Is CPC Overrated When Deciding on Keywords?

When writing revenue sharing articles and researching keywords, CPC - the metric that stands for "cost per click" and, when using the Google AdWords keyword tool, represents the estimated bid amounts advertisers can expect to pay for keywords - may not be as important as SEO experts will tell you.  In my experience, CPC never jives with actual Google AdSense earnings, even after taking into account the 68% publishers get after the split, and I don't give it more than a fleeting glance when I do keyword research.

50 Reasons Writing Online Pays Better Than Regular Jobs or Print

There is no shortage of people who will tell you that writing for money on the Internet is a scam, sweatshop labor, unprincipled, selling out to The Man, and undervaluing yourself.  That's one way to look at it, I guess.  But I look at it differently.  Before I tell you the fifty reasons I think writing online is the greatest opportunity for people to earn money in a century, I have to qualify it:  It's not all perfect.

Oh, No, the SERPs Changed! Why Google & Bing Search Engine Results Devolve

I hear "I don't understand why my web page rankings have changed on Google Search" a lot from writers with revenue share articles.  I've asked the question myself.  What have I done wrong?  My article is great!  What's changed?  Why me? This is just wrong!

As I've learned, there are concrete reasons our pages get de-indexed or lose relevance to searches - algorithm changes, what I tend to call the "Google Shuffle," and other factors.  This post is not about those specific things.  Explaining the causes never really satisfies people, because what they really want to know is "How can I fix it?"  (And besides, I'm not a techie.  What I know about the making, breaking and changing of algorithms can be counted on one eyelash.)

This post attempts to answer the question, "How can I fix it when Google and Bing supposedly are improving their search engine - but now my wonderful page, which has been offering value all these years to visitors, is suddenly being ignored?"

Pros and Cons of Backlinks: Not Worth the Effort Anymore?

Writers or web content publishers who are also search engine marketers often tout the value of backlinking their own work.  I'm a maverick.  I think backlinks created for "link juice" are pretty valueless and getting cheaper daily.  I write web content for revenue share, and I don't systematically backlink, and my articles, many of them hosted at HubPages, don't do badly at all.  And I think I'm not alone.  I know, I know.  A lot of people swear by creating strategic backlinks.  But there's another group of people that don't touch the things and let the backlinks develop organically.  And it's looking like that may be okay.

Suite101 Scam? No, It's Not. You Just Can't Ignore SEO.

Many writers wonder whether Suite101 is a scam.  I've been writing for Suite101 for over 6 months, and I like it.  It's not HubPages; it's suited to different types of articles.  So is Suite101 a scam?  My answer is that it depends how you define scam.  Suite101 is a legitimate company and they have freelance writers with professional portfolios writing for them.  They ask for no investment but time.  They pay in a timely manner.  They have a solid reputation in the online publishing industry. But Suite uses one of the new earnings models known as revenue sharing.

Why Earnings Increase and Decrease So Crazily at Revenue Sharing Sites

Here are 20 factors affecting the rise and fall of earnings on revenue share articles (before you read this, read the introduction on page 1, 20 Non-SEO Reasons Earnings Go Up & Down at eHow, HubPages & Other Revenue Share Websites):

20 Non-SEO Reasons Earnings Go Up & Down at eHow, HubPages , & Other Revenue Share Websites

Writers often notice mystifying fluctuations in earnings while earning money with revenue share programs at websites like eHow, HubPages, Suite101, Squidoo, About, Triond, Helium, Xomba, InfoBarrel, and others. One day earnings are up, the next they're decidedly down.  This rise and fall happens even when writers write perfectly good SEO articles (search engine optimized).  Watching a radical decrease or even increase can be frustrating for writers trying to understand why they are earning the amounts they do - all the more so because the algorithm for calculating earnings is already shrouded in mystery at many of these article sites.