Saturday, April 30, 2011

List My Five Update

In Mid April 2011, I joined List My 5. This hub reports on my experience so far on that site and talks of an experiment to bring fresh traffic to my List My 5 pages.
List My Five Update

Friday, April 29, 2011

Am I Not Getting Some Message?

There are times in one's life when it seems everyone is telling you something. Is this one of those times?
Am I Not Getting Some Message?

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Should a Man Wear a Wedding Ring?

I asked this question a few weeks ago, in part inspired by the announcement by Prince William that he will not wear a ring after his marriage to Kate Middleton this Friday.
What are your views?

Should a Man Wear a Wedding Ring?

Monday, April 25, 2011

Succeed as a Disabled Student

This Hubpage has been highlighted this week. Given my experience as a disabled student it seemed fitting to share some advice.
Succeed as a Disabled Student

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Is the Future of Internet Writing Going to Include the Hispanic Community?

The United States is at almost 80% internet usage today. That is four out of five people use the internet at anyone period. With this in mind it is easy to see why the US is falling in the indices whixh show internet usage growth. Latin America though has seen rapid growth in Internet usage recently.

I live near a large Hispanic community, here in California. It seems though that few people in that community see opportunity to break into the Hispanic market for writing.

I as an English only writer am competing against thousands of others in a US and worldwide market which has matured and is near saturation. There is a real opportunity in my mind for Hispanic article writers to expand into Latin America from here in the US and build a solid following.

The demand for Hispanic writers and their work will also have increased demand over the next few decades at least, here in the United States. By 2050 the Hispanic community is estimated by the US Census Bureau to be a majority community in this country. That community if it becomes bi-lingual in English and Spanish could dominate the internet publishing world for the whole hemisphere. That is exciting!

But what we need now is to encourage the Hispanic community at all levels to build a foundation of good writing. 

Look to the English market to level off in the coming years. People will always speak a form of English, from native to English as a Second Language at all levels. But I believe that speaking to a people in their own language is much easier on the internet. For this reason I would say to Hispanic and non Hispanic alike, now is the time to look to Latin America and the probable Hispanic majority US as a potential market for the next forty years at least.

We should begin to support Hispanic use of the internet today, supporting the networks of the future now.  While the market is open, not wait for the markets to fill and we have to compete on a uneven playing field that advantages others.

Saturday, April 23, 2011

When will I earn "Real" Money?

Probably the question asked most often by people looking to write online with sites like Hubpages and List My 5 is, "When will I earn 'Real' money?"

When I answer I try to be honest, there is no saying how much or how soon anyone will earn money, I can feel the disappointment in the room. Many see online writing as a quick fix, they need a hundred dollars to fix their car. They have heard of someone a friend knows who earns $20,000 a year for a minute or two, typing something on a computer which Google then plasters with ads that people click on and Google pays them lot's of money. They know this, their friend wouldn't lie about such things.

Their friend is not a liar. They just misunderstand. The person who earns $20,000 per year is not just taking a minute or two to publish one thing and earning money from that. The main portion of online income comes from residual income. That person might write one or two articles per week, have a catalogue of a couple of hundred older mature posts which are present and earning several dollars a month, it is not much compared to the headline thousands. But it is real money.

I always equate earning income from writing as like a singer songwriter who gets just one hit in their lifetime. Sure every recording sold or everytime their song is played on the radio they earn a few cents. Compare that singer to 'The Beatles' they wrote hundreds of songs, some they didn't record themselves but allowed others to use. Their hundreds of songs mean there is a chance that one of their songs is being played anywhere in the world at any particular time. They too earn a few cents per play or sale, but the sheer volume of cents rapidly builds to hundreds of dollars.

The beginner writer then needs to consider the long term, maybe a minimum of two to three years. In that time they will learn the trade of online writing, how to use links and publicize themselves effectively. As their portfolio of work grows they will see a gradual growth of income from cents to dollars. It all takes time though. The hundred dollars next week for the car repair may be a pipe dream, it may happen for a few lucky people, just like the one hit wonder of the singer/songwriter. But for most the slowly building catalogue that will leave you with lots of sources of residual income is the more common route.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Then the Ostrich Pooped!

Then the Ostrich Pooped!

A visit to the eye doctor,

Let's see.

Today I was reading an interesting list on List My 5; it suggests ways to write posts for the new Google Algorithm:

http://www.listmyfive.com/07fe54c2/The-Top-Five-Ways-to-Write-With-Google's-New-Algorithm-or-Apparently-So

Anyone interested would do worse than to read it. I didfind some of the ideas interesting and a little irritating if Google is dumbing down the internet.

I also took a try at trying to follow some of the suggestions in the post. My post followed misunderstandings around the St. Patrick's Day holiday and we will see if I got the key word thing right. So far over 50% of my viewers go to my list on holiday destination in the US, but somehow I think they may be looking for Disneyworld rather than my choices.

St. Patrick's Day List:

http://www.listmyfive.com/cd17abca/The-Top-Five-Misunderstood-Facts-About-Saint-Patrick

Tourist Destinations:

http://www.listmyfive.com/dd220d02/The-Top-Five-Travel-Destinations-In-the-United-States

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Latest Five

Yesterday I worked on a list of five eating places around Santa Cruz California, they also share the distinction of being within two or three miles of Highway one (Pacific Coast Highway or PCH).

See my list at:

http://www.listmyfive.com/67e042b7/The-Top-Five-Places-to-Eat-Around-Santa-Cruz-California

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

What posts are on my mind?

Writing seems such an easy thing to do some days. At the moment I have a few research ideas coming on.

  1. A Hub telling the story of the "Jayhawkers" and "Bushwackers" of the Kansas/Missouri border war from 1855 till the end of the Civil War (1865).
  2. Staying with the Civil War Theme a hub on CSS Alabama the Confederate States Navy Commerce Raider.
  3. A Hub on choosing a new puppy.
  4. Updates on my List My 5 experiment.

Today though is a rest day, I am taking things a little quiet just allowing my thoughts to circulate in order to see if a moment of inspiration might come.

Wait! I might have an idea. :)

Monday, April 18, 2011

So What is Hubpages?

Hubpages is an online publishing site, where you can publish a post or Hub on a wide variety of subjects.
I have been a member for almost two years now. For most of that time I did not publish. Mainly due to my workload, I was studying for a BA degree and working part-time too. With the increase of available hours I have resumed writing om Hubpages.

Hubpages uses a modular system of capsules from which you choose text, maps, affiliate programs such as Amazon.com and Ebay. About one rhird of the pages space is left for advertising from Google Adsense, and some in text advertising is allowed and supported by Konterra.com.

You can link to a variety of website or other Hubbers pages which increases your Hubkarma, a measure of how efficiently you are using the resources. Hubbers are also ranked according to how well huvs are judged by visitors. There are also several competitions for writing hubs every year, many competitions give cash prizes. There is currently a cash prize for the two best hubs published every day in April 2011.

When you first join, your hub score begins around 30 but can rapidly rise to 90, the gap between 90 and 100 (the maximum) seems much harder. Generally the higher your hubscore the more your hubs will be offered as links for others and so the more chance your posts will be visited by visitors and so increase the possible income from your hubs Google AdSense or Konterra accounts.

Hubpages is great fun as a platform for writers and many report residual income from hubs in excess of $1,000 after about three years of publishing. Hubpages is not a source of get rich quick cash but does provide opportunity for some long term cash generation.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Online Business: a New source of Cash from PPC?

Online Business: a New source of Cash from PPC?


Is there a new cash source for writers at List My 5?  Read my hub as to my exploration of their new site and see how easy it is to set up a new account.
Definitely worth a try.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Living with Disability: My Life with Blindness

Living with Disability: My Life with Blindness

It is hard to imagine the world of a visually impaired person. It isn't necessarily a world of blackness. One cannot close ones eyes and know what it's like to be blind.

Blindness is as individual as those who experience it. Some retreat from the world in an attempt to escape. Some step out to greet the world in all its variety. This is my experience of coming to terms with slowly becoming a new person, the Blind man known as William Elliott

Gettysburg Ghost Photograph?

This weekend I have published a photograph taken by me over the Columbus Day, holiday in 2002. The never before published photograph of what might be a Gettysburg Ghost.

You can find the picture on my Hubpage linked below. Please feel free to leave comments and vote on my poll at:

Gettysburg Ghost Hub

 Gettysburg Ghost on Cafepress