I hope to revive this blog by filling it with passages of my journey in making money online. The best way for those working at home to advance is through the trials and tribulations of others, so I hope to lay it out all there for my readers. Hopefully, I can continue to work at home when my husband and I have children, so that I can spend more time with them and not have to pay day care costs.

- Showcase your abilites.

For these job bidding sites, people are coming to get quality work at the most affordable prices. These people are putting their money on the line to get what they want, but the majority will need to be swayed in regards that you are the best person for the job. Each of the job bidding sites allow you to create a profile and portfolio to present your abilities to the buyers. Having an empty profile will drastically reduce the changes of you landing a gig. It is important to fill every field of your profile, and upload several of your writing samples to the portfolio. If you don’t currently have any samples, sit down and write them. You have to be able to show these potential clients your writing talent before they will hire you.

-Bid Often.

Job bidding sites are a numbers game…one in which the more jobs you bid on, the more jobs you will win. Set a goal of how many jobs you want to submit your bid to each day, and stick with it. My personal goal was always 3, though sometimes I did more or less. The more you get yourself out there, the more likely you are to stay booked up with work. You can always turn down the less interesting/lower paying gigs in favor of the better ones.

-Present Informative, Interesting Bids

Few people will be able to land gigs by placing a bid along with a incredibly short “Let me have the job” line.  The option to add a message with your bid should be taken advantage of. I use this text box as a cover letter to be sent along with the dollar amount I wish to complete the project for. In the message, I outline my abilities as they pertain to the project, clarify my bid and the time it will take me to complete the job, and include anything else that could help me land the job. Have a general template that can help you speed up the bidding process, but be sure to tailor it to each job listing, as some buyers will ask specific questions to the writers. Sending a well thought out message will make you sound more interested in the project.

-Don’t Expect to Get Rich

Job bidding sites usually offer low paying gigs, which some people are okay with in order to get experience and clients under their belt. When I first got started, I didn’t realize people out there would pay $10-$15 or more for one article, so I thought the $5 rate I was working for was pretty darn good. If you are going to get your start on these kinds of sites, you cannot go in with the mentality that you will make top dollar for your abilities. Many of the buyers are seeking decent work for the lowest price possible. It is extremely possible that you will be outbid many times by someone who lives outside the USA and is willing to write for $1/article.

That doesn’t mean you can’t receive nice paying gigs on these sites. I’ve had clients from Scriptlance pay me $5-$8 per article or blog post. Nowadays, however, these projects are like a needle in a haystack. They are out there, but may be few and far between.

All in all, I wouldn’t recommend quitting your full time job to gain work off job bidding sites. However, they are beneficial if you are just getting started and are looking to expand your portfolio and gain some clients.

Last month, I did some keyword research for eHow articles, so I have titles ready. The articles just need to be written, which I plan to do this month. After I’ve completed them, I’ll do more research so that I will have more to write for September.

This month, I’m also going to be working on a personal project regarding the creation of an ebook. I am currently reading Tiffany Dow’s “Building an eBook Empire” and I feel it will really help me as far as passive income goes. Having your own products on the Internet is much more beneficial than just throwing up articles on eHow and other residual income sites.

So, this month’s goals like like this:

-Write 20 articles a week for Demand Studios.
-Write a total of 20 articles for eHow.
-Write 3 posts each week for this blog, which will include goal updates and the book reviews I’ve been meaning to get up on here.
-Finish reading Tiffany Dow’s book, choose a niche, and begin doing research (keywords, demand, needs, etc.).

What are your goals for August?

My week 4 total was $169.50…yes, a long way away from my weekly goal. However, I only worked 3 days last week. I did manage to do some keyword research, and have come up with titles for eHow articles I plan to write in August. I’d touch on that more in my goals post Monday.

Overall, July was a good month. I earned over $1000 in basically just 3 weeks, as I didn’t work a full week when we went on vacation.

The first is the “My Ratings” section that offers a score from 1-5 on the grammar and research of your articles. The second is “My Statistics” which displays the number and percentages of your articles that have been approved with no rewrite, approved after rewrite, abandoned, flagged, and rejected. I have heard these percentages are part of what Demand uses to determine which writers to let go. The last section is “Productivity” which shows how many articles you have written for the company each week.

Many people have expressed various opinions regarding this new addition. Some love feedback on their work, and are excited to be able to see just how well they are doing. I personally fall into this category, as I like knowing how I stand with the people I work for. Others, however, don’t care all that much. At this point, your ratings aren’t pertinent to how much you earn with the company. Maybe in the future there could be incentives to keep your ratings high? It’s a nice wish anyway!

What do YOU think about Demand Studios’ new writer scorecards?

Week 2 (July 9-15) – $313
Week 3 (July 16-22) – $41

I was on vacation from July 18-24, which explains the very low 3rd week.

Week 2 I was heavy on applying to private gigs, and week 3 I didn’t apply to any.

I’ve also not done any additions to my residual income last month, but with the last minute trip planned, I really had to focus on upfront pay to ensure we had enough spending money while at the beach. I’ll be updating Week 4’s goals tomorrow. Next month, I plan to do my weeks on a Monday-Sunday basis, as Wednesday-Wednesday is just too confusing.

The income was done by Demand Studios and Need an Article only. I still haven’t managed to get any private gigs, but I applied to 14 in the past week, so I’m hoping to hear back from at least a couple. I plan to follow up with the ones I was most interested in next week.

I also managed to get one website up for my personal affiliate marketing ventures. All in all, it was a productive week. This coming week, I’m going to do my minimum 25 Demand Studios articles and see if I cannot knock out any more. I’m also going to concentrate on doing some articles for Need an Article tomorrow and Friday, as their weekly cut off time isn’t until Friday at midnight.

This vacation  is a much needed break, as I have been working my butt off most of this summer. I say most because I have taken the occasional day off to be lazy or to relax by the pool.

I will try to keep the blog updated as much as possible before we leave for the beach, as I have plenty of ideas for posts that I really want to get on here. When I return, however, expect most updates from me!

So, should you scratch eHow in favor for other sites just yet? I’m currently at 16 articles with the site, and luckily have not lost any of my content. I am making about $8/month, which I know isn’t great, but some of the articles are rather new. Plus, I was planning to set a goal to add a certain number of new articles in July. Now, I’m not so sure I want to. For the moment, I believe I am going to wait it out and see how it goes for the writers who have lost their work…and also to see what eHow’s ultimate intentions are. Are they really trying to scrape their site of useless or repetitive content, or are they seeking to make more money by scraping all the high earning articles of other writers and replacing them with own writings?

What’s your thoughts on the current eHow scrape?

For this month, I hope to be more productive than I was in June. I got quite a bit of work done last month, but I could have done a lot more. Not much planned for this month except for some celebration this weekend for the 4th and a trip to North Carolina for a Nickelback concert at the end of the month, so I have plenty of time to knock out my goals!

So, my goals for July:

• Write a minimum of 25 articles a week for Demand Studios.
• Apply for 3 writing gigs each weekday.
• Secure 2 private clients.
• Earn $400 each week with writing.
• Create 2 new sites related to personal affiliate marketing projects.
• Submit 20 articles for each affiliate marketing website.

I’m a little iffy on setting a goal for eHow this month…you’ll see why in a post coming up tomorrow.

What goals are you setting for July?