Why I Write for Multiple Sites

Anybody who has been following my fledgling internet career will know that I am writing for multiple sites.  I do this for multiple reasons and believe that it is a pretty wise thing to do.  Currently, I have content published on HubPages, eHow, Xomba, InfoBarrel, my own blog on making income online, Life123, and of course Triond.  I am doing this intentionally for the reasons that I will explain.  I am sure many of the more prolific writers will understand the logic, but for those starting out, this technique is very useful.

Diversify Income Streams

One never knows when a particular site might change its policies, owners, or payment structure.  I have not published for almost two-and-a-half months at eHow because the owners of the site instituted a fairly aggressive policy of sweeping through the articles and eliminating them from the site.  While I can only speculate as to the reasoning and motivation behind the changes, the result was that several writers lost many, many articles representing many hours of hard work.  Some of the articles lost were top earners and so the income could have represented a substantial portion of an author’s monthly wages if eHow was the main focus of his efforts.  Personally, I have only lost 5 articles from the site, leaving me with 38.  But I never want to be in the position of depending upon one site for the majority of my residual income.

Differing Methods of Payment and Writing Style

Some sites pay for ad clicks, some for article views.  Some sites will pay upfront while others will pay residuals.  Others may pay for a combination of both.  Depending upon your needs, you may choose upfront payments.  Others may prefer the possibility of longer term residual income.  The types of articles that I write for some of the sites may be different depending upon whether I am writing for views or AdSense.  Using multiple sites allows me to experiment with different article types for different sites.  If I ever decide to write poetry or fiction, some of the sites will accept those works while others won’t.  By being active in multiple locations, I can tailor my approach.  I am still in the process of figuring out what works best at each site, but the learning process is fun and profitable.

Use for Backlinks and Cross-Promotion

If most internet users are like me, there are about 20-30 different sites that I use routinely and that’s it.  Someone may frequent Triond while having no clue that HubPages exists.  I think it is safe to say that most internet users don’t know that my blog exists.  But, I would still like them to visit and read some of my other articles as well.  I know my writing isn’t the greatest or most entertaining, but I do try to provide useful and helpful articles the majority of the time.  Writing at various sites allows me to promote my blog and my other articles.  It also allows me to post backlinks which will ultimately help in the search engine rankings and even help increase AdSense earnings.  I am gradually seeing my total AdSense impressions increasing along with the earnings.  Developing an internet presence takes time and effort, and I am hoping that multiple sites will increase that visibility more quickly.

Use to Manage Time Efficiently

There are certain topics that I have to research and spend some time studying before writing an article.  By writing at multiple sites, I can take the same information which I have learned and address it in multiple ways.  This increases the potential audience as well as the potential for links as mentioned in the previous point.  I can write about a topic and then lead readers to another article for more information about that topic.  Who knows which article may end up being seen by the right individual and get a mention leading to some search engine love?  I certainly don’t.  Sometimes it can just be about being in the right place at the right time.  The more places you are, the better your chances that it is the right one.

These are a few of the reasons that I choose to write for multiple income sites.  You may have some good reasons of your own, and I would love to hear about them.  Feel free to comment.