14 ways to make money from just one article

I've recently started making some extra income by writing just one article, then using a variety of methods that bring in some extra cash, all related to just that one article. Each time I want to do it again, I write a new article and do it all over again. I wish I had the time to write ten articles a day, and use the methods ten times a day.

Why do I wish I had more time? I know it's still "early days," but I see great potential for this idea. Although the amounts I'm earning are very small, it seems to me that if I spend more time doing it more often, I could possibly make a fulltime income from writing articles and making money from them in different ways.

Why don't I have more time? Because the earnings are small (in return for not spending much time on it), and I don't have enough money stashed away to last me 6 or more months (while I devote more time to my strategy,) I have to also fit in quicker methods of making money from home - I'm a freelancer working from home, and if I don't work, I don't earn.

I'm republishing articles on various sites, and I'm linking to them (bookmarking them) on various sites.

I write an original fresh unique article of at least 400 words and submit it to either Factoidz or Triond. I do not submit the same article to both sites as neither site accepts previously published content. I'm using Factoidz more at the moment, but plan to get back to using Triond again soon, too. Both Factoidz and Triond allow you to republish your articles elsewhere after they first appear on the site. It's a bit confusing trying to work out if the Factoidz time period is 3 days or 30 days later that one can republish articles elsewhere, so to be on the safe side, it's best to just go with the 30 days later rule. I would use the same time period rule for Triond. 1st way to make money: from a share in revenue on Factoidz due to page views of my articles. 2nd way to make money: just from activity on Factoidz such as uploading new articles or answering questions in the forums

Once the 30 day time period is up, I republish the exact same article on Helium, on Constant Content offering usage rights only, and on one of my own sites or blogs. Sometimes I may change the title a bit, and possibly a line or two, but not always.

3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th ways to make money: On Helium I can earn from a share in ad revenue like on Factoidz, and also if somebody wants to buy my articles on Helium (usage rights only.) I can also earn extra if I am the first to write an article to an empty title, or am one of the first five to write an article to a title. Those last two methods are only possible if I have a good writer's score and good percentage of my articles in the competitive titles (3 or more articles have been written to a specific title.)

7th way to make money: I can sell my previously published articles on Constant Content, if I am not offering fullrights or unique rights. If my article has already been published elsewhere, I must offer only usage rights.

8th, 9th and 10th ways to make money: When I republish the same articles to one of my own sites or blogs, I can earn from Adsense clicks, from affiliate or referral links and banners, and from somebody hiring me for a service I offer, or buying a product I sell (I could advertise this in the sidebars or elsewhere on the same pages as my articles.)

11th and 12th ways to make money: I bookmark one of the articles on RedGage and can earn a share in ad revenue from pageviews of my link and brief one line description. Although it doesn't happen often, I can also earn a bonus if my link and brief one line description is featured.

13th way to make money: I bookmark one of the articles on Xomba. There are Adsense ads next to my bookmark (the bookmark is a title, link, and minimum 50-word description.) - UPDATE (made January 2012) - Xomba no longer allows its members to bookmark their own articles - to replace this particilar method of making money from just one article, I suggest trying Best-Reviewer. Link to your article from Best-Reviewer while earning from Adsense on the same pages as your Best-Reviewer links.

14th way to make money: I can write a similar (but not identical) article on HubPages, and link to the main article. (HubPages does not accept previously published content, and does not approve of its members republishing HubPage articles (hubs) elsewhere later.) I can earn from the Adsense on my hubs.

Yes, there are! I've just mentioned the 14 ways I'm currently using. Other ways could include bookmarking your articles on other sites that share ad revenue like Snipsly, She Told Me, and Best-Reviewer, or finding other sites that also accept previously published articles (like Bukisa) or buy usage rights only articles.

No, I'm not worried.

I ensure I use the same pen name (actually my real name) for all articles I write and sites I join.

The duplicate content penalty is a bit of a myth. It is possible that an article on your own site or blog, or on Helium, will not appear as high in search results as the first place you put it (like on Factoidz or Triond,) but you need to remember that the other articles will not be totally lost. Even if they're not appearing further down in search result lists, they still get seen by:

• People visiting your site or blog because you are using other marketing methods too, or some of your articles on your site or blog are not republished elsewhere, and visitors link through to the ones on your site that are republished elsewhere by clicking the links to them (that you so nicely display on your site.)
• Members of Helium
• Members of bookmarking sites or social sites who click the link to them

Also, people who republish articles from places like EzineArticles, or who buy usage rights only articles from places like Constant Content, wouldn't be doing it if these duplicate content articles weren't helping them in any way, or if Google had penalised them.

I've been doing this for less than two months.

I'd like to be able to do it more often.

I spent hours and hours (over a few days) going through articles, reviews of sites, and site guidelines and TOS.

I've been earning the most from articles on my own sites and blogs for a while now (not a lot, but more than anywhere else.) My own sites are where I've had the most articles for over a year. I was wondering how to let those same articles earn me more income.

I cannot republish an article (that is first on my own site or blog) to Factoidz or Triond or HubPages, but I can republish it to Helium (but not their special marketplace,) or to Constant Content with usage rights only.

I can republish an article that was first on Factoidz or Triond to my own site or blog, to Helium, and to Constant Content (usage rights only.)

My free Blogger blogs don't get as many pageviews as my self-hosted websites or self-hosted WordPress blogs do - in fact, my Blogger blogs get a lot less views. I recommend getting a free WordPress theme (there are thousands to choose from) so that you only have to pay for hosting and domain registration, and so that your domain name is unique (it doesn't end in something.sameasthousandsmore.com but rather ends in something.com)

I must remember to use the same pen name (easy for me as I just use my real name.)

Even if the earnings coming in from other sites are less than the earnings coming in from my own sites, it's still more money per article than I had before.

In August I made about $80 using the methods described above. This was from very few articles posted elsewhere, and from my own sites and blogs, and I do also need to mention that about just over half of it was from my own sites and blogs where I have about 300 articles/pages and have had most of them there for over a year already.

As you can see from the paragraph above, the earnings are not high at all, but I'm excited about how much I could earn if I could manage to write ten new articles a day, and put each of them through this "ways to make money from just one article" strategy of mine.

I currently (late September 2010) have only 18 articles on Factoidz, and only 19 on Helium. I have not yet republished them all at all of the places or bookmarked them all at all of the places (places I mention in the above hub.) I'm proud of the earnings I've generated from the little bit of work I'd done so far, with regards to this strategy. If I had plenty of time for it, the sky is the limit!

I have less than 10 articles on Constant Content so far. One of them has sold twice (for $17 - I get $11 each time) over a period of two months. That same article was first on Factoidz and, on Factoidz, has earned me $1.92 (currently, so far.) I joined Helium on the 11th of this month, September 2010, and that same article has so far earned me $0.04 on Helium. I have not yet added this article to one of my own sites - so there's still more earning potential there. I have also not yet bookmarked it on too many bookmarking or social sites - still more earning potential there.

Through Adsense on my own sites and blogs (on a little over 300 pages and not counting my Blogger blogs as earnings there are almost non existant so far) I earn roughly $0.14 per article/page, on average, per month. Some pages are higher, some are much lower or will even go a whole month without even one Adsense click, but for the last 6 months or so, $0.14 has been pretty average per page/article.

I've been on Helium for 15 days, and have 19 articles there. Having earned $1.31 to date from pageviews' ad revenue share hopefully translates to about $0.14 per article on average per month (it's still early and pageviews may drop off later.)  My highest earning article in these 15 days has generated $0.27 for me, and my second highest has generated $0.18.  As long as my articles are there and continue to receive traffic, my earnings grow.  An ongoing residual income from work done just once. 

But this means, that currently, my earnings on Helium are very similar to the earnings on my own sites or blogs. So why would I leave my article on just one place when I can earn double or more from it, by spreading it around a bit?

I hope my strategy helps those who would like to try it.