FAQs

What’s the difference between a member and a contributor?

A member can login to the site, leave comments, rate articles, suggest article topics and email contributors, but cannot write an article. A contributor has all the capabilities of a member AND can write articles in categories that he or she has been approved in.
What do “My Stats” and “My Earnings” mean on my dashboard?
When you visit your dashboard you’ll see “My Stats” on the right-hand side of the page and "My Earnings" below the "Announcements".

“My Stats” tracks the number of articles you’ve written, number of times visitors have viewed your articles and number of ratings and comments you’ve received from other users and contributors.

“My Earnings” tracks your Google AdSense account information. Here you can view your AdSense ID, and the email affiliated with your AdSense account. For now, you’ll need to login to Google AdSense to view your earnings to date.
Can I apply for more than one category?
Sure! To apply for more than one Area of Expertise, simply check the boxes of all the subcategories that you feel you have experience in. Don’t forget that you’ll need to explain why you feel you’re an expert in each of these areas. It’s best to select only a few Areas of Expertise at a time. It makes the explanation more manageable and you’ll always be able to add more categories later, once you’ve been approved as a contributor.
How can I add more areas of expertise to my profile?
To add areas of expertise to your profile, simply go to your dashboard, click on “Areas of Expertise,” then “request new categories.” At this point you can scroll through all HowToDoThings categories and select those that you’d like to write in. Then scroll to the bottom of the page, fill out the “why are you interested and why are you an expert” field (be thorough) and click "Submit." We’ll review your application and get back to you soon.
How do I write an article? What do I do if I don’t see the topic I want to write about?
To write an article, you must be an approved HowToDoThings contributor and you must be writing in one of your approved Areas of Expertise.

You can visit “View Available Topics” from your dashboard to get article ideas, or simply write an article that you’ve come up with yourself.

Either accept an article from the “View Available Topics” list or click on “Write an Article” and type away to your heart’s content. Make sure to include a title and a 1-2 sentence description of your article, if you’ve come up with it yourself, before starting on the body of your article.
What is “View Available Topics?”
We thought our contributors might appreciate some suggestions. Even though contributors can write articles (within their Areas of Expertise) on any topic that they wish, it can be hard to come up with idea after idea (we know how that goes). We thought some contributors who felt like writing, but weren’t sure what they wanted to write about, would enjoy browsing through topic ideas from HowToDoThings editors and other members.
What are the article guidelines and standards?
We take pride in our content, as we know you do. Our articles must adhere to our editors’ standards of writing quality (see our Writing Tips to learn more), be a minimum of 400 words long and be listed in a numbered, step-by-step format. We always edit each article as thoroughly as possible.
Are you going to sell my contact info?
No. Your contact info is private and we will never give or sell it to anyone. See our privacy policy for more details.
Can I use a pen name?
We require that all contributors submit a first and last name in their application. If you’re more comfortable using a pen name, that’s fine, but please no screen names or nicknames.
How do I add a public bio?
To add your public bio, simply click on “My Profile” and you’ll be taken to your current profile. From here, you can click on “edit my profile” and change your name, password, email address, bio, interests and image. Basically, anything you want to say about yourself can be said right here.
Why do some people have pictures while others don’t?
It’s up to each user whether he or she wants to add a picture to his public bio. If you haven’t added a picture and would like to, you can click on “My Profile,” “edit profile”, scroll about halfway down the page and upload the photo of your choice. We only accept pictures of actual people. And please, nothing you wouldn’t want your kids to see.
How does the Article Comment & Rating System work?
Members and contributors have the capability of rating articles and leaving comments. If you read an article you like, you can comment on it, rate it (from one to five stars) or both. You have to be logged in to do so.

Once logged in, you’ll be able to see the ratings and comments that you’ve left by visiting your dashboard. By clicking on “My Comments & Ratings,” you’ll be able to browse through a list of articles that you've rated and commented on, view the average rating of each of those articles, and click on the title to read the full thread of member and contributor comments associated with that particular article (including yours).
How do I create a break in a paragraph without adding another number or bullet?
To add a break between numbers or in the middle of a large paragraph that constitutes one number, simply hold down the "shift" key and hit "Enter." This will allow you to add a break without creating another number on that line.
How exactly do you share revenue with contributors? When do I get money?
As you may have noticed, we run Google ads to the right and just below every article, which is how HowToDoThings makes money. We get paid monthly from Google AdSense. Under the revenue-sharing system, we share all of the ad revenue with you, 50/50. Whatever money you’re making on your articles is what we’re making on them.

Once you sign up for a Google AdSense account and input your Google AdSense ID into our system, you’ll begin to see page impressions, click-through rates and best of all, revenue appearing in your AdSense account and on your HowToDoThings dashboard.

Google AdSense will pay you monthly, just like they pay us.
Will I be able to earn AdSense revenue from articles that I wrote before the revenue-sharing system was implemented?
No. Once you’ve completed the revenue-sharing sign-up process, you can start earning cash on any new articles you write and submit. However, since you were compensated for all articles written prior to the revenue-sharing system, those articles won’t be included in your Google AdSense portfolio.
How do I determine the cost and difficulty of a "How To"?
Cost: You'll notice that there are price ranges associated with each "cost" option. If the "How To" you're writing doesn't require any money to accomplish you don't need to select anything. Our system defaults to N/A or "no cost". If the "How To" you're writing requires tools, ingredients, personnel or anything else that the reader would likely need to purchase in order to complete the task you're describing, please estimate how much it will cost and select the appropriate radio button.

Difficulty: Similar to the cost function, the difficulty option defaults to N/A or "not applicable" if you don't choose a level of difficulty. If you'd like to indicate how difficult (or easy) the "How To" process you've just described in your article is, you can select the appropriate radio button on the "Write an Article" page. The levels of difficulty are subjective and will vary based a person's skill level and familiarity with the subject; some people will find certain processes very easy, while other will find the same processes very difficult. Use your best judgement to determine how easy or difficult your "How To" will be for an average person to accomplish.
What do the "Author Rating" and "Article Rating" in my dashboard mean?
Author Rating: The author rating, which you can find in the "My Stats" section of your contributor dashboard, indicates how many articles that you've published compared to other contributors. As you continue to write articles for HowToDoThings, your article rating will increase accordingly. If you've written the most articles, your author ranking will be 1. If you've written the 36th most articles, your author ranking will be 36.

Article Rating: The article rating, which you can find when you click on "View All" in the "My Articles" section, indicates where your article ranks, compared to other articles on the site. It's based purely on pageviews. So, as your pageviews increase, so should your article rank. This statistic basically tells you how many times your article has been viewed in relation to all the other articles on the site. Older articles will have a higher article rating initially, but as newer articles continue to get pageviews, they will start to overtake the less popular (less viewed) older articles.
What does the book badge mean?
By remaining active on HowToDoThings, you can advance through the contributor levels outlined below and gain access to special rewards as you achieve each new level. You’ll receive a badge in your public profile that indicates what your HowToDoThings level is. See "How To Earn Points" for more detail.
How do I earn points?
HowToDoThings members and contributors receive points for staying active on the site. You’ll get a certain number of points for each action you take, including getting an article published, commenting on another contributor’s article and rating other articles. See "How To Earn Points" for more detail.

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