Xomba Dream Job Contest Entries

Xomba Dream Job Entries

Well today was the final day for Xomba freelance writers to publish a Xombyte for the "Dream Job" contest. This was a really fun contest and I had a lot of fun with it because such a broad topic allowed me to go many different directions. This particular Xomba writing contest allowed as many entries as you wanted, so I took advantage and offered four.

My four articles covered a broad range, and I have no idea if a quirky sense of humor or a clever stretching of the theme is going to get any bonus points of any kind, but that's how I write, that's how I enjoy writing and if it gets me placed anywhere in this contest I'll be ecstatic. I find that the contests you have fun participating in, are almost the ones you want to win the most.

So one article was a straight and arrow thought piece on being an NFL GM (that's General Manager for the non sports fans). One was about a job I do find endlessly fascinating: horror movie extra, one I tried to go the hilarious route, and that was about being Michael Bay's overworked explosives expert, and the last took the "dream job" literally. I dream of being a zombie killer (because I have weird dreams), so I wrote about being a zombie killer.

If I can't get any interest with that variety, then I don't know what I could do, lol! Anyway, here are links for anyone interested:

I Want to Be an NFL GM
I Want to Be a Horror Movie Extra
A Day as Michael Bay's Explosives Expert
Life as a Zombie Killer

Hope ya'll enjoy, and thanks for reading!

Xomba Writing Updates, and Two Contests

Writing Man Drifter: I'm Back!

Hey everyone, thanks for the patient wait as it has been a while since I've posted here. This past month has included a moving, a severe bout with carpal tunnel, and a lot of rush jobs that left me with little time to do anything else. So don't worry: Xomba writing adventures isn't a dead blog - although until my wrists heal the posts might be a little bit more spaced out.

This post is going to have to be short and sweet because as my ability to type for periods of time has been cut down drastically due to the carpal tunnel, so most of my limited time must be spent with the blogs, articles, and writing jobs that allow me to pay my bills - and there are some doozy medical ones coming up.

First of all, my most recent featured travel article is up and can be checked out here:

Visit Canton Football Hall of Fame

For any NFL fan or even football fan in general, if you haven't been there, it's worth the visit. I'm glad the NFL makes it mandatory now for all rookies to visit Canton.

The other news for right how is that there is still time to participate in TWO Xomba writing contests that are open right now. This gives freelance writers writing for Xomba a lot of chances to make some decent money, especially since both contests give prize money for up to four places, as well as allowing for UNLIMITED entries. So think up several great ideas and start shooting them forward!

Xomba writing contest #1: The dream job contest. Write about your idea of a dream job, which will then be judged by the Xomba staff as well as a guest job. Images are optional, and you only need to write 150 words. That's it. 150 words for a chance to win hundreds of dollars. This contest is open until November 9th, and you can find the official page for this contest here:

http://www.xomba.com/dream_job_writing_contest

The prizes are $500 for 1st place, $250 for 2nd, $150 for 3rd, and $100 for 4th. Plus every winner gets a Xomba t-shirt. How's that for snazzy?

Xomba writing contest #2: This is the book cover contest. Imagine you are an author and you get to write your own bio. With a minimum of 150 words write your interesting biography, and make it good because in this contest you only get one shot! Include a photo - because after all, this is your bio. This contest ends on November 20th, and the official rules can be found here:

http://www.xomba.com/book_cover_contest

The prizes for this contest are $200 for first place, $100 for second, and $50 for third place. 4th place gets a custom Xomba t-shirt.

So all you Xomba writers out there, get cracking to get those contest articles up, and get those normal articles out to up your AdSense income. The life of an online freelance writer is never easy, but every article you write gets you that much closer to your final goal.

Xomba's Traffic Converts

Xomba Profits Increasing

Here's the newest update on my Xomba writing adventures. I've had a couple more weeks to watch the traffic from my featured travel articles trickle in, and in the last few weeks I've also been doing a ton of keyword research and SERPs checking to see how many of my other articles and websites were ranking. Along the way, I found several pieces I've written for Xomba that have managed some pretty respectable rankings, especially considering that I have never really marketed any of my Xomba writings at all or worked on getting them backlinks.

My conclusion is a stronger affirmation of what some of my earlier blog posts have hinted at: Xomba is gaining in authority and this is good for any Xomba writer who wants to make more money writing online. The new professional look of the website is also increasing click through rates, which is always fantastic.

While I can't reveal exact numbers due to needing to stay on the good side of Google's TOS, I can say that every time one of my featured articles is posted, my AdSense jumps for 2-3 days (the average amount of time that my article is one of the top two) and then while my earnings decline a little bit, they're still above average for another 2-3 days (the average amount of time I'm on the front page, period) before falling back into the normal range.

This is very exciting news for me, but it's not only because of luck or being featured. So my friends, take some notes because I'm about to tell you some of my freelance writing secrets that I use in order to keep my earnings higher.

#1: Boring photos not allowed. This should be obvious, but I'm amazed how often a good feature article has a really boring photo. A good photograph is a way to grab a reader's attention and drag them into your words. They can't click on the AdSense if they don't even bother to give you a look.

#2: Writers should have interesting titles for their articles. This is a HUGE reason why I think I experience only a minimal drop in income from being one of the two main featured articles to being listed underneath. "Frozen Outhouses in Fairbanks Alaska" and "Relishing the Sound of Silence in Isolated Alaska" are titles that get a lot of attention. They sound interesting, most people are intrigued by Alaska, and because of that I get a lot of attention.

#3: Write about an AdSense friendly topic. This is huge. If you're writing on topics where your cut is only 15-20 cents (even before splitting 50/50 with Xomba), then you're going to be hard pressed to make any money no matter how much traffic you get. Alaska keywords aren't the end all be all of AdSense, but I know from experience that my cut would be about $0.65-$1.00, so I'm getting at least some good value coming back to me from the ads that are going to be displayed around my travel articles.

#4: Try to write one featured article every week. The reason for this should be obvious. You might only be required to write one every two weeks, but if you write one every week, then the majority of the time one of your featured articles is always going to be on the front page. This keeps the AdSense writing income at a higher level.

Those are my Xomba writing tips for now. I hope you find these helpful. My next post, if all goes well, is going to be heart felt as I have to say that one of my mentors passed away recently, and I'd like to have some type of a tribute to him. Until then, keep on writing, don't give up, and if you haven't even started, SIGN UP FOR XOMBA NOW so you can start working towards your dreams. Each article written is one closer to your end goal.

I'm Back and the New Xomba is Here!

Xomba Adventures Blog Update

I know I've been gone for a while, and for that I apologize - while I don't intend for my writing blogs to be daily things, I do very much want to post a minimum of once a week, and generally more than that. In the beginning of July I had a huge family emergency, one that appears to be something that is going to be ongoing for quite some time. Obviously family comes first in times of trouble, and my energy and time had to be spent there and not on my online projects. August is going to be my recovery month as I strive for some degree of normality again.

A few things have happened on Xomba. I did not place in the summer contest, but seeing the winning entries made me realize what the judges were looking for, and gives me a much better chance of writing a quality article more appropriate to what they're looking for when the next contest comes up.

The other major event at Xomba: the new site is up and running. While there are still some bugs being worked out, the new site looks great and apparently the income being generated is more than with the old design, which is good news for everyone involved. I'm a featured writer for Xomba now, as one of their two featured travel writers. This is exciting for me as I love travel writing, and travel writing can be a very hard racket to break into, so having solid credentials as a travel writer aside from my own freelance attempts is absolutely nothing to sneeze at.

In fact, I've already written my first travel article for Xomba as a featured writer:

Visiting Canton Ohio and the Pro Football Hall of Fame

The next one will probably be about frozen outhouses in Fairbanks, Alaska, so stay tuned :)

There was one more comment I DEFINITELY wanted to make about Xomba before ending this post: Xomba is definitely starting to show some authority. It's no Ezinearticles (then again, no one is) but I've seen some of my Xomba articles start getting some very good 2nd and 3rd page Google rankings without any additional SEO at all. This is pretty darn good, and means that with a little bit of link building and article marketing, you could make some pretty decent AdSense money getting Xomba articles onto the front pages of the search engine rankings.

I'm not sure how strong Xomba was considered when I just got started - but they're a LOT stronger now, so this is a very good thing for the future prospects of this site for both the owners and for the writers.

If you haven't started writing for Xomba, I think they definitely have a place in an online freelance writer's portfolio. Go ahead and SIGN UP HERE, look around, and get started on your writing future today.

Second Xomba Summer Contest Entry

More Xomba Contest Writing

Well June is coming to a close, and thank goodness. It's been a really rough month as far as personal matters and medical matters go, and it's nice to have some degree of normalcy returning. I've fallen quite a bit behind on my overall summer goals, but I'm not going to get discouraged as I still feel like anything's possible and as hard as the present seems to be, I just feel like the future is going to be bright.

I have used Xomba to make several Xomblurbs of new HubPages, new blog posts, new eHow articles, and I've been fairly pleased with the overall effectiveness of this. It seems like virtually everything I review gets indexed, and while the direct traffic and AdSense clicks have been very small, they have existed, meaning an impact is being made.

In addition to this, I just finished my second article that I submitted to Xomba for their excellent Summer Writing Contest on how to beat the summertime blues and overall I'm very happy with this article and because of how unusual it is, I'm hoping the judge or judges have a very strange or off beat sense of humor. If they do, I really like my chances of placing with this article.

So what was this article's solution to beating the summertime blues? Having the worst summer of your life. Seriously. That is my article's solution. If you're intrigued, have a look and leave a comment.

Have the Worst Summer Ever

Hope you enjoy it! And if you haven't joined Xomba yet, CLICK HERE and get started with some contest entries today. Who knows? A few hours of writing might make you a couple hundred dollars.

First Submission to Xomba Summer Contest

Entering the Summer Writing Contest

I wrote a Xombyte the other day, my first in order to enter the Xomba Summer Time contest. The theme is pretty simple: write an article of at least 300 words, with a photograph, on what to do to banish the "Summer Time Blues." The rules for this contest are pretty easy to find on the Xomba website, and the best part is that you are allowed to place as many entries as you want. This is a great opportunity to write articles and have a serious shot and some pretty decent prize money.

My first article was about traveling to meet old friends, and the adventures that can come with it. It's not bad, but not great. I know I can do better and will be working to put forward some better submissions, and I encourage anyone reading to do the same.

Thanks for reading!

Very Quick Xomba Writing Update

Fast Xomba Writing Update

Hey everybody, here's a very quick update from my Xomba writing. The first week or so I've been publishing mostly Xomblurbs that have links pointed to new blog posts, eHow articles, and new HubPages. My expectations have been limited, but I'm pretty happy with the early results. Everything bookmarked as a Xomblurb has been indexed by Google, and I even received several AdSense clicks. Most of them were lower income, but it's far better than nothing so that's all bonus.

Right now I have somewhat limited Internet access, but next week I plan to write a few longer Xombytes around freelance writing, hook some links back to my blog posts or articles that I think others will find useful, and see what results I get. I'm looking forward to when the much anticipated web redesign is done, and once that happens I'll be a featured travel blogger for Xomba, so that will be great to have some consistent travel writing on my plate.

For next week, I'll also be doing plenty of Xomblurbs, and as I'm doing this I'll say this to anyoen reading as a piece of advice: Even though you don't have to write long descriptions, I find it's always a good idea to make sure you provide enough text so the Google AdSense ads can match. You don't want to be smart priced, and an extra 40 words a Xomblurb is not that much effort.

Keep on writing, and until next time, I'm pulling for ya.

Brief Xomba Update Before Summer

How to Use Xomba?

As summer is coming up I find a ton on my plate, and wonder in the midst of everything how should I use Xomba as part of my writing income to get to the level of passive income I want? I believe in using multiple income streams, and because of that I have a ton of projects for this summer as I'm pushing myself really hard to get from freelancer who's getting by during recession to having enough residual income (or passive income, if you prefer that term) to not only live comfortably, but to have the security, stability, and freedom of life style that I've always desired, and which is heavily talked about by others like Tim Ferriss in his book: The 4 Hour Work Week (highly reccomended if you've never read it).

So how does Xomba fit into this picture? While Xomba counts as an income stream, the income comes from the use of AdSense or Affiliate Sales, and in the time I've been there, I've seen more success with building blogs for AdSense, and HubPages has been better for both AdSense and affiliate sales, while eHow has been better for affiliate sales and truly counts as another income stream since your share of advertising revenue comes from a split with eHow: not your own AdSense account.

Does this mean Xomba is not worth the time? Absolutely not. But I wonder what the best way for me to use Xomba is. The largest monthly income I've seen reported was $698 after one intense year of writing: not bad at all and nothing to sneeze at. Many people report several hundred dollars a month. There are several things I have noticed while writing for Xomba, some are concerns, some are just observations. Among these:

• While Xomba is somewhat of an authority site, it doesn't have the same level of authority as Squidoo, HubPages, or eHow (or Associated Content, for that matter)
• Links from Xomba articles appear to be "no follow," meaning they don't help with ranking high in Google, but they might still count for Yahoo!, MSN, and other search engines.
• Xomba articles are very easy and quick to write, and even if they are no-follow, they can get links, blogs, and sites indexed into Google - which is still useful
• Xomba does have a very good online community
• Personally I've had more success writing for other sites

That last point isn't blasting Xomba - different writers and different writing styles will do better with some sites than others. This is true of everyone. In my particular case, time spent on eHow and HubPages, as well as my own blogs monetized with AdSense, has shown more returns for the time than my writings on Xomba.

That said, I enjoy writing on Xomba because I can go on topics that interest me, but for which I have no campaign set up for, or I can do a Xomblurb that will help index each blog post on my other blogs with Google - which is huge in supporting my main AdSense income streams.

But I'm looking to move my residual income streams to the next level this summer, and aside from a huge workload that includes goals of:

1. 22 new AdSense niche sites
2. 10 new AdSense/Affiliate micro niche blog sites
3. 151 new hubs on HubPages
4. 310 new eHow articles
5. 10 Click Bank campaigns via Squidoo (think 50-70 lenses)
6. 60 new articles on Constant-Content
7. Write my first 3 e-books & set up sales via Click Bank
   
8. Getting my main writing blog to 100 visitors a day
9. Hours upon hours upon hours of article marketing and link building to gather links for all of these new pages and sites, as well as those already established

These goals are in addition to getting all my weekly freelance writing done, finding extra work on the side to help off set the costs of moving, and oh yeah, moving all the way across the country. There is that.

So since time is DEFINITELY going to be an issue, what is the best way for me to use Xomba as part of my goals of getting to where I want to be by the end of August?

This is a fairly open question, but right now what I'm looking at is the Xomblurbs. Every new blog post, every new eHow article, every new Hub, every new website can get its own Xomblurb - helping rankings in Yahoo! and the other search engines, while also giving me a chance at some more AdSense income. I think this, more than anything else, will be where Xomba can really help me with my goals this summer.

Once the new Xomba site is up, I will also be one of the featured travel writers, which will help me keep my sanity and write some good travel articles (Xombytes). An occasional good Xombyte article on top of all this that can still be used for links and a truly good affiliate product (or maybe a few to help promote my e-books) and I think this is the best strategy for me using Xomba this summer.

More freelance writing with Xomba updates to come.

Xomblurbs Versus Xombytes

Bytes V Blurbs: Which is Tops?

One of the first things that you will need to decide on when starting writing for Xomba is whether to concentrate on Xombytes, Xomblurbs, or some combination of the two. Xombytes and Xomblurbs are the two main forms of articles/social bookmarking that authors can use in order to create content and make income via Adsense clicks that are split 50/50 with the site itself. While they sound the same, blurbs and bytes are two very different types of articles with two different purposes. While people have found success with both, I definitely have a preference, although I add the caveat that this by no means is me saying "this is the only way to earn money successfully on Xomba." Different writers on this site have gone different ways and several have found what I would consider to be some big time success.

What are Xombytes?

Xombytes are longer pieces of work. Think of them as actual online articles. The Xomba website describes Xombytes as articles of 150+ words that are "magazine level quality or higher." While 150 words is the minimum, I do suggest trying to write Xombytes that are over 300 words because that's the minimum word count that Google seems to really dig. Getting your articles into the Google search rankings needs to be a primary goal if you want to make money with Xomba, so 300 words is better and also gives you more room to work the long tail keyword combinations.

Xombytes can be about virtually any topic as long as it's not a "spam topic," and otherwise you want to write articles on topics and keywords that are going to have an ample number of Adsense ads that match the topic. This helps prevent smart pricing and the better that the Google ads match the topic, the more likely for a click through.

I tend to prefer Xombytes, because I think these are more likely to stay relevant over time over Xomblurbs, which makes Xombytes a better path towards truly passive income. The extra length also makes it easier to put in affiliate text links, like products from Amazon.com, which is a great way to build a second stream of income.

What are Xomblurbs?

Xomblurbs are much shorter than Xombytes, and aren't actual full articles, but basically social bookmarks with descriptions that shares a blog post, news story, website, or something similar with the rest of the Xomba community. These also have Adsense that is split 50/50, but you do need to be careful to craft enough of a description that Google can place relevant ads that will convert.

This is basically like getting paid for social bookmarking, while the Xombytes is more similar to actual article writing.

So Which Xomba Articles Are Better?

This is strongly a matter of opinion. I prefer Xombytes for the reasons stated above. Xombytes (since they are actual articles) are easier to gather links for, which increases search engine rankings and in my opinion gives them a better chance of becoming passive income, where steady traffic will turn into steady residual income.

There are several writers on Xomba who are doing extremely well after writing a couple hundred Xombytes. As in at least three people have admitted to making over $500 a month consistently, or even a lot more based on some accounts. One Xomba writer has claimed to be closing in on $100 a day, although that phrasing does open a wide range.

Most of these writers seem to like Xombytes, although one of the high earners posts virtually just Xomblurbs. A good combination of both seems to be popular with many authors who are doing well on Xomba, and might be the best way to go for the beginning Xomba freelance writer. When you find a great blog, news story, or website worth sharing, go for it with a Xomblurb. If you have an idea for a decent article, then write a Xombyte.

I tend to write both, depending on what I'm in the mood for, time restraints, and whatever seems to be really working at the time.

So if you haven't already, JOIN XOMBA NOW and start earning from Adsense today!

Introduction to Writing for Xomba.com

Writing for Adsense Clicks: Introduction to Xomba

If you've been looking around online for places to make money as an online freelance writer, then you have probably run into Xomba.com a few times. The first time I saw this website, I have to admit that the design of the website turned me off, and I couldn't decide whether or not this was a website that I wanted to work for. It didn't look overly fancy, and there were a LOT of ads on the pages of the articles. But the feedback I heard was good, so I decided to give it a shot. This is a decision I haven't regretted.

Part of what I've learned from reading quality blogs online and from experimenting with Adsense on my own blogs is that the big block method Xomba uses is used because it works. Having a large box at the bottom also works for good articles, the types that pull the reader all the way to the bottom, and then offer themselves as a possible place to go next.

If you're writing for Xomba, you're writing for Adsense clicks. Xomba splits all Adsense clicks 50/50 with the authors. This means if you write an article, and someone clicks on an ad that makes the site $2, you will get $1 and Xomba will keep $1. This can be a pretty good system for writers who don't want to take the time to learn SEO (though you should, anyway, as this is critical for any aspect of making money online), and freelance writing for Xomba allows pure writers to concentrate on writing. This can also be better than Hubpages, since the impressions split can work against you, although Hubpages do have better internal SEO, and are better for creating websites for display.

At Xomba you write articles and there is no up front payment, but you get half of the Adsense clicks your articles produce while the web pages are automatically optimized for maximum efficiency. Freelance writing for Adsense is difficult (if not impossible) if you don't know SEO, part of which writing for Xomba takes care of. Here and Hubpages are also great places to learn about how Adsense works as you learn. This is especially useful if you are a beginner, and the ability to edit articles and hubs will also allow you to build backlinks in the future - and this is critical if you're eventually going to make a lot of money online.

To get the most out of writing online, you need to learn SEO, but if you've already decided stubbornly not to, at least do this much to get the most out of freelance writing for Xomba: whenever you decide to write an article, Google the term to see if there are advertisers. If you're going to write an article on area rugs, then Google "area rugs" (without quotes) to see if Google has any advertisers. The more Google Ads you see, the better a topic that is.

If there are no ads, consider a different topic. You will make the most money out of articles that are based around terms or keywords that have a lot of advertisers competing on Google. Just doing this simple step, only freelance writing Xomba articles around keywords with Google advertisers, will put you way ahead of the game. This is how you get the most out of writing for Xomba, and even if you refuse to go beyond that, the basic idea of SEO is finding the keyword terms you can rank for that make money.

Writing Xomba articles that you know have ads that match the content is the best way to get making money online with Xomba.

Otherwise the basics of Xomba are simple, but note the difference between "Xombytes" & "Xomblurbs." Beyond that, enjoy writing for Xomba, and have fun when the Adsense clicks start rolling in!