At Last I Finally Have Clout 9 in My Sights

Finally after six months of writing, sweating and publishing articles almost every day, I am now within one percent of reaching Clout 9 on Associated Content.

Clout 9 is the penultimate level that a writer on Associated Content can reach, and as well as the prestige that goes with it, there is a bonus of 15cents per 1,000 page views to be had, and although it won't make a vast difference to my earnings, every bit counts.

I began my journey on Associated Content on 14^th January 2010 when my first article was published and got just 23 page views.

I quite rapidly rose through the Clout levels and finally reached Clout 8 on 6^th May after publishing 187 articles.

Visitors to my articles were increasing rapidly every month, and although Clout 9 still looked a long way off, I was confident that if my traffic kept increasing I would be there soon enough.

And then summer arrived, and with it a complete slump in traffic, with many of my articles struggling to get even 100 page views each. It was definitely a period where many of them suffered a "Failure To Launch", and it was extremely frustrating.

A few good articles later though, and many more unsuccessful ones as well, and here I am with barely one percent left to go, having published 547 articles, and I am as eager as anyone can be to break through that barrier that has taken me six and a half months.

At my current average daily rate for November I should reach Clout 9 in 5 days, however a further slump could see that target disappear for another week or two. A couple of successful articles however, and I could be there tomorrow. It's literally that close!

So now my plan is to search out that elusive high traffic articles (or two or more), and to switch into overdrive mode, so that reaching Clout 9 will become for me a reality, and not a carrot on the end of a stick that doesn't seem to ever get any closer.

Wish me luck everyone, and if you do read any of my articles in the next few days, any sharing on Twitter, Facebook or elsewhere would be much appreciated.