How College Students Can Supplement Their Finances by Writing Articles

College students frequently have to find some type of part time work to help pay for their their time at university, but the times are changing, and the days when there were few choices other than waiting on tables or washing dishes are coming to an end.

Part time jobs such as these require students to work late in the evening, or maybe also at the weekends, which reduces both their available study time as well as limiting the time that they can spend enjoying the social side of college life.

Writing is just one area where students can supplement their cost of living, and one of the writing sites that is proving to be popular is Associated Content.

Associated Content is part of Yahoo, and it's member writers number in the thousands. It's FREE to join, and you can write about virtually anything that you like.

How Would My Writing Online Be Better Than Waiting Tables?

Virtually anyone who waits on tables in a restaurant or bar knows that the base pay is peanuts. Most of your earnings come from tips. However tips only come if your place of work is busy and the customers are feeling generous, which doesn't happen all the time.

The worst part is that in order to earn anything, you have to go to work, and it doesn't matter if it's raining or snowing, or if your friends are going to see your football team play their rivals.

You are also going to have to work evenings and weekends, when restaurants are at their busiest, and so as well as having a much reduced social life, you are likely to find that working impacts on your study time.

If you write articles online, you can write them when you please, so no more working late at night or at the weekend unless YOU choose to.

If you wake up in the middle of the night with a great article in your head, if you feel like it, you can just power on your computer and be creative there and then.

The other really big bonus with writing for money is that you don't just get paid when you are writing, you get paid whenever your articles get traffic, which could be even years from now.

The more articles you write, the more you can potentially earn.

What Can I Earn On Associated Content?

Like any online site, writing for Associated Content is not a "Get Rich Quick" scheme. The more articles you write, and the more successful you are at attracting people to your articles, most importantly in writing articles that people are interested in, the faster your earnings will grow.

Associated Content pays it's authors in two ways.

Firstly, authors get paid a given amount for every 1,000 page views on their articles. The base rate for this is $1.50 and rises to $2.00 per 1,000, however it's a rather complex formula that also includes the total number of articles that you have written, and the total page views that you have to date.

This formula determines your "Clout Level", and at the highest level, Clout 10, your page view earnings grow three times faster.

In addition to the payments based on your page views, Associated Content offers an "Up Front" sum for articles that they can sell to it's partner sites. By qualifying for up front payments, in addition to earnings based on traffic, your earnings can soon add up.

There are also Assignments which offer Up Front payments. Assignments are topical or locally based articles that are often requested by partner sites. If you submit an article for an Assignment, you could potentially get a really good Up Front payment, depending on how highly the partner values your article.

How Do I Get Paid By Associated Content

Associated Content pays it's authors by Paypal, which almost everyone is now familiar with, through it being the most popular place to pay for items on eBay. You probably already have an account at Paypal.

Payments based on page views are given in the middle of the following month, however up front payments and other bonuses are paid within a day or two.

How Can I Be Sure I Will Earn Enough?

Everyone is hesitant at first until they learn the ropes, but the best thing to do is to try, and there are plenty of detailed documents that explain how everything works at Associated Content, plus there are the Community Forums and lots of helpful writers that will assist if you ask.

One thing to learn is that there are Short Term articles, Seasonal articles, and Evergreen articles.

Short Term articles are like media reports on a celebrity, television show, or football game etc. You can potentially get a lot of traffic for this type of article, but they often don't last more than a few days or weeks at best, before traffic disappears altogether.

Seasonal articles are those that get popular at certain times of the year, on topics like Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Valentines Day etc. Traffic comes and goes, but every year it comes back again, so once written, your articles will continue to earn money for you.

Then we come to Evergreen articles, which like the type of tree, blossom all year round. Examples of Evergreen articles are reviews of products, cooking, recipes, fashion, how to guides etc. These may not get as much traffic as a Short Term article, but they get traffic all year round, and sooner or later they overtake Short Term articles in total earnings.

The thing to remember is that the more articles you write, the more traffic you will get, and over time, this does add up.

What Do I Write About Though?

The scope for things to write about is literally endless.

If you are stuck for an idea, how about:

Your local area
Local restaurants
Local parks and other attractions
Cooking and recipes
Travel guides
Your life experiences
Your football team, star players, athletes, celebrities, news items...
Short stories or poetry work too - just try your hand - you may be surprised

There are so many ideas, and as a student you might not realize it, but your coursework is also most likely of interest to other people around the world. Why not write about topics you are studying.

Not only do you have the material at hand and you have already done the research, by turning coursework into an article, you are likely to remember it better, and it could potentially improve your grades.

Now that's not bad is it - and you are going to get paid for it at the same time.

Why Not Register For Associated Content Now.

Take a look inside Associated Content (click HERE to register), the only requirement is that you have to be either a US Citizen or legal US Resident.

If not, see below for other online writing options.

What I I Don't Live In The USA?

If you don't live in the USA you are not strictly eligible to earn from writing on Associated Content, but there are other sites where you can earn from writing online.

If you are not eligible to write for Associated Content, see also these sites where you can earn online:

Help Pay Your Way Through College By Writing Articles

Students Are Supplementing Their Income By Writing Online