I have on Today.com I’m guaranteed to earn money. Seems like a win-win situation to me.  If you haven’t tried it yet, why not give it a try?  If you are currently writing for Today, please share your experience.

Helping Others

eHow has a great online community. The forums are extremely helpful and I’ve learned much from my fellow eHow writers. They are a supportive and knowledgeable group of people. They also provide much needed humor when a pick me up is needed.

Their support usually comes in the form of reviewing and rating articles, giving tips and when needed some hand holding via the eHow forum.

Bukisa Support System

Bukisa is very new and so far hasn’t set up a forum. Therefore, in order to support your fellow Bukisa writers, the best you can do is rate their articles, leave comments and give them the page view boost that they need.

Here’s How Helping Your Network Helps You

I make it a habit to visit the profiles and articles of folks in my network. I review and rate the articles and I also take notice if the page views seem to be suffering a bit. I then look to see if the articles have been submitted to some of the social networking sites such as Reddit, Digg and Mixx (those are my first line of social networking defense). If not, I submit the articles for them.

While it may not make a huge difference as far as receiving additional traffic, it does give the article an immediate boost in traffic. Just enough of a boost to make a difference to their financial bottom line and give them the shot in the arm they needed to continue writing.

By helping people in my network earn money, I help myself. It’s the trickle down and then trickle back up theory.

Yesterday was the first time that I even “used” Twitter. Well, I didn’t really use it, I followed Bukisa’s Twitter link because it had the most updated information about their Terms of Service (There was a question as to whether or not authors retained full rights to their articles placed on Bukisa, and the answer is yes).

That was my one and only exposure to Twitter. It was a helpful experience, but I’m not quite sure if I need to Twitter. Maybe it’s because I don’t quite understand it so well.

Part of my concern is that I spend quite a number of hours on the computer writing, posting, emailing and following stats. I’m concerned that if I add Twitter to my daily routine, my family may never see me.

I’m just curious, do many of you Twitter? For those Twitterers, how has it been beneficial for you?

I’m still undecided as to whether or not to Twitter and am looking for input.

Thanks!