How People Get Here

I check every once in a while, ok, every day, to see how people are getting here. Some people have subscribed, some people click on links, but the vast majority get here through a Google search. Sometimes I see a search and I wonder if that person got the information they were looking for. In case they haven't, I'll try to help. Here are some of the searches that have brought people here:

Elance sucks
Yes, I actually get people coming here regularly after searching for this term. For awhile I was #1 on Google for this phrase which is kind of a sad claim to fame. I'm happier with the site than I once was, especially since the price hike got rid of so many people that there is very little competition for projects. They made a mistake raising rates, and they have a few other flaws, but for right now I don't think they suck too badly.

The Writer's Journey
I thought that sounded like a fun title for this here blog, but apparently there is a book by this name. If you have come here looking for it, I didn't write it and I've never read it. You can, however, get it right here.

Writers Residual Income
I get this one almost daily. I do have a post about that here. But for a short answer, web writers can get residuals from Triond, Squidoo, HubPages, eHow, Associated Content, Suite101, Helium and HowtoDoThings. Some are better than others, but most have a lot of potential if you spend a lot of time writing quality items that have a lot of reader appeal. Triond and Helium aren't really worth bothering with, but the others have real potential. I think the best idea is to pick two or three of them and go at it full force rather than getting involved with too many sites and getting very little from any of them. For most residual sites, the more you write, the more people will look to your other items to read. This increases your page views per article and results in more residuals for the same amount of work.

Elance Fees
I get this one a lot. I'm not sure if they are looking for the exact fees or the amount of the fee increase. The actual fees you pay depend a lot on what kind of membership you have. A free membership is useless and a waste of time. I had one for awhile and the site wouldn't let me bid on a single project ever. Get a paid Elance membership if you plan on bidding. The new memberships are more expensive than the old ones, but that's mostly because you have to buy a lot more "connects" to bid now than you used to. That brings me to...

Elance Connects
This is just Elance's new word for bids. Elance connects work in much the same way they did when they were called bids, but there are more of them required for higher-dollar projects. Under the old system, one bid was enough for any project. Under this system, it can take up to four connects to bid on a project. And, the memberships come with far fewer connects than they did bids.

THE letters from everyone
I have no idea what this means. Whatever they came looking for, they didn't find it. I don't send letters to everyone. Actually, I don't send letters to anyone.

I have the flu and I'm thirsty
Yes, one guy came here by searching for that. I feel for you, dude. Get some rest and visit here when you feel better.