InfoBarrel FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions on InfoBarrel
The following are the most frequently asked questions that seem to get asked over and over again. Before you email us, please make sure your question is not already answered in this list.
Writing and Editing
- I copied my article from MS Office and now that I've pasted it to InfoBarrel the formatting is broken. Why is this happening?
- I have an article posted on another site. I want to move it to InfoBarrel, is this allowed?
- The category I want to use isn't on Infobarrel, what do I do?
- How do I edit my article?
- Can I change the title of my article?
- What image formats are supported on InfoBarrel?
- How do I insert a picture into my post?
- How do add a signature?
Publishing
- I submitted my article, why has it not gone live yet?
- After I post my article on InfoBarrel can I post it on my own blog or on other sites?
Preapproval
- What is pre-approved status and how do I get it?
- Do I have to apply for pre-approved status?
- I have more than 10 approved articles, why am I not pre-approved yet?
Google Adsense / Analytics
- How do I get a Google Adsense Account?
- Did I enter my Google Adsense account information correctly?
- I cannot see InfoBarrel.com within my Google Adsense account. What is going on?
- Why do my article stats on Infobarrel vary so much from the Google Adsense stats?
- My ads aren't relevant to my content. Why is this?
- Is it possible to use Google Analytics with InfoBarrel?
Referrals
- How do I refer people to InfoBarrel to get referral revenue?
- How do I find out if I have successfully referred anybody?
Other
- I haven't received an email to verify my InfoBarrel account, what should I do?
- Where can I find my denied articles and draft articles?
- I've uploaded an avatar, but my image isn't changing. Why is this?
Writing and Editing
I copied my article from MS Office and now that I've pasted it to InfoBarrel the formatting is broken. Why is this happening?
MS Office and MS Word place their own HTML markup within their writing when you copy the article directly from a Word document. It is something that many web applications struggle with and is difficult to deal with.
The one solution we have found, is to paste your article in Notepad (a free application that comes with Windows) then copy the article from Notepad to InfoBarrel. This will remove all Word Markup and formatting that is causing issues.
I have an article posted on another site. I want to move it to InfoBarrel, is this allowed?
Provided you remove the article from any other sites where it may have been published we will accept this article. Make sure you have removed it prior to adding it to InfoBarrel otherwise it will be denied.
The category I want to use isn't on Infobarrel, what do I do?
We have multiple levels of categories, so you will probably have to dig around a bit to find the exact category, but if for some reason it doesn't exist please email us and if it is appropriate we will consider adding it.
How do I edit my article?
There are two ways you can edit your article.
1. Go to your article on InfoBarrel.com after logging in, and in the top right corner, underneath the search function you will see an 'edit this article' link. Click it and you will be taken to a page where you can edit your article. If you are not pre-approved your article edit will go into the approval queue for quality control purposes.
2. The other way to edit your articles is to click the 'My Content' link in the Navigation bar. Under the 'Live Content' tab, find your article and click the edit button on the right. Again, if you are not pre-approved your edit will go into the approval queue for approval.
Can I change the title of my article?
At this time you cannot, please email us for any article title change requests using the contact us form.
What image formats are supported on InfoBarrel?
GIF, JPG, and PNG are the currently supported InfoBarrel formats.
How do I insert a picture into my post?
Watch the video on this page outlining how to spruce up your InfoBarrel articles to watch the step by step video outlining how to add images.
How do add a signature?
The signatures are located on your "My Account" page. On the right hand side there is a box titled "My Signatures" and to the right of the title you will see a [add new] link. If you click this you can add a new signature to your account. Once you have created and saved your signature, you can attach it to your articles on the create or edit pages.
Publishing
I submitted my article, why has it not gone live yet?
If you have yet to meet the pre-approval criteria, your articles will be approved by a manager. While most articles are approved within 24 hours, we are only human and sometimes things can get a bit backed up. Allow slightly longer times for approval on weekends.
After I post my article on InfoBarrel can I post it on my own blog or on other sites?
No, once your article is published on InfoBarrel you are not allowed to publish it elsewhere. We want all of our content to be unique to InfoBarrel and not duplicated all over the web. If you are caught posting your content elsewhere, it will be removed and you risk being banned from InfoBarrel.
Preapproval
What is pre-approved status and how do I get it?
By contributing content to InfoBarrel you don't automatically qualify to earn pre-approved status. Pre-approved status is given to individuals who exhibit excellent writing skills, who are here to contribute for the greater good and not just for self serving purposes, and people who contribute content on a variety of topics. The minimum requirement to even come on our radar for being pre-approved are the following:
- 10 approved articles with minimal inappropriate content.
- Have been a member of InfoBarrel for at least 14 days.
- User's articles must not be for the sole purpose of promoting or building links to external sites. We want people to create quality content for the benefit of Infobarrel's readers.
- User's articles must be diversified and should not be based on a single subject regurgitating similar materials.
- User must demonstrate a working knowledge of the English language and have not had any or very minimal denials due to bad English.
For a more in depth look at what it takes to become preapproved take a look at this page.
Do I have to apply for pre-approved status?
No, we have a system that automatically informs us of the members who are eligible for pre-approved status. There is no need to apply as we regularly review all accounts that meet the necessary requirements.
I have more than 10 approved articles, why am I not pre-approved yet?
While we appreciate your contributions, we are very selective on who receives pre-approved status. If you have been consistently approved and are writing on a variety of topics, keep publishing articles. If you maintain your consistency you will eventually become pre-approved once you've demonstrated your trustworthiness
Google Adsense / Analytics
How do I get a Google Adsense Account?
Visit http://www.google.com/adsense or read our article outlining How to Get a Google Adsense Publisher ID
Did I enter my Google Adsense account information correctly?
All Google Adsense ID's are manually reviewed to ensure they are put in correctly. If you have created a URL channel and are still not seeing impressions please contact us.
I cannot see InfoBarrel.com within my Google Adsense account. What is going on?
Unless you have setup a URL channel within your Google Adsense account, you will be unable to determine if your Adsense traffic is coming from InfoBarrel or another site. Visit this help page for exact instruction on setting up a Google Adsense URL Channel
Why do my article stats on Infobarrel vary so much from the Google Adsense stats?
There is a large variance between InfoBarrel's statistics and Google Adsense because InfoBarrel's stats are raw data that includes web crawlers (bots), page refreshes, comment posts, incomplete loads, amongst other things. Google's statistics will be slightly more accurate as they crunch the numbers on the raw data and supply you with impressions generated by real live functional human beings.
My ads aren't relevant to my content. Why is this?
This could be for one of two reasons. One, Google may not have properly crawled your entire article yet and therefore doesn't have the proper data to build relevant ad blocks. Please allow 24-48 hours for Google to completely crawl your article. Two, there may not be any ads in Google's system that fit with your article so Google has chosen ads that fit with what it thinks InfoBarrel is about.
Is it possible to use Google Analytics with InfoBarrel?
Currently, we only allow pre-approved members to use Google Analytics with their account. Once you are pre-approved you will see an option to add it under your 'My Account' page.
Referrals
How do I refer people to InfoBarrel to get referral revenue?
First, log into Infobarrel.
Next, in the Nav bar, click the 'My Account' link.
In the upper right hand side, you will see a heading called 'Referrer Link', below the heading is a link that you can give to your friends or post on your blog that will give you credit when your friends signup after clicking the link.
How do I find out if I have successfully referred anybody?
Once you are logged in, go to your 'My Account' page, under the Referal Link heading you will see another heading called 'My Referred Members'. All your referred members will be listed here.
Other
I haven't received an email to verify my InfoBarrel account, what should I do?
Some email providers initially put InfoBarrel emails into the spam folder or block them all together. Check your spam folder or contact your email provider to see if they have blocked InfoBarrel.com
If you still can't find the email, send us an email through the contact us form and we will manually verify it.
Where can I find my denied articles and draft articles?
For more information on finding your live/draft/and pending articles on Infobarrel take a look at How to Find Your Live, Draft, Denied, and Pending Articles on InfoBarrel.
I've uploaded an avatar, but my image isn't changing. Why is this?
Browsers cache the images downloaded on any page so that if they are required to download them again, the image is already on your computer. Sometimes when you upload a new avatar, the browser doesn't refresh the cached image stored on your computer. To force your browser to reload all the page and all the images (including your new avatar), you need to do what is called a hard refresh. This is done by pressing CTRL-F5 in your browser window when you are on the page you want to reload.
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Comments
How do I get paid for a good article?
tripe
Google Adsense, Chitika, Amazon Associates, and you might also use affiliate links tastefully.
Hi, I'm new here. I was just wondering: How long does the Referrer Link last? I mean does it last for a certain amount of time or is it just valid when someone signs up right after clicking on the link?
Just asking, as this will help me decide the best way to introduce my Referrer Link.
It would be great if the Link kept a cookie in place for that person for a certain amount of time: say a month. Because people often don't sign up in their first visit to the site.
Thanks.
Hey NovaLove,
Currently the referrer link works only during the time they are first on the site from your link. We will be changing that so that it lasts for a longer period, most likely a month or so, shorty. So stay tuned to the blog for updates.
Thanks. I have another question. I turned in two How to articles with pictures and both were published without the images. Can I put images in a How To? How can I add images after the article is Live?
Hey NoraLove,
Yes you can add images to How-to articles. To add images after the article has gone live, make sure you are logged in, then go to your article page and in the title bar of your article you should see an [edit this article] link that you can click. Click this link and you will be taken to an article edit page where you can make changes to your article and add any images you want.
Thanks. I went there but still to slow to figure it out. Do I just insert the image in the text? There is no image box like there was when I first put the article up...
What is the signature.
Hi Fishtiger58,
The signature is a way for you to include a mini bio about yourself or a couple of links to a related or unrelated site or product on your article page. You can create new signatures on your My Account page.
I posted an article and after it was approved it realized that I didn't put it into a catagory and then went back and did that but its still not showing there. Will it and is there anything else I should do to get it to the right place??
Hey Fishtiger58,
Unless you are preapproved, every time that you submit changes to an article it goes into the queue to be approved. So the change will be applies as soon as it is approved from the queue.
Once we've published our articles, is it safe to delete the previous drafts? (I searched and couldn't find that question addressed.)
Looking forward to preapproved status . . . I know you all are busy this time of year!
Hey ClassicalGeek,
Yes, if you are happy with your published version of an article you can delete all your drafts of that article.
Hi, Are affiliate links i.e to Amazon allowed in the body of an article? Thanks for your time.
Mine have been approved.
Yes, as ClassicalGeek was saying, affiliate links are allowed as long as you link to them contextually and only use a maximum of two per article.
I suppose this is on here somewhere but i can't seem to find it, I want to get my articles seen on other sights, but i need a url to use, how do i find my url for my articles?
Hi Dmacman7,
You can find your list of articles by going logging in and going to your "My Content" page. On that page there are lists for each of your Live, Draft, Denied, and Pending articles.
It doesn't seem like I see and Q&A for somethings that I don't have the answer
How do I delete a photo I inserted?
How do we get paid?
Can anyone explain?
Thank you,
Carolina
Hey ccdursina,
To delete a photo you've added goto the edit page of your article and on the top right of the images in the media box you should see a red x. To delete your images, just click the x.
As for getting paid, your articles have two add companies that your get a 75% share from, Google Adsense and Chitika. To make sure you get paid from your ads you need to sign up for both of these companies and then add your published IDs to your account here at Infobarrel.
If you need any more help email, you can email us through the contact us form or ask our extreamly helpful members in the forum.
Can we put affiliate links in our articles Mr. Admin?
Thank You for your reply in advance..
2d0k
Hi 2d0k,
Yes you can put affiliate links in your article, but they must be used contextually and count towards your two self serving links.
How do you know which links are self-serving? I have just written my first article and I have a number of links - but only one is self-serving, however whoever reads the article may not be able to tell that.
Hey Merylvdm,
We check where links that are put in articles are pointed to. Self serving links are links to sites that aren't reference sites (eg Wikipedia and government sites). Other sites are usually flagged as self-serving, as we don't know what the motivation of the site is.
I hope that answers your question.
Oh dear - I submitted an article 2 days ago and of my links - one was to Collegeboard.com, so that should be OK, but one was to a free online vocab program and 2 were to math and writing resources I recommend, but I am not an affiliate or anything - should I remove those? I was just trying to be helpful by putting them in, but obviously the reader could google them to find the info.
I wouldn't worry about that if you've already submitted it. Someone will take a look at it and if they deny it, you can make the changes then.
I still haven't gotten one single AdSense impression form anything that I've written for the site. Not one. I've sent three emails and so far there has been no response. I hate to cry scam, but I've done everything that I was supposed to do and the promised AdSense views have not occurred.
Hi SDKP,
So you have set up an Infobarrel.com channel under your adsense account? If so, are you not seeing any impressions or have you just not had any clicks?
I had a similar problem, but found the reason.
When adding my AdSense ID to InfoBarrel, I only added the number portion of the ID, I forgot (oops) to add the prefix "pub-" in front of the ID.
Another tool I use to track impressions is URL Tracking feature in AdSense.
Try going to this link for Google instructions:
https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=13993
I hope this helps.
Jim
I do my writing on onenote couldnt copy & paste. Followed the advice in the FAQ's. So i tried it with notepad as instructed. Still it did not paste. What should i do now? I don't like to type into the content box directly because i like to check my articles for typo's etc before publishing.
Hi Viryabo,
If you are able to copy and paste from onenote into notepad, I can't think of a reason why you could not copy and paste into our writer. Perhaps try a different browser. If you are still having troubles, send us an email with the Contact Us form and we'll see if we can figure this out.
How do I get Analytics to work? I created a www.infobarrel.com profile in my account and copied the UA number here but Google says that the tracking code is not installed so I don't see any stats? Appreciate some help, please!
Hi Bronalex,
We make sure to verify any analytics ID that gets submitted to us so that you don't run into any issues with it. Yours has been verified now and you should start to see stats on your analytics account soon.
Hi, I submitted a comment (question) to a person who had an article I was interested in. How do I know if the person who wrote the article will get the question? Do I just hope that he looks at his article every now and then and sees me comment? There were no other comments on it except mine and his article was written, oops, I forgot month, but in 2009. Thank you.
Hi,
When a comment is made on an article, the author gets an email notification.
hello what is tag? I'm having a hard time to publish an article because of this...
Hi Marydreams,
Tags are descriptive keywords for your article. For example if I were to write an article about President Obama, my tags could be Barrack Obama, President, and United States.
Where can you find out how much money you've made on Infobarrel? Can you find out what each article is making? Thanks for any help.
To find out what your articles are making, you need to log into your adsense, chitika and amazon accounts and run the reports. I think at this time you can only break down your individual article earning on adsense. To do this, you need to create URL channels in adsense for each of your articles.
Hi, I just joined. In the sign on page, I was asked for my birthday. I would rather not put it on the web. I left it blank but it defaults to a December 1969 date. I don't want to have dishonest info about me and I would prefer not to put my birthday. It's not a deal breaker for me. Is their an alternative.
Thanks
Lifelearner
The birth date is purely an internal thing. We don't display it on the site anywhere. So if you put your real date it will be safe here.
thanks
Do I only need to add the infobarrel generic URL for my adsense channel, or do i need to use the URL's specific to my articles? Thanks!
If you want to track each individual article's progress then article specific URLs need to be used. If you just want to track your stats for the site, then an Infobarrel.com URL channel is fine.
I would recommend doing both. This way you can quickly see how they are all doing and you can explore deeper if you feel you want to.
google AdSense rejected my application..what will i do?
You can reapply to Adsense. If you didn't already, try using the http://www.infobarrel.com URL as your site. This should get you in.
Sometimes your application may be handled by a Google tech that doesn't know what or how Infobarrel works and may have denied it.
Can I reference my website in a forum post?
Thanks!
There are no signatures in forum posts. If you need to for reason then sure, but if it is just to get a link then it probably will get removed.
How would we be able to get the 75% share from google adsense and chitika? how will the money be sent to us, what are your means? is it through bank transfers, money transfers..? and how sure are we that we can receive payment? i might put effort on blogging just to later on realize that this is just a mere free blogging just literally sharing thoughts?so id rather tweet or post on my wall on FB? please enlighten me. i really dont get earning from this
Hi Allego,
How Infobarrel works is you attach your unique user IDs for your ad publishing accounts (Google Adsense, Chitika, etc) to your account here via your My Account page. By Doing it this way, we remove the middle man with regards to payments. You will be directly paid by the ad publishers, no money passes through us on its way to you.
The ad share is handled by our system. It displays your ads 75 of the time and a combination of our ads, your referrer's ads (if you have a referrer) and your manager's ads.
If you have any more questions please feel free to email us via the Contact Us form.
I added my Chitika user name on My Account page, is that all I need to do? Is there anything I need to do at the Chitika site, or are we all set. Thanks in advance.
Jeff
Hi Jeff,
That is all you need to do. Have fun writing!
What kind of "credit" is given for a referral? The link doesn't explain.
2% of the ad impressions from the referred member's posts. With 50+ referrals on another big adsense site that give a much larger share, I'll tell you that 2% is not going to make you much.
Hi,
I have two articles published but Google ad sense has not approved me yet.have used my info barrel profile as the URL for the website requested.am i doing something wrong? do i need a different website to be approved by Google ad sense ?
Hi Januarius,
Google can take a little bit of time before they approve your AdSense ID, once they do approve it though you can add it to your InfoBarrel account.
Hello. I'm new to InfoBarrel, and I was wondering if we need to paste the Google Adsense AD code anywhere.
@jieun9394
You do need to put your Adsense ID # in though.
Go to My Account --> Advertising Profile --> Google AdSense Publisher ID
Click change and add it there, including the 'pub' part.
As long as you add your code correctly they'll be able to rotate ads.
Welcome!
Hello!
I'm new to infobarrel. I added my Google AdSense publisher ID and added infobarrel.com as a channel on the Google Adsense page. Currently, nothing is showing for infobarrel, even though my post has received 3 hits. I just want to make sure that my account has been linked correctly to Google Adsense. Thanks!
Make sure to use the channel as the source of traffic info. The view area on your article shows 1 view per IP address per hour to avoid over inflated views. Bots are not counted.
You can also make a channel for the article itself. This is very helpful for newer members who can't use Analytics yet. Add a URL Channel for that article.
Also, keep writing! More articles = more views = more earnings.
Is there a need to add a signature? Can some one explain what a channel is and how it works? Oh! and last but not least how does the backlink process work?
Wow, lots of questions!
1. You don't have to add a signature. If you're new to all of this just focus on writing articles and start reading about search engine optimization (SEO). You can add signatures later.
2. A channel is through Adsense and tracks article views, etc., Check this article for an easy step by step to set one up - http://www.infobarrel.com/How_to_Create_an_Adsense_URL_Channel_to_Track_Article_Performance
3. Backlinking - that's a big topic. Basically, it's when you link articles together or someone likes your article and links to it. It's like a "vote" for your writing. It helps you rank in Google. That's the condensed version. Again, if you're new, just work on writing articles and the rest will fall into place.
4. RSS Feed - It's a subscription to a site or person's articles. So, if you want to get notified every time someone writes an article you click the RSS button. You can also submit your RSS feeds as part of backlinking.
I'd say the best advice is to write articles that are focused (not too broad of a topic) and read about SEO. The forum is a good place to get answers, too.
Welcome! I hope that helped some :)
4.
Hi! I'm new here and was wondering if it is ok to put a link to my website in my profile information? I'm not looking to strictly promote my artwork, but I figure it cant' hurt to have it there- unless, of coure, it's against the rules.
Also, I can't seem to get my avatar to look right. I've tried variously-sized files of the image but from what I can see it continues to appear distorted. Any suggestions?
Thank you for your help!
-
Yes. You can put a link to your website in your profile (under My Account, About Me) and/or as a signature.
I looked at your FAQ regarding re-posting your articles in a blog or website. You clearly say it is not allowed, but why not give the obvious advice: LINK FROM YOUR BLOG/WEBSITE to INFOBARREL! This is easy and drives traffic to your infobarrel article which is better for you!
It seems i have to resubmit for publication any-time i need to edit, say for example, add a picture or an internal link. Then i have to wait for sometime for approval, before it's live again.
Is this how its supposed to be?
I find it a bit irritating because when i write a new article and want to interlink it to an older one, i have to await approval again.
Once you are a pre-approved writer this problem goes away. Good luck.
I submitted an article and found mistakes in the published piece after several runs through the spell check mode. Can I get the article deleted and republished after correcting mistakes?
you can always edit your article to fix errors or add and delete content. You to My Articles and "Edit" the article off your article list. Once in the article you need to select edit on the text box. Good luck.
If I post articles here and in the future publish a book, can that book contain content from my posts?
That should be fine. Our rules state that your article cannot be published elsewhere online, so I don't see a book crossing that line.
Great thank you so much for responding.
Is there any issue for folks that are not US citizen to join and earn from this site?
There are IB members from around the world.
Earnings are from Google Adsense, Chitika, and Amazon, so you'll need accounts from those places.
Is there a minimum number of articles I need to have on infobarrel in order to be approved for Google Adsense and Amazon?
I signed up for Chikita. I put my profile page for Infobarrel as my website. Am I supposed to add each individual article url as a website. Essentially, what url(s) do I need to add to ensure that my articles get recorded for revenue?
Nope, as long as you have your Chitika ID saved under your advertising profile here (which you do) your articles will receive their ads.
I am new to Info Barrel. I tried to post an article. I put the main heading and before I could write contents our lights went off. Now when I want to add / write contents, it says "heading not available". What should I do to start things over with the same main heading
Can you send us a private message with the article title? We'll fix it up for you once we get it.
Thanks for the reply. I sent you an e-mail, but at the same time I have reconciled by changing the heading and had my article sent for publishing.
I am also new to infobarrel and the same thing has happened to me as irshad001. Shall I also send a private message with article title to admin@infobarrel.com?
Thanks.
Hi again seems like an email I sent earlier to admin has sorted out the problem for me thank you.
How do you get paid for an article that I have written? How many articles do I have to write to get paid? Do I get paid for articles? How does all this take place to begin with?
I created an adsense account but when I put in the website, I didn't put in my page. I put info barrel.com but forgot users/my username. Is there anyway to correct this? I went to the adsense page but couldn't find any help.
What is the remedy if some one copy the original article from infobarrel to some other places? Also in that case, how infobarrel user is protected.
thanks for writing so helpful faq
thanks for writing so helpful faq
Now, my article have been published in Info Barrel. Can you tell me how I can earn from my article without using Google ad sense ? May you tell me other sources of income from my article in Info Barrel ?
If I write on one of the topics of the month's feature, do I have to tell specially that it may be considered as feature, or if suitable, it will be included automatically
I applied for adsense, and after about 10 working days they still tell me that "it is under consideration". At the same time when I log in to adsense, they have allotted me Pub #. Does it mean I am approved or I still have to wait?
Hi,
Complete newbie here. I saw that one of the more solid earners recommended Chitika but the post is two years old. I was wondering if one can still use it these days? Thanks.
hil
Can you change the username you signed up with to your Alias? Any way to change the username displayed on your articles?
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