Bukisa

The following is a guest-post by Nobert Bermosa, Bukisa’s highest paid author in 2009. In 2009, Nobert made $2.527.10 from his 198 published online Bukisa articles. The views and opinions Nobert writes are his own, and we asked him to write a blog in our hope that his ideas will help other Bukisa authors write successful articles for their and our success. Please feel free to leave a comment here or by sending a message directly to Nobert, – Aviv, Bukisa Community Manager

My Little Success At Bukisa: Are There Secrets About Successful Online Writing?

By Nobert Bermosa

If you write to entertain that is good. If you write to educate that is good. And if you write to entertain and to educate, that is much better.

Basically, I contribute to entertain, and as much as possible, to educate at the same time. I thought this is where I am good at because it’s what I do – I ‘teach’ and entertain. Of course, I am not a hypocrite – I contribute to EARN.

To date, I already have 198 published articles online here at Bukisa.com http://www.bukisa.com/join/1877 and all these posts were able to generate a total of 717,138 unique views and provided me $2,527.10.

I was surprised when I received an email on December 31, 2009, from Aviv Benedix, our Bukisa Community Manager, requesting if I would be interested in writing a quick article regarding my little success at Bukisa. In addition, he said this could provide readers good ideas for articles. This is the very reason why I wrote this article. There had been plenty of requests from other writers in the past and a few recently asking me to write an article about my little success as an online contributor. They’re asking me questions on how to market articles, how to drive more traffic and other questions in connection to online writing.

Honestly, I started contributing articles on the net almost two years ago without any knowledge or skill on how to market my works. For me, marketing is secondary only, foremost to consider is ‘good quality article’.

When I write an article, there are 4 questions I consider:
• Is it interesting?
• Is it entertaining?
• Is it educational/ informative? and,
• Is it relevant?

A topic that is interesting or relevant or entertaining or informative will surely get good views. If it’s interesting and entertaining, more views can be expected. If it’s interesting, entertaining and educational, well, expect that you’ll attract much bigger views. And if your topic content is interesting, entertaining, educational and relevant, it will certainly gain large number of traffic and will continue to do so for a longer period of time.

Note: Just make sure that your chosen topic is not saturated yet. As much as possible, it must be unique and original. I refrain from using the word ‘new’ because nothing seems new anymore on the net except for the latest discoveries and inventions of scientists and inventors.

Additional points to remember:

• Write only subjects that you know best.
• Select an eye catching and relevant title.
• Your short summary must be important.
• Include only tags that are significant.

Now that you have met all the criteria of a ‘good article’, what’s next? As I have mentioned, the most important factor in writing is a good quality article, marketing is only secondary.

Here are the next basic things to do:
• Email your newly published article to all your friends and family.
• Join social networks like Digg, Reddit, Del.icio.us, Facebook, StumbleUpon, Twitter and many others by signing-up.
• Make friends on these social networks and start submitting/sharing your articles.

If a friend finds your article interesting or relevant, he/she will send it to his/her friends. His/her friends will send it to their friends too. Their friends will share it to their friends… and so on. That is how networking works.
There are also bloggers/marketers out there waiting for good stuffs that they can include in their blogsites/websites. These bloggers/marketers will create a summary of your article and post it on their blogs/sites with your by-lines. They earn, you earn. Very simple, very basic!

Warning!!!
Watch out!!! You might get a heart attack!!!

If there are bloggers/marketers on the net that are willing to help you market your articles, there are also hundreds of vultures on the net waiting to devour you. All they do is watch and wait for a good catch. Once your hit article stop gaining views, rest assured, it has been devoured by bloodsuckers. These animals will snatch a piece of your cake by copy-pasting your entire article and post it somewhere else without your by-lines. They earn, you don’t. Ouch!

Here are my top five highest earning articles. Two articles are about machines, two are about animals and one is about mushrooms.

1.) World’s Largest Machines Ever Built
I wrote this article because I thought many people are curious about huge machines. This is by far my article with the largest earnings which was published on March 05, 2009. It has a total of 69,337 unique views and still increasing and gave me $252.10.

2.) Freakiest and Weirdest Froggy Frog Frogs
I’ve learned that there are more than 5,000 species of frogs and I said to myself, ‘I am pretty sure there are scores of odd-looking frogs’, and so started surfing for the oddest-looking frogs. This article about peculiar frogs was published on March 21, 2009. It had accumulated a total of 53,941 unique views with a total earning of $197.41.

3.) Fantastic and Unique Shapes of Mushrooms

This article about mushrooms accumulated a total view of 35,777 with a total earning of $131.97. It was published on March 4, 2009. This article showcases 10 uniquely-shaped mushrooms. This article came to existence because I thought people will be interested to see mushrooms with peculiar shapes.


4.) World’s Fastest Flying Machines Ever Built
This article that features 10 of the fastest flying machines ever created by men is a sequel to my article “World’s Largest Machines Ever Built”. This article about flying machines which was published on March 18, 2009 has a total of 30,625 unique views with earnings of $111.61.

5.) The World’s Most Colorful Snakes
Who’s not afraid of snake? Well, the very reason why I wrote this article is – I am afraid of snakes. It is only through pictures that I can take a good look at these scary creatures. This article features twenty species of the most colorful snakes in the world. This article about beautifully colored snakes was published on April 4, 2009 and generated 21,446 total unique views and provided me $77.29.

See also:
$2,527.10 for 2009: My Bukisa’s Top 15 Highest Earning Articles

See my other Bukisa articles here

I am encouraging other writers/contributors to join Bukisa because it is one of the highest paying writing sites on the internet. They pay $3.49 for every 1,000 clicks. To join Bukisa click HERE.

Now, will you say that there are secrets on how to be a successful online writer?

Dear Bukisa,
I am new to Bukisa and I’m not sure what article topics are popular and obtain many views. What do you recommend I write my articles about?
Thanks,
***

You don’t know how many times I’ve received e-mails like this! Well, the answer is simple. Our readers want to read about topics that are in demand and are popular.

My personal favorite site for finding new and relevant article topics would be the website Google Trends (http://www.google.com/trends). Google Trends displays the ten top “Hot Topics” and “Hot Searches” in the USA.

You could imagine that the most popular “Hot Topic” at the time of this writing would be “New Years Eve 2010”. However, I wouldn’t recommend writing an article on this right now, as by the time it is submitted and indexed, New Years 2010 will have passed. HOWEVER, it would be a good idea to write an article on “New Years Eve 2011” a few weeks before December 31, 2010!

Hot Topic number eight is about “holiday bowl” and this is a great topic choice for all you sports enthusiasts out there. Although, I again must warn you against writing an article on this now, as the bowl games are coming very soon, and therefore I recommend you write an article with your football bowl game predictions in late December 2010! Write your opinion piece on who will defeat who in which bowl game, who you think will be the star of the game, and who will take home the title.

Hot Topic number six is currently, “terrorist”, and this looks like a good choice of a topic to obtain a high number of views. Possible relevant topics might be an opinion piece on the latest attempted act of airline terrorism last week, ways to prevent terrorist activities, etc. However, it should be noted that Bukisa is NOT a news site and news articles will be rejected upon submission. We want your opinions, knowledge and ideas, not the latest news!
Hot Topic number ten is about the CIA. This topic is related to Hot Topic Number six, “terrorist”, and if I were choosing an article to write about right now, I think an article about terrorism would be a wise choice for an article to write about now.

Picture /Top Ten Articles

It’s no secret that I personally love articles with high quality pictures. If you look at the Top “Hot Searches” on the Google Trend page, you will see in the number six slot is “new years around the world”. How about writing an article such as “Top Ten Places Around the World to Celebrate the New Year”, “Top Ten Most Romantic New Years Destinations”, or something to your liking? You can find top quality pictures in the public domain from Wikipedia or Flickr in your endeavor to create a widely read article. Make the article as beautiful as possible, and you will find not only that you received many views, but also that many of your readers e-mailed your article to their friends and also posted it to their Facebook profile page.

It is my hope that this blog has helped everyone in their endeavors of writing top quality articles in 2010.

Wishes for a Happy New Year,

Aviv
Bukisa Community Manager

This short guide will teach you how to easily upload an image to your Bukisa article. There are two options: (i.) to add a photo from a website link or (ii.) to add a photo saved on your computer.

Uploading an Image from a website link:

Step 1: Click the “Add Photos” Icon.

Step 2: Click “Upload”.

Step 3: Add the website link that you want to upload in the box next to “URL”. Afterwards click “Insert”.

Step 4: Scroll through the available images.  Our system saves all old images you’ve uploaded in the past.  Our software also saves your image file in multiple sizes.  Scroll through all the available pictures, and wait a few seconds for each picture to load while scrolling.  Once you’ve selected the picture to upload, click “Insert”.

Step 5: Now you will see the image inside your article.  Congratulations! Now all you have to do is decide how you want to center your image, on the left, center, or right.  Please look at the following image to see where these icons are located.

Uploading an Image saved on your computer:

Step 1: Click the “Add Photos” Icon.

Step 2: Click “Upload”.

Step 3:  Click “Browse” and select the file from your computer that you wish to upload.

Step 4: Click “Upload”.

Step 5: Scroll through the available images.  Our system saves all old images you’ve uploaded in the past.  Our software also saves your image file in multiple sizes.  Scroll through all the available pictures, and wait a few seconds for each picture to load while scrolling.  Once you’ve selected the picture to upload, click “Insert”.

Step 6:  Now you will see the image inside your article.  Congratulations! Now all you have to do is decide how you want to center your image, on the left, center, or right.  Please look at the following image to see where these icons are located.

1. Determine how you’d like to deliver the information that you’d want to send across to your readers and package your page and posts accordingly.

Most often than not, people who would find your articles will simply skim it so they can find the information they need within the shortest time possible.

Therefore, for them to find value in your articles, you need to ensure that it is packaged in such a way that it will be easy for them to extract the information they’ll need from it. How-To’s, lists and tips work best when applicable.

2. Determine how you’d like to deliver the information that you’d want to send across to your readers and package your page and posts accordingly.

Most often than not, people who would find your articles will simply skim it so they can find the information they need within the shortest time possible.

Therefore, for them to find value in your articles, you need to ensure that it is packaged in such a way that it will be easy for them to extract the information they’ll need from it. How-To’s, lists and tips work best when applicable.3. Draw traffic to your content by inviting conversation.

Whenever you write an article, make sure that you keep a targeted audience in mind for which you are writing it. Similarly, it would also help if you can encourage your audience to leave comments on your page or any kind of feedback. Have a call for action always available on your page. Remember that Web content’s main purpose is to translate monologues into conversations.

3. Write for ‘humans’ and make sure that you don’t incorporate too much keywords in your posts.

We know that it is quite tempting to have your articles SEO-ready so it will be searchable (which means more page views for you).  We don’t really discourage this (nor do we encourage such), but we hope that you keep in mind that we don’t want you to sacrifice quality for the sake of monetary benefits. A couple of cents lost because of less page views is nothing compared to lots of audience lost because we failed to provide them valuable, engaging and unique content.  In the end your articles might become more popular due to their reader-friendliness.

4. Have a consistent publishing schedule (twice a week on same day and hour).

Make sure your audience knows that your page is consistently updated. This makes them feel they have something new to see whenever they visit your page.

5. Think outside the box and explore new topics related to your chosen niche.

We’ve mentioned earlier that it is best to write on a topic that you are passionate about. This said, should you find a new passion, don’t be afraid to write about it. Just keep your primary goal in mind: page views…Err…to develop a core audience!

6. Enjoy and love writing— it’s the ultimate tip we can give you!Passion is not a skill learned over time. This is the reason we’ve mentioned the importance of passion in writing. Enjoy and love writing and it’ll definitely reward you.

7. Leave comments— read our blog and read the posts of other Bukisa members. Learn while you network!

PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS

Step 1: Make sure you’re logged into your Bukisa page.  Go to your “Profile Page” (http://www.bukisa.com/myhome/account/profile)

Step 2: Once inside your profile page, scroll down, and click “Update Photo”

Step 3: Click “Browse”

Step 4: After you clicked “Browse,” a “File Upload” Box will pop up on the screen.  Select the file from your hard drive that you wish to upload, and click “Open”.

Step 5: Once you clicked “Open”, the previous page will show up with the image file selected.  Click “Upload”.

Step 6: Wait about 10-15 seconds (note: image upload can take longer if your uploading a giant image file) for the image to appear on your screen.  Now, center the Cropping Box around your face or the image you want to upload.  You can also adjust the size of the image cropped.  Once you’ve properly cropped your image, click “Crop (click me)” at the bottom of the screen.

Step 7: Once you clicked “Crop (click me)”, the page will take about 10 seconds for the picture to save.  Once the image has uploaded, click “Save”.

Step 8: Congratulations!  You have now successfully added your Bukisa Profile Picture!  Your “My Bukisa Profile” will now look like this (minus having your picture in it besides mine!!  ) )

Click here to view your Profile:  http://www.bukisa.com/myhome/account/profile

I hope you found this guy fairly easy.  Please feel free to leave feedback!

-Aviv

Bukisa Community Manager

Choosing the topic on which to focus your writing efforts on is essential if your goal is to make a good living out of your home-based writing career. Keep in mind that you will need to drive traffic to your page— lots of it— if you wish to gain authority in this industry; and keeping unified writing ideas will help you achieve this. Caution is highly exercised on blogs, but writing for article directories is no different. The same rules apply and we have them enumerated below to serve as your guide.

1. Never focus your writing efforts on yourself.
It is true that the topic that you should write about should be something that you are very familiar with. This reduces the difficulty of writing and of course, the hassles of research. However, this does not mean that you should allow your writing efforts to revolve around yourself! Sure, you may be extremely familiar with your own physique, feelings and thoughts; and this makes you think and feel that you are the best candidate to write your best articles on, BUT the only question now is: Will there be people who’ll find interest in your articles if they’re merely all about you? There will be some, but this reach is going to be too limited as compared to the number of readers that you can get if you’d think of another frame of reference to refer to when writing. Don’t be self-centered!

2. Never try to cover too many topics.
It is tempting to cover as much topics as you can on your page, and there is nothing wrong about it. But then again, if your goal is to develop a core audience, you may need to limit your posts to a single topic. The sharper your focus on your page, the more chances you’d attract a qualified audience.

3. Never try to focus on a topic that you are not knowledgeable or passionate about.
This usually happens when you’ve witnessed a fellow writer succeed in a given niche. It is tempting to follow his/her footsteps— and even the niche he’s had success on—but there is no guarantee that you will also find success on the same topic. Doing so may even end with you ending up as a frustrated writer rather than a passionate one. This will greatly affect your writing pieces and your writing career in the long run.

4. Be realistic with the number of websites, blogs and other writing efforts which may eat up your time.
We’ve indicated it here because the number of pages and websites that a writer has online usually equates to the number of niches he’s trying to write about. Sure, it’s a brilliant idea to make your writing efforts and promotion vital, but it is not a good idea to cramp yourself with too much ‘unpaid’ work with not enough time to do the ‘paid work’. Realize that even if passive sources of income such as advertisements are available, the income that you can generate from writing for clients will give you an even greater continuous stream of income.
Now, this list is considerably short compared to the all the tips available on the web that can help you choose the topics on which to focus your writings on. Thankfully though, this post contains the basics from which you can build your framework of decisions on which will eventually help bring your freelance writing career to a success. Should you think something valuable is missing here, feel free to drop us a message so we can get the ball rolling.

As the Bukisa community grows, more and more writers are joining us in delivering great content to thousands of people who are in need of our content. Most of you may not have realized it yet, but the value of every entry that you post on Bukisa may have already reached thousands of households, helping people, be it as simple as doing basic housechores up to the complexities of building a freelance career. Needless to say, the monetary benefit that you get from Bukisa is not at all the best part of it— finding your voice and value as a writer is.

This said, we are proud to introduce to you “Bukisa’s Series of Blog Posts” with the aim to help you deliver great content to our readers through valuable writing tips and tools. This series of blog posts shall follow a certain chronological order so to allow each tip and piece of advice to help you in an ‘organized manner’ as we move along towards the end of the series. This approach limits the chances of you missing a valuable tip, as you’ll be reminded that content writing has its own ‘must follow process’.

With this in mind, we would like you, our reader, to suggest topics that you are interested in reading about for this new series.  Please let us know your ideas by leaving a comment below.

Thanks,

The Bukisa Team

Hi all,

Due to the success of gaining new members, greater popularity brought about from our Bukisa authors, an increasing amount of advertising spending online and increased optimization of our monetization efforts, we are happy to announce that we are able to raise the Bukisa Index from 3.42 to 3.53.

Hopes are high that we will able to further increase the Bukisa Index in the near future.

Keep up the good work,

Simon & the Bukisa Team

http://www.bukisa.com