With a name like Prayables, I was hoping (and praying) that it was legit. Before I even went to look at the site, I did my usual Who is, Alexa and Google Page Rank check. Here’s what I found:

Prayable.com Basic Internet Information

The domain name was created a little over a year ago on December 4, 2009. The Alexa page rank is 842,340 and the Google Page Rank is 0.

To me, the most important of the above statistics is that the domain name was registered a little over a year ago. Although it’s a new site, its development has been in the hopper for a while.

If Prayble.com were paying on a residual basis, the Alexa and Google page ranks might be of concern, but they’re not paying based on residuals. They’re paying a flat fee of $10 per accepted piece.

Now to the Writing Opportunity

Here’s a portion of the email I received from the Director of Public Relations for Prayables.com.

NEW: Submit Original Features

The Features section will include news articles that cover a variety of topics. This “prayer journalism” will keep the Prayables community informed and engaged. To build the collection, we are seeking submissions that fall under the categories listed below. Articles should be around 500 words, though word count should not dictate the content. Longer articles, in particular, will be accepted. We’re looking for high quality content. This means there should be engaging information, proper use of grammar and spelling, and a clear voice present throughout the piece. Submissions should be made as word documents. If approved for publication, you will be paid $10 via PayPal for each article.

The Faithful Feminist: Thoughtful articles that analyzes prayer and faith-based traditions as they apply to women’s rights, feminist concepts and strength for women. Should portray the practices in a positive light. We need content from a variety of religious practices. The tone should be reflective, insightful, fairly light. Examples might include commentary on the significance of the choice to wear a hijab, the Mother Mary as a feminist figure, or the archetype of the Jewish Mama.

Prayer for Reason: Analyzes prayer as a tool in international events. We need content from a variety of religious practices. These articles should be journalistic in nature- a reporter like tone. Examples might include reporting on the prayer vigils held for the passage of the DREAM Act or the call of Jordan and Lebanon for a prayer movement to bring rain.

Interfaith Works: Heartfelt reporting on the campaigns and projects of interfaith organizations across the world. Should take on a human interest feel and be light-hearted in nature. Should include interviews with beneficiaries of the groups as well as group members. Examples might include food drives or lobbying campaigns.

Mommy Moments of Faith: Anecdotes about mommyhood and how it has inspired moments of prayer or faith. Content should be humorous, and borderline irreverent. These are personality pieces. Examples might include how a child’s funny prayer inspired your own or how one of their tantrums made you realize that you throw some of your own.

Healing Hearts: Human interest pieces that tell the story of individuals in trying circumstances for whom prayer made a difference. Tone should be heartwarming, narrative based and include certain elements of humor. Examples might be how prayer helped a daughter cope with the loss of her mother, or how prayer helped a family impacted by the recession cope with adjusting a scaled back lifestyle.

Send your articles to Managing Editor Amanda Rinker for consideration. Please specify which feature you are writing for and submit your work!”

International Writers

Since Prayables pays via PayPal, I would think that international writers would be accepted as long as PayPal is available to them. However, rather than make that assumption, I sent an email to Prayables for clarification. As soon as I receive a response, I’ll update this post.

Just curious, has anyone worked with this site before?  If so, please share your experience.

Update:

Lauren Nelson from Prayables was kind enough to provide a quick response to my email.  Here’s additional information on international writers and the payment schedule:

• International Writers: “This IS open to international writers. Our mission is multi-faith oriented, and including international writers goes a long way to help that.”

• Payment Schedule: “Invoices go out every first and third Friday of the month. The writers then respond to confirm that the invoice is correct, at which point they are paid. Usually, if they respond that Friday, they get paid that Friday, and by Monday at the latest. It is all up to the writer to confirm the invoice though. No confirmation, no pay.”

She suggested that I do a review and write a post about it here on NJFM. I thought about it and then realized that Crystal is a good writer and has sound judgment. I then suggested that she do the review instead. So, instead of reinventing the wheel here at NJFM, go to Crystal’s site The Best 50 Years and read her review on Writing for Dollars.

After reading her review you should check them out.

Of course after a momentary celebration, I had to take a more detailed look at how I did it and how I should approach this residual writing stuff going forward.  Here’s how I got there this year:

• eHow 49%
• Suite 24%
• Google 16%
• Infolinks 4%
• Text Link Ads 2%
• Amazon 1%
• Chitika 1% (I’ve since dropped Chitika)
• Affiliate sales 2%
• Kontera, Orato and AdBrite 1%

Earning $20,000 in residual income is especially exciting considering how much it cost for me to do it.  My top two money makers cost $0 to join.  Most of the rest of my income is tied into my own sites which cost me about $100 per year in hosting and $10 per domain name (I’ve registered about 5 domain names this year and only used 2). When I renewed my existing domains last year, I renewed them for multiple years so I didn’t incur the expense this year.

So far in 2010, I spent about $150 (although, this doesn’t include purchasing a new USB headset when my other one crapped out on me a couple of weeks ago).  When I compare my current expenses to the expenses I incurred driving to a part-time job 5 days a week, I’ve got to say that quitting that part-time job and working from home was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. After all, the part-time job only paid $8.38 an hour.

My Goals Going Forward

It is quite obvious after looking at the percentages that I’ve got a lot of work to do. I need to balance my numbers a bit more and add one or two more revenue sources.  In addition to more diversification, I need to beef up my numbers all around.  By increasing everything else, my eHow percentage will have less of an impact on my income. I’m not comfortable with them being the lion share of my revenue source.

I also want to invest in my money making resources.  I need to do things like upgrade my computer software, blog themes and some of my computer hardware.  My existing software/hardware has done a fine job in getting me to where I am, but I’d like to ramp things up a bit going forward.

In addition to the physical ramping up, I’ve got some mental ramping to do.  I’ve got to spend more time studying, learning and improving on what I’ve done in the past three years.  The Internet is constantly changing and if I want my earnings to grow (I’m still aiming for $10,000 per month in residual income), I’ve got to change along with it.

Well, there you have it, $20,000 in residual income.  If I can do it, I KNOW you can too.

Tiger reached the pinnacle of the golfing profession. I’m no golfer and learned more than I cared to learn as a result of being surrounded by men who love to golf and watch golf. Whether or not I was a golf fan, I knew about Tiger Woods’ rise to the top, his public fall from grace and now his attempts to rebuild himself, his life and eventually his career.

What I Learned from Tiger’s Apology

I watched his apology and decided to apply a little Tiger to my life.  I know there are folks who thought he was sincere and others who thought his apology was contrived and staged. Everyone is entitled to his own opinion.

What I expect will happen is Tiger, in true Tiger form, will stay out of the limelight, focus on what needs to be done and achieve his goal. He didn’t get to be the world’s best golfer by listening to what everyone else had to say about him. He had to block out the noise, set his goals, focus and work hard until he achieved his goals.

Freelance Writing

Ok, now is when I bring this rambling around to freelance writing. No matter what you do, you cannot please everyone all of the time, so don’t try. As a freelance writer you have to do your research, block out the noise, set your goals, focus and work hard until you achieve your goals.

The folks who are busy making money and becoming successful don’t have time to get caught up in negativity, speculation and theories. They spend their time working hard achieving their goals.

There are two types of folks; there are those that do and those that talk about doing. In Tiger’s case, I believe he’s a doer (no pun intended). The rest of the folks who love to talk about his situation, complain about his apology, rehash his transgressions and so on will be doing just that years from now…talking about it.

The same goes for freelance writing. Some folks write and make money, others complain about lack of opportunities, low wages, scams and so on.

Only Time will Tell

A couple of years from now, where will Tiger be? Will he be talking about making a recovery or will he be at the top of his game?

A couple of years from now where will you be? Will you be talking about trying to earn money as a freelance writer or will you be at the top of your game?

I don’t have a crystal ball, but I’m betting that Tiger will be at the top of his game. What about you?

Anyway, not feeling like doing much writing today, I decided to relax with a cup of coffee, a muffin and my laptop. Everyone is still asleep so I can wander aimlessly around the internet uninterrupted. In my aimless wandering I came across Willow Sidhe’s blog, The Freelance Home Writer.

Honestly, I’ve been to this blog before, but had not spent enough time reading all that Willow has to say. I know many of you are avid readers of her blog and I can see why. If anyone is serious about becoming a freelance writer and is looking for online opportunities, Willow’s blog is the one to follow. She gives in depth reviews, personal experience and sound advice.

It’s obvious that Willow takes freelance writing seriously because it shows in her work. She also has a passion for helping other writers. After all, her blog’s tag line is “Helping writers find real, legitimate, freelance writer jobs to produce a steady income online,” and that’s exactly what she does.

After reading this post, mosey on over to Willow’s blog. You won’t be disappointed. I’d give her blog 3 thumbs up if I had three thumbs.