1st Featured Xomba Travel Article

It's Good to Be a Featured Xomba Writer

Well hello again, all, and welcome to this Tuesday installment of my Xomba writing adventures. Folks, if I repeat myself a little bit I do apologize, but it has especially been "one of those months" during an entire year that takes the cake as far as "let's never have one of those again." But there is some really positive news coming from Xomba, so I want to make sure to cover all the main points as I'm flying through.

First of all, Xomba is definitely gaining strength as an authority site. It's not on the same level as HubPages or eHow yet, but it is definitely growing day by day and that is good news for everyone who writes on the Xomba site. This doesn't mean you shouldn't learn SEO or article marketing, but it means that getting your Xomba articles to rank high in the search engines will be a lot easier now than it was a year ago. More visitors = more readers & more $$$.

Second, the new site is now offically, OFFICALLY launched. This is really cool, and I like the far majority of improvements they've made to the site. In addition, it's good to know they're not resting on their laurels, but are continuing to work to improve the quality of the entire site. They mentioned that in testing the AdSense income was definitely taking off, and I can say as an online freelance writer that I've already started seeing the benefit of this.

As another note, it turn out my Canton Football Hall of Fame article wasn't my first article as a featured travel writer on Xomba, because I jumped the gun a little. Still, it's a good article and I stand by it. So this means that my most recent article:

Frozen Outhouses and Other Alaska Winter Adventures

Was officially my first article as a travel writer on Xomba. I included two pictures, one of the inside of my frozen outhouse. The best part about being a featured author is that my article has been on the front page for two days and counting...and the title is definitely getting me a lot of traffic. Right now this is my second most read Xomba article of all time, and I've seen a pretty impressive two day jump in AdSense earnings that I can attribute directly to the Xomba traffic I've received from being on the front page.

The requirement is one article every two weeks...but if my article is off the front page in a few days, you can bet your butt I'll be writing another one right then and there.

If you've been writing on Xomba, look around to see if there is a category you'd enjoy that needs a featured writer. Last time I checked the site, there still were plenty of openings that you could apply for. The contract of one article every two weeks (minimum) will force you to write, while the extra exposure of being on the front page is definitely going to boost the traffic stats. This is easy money for the good writers, so don't be shy. Find an open topic and get featured!

$5 extra in two days (and counting since this day is FAR from over) for a single 20 minute article is all the AdSense proof I need. So good luck, and if you haven't started writing from Xomba I invite you to check out the rest of my blog posts and SIGN UP HERE!

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.

Summer Writing Contest: Last Call!

Xomba Writing Contest: Last Call

For those of you who are writing or Xomba, or who have just found this today, the 2009 Xomba Summer Writing Contest ends on July 6th. There are great cash prizes of $350 for first place, $200 for second place, and $150 for third place, so it's a great time to jump in and start writing for Xomba. Just remember that each entry needs to have a picture, and the words "Xomba Summer Contest" in the tags. I've entered two entries, and I'm thinking about entering one more before deadline. I'm very happy with the second one especially, and think there's a chance it could do pretty well.

If you haven't even joined Xomba yet, you can JOIN HERE and start writing for a 50/50 split of all AdSense earned on your articles. A contenst is always a nice little way to potentially get some good publishing credentials as well as make a little extra cash, so why not give it a shot?

That's all for the moment, although it sounds like beta testing for the new Xomba website will begin soon, and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what the new site will look like and the increased funtionality that's been whispered about. That's it for now. Good writing!

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!

Freelance Writing Xomba Contests

The Summer Xomba Writing Contest

This is a quick post about one of the nice little perks of writing for Xomba that freelance writers on that site should definitely consider. While splitting AdSense earnings from published articles can be a long process to get the type of consistent results you want, an extra several hundred dollars all at once is nothing to sneeze at. It's definitely a nice bump!

Every so often Xomba holds writing contests, and this is one of those times. The summer writing competition information for Xomba's summer writing contest can be found here at this post:

http://www.xomba.com/contests#summer

This year the prizes are:

1st: $350
2nd: $200
3rd: $150

You can't argue with any of those prizes for a single article, and this can also help be used as motivation to prod you to posting more Xombytes, which will help you increase your summer AdSense earnings, as well.

That's the brief update for now. Everyone writing for Xomba has until July 6th, and all the submissions for the actual contest must have a photo submission with the article. If you're writing for Xomba, I strongly encourage you to participate in this contest, and if you haven't started writing for Xomba, then consider starting today by SIGNING UP HERE!