Has anyone made significant amounts of money by writing for Suite101? I have been writing on there for a few weeks now and don't seem to be getting much action. I was curious if people actually have used it for adding to their income.
Only my own personal experience, but I've found sites like Suite101 and Helium to be perfect for gaining experience but not particularly competitive in terms of earning money. I must admit that I only dipped my toes in the water with these sites and never made a full-on commitment to them but even so, they gave me a chance to develop a style which continues to serve me well to the present day. As I always like to suggest, try your hands at producing work on Constant Content. The standard is high but if you want to earn good money from your writing, you'll need to be able to come up with goods for whoever uses your talents.
I used to be an editor with them, and I warn writers away from them. They have a terrible track record when it comes to treating writers well (anything from suddenly canceling contracts to changing entire revenue models after writers put a lot of effort into promoting a certain way to earn from the previous model). The editorial team has changed a bit since I left so maybe they treat their writers with more respect now, but when push comes to shove you can always do better on your own if you're willing to put in a bit of work. When I left, it only took a few months before a single blog of mine was earning 4x what I made as an editor there (which was more than the writers got paid). And with the same amount of time I was putting into Suite, I was able to launch several profitable blogs and sites -- not just that one. I have a few old articles still sitting on the site that bring in a bit each month, but even those have done better on my own sites since Suite's exclusivity ran out on them. Remember, with sites like these once you associate your name with them, you might be stuck with the results permanently. They don't have to remove your content later if you want them to. It's all a part of your image, and you'll have to work to overcome that when you want to pursue more serious markets later (believe me, I've been there). Suite101 does pretty much nothing for your reputation (at least not nearly as much as building your own sites and working with more respectable clients will do). The fact that they let any writer write on any topic is a part of that. If someone thinks something will be a high Adsense earner, they can write on the topic (unless they've changed things yet again). That means they lend absolutely no credibility whatsoever. While I'm not a fan of About.com either, at least their writers are subject matter experts and they can have the NY Times Co. on their resume. My general advice is to steer clear of Suite101. At a bare minimum, when it comes to content mills (hiring massive amounts of writers on the cheap to churn out loads of content for ad revenue), stay away from any that won't let you write under a pen name. At least if you stick to that, you don't have to worry about any of them tarnishing your professional reputation the next time they screw up down the line (and that's something these big content sites can't seem to help doing).
I found out in the very beginning that choosing your own niche and specializing in it can do wonders for your revenue. JHMattern is right about the image part. Just make sure that the area you choose has commercial value. But these days, almost everything has a blog and an e-commerce site dedicated to it.