So, it’s time for another Info Barrel update. The challenge was very interesting. It’s still a bit too early to determine how much money you can make with info barrels. My conclusion (so far) is that you can make more money with Hubpages because of the stronger domain authority and the better layout for Adsense.
See previous updates:
Make Money with Infobarrel Update 1
Make Money with Infobarrel Update 2
However, I’m quite happy with the way things have been going. At about the 40 article mark, I started to make a bit of money. The past 4 days, it’s been pretty consistent now. I believe the articles posted at to age a bit before Google started to send some traffic (can’t track it unless they integrate analytics). The past week, I’ve made 11 bucks. It’s been getting more consistent. About 10 days ago, I made .70. A few days later I had 4 dollars in a day. This was followed by a couple 3 dollar days. I’ve had a total of 11 clicks in 10 days. I’ve had a total of 737 impressions since posting my first article 2 weeks ago. Yesterday, I had 134 impressions alone. As you see, you start with virually nothing but the traffic effect sowly snowballs. The same thing happened with hubpages. I expect in a couple weeks, I’ll be getting 500 or so impressions a day.
So in total, I’ve made about 11 bucks in about a week’s time. Note that I only had about 30 or so articles up, so that’s not bad at all. I seem to be doing about 3 bucks a day now. Keep in mind that I have not added ANY backlinks to the articles. I’m also behind; I’ve been really busy with hubs and other projects the past week, so I have not got up the full number of articles I should. I will within a few days though.
I’m going to keep tracking the experiment over the next month. It’s really hard to determine the full potential since I have don’t have the full 100 articles up yet and I have not built any backlinks to the articles (so it’s not fair to really compare infobarrel to hubpages, as I was consistently building backlinks to hubpages). Over the next two weeks, we should start to see a clearer picture.
But, as the infobarrel articles begin to age, the earnings will go up. I fully expect 5-10 dollars a day will be very possible in a month’s time, especially once I begin to add more articles and backlinks to each article. It could be that I could pull out $20 bucks a day — we’ll have to see. Right now, 3-4 bucks a day for 40 or so articles up with no backlinks is not bad at all.
But, infobarrel is my new best friend for clean backlinks. I’ve established that you can make some money with Infobarrels. But let me reiterate why you should sign up for an infobarrel account:
Authoritative Backlinks
There are thousands of article directories and mini website hosts you can sign up for to use as backlink juice. However, most of them don’t really have much in the way of domain authority. If you want to use a mass article directory submitter to submit the same article to hundreds of these low authority directories, that’s fine. Backlinks are backlinks. But you should always try to mix in some high quality, high domain authority links as well. One aged EzinesArticles backlink, for example, might be worth more than a hundred of the other, low quality directory backlinks.
Google seems to be moving away from emphasis on backlink quantity to a reliance on the quality of the backlink. What does this mean in practical terms? Solid backlinks from high domain authority sites count a hell of a lot more towards pushing you up in the SERP’s than low quality links.
The first place people turn to for backlinks are usually article directories, since it’s such an easy way to get a link. However, to get the most work to result ratio, I’d say there are only a handful of authority directories that you should focus on actually writing up unique articles to submit to:
One question that often pops up is “how many articles should I submit to one of these article directories.” The rule of thumb that many SEO’s follow is that Google starts to discount link juice from 5 or more backlinks from the same C-CLASS IP. You can probably eke out 10 or so and still get decent link juice. In layman’s terms this means if you decided to write 100 Ezine articles and send those link to your webpage, you are going to see less link juice. You’ll probably have 5 strong links, 5 decent links, and the rest very weak links. No one knows the exact number of links before google starts to discount the link juice, but 5-10 is the usual number bandied around by SEO’s.
Now, I’m not saying those 100 EzinesArticles backlinks won’t help you. They well, but you won’t be getting much link juice from them. Google looks at many thinks when ranking your website. The major criteria for your ranking is your backlinks.
Google has some criteria for how it uses backlinks to rank you. Now, no one other than a Google employee knows the exact criteria for how Google utilizes backlinks. But *some* of the factors that Google looks are known.
The number of backlinks you have
The type of anchor texts used in the backlinks
The quality of the backlinks
Are the backlinks from an authority sites?
Are they from a site with relevant/related information?
Are the backlinks from a site with PR?
Do the backlinks have domain age?
You don’t want too many backlinks from the same source because there is a steep level of diminishing returns. So, what this means is try to only have about 5 or so links from the same source. This means if you are using Ezine articles, you will gain MUCH more link juice by having 5 links from EzinesArticles, 5 links for InfoBarrel, 5 links from Squidoo, and 5 links from GoArticles rather than 20 links from EzinesArticles. I’d be willing to be that having 5 links from those 4 directories would be more valuable then 200 links from EzinesArticles.
Back to infobarrel. Infobarrel has a lot of TrustRank in Google’s eyes. It’s got authority status and the links seem to count for a lot. I’ve tested this out on sites and I’d say the links pack almost as much juice as EzineArticles.
Articles are Edited
There is a pretty strict qualification process, akin to Ezine. Your are given preapproval status after 14 days and 10 published articles. This preapproval status means you can submit an article without having an editor holding your article to inspect it. However, even if you don’t have preapproval process, the process is pretty quick. When I first started, I would submit an article and it was published within an hour. Compare that with EzinesArticles where you can wait 7 business days before seeing your article published, if you don’t have platinum status.
Now you might be thinking that this whole editorial heavy-handedness is a hassle. Yes, it is, but Google give a hell of a lot more weight to article directories /mini sites that implement this. This means that the quality is always very high so Google can “trust” content originating from this domain. This means that backlinks contain far more link juice. This is one reason why EzinesArticles is the best article directory – because of the stringent editorial process required before your article is published.
Fast Indexing
I’ve seen articles get indexed within an hour. Not all of them, but many. If you post something, expect it to be indexed within the day. Enough said.
Make Money with InfoBarrel
InfoBarrel splits 75% of the Adsense revenue with you. This compares nicely with Hubpages 60%. Now, right now InfoBarrel is still growing and lacks the domain power that Hubpages has. This means if you were to take 100 articles and post them on Hubpages, you would make more money, I suspect, than if you posted 100 articles on Infobarrel. So if your aim is to make quick money, I’d go with Hubpages as your main source. For now.
BUT, The more content InfoBarrel gets, the more domain authority they will build up. I FULLY expect that articles will begin to make much more money in the future. I’d give infobarrel about 6 months to a year and they will be VERY strong in terms of domain authority.
If you want to make money fast, I suggest — if you are using hubpages — that you create a set up supporting, parrell articles on infobarrel. You will not only make more money because of the strong link juice, but you will also make extra money with infobarrel.
Summary
For backlink support, you should absolutely use Info Barrel. The links are clean and very strong. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: Infobarrel is EzinesArticles without the bitchy editors (much easier to get articles published) and the ability to profit from your articles. You should make a point of adding it to your link building portfolio.
This experiment is not done. I will continue to track the progress of my 100+ infobarrel articles for the next couple weeks and post a result post. It’s only been 2 weeks since starting. I expect to have all articles up in a few days and then start to work the backlinks (in addition to my other many projects!). We’ll just see if we can get 5+ bucks a day out of this experiment!
16 Comments
Thanks for the update. When you say that 5 links from same domain/ip is best and more than that won’t help with link juice can I ask if you mean to the page or the domain? IF I have domain.com/page1.html and have 5 links from ezinea or another site towards it can I still benefit domain.com/page2.html with another 5 links pointing to it from ezinea too in terms of link juice from the same article directory?
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admin Reply:
June 29th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
The domain not the pages. You have to count the total links coming from the domain. It’s not really worth having at most, more than 10 links from a single domain. You get the most link juice from the first 5 (some say first 3). After 5 it is diminishing return. After ten (according to many SEO’s), the link juice you get is neglible.
So, 20 links from DIFFERENT ezine article pages still count as 20 links from the same domain. I’m not saying there is no advantage to sending ezine article links to each of one of your niche blog webapages. It will help, but it’s just you won’t be getting very much link juice. It’s best to get your 5-10 links from ezine, then move on to another source etc. The more links from different domains, the stronger your rankings will be.
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Expanding on Deb’s question, I’m still a bit confused…
What if you were planning on using Infobarrel links to boost your Hubpages. Is the point of diminishing returns after 5 Infobarrel links to one Hub, or 5 Infobarrel links to one profile on Hubpages, or…??? It couldn’t be to the entire hubpages.com domain since there are so many contributors, links etc, right?
Let’s say you wanted to pump up Hubpage #1 and first, and then later Hubpage #2. You send 5 Infobarrel and 5 EZA to #1 and stop there because of diminishing returns. Now you want to pump up Hub #2. Would efforts with Infobarrel and EZA now be wasted (well, not completely wasted as I understand a link is still a link, but I mean is the primary link juice already been juiced?)
I hope my question makes sense; I feel like the answer should be obvious, but for some reason I’m having a tough time wrapping my head around this right now.
Another quick question for you: are you re-using your keywords and general ideas/concepts from your initial Hub experiment for your content on Infobarrel?
Thanks for all your sharing. Both your hard work and your results are truly inspiring. Rock on!
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admin Reply:
June 29th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Hi. Sorry, it is confusing. I don’t think I laid it out well enough. In the case of ezine articles and hubpages, sending 10 links from ezine articles to your hubpages will give the most juice. However in the case of hubs, infobarrels, and ezine articles, just link them together.
Now, keep in mind that google never goes out an TELLs anyone how this stuff works. What I had in mind when talking about this was say I have a website http://www.acne.com. Sending 100 ezine article links to http://www.acne.com will not be very effective. It’s only worth sending 10 or so links, then use the time you would spend writing the other 90 articles on getting different backlinks.
So keep on sending those ezine article links. I honestly don’t know how google handles say linking from say a subdirectory on ezine to a subdirectory on hubpages. In my experience, ezine links still seem to hold weight here. Do I think if you only sent 10 ezine articles to 10 hubpages that those 10 ezine articles would be the strongest of say 100 ezine articles linking to different hubs? Yes. But I don’t know how google handles it. Ezine links still count when you send more than 10 to hubpages. Sending say 20 ezine articles to the same hub, I suspect, will give you diminishing returns, I suspect, but how much, I don’t know. It could be google may give the full weight in this case.
But I do know if you say send 100 blogger blog links to a website, you won’t get much link juice past the 10th link. Total number of backlinks still can make a difference though.
What to keep in mind? Try to get links from different sources when possible!
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Good information. I’m still mapping out what keywords to tackle but will be doing the 100 Hub challenge in July. I think my approach will be to have 100 Hubs . . . each with a parallel Infobarrel article that contains a backlink to the respective hub. Then I’ll have 100 Ezines–the resource box will have one link pointing to the Hub and the other pointing to Infobarrel. Well, at least the plan for now!
BTW–on Infobarrel can you put backlinks in the article or do they have to stay in the resource box?
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admin Reply:
June 29th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
that’s a good plan Amanda. You will double end it — link juice + extra money!
You can put links in the article body. 2 links, but if they are relevent, a 3rd
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Great info, Ben. Thanks! I wasn’t aware of the diminishing returns with links.
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Ben, I’m damn curios how much you’re getting from hubpages this days. Last time you sayed that the money did not grow, just a curiosity
I’ve seen you did not mention about it lately.
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admin Reply:
June 29th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
Hi. An update tomorrow about that!
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Cool, thanks Ben (though I still think I’ll need to dissect that response to make sure I totally get it) :o)
I don’t mean to hassle you, but would you mind answering my second question too, when you have the opportunity?
Mucho Thanks Man!
>>> “Another quick question for you: are you re-using your keywords and general ideas/concepts from your initial Hub experiment for your content on Infobarrel?”<<<
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admin Reply:
June 29th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
@K-man
Some of the ideas I reused. I have created some new niches to test the waters out. However, I’m beginning to think the best strategy is to use infobarrel to support your hubs, as hubpages have stronger domain authority, for now.
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I am really amazed on how you churn out content all by yourself. Do you still do it yourself? Or do you already hire writers?
If you still do it yourself, can I ask some tips from you? :p . Basically, how do you organize your thougts in writing your article? Do you already have a template that you reuse everytime you write your article? Or does the article just flow out of your creative mind?
Thanks,
Paolo.
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admin Reply:
June 30th, 2009 at 9:19 am
@paolo
No, I don’t hire any writers. I am tempted to, since all hours of the day are spent writing. The way you article writer is find a topic, look it up on ezine article + go article + top websties and read 5 or so articles to get an idea. Then just start to write. If it works, you can also just rewrite other articles. After a few rewrites, you absorb the information enough to write your own from scratch.
It helps to be creative as well — have degrees in linguists, english, and professional writing — so I do have plenty of experience “writing”. But anyone can write, especially articles. You just have to start doing it and you get faster and better.
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I tried checking link:my hub url on google. But many dont give any results, i have included the ezine and others hubs to link it. Can you suggest why like this?
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admin Reply:
June 30th, 2009 at 6:43 am
aniket, the “link:url” command only shows “some” of google’s backlinks. If you use the google webmaster tools, you can seem more. Note that google will only ever show some of the backlinks — but I find they like to hide a good portion of them. If you’ve been putting backlinks to your hub, google probably has them counted. You may not see them for a while though
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I have already seen it somethere…
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Any chance of getting some personal advice on my hubs? Just to see it if I am going okay. email if it’s cool.
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admin Reply:
June 30th, 2009 at 9:24 am
Philip, send your hubs profile to makemoneyonlinewithseo[AT]gmail[DOT COM] and I’ll take a look.
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no tip?
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Thanks Ben!
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Ben,
Thanks for answering my questions. I’m curious to see how backlinking with infobarrel/ezinearticles works when it’s more than 20 links or so to hubpages or another authority site. I will read your update now! One of my sites has around 4 ezinearticles to each interior page and it is starting to move up on the engines but each page has pretty low competition too. I probably have around 30 ezinearticles going to the site. I will try to vary it from other backlinking methods and compare. Thanks for the answers and inspiration.
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Info barrel still has such a small community, you weren’t too hard to find!
Are all the kontera links something that they just add to our posts? That’s the only “feature” of info barrel that I don’t like so much. Other than that it is great. I’ve already got barrels in top SERPs positions with no backlink work…admittedly probably for terms that get searched for about once a year!
I’ll have 50 by the end of the month so am interested to see what sort of revenue I can generate.
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admin Reply:
July 7th, 2009 at 8:52 am
@AJ
just keep making those sites and you’ll see some money.
They keep the money with Kontra. I am actually going to turn on contra for all my hubs to see what happens. I’ve heard the CTR for adsense does not go down in many cases. I would have thought so, but from what I’ve read, not so. It’s usually (i hear) only 10% of what you get with adsense though.
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Hi,
Amazing! Not clear for me, how offen you updating your http://www.makemoneyonlinewithseo.com.
Zoran
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Ben,
You listed out your handful of article directories and I think one that may be overlooked is Gather.com They are currently a PR6, and you can earn giftcards as well as Paypal payments there based on comments/page views. So in essence, another way to earn some extra coin…It’s hard to say if Gather is better than InfoBarrel though…Just my 2 cents…keep us updated on your progress!
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admin Reply:
July 17th, 2009 at 10:12 am
@the monetizer
I’ll have to take a look at it and see. more backlinks are always good things. The main thing is that it has to have some good authority in google’s eyes.
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