Tons of former eHow writers are asking this question. I’ll disclose that I am in and approved as a Demand Studios writer. I’ve looked around and posted to the DS Forums. I don’t currently have access to the Create a Title tool at Demand Studios but I hope to have that corrected soon. I am still reading and learning all the Demand Studios guidelines and at the moment I have not submitted an article there yet.
The answer to the question (assuming you get accepted as a Demand Studios writer) depends on your objective.
Residual Income Model
Demand claims that you will be able to write “how to” articles on the Demand Studios platform and earn the same or better money.
Demand Studios made several changes to bring the Demand Studios system closer to the eHow platform. The former 5 year earnings cap was just lifted on what they term “rev share” articles. The title creation tool was also just changed from a system that required a human to approve the writer suggested title to a quick computer check for duplicate titles on eHow, just like the eHow system did.
A human Content Editor (CE) will check all submissions before they go live. If rejected you get one rewrite only. If rejected again you can take your article and the title you suggest (but not a title they provide) and post it elsewhere.
One serious drawback is that once approved there will be no way to edit your article. It is 100% out of your hands and Demand Media will own the copyright, not you. So there is no way to fix bad keywords or improve the ads.
Another loss to search engine efforts is the opportunity to add links to related articles on or off eHow. With Demand Studios you may only link to authority websites like .gov or .edu extensions. This is in keeping with the idea they have of being a community of journalists. In fact, most of the time you will need to provide a source for fact checking.
Another change is no writer submitted photos. You have to pick from the Demand Photo bank no exceptions.
Affiliate linking out was banned at Demand Studios about the same time it was banned at eHow.
The only tools I can see left to make articles earn on the Demand Studios revenue sharing are these:
1. Find and use high value, often searched, keywords.
2. Backlink your published revenue sharing articles to help them rise in the SERPs and get found.
Pay Up Front for Work Model
If you want money now rather than later, Demand Studios has plenty of titles to choose from. Read a good review of Demand Studios by Master Dayton linked of another post here. I’m not experienced with this model so I will not talk about it.
Write to Sell – Pick Your Price
Demand does not offer this option. The best site for writing what you want and pricing it how you want is Constant-Content. I’m very pleased with that site and I’ve blogged about Constant Content a number of times. Read the back posts on Constant Content for more information on this lucrative model.
Should I write for Demand Studios?
Well if you like the model, maybe. I am not yet ready to recommend Demand Studios – but I am also not ready to recommend against Demand Studios. I’m in watch, learn and experiment mode right now, as are a lot of other writers.
For Craft and Photo heavy articles I do have a recommendation = > Read this Article on writing with Xomba. You can do the user photo heavy articles on Demand Studios anyway.
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While I have only done a handful of rev share articles myself, the two I wrote under the DS platform have done a bit better than those I wrote directly for Ehow. I’ll be the first to admit, however, that I don’t know much about SEO and keyword optimization. I hope the new system works well for you!
One benefit of the $15 up front articles is you can find some pretty specific and obscure titles that are quick and easy to write up yet would probably not perform well in the long term with revenue share. It pays the bills!
I write mainly craft articles, and I too wish that DS would allow writers to upload their own photos, as many craft tutorials are much clearer with the assistance of images.
The DS model will not support craft articles where pics are important. The write a free “I did this” and link it together is just too clunky. Check out this post for an answer on the craft articles. http://www.innovativepassiveincome.com/what-do-i-do-with-deleted-ehow-articles/
.-= JadeDragon´s last blog ..Carnival of Making Money Online Review =-.
I am a fan of Demand Studios for the active income or direct work for pay article set up, but honestly I’m very unconvinced by the passive income model there. Granted, a lot has changed with the shifting of writers from eHow, but I’m more inclined to build my passive income elsewhere at this point, although that is only my opinion.
.-= Master Dayton´s last blog ..How I Became A Freelance Writer =-.
I’m in wait and see mode (plus I don’t yet have access to the passive income model there).
.-= JadeDragon´s last blog ..Carnival of Making Money Online Review =-.
The residual income model on DemandStudios is much like the WCP on eHow — except that the DS publishing tool actually, well, works.
Ownership of article rights is the main difference between the two models and while I don’t care for the change, it doesn’t bother me that much when it comes to content I wrote specifically for residual income on eHow and wasn’t planning to use anywhere else.
Best of luck to those merging over to DS — see you there!
.-= Maria (WriterGig)´s last blog ..Revenue-Sharing Articles at Demand Studios =-.
Thanks for your comments. I look forward to reading more about the transition. I’m focused on other projects for now, let others work out the system this time.