As you know, I’ve been doing a lot of research lately trying to find the “next eHow” – I guess you could say. I’ve analyzed what makes a good revenue sharing site and also went into detail about some of the top choices available to you, looking closely at each of the sites’ traffic stats and trends.
Well, I think I’ve found the site I’m looking for. It’s not the top ranked site, and may not be the most popular right now, but to me it seems like there is a lot of potential here. Which site am I talking about?
InfoBarrel has caught my attention for a number of reasons:
Quick Growth
Like I mentioned before, InfoBarrel is not the top traffic generating site, but it is the fastest growing. Here’s a look at their growth ever since they started accepting articles:
This is the sign of a healthy and thriving website. It seems like if you sign up for InfoBarrel and start contributing articles now while they are still young and growing, you could potentially earn quite a bit if it does become a powerhouse revenue sharing website.
Earnings Potential
Jason Mayer, one of the top contributing members of InfoBarrel, is pulling in more than $1000 a month from his articles. It might not seem like that big of a deal since many authors from other established sites such as eHow, HubPages and Squidoo are pulling in the same amount, but the fact that he’s earning this much from a young, now PR4 revenue sharing website is almost unheard of. And I know he’s not the only one pulling in a good amount of earnings.
Just imagine what their earnings will be like if/when InfoBarrel gets to PR7. Time will only tell if that will really happen, but it would suck to look back later on and realize that I missed a great opportunity for a long term passive income stream here.
Buzz
Not only do the numbers and stats provide me with a good indication that InfoBarrel is a great site to write for, but buzz from other people around the web tell me so as well.
Even discussions on eHow about where people are writing (now that eHow’s Writer’s Compensation Program is done for) say that people are having a good experience with InfoBarrel so far.
Transparent, Friendly and Responsive Ownership
Not too long ago, I contacted Ryan McKenzie, one of the owners of InfoBarrel, to get his thoughts on a number of questions I had about IB since I was already somewhat interested in the platform. Well, a day later I got a video response to my questions, which was awesome.
Below is Ryan’s video (edited to under 10 minutes for YouTube) that goes over a number of questions that I’m sure a lot of you are wondering too. A transcript will be available very soon, which I will including underneath the video once it’s finished:
(InfoBarrel Interview on YouTube)
Although InfoBarrel is still fairly new to the scene, I personally feel like they are the next big player that I want to get in early with. I can only imagine how much money those people who got into eHow, Squidoo and Hubpages early are making passively now.
It is a small gamble, but based on my research this entire week, I’m confident that it will bay off. If you’re interested in writing for InfoBarrel too, I’ll see you there!
Cheers!
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{ 81 comments (Click Here to Leave a Comment Below) }
This whole post made me smile – I love the guys at InfoBarrel and it’s good to see it growing and making an impression on people like you Pat. I’ve been writing for InfoBarrel since November 2009 and love it there more and more every day.
In terms of income (you don’t need give specific figures if you don’t want to), how well have you done with InfoBarrel so far?
I will definitely be signing up for this and giving it a serious go. Thanks for the detailed info Pat. First class stuff all the way.
I’ve done well with HubPages, eHow, DS revenue shares, Suite101, AC and still more, but InfoBarrel has been one big fat goose egg. I have to say it’s the very worst of the bunch. With every site I’ve made something, from great earners to ones that are just so-so. But with InfoBarrel? Not a nickel. I don’t recommend them right now. Maybe in a year or two if they gain a better page rank.
LS,
In response to your comment, I would make ask a few questions with regards to exactly WHY your articles aren’t earning…but, I would also take a few considerations, as well.
As Pat had mentioned, Info Barrel is currently a PR4 website, which does directly correlate to the amount ‘effort’ that will have to be exerted in order to rank your articles–just because Info Barrel doesn’t quite have the pre-established search engine authority as websites like HubPages or Squidoo.
I can tell you though, and it’s refreshing that Pat picked up on this amazing trend, that, of the 20+ similar website platforms I have researched (with varying payment models, etc), Info Barrel emerges above most in every catagory, from it’s revenue share arrangement, responsive staffing, treatment of do-follow/no-follw links, community, allowance of international writers, a sound quality control process, etc.
This is precisely why Info Barrel is growing at the rate that it has been as of late.
As your articles grow and mature on Info Barrel, they will be pure gold when this is a PR7 or 8 site, as Pat had mentioned. Their revenue share model, in fact, is so solid that I do anticipate that other websites/companies will be forced to innovate in order to just remain competitive with them. Survey the Info Barrel community and you will see how many people have gravitated their FROM the eHows, HubPages, Xombas, Bukisas, and Squidoos of the world.
On another note….before I could make a judgment, I would ask several questions with regards to why your articles aren’t earning, and I don’t mean to be a jerk about it. While this website is PR4, it WILL require a strong adherence to solid SEO and LSI principles. The good news is, though, if people begin to master these principles now, their articles will be absolute pure gold when this site is ranked much much higher.
Here are some things I would ask to get to the bottom of your earnings:
1) When did you begin submitting articles to Info Barrel? In the natural evolution of these sites, articles that are submitted early will be difficult to earn from, however, they will have matured the most when the site is PR7 or 8.
2) How many articles have you submitted? While I am a firm believer that it isn’t necessarily the QUANTITY of articles you submitted, but, rather, the quality of articles you submit, having 3 or 4 articles may not not manifest into very much right away. Even as a PR4 website, as you apply SEO and LSI, it is entirely possible that single articles could earn consistently in excess of $30+ per month. Of my 240+ Info Barrel articles, most of my earliest articles earn little to nothing, while some of my more recent ones are earning ALOT more per month. I have seen established gurus over on eHow, come to Info Barrel, submit 5 or 6 articles, have them fail to earn significantly, and then report back that things are hopeless at Info Barrel.
This is exactly why what we teach is so valuable and significant.
3) What kind of SEO and LSI considerations have you given to your articles? Like I said, master these things now, and you have the opportunity to earn significantly under a (transparent) revenue share model where the owners are extremely responsive to users questions and concerns. Growth will happen, but it’s just a matter of whether people will begin writing now or hold out until it is a PR7 website. I would HIGHLY recommend that, while you diversify, you at least allocate some articles to Info Barrel “just in case”. This is like a killer stock, and you are fortunate enough to have found it at the ground floor.
Is InfoBarrel any good for backlinks traffic generation to your own website?
Info Barrel is great for backlinks. They allow two backlinks in the article and you can include one in your signature box. Best part of the backlink is that it is a dofollow link. That is a rare find in revenue sharing sites.
Thanks for that Jennifer, seems like InfoBarrel has everything going for it then!
Hi Pat,
Thanks for introducing me to info barrel. I can see some obvious benefits already. I hope you have a great weekend! Mike
I’ll have to give them a look. eHow is cool but there are lots of limits on your writing style and what you can do. Also, I really want to build up my own brand, and eHow didn’t seem to be the way. I would like to work with a site that lets me promote myself even as I am promoting them.
Hey pat,
!!
Thanks for the info about InfoBarrel. I am defiantly going to check out. Thanks
Excellent stuff as always, Pat. I will be looking into InfoBarrel this weekend.
Pat,
Here is another graph that your readers may be interested in. I extracted 4 other websites, from your list of 13 two posts ago….the other 4 are more evenly ranked to Info Barrel, but, with further analysis one can deduce, along with research, that other websites just don’t have the platforms offerings and functionality that Info Barrel has….
http://i46.tinypic.com/sqth7p.png
Yes, if you did the same thing comparing Info Barrel to the Squidoos and HubPages of the world, Info Barrel wouldn’t look quite as impressive….they have pre-established search engine authority simply from having been around longer, and with that time, they have been able to attract users, develop a huge database of articles.
There is huge huge money to be made with Info Barrel, and those who get in on the ground floor stand to earn the most in the long run….like you said, Pat….just like those people who were the first to begin writing for HubPages or eHow or Squidoo….
Thanks Pat for the detailed analysis.
I am new to article marketing but of late started to write for Hubpages.
And now that I find an outstanding alternative I will definitely sign up.
This may be perhaps to basic to ask but…do I write articles that are directly related to the website I am trying to promote (though backlink) …or better what are the best practices for article marketing generally.
Thanks again!
Carey,
There are so many elements to and opportunities on a site like Info Barrel. If you have your own website or blog, rather than post a link in your actual article, I would recommend using your “Author Info/Profile” section to do that for a variety of reasons….
You can literally monetize so many aspects of this site….to anywhere your visitors eyes may drift, you can monetize. There are many strategies to increasing your CTR on your Google Adsense ads, but, on the same token, you can monetize via Chitika, Amazon, and I’d also recommend even signing up for Clickbank, Linkshare, and Commission Junction, so that you can place contextual affiliate links (per Info Barrel’s TOS)….
When promoting your own site, I’d simply leave that to your “Author Info” section…..
(I hope I understood your question….hm….and, I apologize, to Pat, for stepping on his feet here…)
I, too, also really appreciate the analysis that Pat has put into this. I truly believe he has unveiled something great here, and it speaks very highly of his care for his readers…..the effort exerted to REALLY identified a huge huge trend in article marketing.
If you have any more questions, Carey, if Pat doesn’t mind, I’d be more than willing to help out where I can!
Thanks Pat, I have just been having a browse at Infobarrel and I am going to give it a go. Although I have used submitted articles to generate traffic in the past, I’ve never tried anything like this so it will be interesting to see what happens…
Hey Pat,
Thanks for the review and tips. My account is active the first article is on and its added to my article list. I use Monday as my article scheduling day I usually post about 5 to 10 per week.
Thanks for the top info Cheers
Dan
Hi Pat, I guess you proved to me the statistic of “you have to see something an average of 7 times before becoming interested” and while I wasn’t interested in eHow or other revenue sharing sites before I started reading your blog, the recent flurry of posts around it is definitely starting to peak my interest!
Also, it’s interesting to see the advice “give without expecting anything in return” put into practice and WORKING with Howie’s situation. He was posting high quality comments on your blog without expecting so much as ONE visitor to a website (because he didn’t provide one) and now he’s got your attention and has a high traffic website promoting his new product!
He was providing value without expecting anything in return, and got something MUCH better than a few clicks to his website from a comments link.
Thanks again for a great post Pat, I’ll definitely have to check out Info Barrel and possibly Howie’s product as well.
Thanx Pat for excellent detail review of infobarrel. Looking forward to start with infobarrel
but is it available for International authors? I mean I am from India So can I join it? and what about their revenue sharing?
Pat, I’m impressed with how in-depth you’re going with these writing platforms/sites. I’ve read a lot of Howie’s comments since he leaves them here a lot.
I even remember when he was putting together the sales page, as I had a few questions then. I’ll be keeping my eye on iB.
The only reason I haven’t written for InfoBarrel yet is because I belong to a forum at wahm.com and this guy kept spamming the forum in favor of InfoBarrel. It left a really bad taste in my mouth. Last year, around November I think, I had just started writing for eHow and went to the forum at wahm.com for information (I also used the eHow forum). Every time someone asked a question about eHow, this guy, soldierxx or something, would say the nastiest things about eHow and then try to spam his InfoBarrel eBook. He made anyone who wrote for eHow feel like crap. I hated it because I just wanted my questions about eHow answered. This guy was annoying. I could never get the information I wanted because this guy would turn the forums into a shouting match. I don’t know if the same guy that wrote this eBook you’re promoting. I don’t think so but if it is, I wouldn’t trust him with all the spam he was spewing. Anyways, I might check out InfoBarrel just because you recommend it Pat and I trust you (which is weird because I’ve never met you) but I’m leery of the site. I’ll probably try Studio 101 first. I see the mostly positive reviews about them.
Is this the “Maria” (aka ‘Writergig’) who wrote the eHow eBook? (If so, we have ALOT more issues to address)
Realizing what had occurred to many eHow writers, I gave it away…yes, GAVE it AWAY….to many writers….after doing that, I proceeded to sell many books for only $10.
You don’t think something is inherently wrong when a website and it’s management flat out lie and deceive its members repeatedly? And, I am the bad guy for pointing these things out?
“….but I’m leery of the site.”
You took a huge shot at my reputation and credibility here, and now you are “leery” of a website that does just about everything differently (and better) than eHow.
1) Days would go by without even so much as a response from eHow staff. Many could relate to this treatment….even in the days leading to the closure of their WCP, writers were lied to…flat out lied to about this potential. Their community managers were entirely disattached on so many levels.
2) Even though Google Adsense’s TOS would say otherwise, this site, for the longest time, continued to operate like a scam….intentionally failing even to share with writers the % of revenue distribution. People would sign up, submit content in mass, yet still have absolutely no idea how much revenue they received. It was great that they manufactured huge earning case studies in the early days of the website, however, most people’s results were not like that….and, if we delved deeper, we could even make the argument that, under this veil of secrecy, earnings ‘could have’ even been applied inconsistently in order to subtly maximizing revenue.
3) This is the same company that manufactured a cloned UK website, without any intention to even compensate the article orginators who initially authored them.
http://www.innovativepassiveincome.com/ehow-uk-site-is-not-paying-us-writers/
….is what I am ‘spewing’ SPAM because you don’t want to hear it? And, why can’t I warn people? (Few others, especially those selling books, took any kind of stance against what this criminal organization was doing)
I would NOT turn this on me, especially when this website and company have a tainted history of outright lying, deceiving, and stealing from, their writers.
I don’t think the shots to my reputation are either fair, nor founded, and I believe you owe me an apology.
P.s. My course took almost 6 months to write, and I maintained absolutely transparency throughout the development of the entire thing: leaving period status updates each step of the way, as Pat had linked to in this blog post. I peddled Info Barrel (and, can you now see why?), but never recall ever ever beginning a thread about my course, except, I believe, I had offered to give it away for free to those who were struggling and who had felt lied to and cheated. For roughly a few days, I had linked to it through my signature space there, however, even though many people linked to their books and blogs and websites, for some reason, it wasn’t tolerable for me…..I removed it, and have since posted there.
A public apology is in order. Thank you.
No, that “Maria” was not me. This is the first I have seen this post. I suppose I am not the only Maria WAHM … darn. And if I was trying to post anonymously, I wouldn’t use my real name.
“….would say the nastiest things about eHow and then try to spam his InfoBarrel eBook. He made anyone who wrote for eHow feel like crap.”
I need to write more here, because your approach with this isn’t really fair to me, and it leaves alot of gaps, for assumptions, to Pat’s readers. There is a historical context here that many who are new to eHow just may not see it.
At the time of my ‘spamming’ the forum, many people, besides myself, were justifiably upset with what had been occurred at eHow. To give a more tangible example, for instance, someone would inquire about how much revenue share was shared on eHow, or whether or not writers would be (fairly) compensated for their cloned original articles, that appeared on their UK site, without any forthought to compensating, in the first place, when that respective website was launched.
This is flat-out stealing, and, not only were writer’s being stolen from, but, this went on for months before a small handful of people began making a big deal about their cloned UK articles (that they WEREN’T being paid for), appearing higher in search engine results (for a variety of reasons), than their residual original articles (that they were paid for). What arose was some serious debate about their TOS….because, when one scrutinizes it, it does afford eHow with the basis to completely replicate all their content, and host it on ‘cloned’ websites, while not giving writers any compensation whatsoever for the use of their writing.
Do you honestly believe this is OK? You don’t believe writers had grounds to be just a little upset?….Debate raged regarding whether these actions were sound and if eHow’s TOS would hold up in a court of law.
http://www.whatsgoodblog.com/2010/02/ehow-lawsuit-hands/
http://writefierce.blogspot.com/2010/02/ehow-compensates-writers-for-uk.html
This stuff can be found all throughout cyberspace….
Yes, I was ‘passionate’, but I didn’t lie nor did I SPAM….I responded to real questions with real answers, based on facts, research, and even .PDFs of deleted forum posts that, at the time, were written by concerned writers who had become keen to what had occurred.
“He made anyone who wrote for eHow feel like crap.”
The question is…did you “feel like crap” because of what I said, or because it was hard to evade the reality of what was occurring there? Many off-color similarities could be made to those who treat certain people badly, but, because you have an affinity to them (no one in particular), you continually keep going back for more, even though all the warning signs have been there for years. The closure of eHow’s WCP was forseen for months, but even a week leading up to it, their management had flat-out lied to their loyal writers about it.
I own both the e-How and the Info Barrel e-Books. Without a doubt, the Info Barrel purchase was a much better choice and I did not even purchase it at the discount rate. I bought the book in late April and I’m still learning from it. Best of all, it’s full of facts not fluff. Thank you Howie and JC.
InfoBarrel sounds really interesting. But I also wonder if it is available for people outside the US
Julius,
Info Barrel is available for international writers, as well. Do you have an Adsense account?
I’m confused. You (Howie) are a part owner in the InfoBarrel site but rather than help your members write better articles which in turn will help you make more money you choose to sell a product that teaches people how to do it?
If I were the owner of InfoBarrel, I would want to give that information away freely so that my members can make more money for me. Don’t you think the whole idea of selling a product seems a little counter productive?
Edit: Also, Howie email me via my website I want to ask you a few other things as well.
Howie isn’t an owner of Infobarrel, he’s just a very enthusiastic, hard-core member.
lol – I misread the title of the YouTube video. I thought it said Infobarrel Interview with Howie…
Ok things make sense now. Feel free to delete comments if necessary but in either case I’d still like to talk with Howie.
Pat can you pass me over Ryan’s contact info? I don’t see it easily on the site.
Just sent you an email, Chris…via your website….
I apologize for the LENGTH of the email….lol….(I’m rarely short winded, and sometimes I go off on tangents)
Chris,
I’ve been writing for Info Barrel since August of last year, when I caught on to some serious trends with Info Barrel’s growth…that was about the same time that I found Pat’s blog here….
I spent a good 5-6 months writing this course, with a partner, because we had simply identified a massive need–and, quite honestly, many products that have been released contained sub-par material, hashed out seemingly overnight, that provide very little of substance. I saw these books selling in excess of $30 for 20-30 pages worth of double-space material….
Just ask Pat…there is a HUGE difference between the information, and personal experience and strategies, that we have provided. Our course was well over 500 pages long, at least until we significantly shorted it and single-spaced it all, simply because, well, had it been 500 pages, it would have been quite tedious to print out. We had wanted to construct an ‘authority’ course, and I truly believe we were successful. This wasn’t something that was constructed overnight….
….In our defence, Jason and I DID write in excess of 600 articles (many of my articles are of 1,000+ words long), and we shared ALOT of our experiences and strategies in those very articles. Unfortunately, we found ourselves needing to do ‘more’….
We KNOW what we are doing, and our earnings reflect that. The reason our earning’s are so significant is because we are doing with a massively growing PR-4 website what few people are even able to do with a PR7 or 8 website that has significantly more search engine authority.
Yah, I wasn’t attacking you. I was just confused why the owner of Infobarrel would sell a product on how to make more money on the service (but that’s before I realized that you didn’t own the website and that I simply misread the title of the YouTube video)
No worries – responding to your email now
lol…sorry about my response here, Chris, and any harshness that shone through in my email….I’ve been reading your blog for the last 30 min or so, and, I must say, I really enjoy it….between your blog, VBL, and SPI, that’s some quality reading….
Thanks for the info Pat. A lot of detail in it. I had a look at Infobarrel and it looks interesting.
I segned up for an account and will give it a go, when I am not writing on the fishing site.
sorry about the typo it should be I signed up.
Hey Pat,
I didn’t see a promo code place on the shopping cart, where might it be? I would love to take advantage of the discount. Who wouldn’t?
Rasheed
Rasheed,
It is 3 days after Pat first posted this. It has expired.
Thanks for introducing us to InfoBarrel Pat, and thanks to Howie for spending time answering some questions.
I have concerns with these revenue-sharing services – There’s nothing to stop them deciding to change the TOS to 50% instead of 75% at a whim; even with 300+ of my articles. In fact, there’s nothing to stop them stopping the revenue sharing altogether in a year’s time.
I want to avoid sounding negative, because it’s obviously worked well for Pat and others in the past, but I’m sure even eHow started out with the best intentions and succumbed to greed.
The TOS for InfoBarrel doesn’t protect the author at all…
“Changes or differentiations in the rate of the Commission may be made by InfoBarrel in its sole and absolute discretion.”
“5. Rights Granted. By submitting your Original Content for publication on the Site, you hereby irrevocably and unconditionally grant InfoBarrel, and any of its affiliates (hereinafter also referred to as “InfoBarrel”), an irrevocable, perpetual, unlimited free of charge and exclusive right to publish the Original Content on the Site… InfoBarrel shall be entitled to edit, delete, cutback, rephrase, reproduce, copy, translate, merge, add, use and make use of the Materials, in whole or in part, in any way or manner and at any time, as InfoBarrel shall deem appropriate in its sole discretion.”
(http://www.infobarrel.com/Terms_of_Service)
Based on what I’ve seen with many other websites that I’ve followed and researched, I can’t say that your concerns aren’t unfounded, Burn Down Easy…..had people taken the time to do the research (it took ALOT of time, and I know I can’t expect others to do the same because of busy schedules, etc), they would definitely see that website platforms in this industry are NOTORIOUS for operating under shady guidelines, and, actually operating under bit of ‘dynamicism’ when they abruptly change or alter things like revenue share. Sometimes they do so just because they are still trying to learn what ‘works best’ for themselves and their market….while, other times, they are just flat-out taking advantage of people and their desire to write for a “revenue share”.
I actually find it a bit refreshing that you have approached this with a hint of skepticism, Burn Down. I wish ALOT of people would carefully scrutinize, and post excerpts from their TOS or FAQs….that shows that people are taking a more proactive role in their investment (writing takes time and energy).
“an irrevocable, perpetual, unlimited free of charge and exclusive right to publish the Original Content on the Site… ”
From what I can see, this simply means that you are allowing Info Barrel to publish your work on their site (even though you do essentially authorize it when you hit the ‘submit’ button)
“InfoBarrel shall be entitled to edit, delete, cutback, rephrase, reproduce, copy, translate, merge, add, use and make use of the Materials, in whole or in part, in any way or manner and at any time, as InfoBarrel shall deem appropriate in its sole discretion.”
….This is actually a pretty common statement, on these sites, that you’ll find a similar variation on probably 95% of sites. Unfortunately, we can’t expect everyone to be amazing writers, who will adhere to correct grammar and spelling. If Info Barrel is to have a quality database of content, I do think it is necessary that they be afforded the ability to correct incorrect grammar or spelling, thus affording themselves the ability to make necessary edits.
Now, the only thing I would really be remotely concerned about in that statement is the word “…reproduce….”, and that is simply because of what others were forced to endure under eHow reign. Even as a top-ranking leader in the industry, as I had mentioned before, they DID attempt to completely replicate their database, with cloned original authors articles, onto a cloned UK website. Writers were neither asked, nor was forsight given to compensate any of them, when this occurred.
In this case, even though they operated under their TOS, is it REALLY morally or ethically right to reproduce a writer’s hard work, in mass, onto a totally separate site, that you monetize, without giving the originating writers anything at all in return? The problem with the eHow case study, is that people began finding that their eHow UK cloned articles (that they weren’t being compensated for) oftentimes out ranked their original eHow articles, thus, having a direct impact on their earnings.
When it comes to wording like “reproduce”, here is where it helps to REALLY know and understand the intent and vision of management. Based on past trends and handling of other situations, quite frankly, I wasn’t surprised, at all, when eHow decided to do what they did. I know we can’t necessarily expect everyone to head warning signals, especially when they are earning generously each month.
….I do challenge you (or anyone), to lay out Info Barrel’s TOS, FAQs, revenue share, Management, offerings, functionality, platform growth, etc, and compare it to the leading sites online. It took me a good 5+ months to do this…..and, you will find that this is where our course becomes EXTREMELY valuable. Info Barrel can hold it’s own, and even emerges ahead of many other websites in this industry.
Hope that helps!
Thanks Howie,
With respect, you have a vested interest in painting a positive image of InfoBarrel since your product relies on constant new uptake (and I sincerely wish you the best of luck with that!) however I think it’s really important that people are aware of both sides of the coin before they commit scores of writing/outsourcing hours.
“Changes or differentiations in the rate of the Commission may be made by InfoBarrel in its sole and absolute discretion.”
That’s the killer TOS clause really, isn’t it?
Authors are essentially submitting their exclusive content on the understanding that InfoBarrel or eHow may choose how much to pay them, indeed IF at all.
These services only need to get venture funding, or be acquired, before hard revenue KPIs introduce temptation.
Even with all this in mind, I’ll still probably give InfoBarrel a shot. I’m looking forward to seeing how it performs for everybody.
I’ve went to very great lengths to research and analyze the TOS of many similar website platforms, Burn Down Easy. Your observations are important, and, honesty, are healthy for an industry that has been notorious for flat-out lying to and scamming people.
I’ve done alot of research, in order to minimize as much risk as possible, for both my product, as well as, my time/writing investment in Info Barrel (230+ Articles now)….I know I can’t expect people to just take my word for it, so, I would encourage people to contact their owners (as I have done MANY times), ask questions regarding their vision for the future, and intentions to alter or adjust revenue share down the road.
Granted, the “truth always changes”….but, one has to admit, that few held eHow to any type of scrutiny, and this was a website platform that wasn’t even transparent at all about how revenue was shared, as Ryan had mentioned in his video.
If nothing else, Info Barrel brings some much needed transparency that is very much akin to what Pat is doing on this blog. Would you rather a website state it in their TOS, or would you rather they surprise you out of nowhere (as a few sites have done), when decide that they need to earn more?
I have STRONG reason to believe that Info Barrel won’t do that, however, I encourage others to be proactive in their decision to write for Info Barrel, or any other site, for that matter.
I do think the transparency they have adhered to is quite refreshing. Websites that refuse to be simply transparent raises a whole ‘nother set of issues with regards to if earning’s % are even applied consistently at all. (I had my SERIOUS doubts about this with regards to eHow)…..It is entirely possible that websites could actually give a higher revenue share to certain writers, in order to begin manufacturing success ‘case studies’ intended to attract more people to the site…. (but, that’s a whole different issue altogether)
I do also think it is in writer’s best interests to KNOW they have much control over their content as possible….with that said, ‘some’ sites go to great lengths to hold content hostage, or they make it just plain stakingly difficult to remove content. Fortunately, Info Barrel has been very forthcoming with the fact that writers can remove their content, at any time. This is refreshing and introduces an invaluable sense of control, to writers, that I believe users of these sites SHOULD have.
You aren’t earning enough? Remove Your Articles.
They made a change to their TOS that you don’t agree with? Remove Your Articles.
You just general feel uncomfortable? Remove Your Articles.
One other thing that writers can do to protect themselves, that I learn quite well when many an article submission hopeful succumbed to eHow’s publishing glitches, is to write all their content in a saved external WORD document. I would HIGHLY recommend this, regardless of the site one writes for.
Great post and comments! I like the potential InfoBarrel has as well. Quick question about ehow. Are those who have earned in the past..1) Continue to earn? If so, will there be a sunset for compensation payments? I havent gotten a straight answer yet. I have been earning steadily over there after the changes without touching a thing and hope they dont stop sending payments! Thanks in advance
All current eHow articles will continue to earn money, yes! My earnings have been steady and even increased since the WCP was closed to new articles in April.
You can also write eHow articles through Demand Studios and earn revenue share from them that way. So you can still take advantage of eHow’s awesome PR and build residual income through the site; you just have to use Demand Studios as the publishing platform.
FWIW, Burn Down Easy…I think you’ll find that that type of wording is near universal….
HubPages’ TOS:
“HubPages reserves the right to modify the Impression program, including without limitation the percentage share, at any time in its sole discretion. If HubPages changes any significant terms of the Impressions program,”
Xomba’s TOS:
“Xomba.com may modify this Agreement from time to time and such modification shall be effective upon posting by Xomba.com on the Website. You agree to be bound to any changes to this Agreement when you use the Services after any such modification is posted. It is therefore important that you review this Agreement regularly to ensure you are updated as to any changes.”
Squidoo’s TOS:
“5. ABOUT ROYALTIES
As a co-op, Squidoo distributes its earnings to lensmasters who create successful pages on the site. By registering for Squidoo as a lensmaster, you are appointing Squidoo as your agent to handle all Service transactions.
Big Changes: It’s entirely possible that things will occur that will make it, in Squidoo’s sole discretion, impossible to maintain the structure described in this document. Hey, we’re a startup, and we’ve taken zero venture capital. We may, for example, have to change the percentages or details of the CO-OP. We agree that we will not make any financial changes retroactively. Any changes will be for future payments. If we do need to change any significant terms, we will notify you by email before any change occurs. At that point, you will have the option of removing your Lens from the Service if you choose to stop working with the CO-OP under the new structure.”
So essentially InfoBarrel is no different from the myriad of other services then. Just the new kid on the block that needs to play nice for a while to build a userbase.
I don’t mean to hijack the comments by focusing on TOS.
I do find it fairly significant the Info Barrel has proven track record of operating differently, and with moral adherence to ethics, than some of the most trafficked websites in the world. When it comes to issues like transparency in revenue share, I think my previous comments on this thread detail how Info Barrel is as different as night and day for say, eHow. That site, alone, would do millions in monthly revenue, and would be searched by millions each month (I’d have to get back to you with exact figures). The reason I bring them up so much is because they are clearly a leader, and leaders ‘should’ take it upon themselves to set and enforce quality standards, whether it be in the revenue share industry, or while leading troops into battle.
I don’t consider it “hijacking”…I think it’s necessary and important to shed light on these discrepencies and general questions regarding the TOS of many websites that operate in a similar manner. You raise some legitimate points, Burn Down Easy.
We are just skimming the surface with this, however. There are many many variances in operations, management, and other elements of functionality, that go way beyond a website’s TOS, in predicting it’s future earning’s potential for each individual participant in the site.
I agree, I don’t see any advantage to writing for IB over sites like HubPages, Squidoo, etc that have better features and traffic already. The IB TOS turned me off form the beginning because at the time (not sure if it’s changed) the InfoBarrel TOS said that submitted material became THEIR property.
Yet, you still continually advocate so heavily for people to submit content to online properties like eHow, and places associated with it, knowing full well that they recently attempted to completely replicate their database of articles to a cloned website (eHow UK) (where original author articles there oftentimes outranked their original eHow articles for residuals)? Shortly thereafter, even the eHow UK logo was removed from their site….a failed attempt to exploit their users, without any forthought whatsoever to compensating them for that cloned original content.
You currently have 6 articles there and have been outspoken about it not having the earning potential that eHow does…..if people heed your advice, they will be leaving ALOT of earnings on the table, from a proven ethically upstanding company.
And, you have the audacity to mention Info Barrel’s TOS when the website you advocate for has a proven history of scamming and exploiting people? You should be ashamed of yourself.
Yes, I wrote a book about Info Barrel. Yes, I want it to sell (oh, and it has…alot)….but, I also want people to know how to REALLY write articles for residuals, for a morally and upstanding company. If Info Barrel ever strays from their moral compass, I will immediatelty cease selling my course.
Some interesting points…
At the end of the day, if you are using a third-party service such as Info Barrel, you have to accept a degree of ‘risk’. No company is going to give long-term guarantees/undertakings to writers in respect of earnings etc as who knows what is going to happen in the future?
As a writer you have to take a view on whether it is worthwhile using a site like this to benefit from the potential of increased traffic. The alternative being to write for your own site where you have complete control but (probably) less traffic.
I would say the most sensible option is to spread the risk and do both – I signed up to Info Barrel after reading this article and I am looking forward to seeing how the experience pans out…
Fortunately, Richard, I think Pat has done a VERY good job at laying everything out for his readers….a thorough analysis that lends strongly to his credibility. The truth is, I’ve been telling him about Info Barrel since August of 2009, when I first identified some serious trends, but, he had, justifiably, wanted to give it a bit of time to see where the site went…..
What could would it have done for his readers, even though I was 100% confident about it, if he had promoted Info Barrel in 2009, and it had only failed? Pat clearly took his time, researched it, and I think he is doing right by his readers here. All growth trends dictate that this has very very strong potential to be a leading website in the world…..this is directly related to the earning’s potential that each individual writer will have for years to come.
This one recommendation from Pat, when this is a PR8 website, could literally manifest into $1,000′s of extra in passive income/month for those who truly invest themselves and their writing into this service.
I wouldn’t just stop there, with their inherent revenue share functionality. I would recommend that people go even further, and catapult their own brands and websites off of the search engine authority that a website like Info Barrel has.
What am I doing now?
I have over 230+ articles on Info Barrel….I use them for revenue share, but, many of my articles have already sucked in in excess of 1,000/2,000/3,000 visitors that are purely from the search engines. You may assume a small degree of risk, HOWEVER, any site could change their revenue share, and I’d still be able to catapult myself, my website/blog, and personal brand off of their search engine authority.
That, to me, is priceless. If I had to choose between one or the other (the traffic, for branding purposes, or revenue share), I wouldn’t care if they dropped the revenue share to 10%…..the traffic and branding capabilities is really THAT powerful.
But, with Info Barrel, they offer BOTH. Plus, their revenue share structure completely smashes every site available online.
This WILL be a top-ranked website in the world. Just watch.
Howie, I agree entirely which is why I have already started to submit articles to Info Barrel
And you are quite right, Pat has done a great job here and we could all have reason to be very grateful to him when the site is a PR8! I did a similar thing for my readers in 2003 when Adsense was first launched
It’s funny that you bring up Google’s Adsense’s launch….IMHO, I do feel that this could actually be quite similar in scale to that…
Here is why:
Month after month, I have been consistently earning a 90% revenue share on Info Barrel. While there are a small handful of sites that offer 100% revenue share (they will have to change that arrangement on their writers eventually, and they porbably will), none of them even remotely approached Info Barrel as far as search engine authority.
Those sites that are situated with highest Alexa Pageranks now, offer 50-60%….Info Barrel has been filling a HUGE need in this industry, plus, they are absolutely 100% transparent about it.
….sure, one could earn 100% revenue share with their own websites, however, the trade-off is quite nice with Info Barrel–one can earn up to 90% revenue share WHILE gaining the inherent search engine authority and traffic.
There is a trend going on here that simply should not be ignored…and Pat is on the absolute forefront of it with his most recent posts. I really predict that ranking one’s own website(s) will become increasingly more difficult, as authority content sites begin to gobble up every avenue imaginable of search engine traffic.
Having a simple niche website, that earns significantly, IS going to be borderling impossible, in the future, IMHO. People can do all that, earn 90% revenue share, catapult their own brands and websites/blogs, off the inherent search engine authority of these sites, AND, not have to pay a single penny for domains or hosting (unless they have a website that they further monetize in conjunction with a site like Info Barrel)
This is HUGE….some just don’t ‘get it’ yet. Solidify for yourself a presence, on these sites, in conjunction, NOW, and you will stand to earn ALOT in the long run.
The graph Pat posted isn’t a joke, everyone.
On another note, Richard…and, this isn’t too brag…but, within the first 2 days, our course did over 70 sales BUT……….MANY of them were from email addresses/companies associated with Internet marketing firms….
We caught onto a serious trend here that MANY didn’t see. We had one costomer recommend that we raise the price in excess of $200.
….were your readers grateful that you introduced them to Adsense when it first launched? Did any of them end up doing well with the Adsense program?
Pat,
Just about every person who has responded to this thread (almost), has their name hyper-linked to some form of personal website/blog meant to earn for them and reinforce their brand.
If they aren’t taking advantage of Authority sites like Info Barrel, right now, like you are yourself, then they are missing out on a serious opportunity here.
Like THIS:
(Pat’s Info Barrel Profile)
(Fortunately, Info Barrel affords writers a million other opportunities to reinforce/market their website and brand)
What if I post an article on info barrel and then post the article on my website, how does that affect things? I was also thinking a good plan would be to post on info barrel, ezine articles and my website. I saw youtube video’s from google’s engineers saying that there is no such thing as duplicate content penalty. I guess I am just not sure what the advantages or disadvantages of posting an article at multiple places and on my website. Anyone have any good advice?
Thanks
Justin,
Per Info Barrel’s TOS (and many other website’s TOS), you can’t post duplicate content on Info Barrel.
There is an emerging trend online, and many similar websites are actually implementing policies and additions/changes to their TOS, that actually REQUIRE content to be 100% original. Google did debunk the ‘duplicate content’ “myth” a while ago, however, website’s still perceive it as valuable to search engines to safeguard the quality (and originality) of their databases.
As mentioned, many authority rev. share websites do this:
http://crunchydata.com/content-sites.htm
(I helped the blogger over at crunchydata.com, to create that awesome chart! I contributed a bit of my research and insights….it isn’t entirely comprehensive, because many sites are missing…but, I think you can get a good feel of what I am talking about when it comes to duplicate content.)
Howie
‘….were your readers grateful that you introduced them to Adsense when it first launched? Did any of them end up doing well with the Adsense program?’
I know of a handful who went onto earn a healthy monthly income from Adsense and continue to do so today. Of course it is a long time ago now and the site I announced it on doesn’t even exist anymore so I don’t really know how everyone got on but at the time I had a newsletter list of around 50k so I would hope that quite a few ended up having reason to be grateful!
That’s great to hear, Richard!….and, a newsletter list of around 50k is quite impressive!
Unfortunately, writing for Info Barrel, with as much potential and opportunity as it holds, is akin to trying to convince people to get in on the basement floor of a killer stock. I see it….but, trying to convince others has been a bit of a time-consuming endeavor…lol….When this is a PR8 website, people will be scrounging for article titles like no tomorrow, and will bring a ton of money to the table to even outsource article writing…..
I had several people tell me that they just hand our course on over to their Virtual assistant….those people are going to be sitting pretty in 1-2-3 years…..this is exactly what people did (and have been doing) with the eHow, HubPages, and Squidoos of the world….
Here is how Info Barrel compares to 4 other competitors, from a strictly traffic rank Alexa graph:
http://i48.tinypic.com/2mg1jzc.png
Enjoy!
‘and, a newsletter list of around 50k is quite impressive!’
It was easier back then, there was less competition
‘just hand our course on over to their Virtual assistant’
My thoughts exactly!
I’m already impressed with InfoBarrel. I submitted six articles earlier this afternoon… and just received notice that they’ve been published. The turnaround compared to DS Upfront Pay reviews and Associated Content is lightning fast. We’ll see how the income turns out!
I will have to check InfoBarrel out. I have been looking for a website to write articles for and was surprised when I found out eHow canceled their program.
Thanks a lot. I had never heard of infobarrel….I am going to be looking into this.
I agree that Infobarrel does have amazing potential. However in my experience with the site I am not completely convinced that it is ready to be the next ehow. The biggest problem with infobarrel is that it is extremely hard to get a good amount of views on your articles. Just look at portfolios of writers for the site, the majority of the writers are lucky to average one view per article per day (even the so called top writers). Ever since ehow shut down it’s WTC program I too have been searching for the next best website of its kind. So far I have tried Infobarrel (30 article), Hubages (15) articles, Squidoo (20) articles, and Xomba (20 articles). I gave all websites a fair chance and in the end I found that Hubpages has the most potential. Unlike Infobarrel, Hubpages articles receive an amazing amount of views. I strongly urge anyone who is looking for the next best online article publishing website to consider Hubpages. Infobarrel is just not ready…
As always Pat, good job on the post. Thank You
BTW, What ever happened to that Nolan Ryan Rookie card?
Good points, Nate, I’m just not 100% sure what you mean by “Info Barrel is just not ready”…. (I’m not going on the offensive because clearly, based on my very extensive research, I do have a very strong bias in favor of Info Barrel and it’s potential)….
There are a few things that I think you may be missing.
In Pat’s defence, he did mention the search engine authority of Info Barrel and how it compares to the HubPages, Squidoos and eHows of the world. Had each website been launched at exactly the same time, I have strong reason to believe that Info Barrel would emerge as superior, with regards to pure userbase #, daily articles submitted, forum posts, etc. Unfortunately, Info Barrel was a late entry into a VERY highly competitive market, and therefore, has to work EXTREMLY hard to 1) Make up for all that time that other websites have had to establish themselves 2) They really have to innovate and use creative methods to utilize social media to spread their message and brand virally.
…..I would personally make the case, based on current success stories, that the time has never been more ripe. I’ll say this because my partner in our Info Barrel course development and release, currently earns near $1,000/month on Info Barrel….as Pat has mentioned, our methods and strategies are so effective that we have been doing on a PR4 website what few on PR7 or 8 websites are even able to do.
In October of 2009, according to Squidoo’s official blog, their TOP earner earned around $1,300. Squidoo, I believe, is actually a PR8 website. Our earnings are particularly significant for a variety of reasons.
I DO like HubPages, and I think it’s one of the more transparent communities available in this industry. Unfortunately, I do believe, like other websites, they will eventually have to innovate (raise their revenue share and offer more), in order to stay competitive with the 90% revenue share I consistently earn month after month on Info Barrel (75-90%). They are introducing a beautiful bi-section of increasing search engine authority with VERY generous revenue share. Whether you write for them or not, this simply will not go ignored, and people will continue to join in droves.
Even if you don’t make it your primary writing site, I would encourage you to occasional grow your article database there. Those articles are going to be pure gold when Info Barrel is a PR8 site.
Also, on a site note, roughly 2-3 months ago, Info Barrel actively tested a few different Adsense placements, and the current layout has been proven to have in excess of a 6% CTR…..I would really take notice of that….
A lot of good comments up here. I guess I have to give this a good look.
I have a question for anyone… Firstly, I love IB, they’re site is easy to use in my opinion.
Should we use these sites for one or the other; e.i. Revenue or backlinks?
I use these Revenue Sharing sites (squidoo, hub, etc.) mainly for backlinks at sites which main revenue is adsense, but always try to write really good content because I love writing. I’ve never really considered turning on my adsense account on these revenue sharing sites to try and make adsense money from them. I guess I thought maybe that would penalize my adsense account or something (maybe I read that somewhere…). I use a couple different pen names and accounts for these sites but have never hooked in my adsense account. Does anyone see a problem with this?
Should I be turning on my one adsense account for the different users I have on these sites and at least try to make a little extra $? Or will that hurt my adsense account (with Google apparently cracking down on strictly MFA sites)? I would rather leave a little $ on the table with these revenue sharing sites then get my adsense account banned.
(although I also realize it wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to realize the backlinks are pointing to a site owned by the author of the article anyway)
FWIW, Pat…
Info Barrel broke 4,000 traffic rank, in the US, today, on Alexa.com ….
(LINK won’t show up in comment)
(CLICK “MAX” in the drop-down box)
Hi, pat.
I am interest in your articles. I am finding a long term article writer for my website. Just wondering if you are interested, if so, you can suggest your details such as number of words/article, price/article.
I looking forward to your early respond
It takes time to get a site to rank high and Infobarrel will get there and it takes time to create a library of articles that earn. Not many people are willing to be so patient and put in the work necessary to make the money they want writing articles. Infobarrel is a good place to write it gives you plenty of creative freedom and has nice owners who treat their writers with respect unlike eHow.
I do know a little something about eHow since I have over 400 articles there. I do not have as many on Infobarrel as yet since I had some health issues come up that took me away from writing temporarily. I plan to come back, however, and I will be writing for IB and other sites that are worth putting forth effort not eHow/DS.
Hi Sonni – sorry to hear about the health issues, I hope you get well soon if you haven’t already. Thanks for your insights and opinions about infobarrel too. I agree with you 100%.
very well written article, I wish more bloggers offered the same level of content as you, the internet would be a much better place. Definitely keep it up!
Interesting site.. It will be awesome if they do really well. Signing up now and thanks for sharing it Pat.
I have been looking for savvy ideas on natural health and think that your site is . It is hard to search for good suggestions on the Web, but I think I can put it to good use! If you know of any more savvy information, please let me know. Thanks a million!
Please help. I’ve tried to access the link for InfoBarrel Success book and it seems dead.
Thanks,
Harry
Is “InfoBarrel Success” off the market? I can’t purchase it through any of the links in this post and none on the links on the actual product’s work (not it even the Buy links!). Argh!
Pat – can you update us on your experiences with InfoBarrel generally and perhaps see if you can find out what happened to this promising info product?
As a follow-up to Harry’s and Tom’s posts, I’d also like know if “InfoBarrel Success” is off the market. Your links are no longer valid and when I went directly to their website and I am not able to purchase the ebook when I click on “Add To Cart”. I also visited Howie’s website and didn’t see anything about the product.
I tired to access the affiliate link but keep getting:
Merchant, Product, Affilite relation, Affiliate percentage or the Hop link has been removed. Please contact the merchant
I signed up for InfoBarrel on Pat’s reccomendation. I only have 3 articles puiblished, so I haven’t seen any real action yet, which I am fine with. The problem I have is that I have written at least 3 emails to the admins of Infobarrel and have not recieved ONE SINGLE response. That is VERY disheartening, sepecially since the owner sites their responsiveness as the key differentiator for Infobarrel. I am serious about writing and am looking for the best revenue sharing sites to join. I am a newbie when it comes to adsense, seo, etc, so sites with good resources for help are important to me. Any ideas?