3329

That's how many page views my articles at Suite101.com have had: 3,329. As I mentioned a few days ago, someone is reading my stuff there. I've written a variety of articles. I have forty articles posted: 10 in Civil Engineering; 10 in two poetry topics; 13 in three history topics; 4 in Bible studies; 2 in personal finance topics; and 1 in genealogy. I have two articles partly done in draft that I hope to finish and post today, and about six in mind to write next. I hope to do two or three of them over the weekend.

On the revenue side of content writing, things are still slow, but beginning to pick up a little. I keep a spreadsheet of some basic statistics. Each day I enter how many page views I had and how much revenue I earned. The spreadsheet calculates a few things, including a projection of how many daily page views I'll have a year from now if the current growth continues, and how much revenue I'll be earning a year from now, again with the same trends. I also calculate annual revenue projection at the current rate of earnings. With recent averages for page views and revenue per 1000 page views, I could be earning, a year from now, at an annual rate of $2,242 dollars! That includes posting more articles at a good pace, and making those articles a combination of good information excellently written with search engine optimization techniques added.

I wouldn't exactly call that a "platform" as editors and literary agents would want, but it's a start. Some thoughts on how to go about this platform-building thing over two to three years is beginning to gel. I may write more about it, or maybe not.

And, it now looks as if I will get a paycheck from Suite101.com this month. You need to accumulate $10 in revenue before they pay you. As of August 26 (last day posted) I had accumulated $9.47. So I only need to accumulate 53 cents in five days. That's not for sure, but it is likely. I wonder what I'll do with the money?

I still don't know whether all this effort is worth it. At the current rate I'm earning revenue, I'll earn $124 in a year--with no more articles posted. All my articles are what they call "evergreen", that is, they are not tied to current events, and should continue to earn at the same rate theoretically forever. Actually, all the veterans say articles tend to earn at a somewhat larger rate over time. I'll believe that when I see it, but it's something to hope for. And hope makes many things worthwhile.