I wrote my first article for Infobarrel on August 16 2009 and since one year has passed, I thought it would be interesting to look back over how it has worked out for me. Infobarrel itself just had its second birthday, so at least in internet terms I am a fairly long term member.

I have currently published 74 articles so far with one pending. Last year I had a couple of months where I was writing an article a day. I got busy after that however with other projects, including writing an ebook, so I have only started using the site again.

The site has grown nicely since I joined, adding new features like a forum and more revenue options. One thing I really enjoy with the site is their ‘points’ system. You earn points for writing more articles, referring people to the site, posting comments etc. When you reach a certain number, Infobarrel refers this to unlocking an ‘achievement’.

It’s not like you get any money earning more points, but it does give you a warm and fuzzy feeling! It would be nice if maybe later they decided that you could actually do something with those points.

They do have contests however, with some good prizes. It’s not easy to win them however, because there are some very dedicated writers on Infobarrel.

Your first 10 articles on Infobarrel are manually approved, which seems to cut out most spammers. People also generally write well written and researched articles, which I think is contributing to the success of Infobarrel as it is not being used purely for marketing purposes.

Infobarrel gives you a choice of four formats for your article, Blank Article, Video Article, How-To Article and Review Article. I have never tried the video article or a review article. Personally I don’t like the how to style format and it seems a bit of a copy of the ehow format.

That is not saying I don’t write, how to type articles, for me they have been the best performing articles on the site. So even if I write a how-to type of article, I use the Blank Article format.

If you are stuck for a topic, you can visit the Things to Do, section where you can find a number of article topics and overviews, which you can write about. I have done a few overviews and articles from the list, but in terms of page views, they haven’t done as well as some of the topics that I have come up with myself.

Infobarrel is a great place for people starting out making money on the internet. Rather than wasting hundreds or thousands of dollars on internet marketing courses, anyone who can string a sentence or two together can join Infobarrel and start making money straight away.

Invariably people who are starting out don’t know what kinds of articles will perform well, or how they can get more traffic. You can see how many page views an article has received, so you can get a good idea as to what kind of articles will get traffic. Rather than paying for someone to tell you what to do, you can find out what works for you by experimenting with different styles and topics.

Probably one of the only things I don’t like about Infobarrel is the text editor they are using on the site. For some reason I often have problems with it. Usually I write the article on my computer first and then just copy and paste it into the article once I have completed it. I would suggest they create something like what WordPress uses.

I would have to say however, the support is fantastic and the few times I have sent an email to them with a problem, I have gotten a fairly quick response.

The forum is also a great place for sharing ideas on how to get more traffic to your articles and how in general you can make money online. I have only just started posting there, but have found it to be a friendly forum with a mixture of experienced writers and people just starting out.

In conclusion, Infobarrel is a great site for people who just starting to learn about making money on the internet, aspiring writers or established internet marketers who are looking to diversify their income streams.