Recap - My First Month at Associated Content

Today marks a few milestones for me here at AC - what I hope will be the first of many. I was somewhat wary about posting what I guess would be considered "memoirs" under AC's publishing standards, and I don't plan to write these sorts of pieces often. Associated Content isn't my personal blog, after all. I also don't intend to come across like I'm bragging. Despite my worries, I thought that having 3 milestones coincide on the same day was enough to warrant a mention. Hopefully readers will find my experiences starting out on the site educational, or at least mildly entertaining.

First and foremost, today marks my one-month anniversary as a writer on Associated Content. It was sometime in the wee hours of March 14^th that I signed up for the site, and I'm glad I did. I've really enjoyed being part of the site so far - not only by contributing writing, but also by learning from the wealth of information on the site and networking with other writers. I can't praise the community enough. Everyone I've encountered has been overwhelmingly helpful, friendly and supportive.

If you're not a current AC member and you're on the fence about joining, the community alone is worth it. Many writers (including myself) come to Associated Content solely for the promises of earning money online. The money is definitely there, but it's not my only motivation to stay here. Between the community and the volumes of information to be learned on AC about improving my writing skills, I'm getting much more out of it than I expected.

I have even been lucky enough to build a network of followers here in the past month, for which I am very thankful. As a total amateur when it comes to writing (especially for the web), I never expected my work to resonate with so many people - or even to get seen by so many! As of this writing I have nearly 40 followers, and I'm beyond grateful for every one of them. It's almost mind-boggling to consider that I have an "audience", especially made up of actual writers! Each time I log into my email account and see I've gotten another message or comment (and I read them all), I feel a burst of encouragement. Any success I might enjoy on Associated Content, now or in the future, can be directly attributed to my talented and friendly followers. I don't have the words to thank you all enough - I can only hope to give as good as I get.

Today also marks the submission of my 50^th piece on the site. In fact, this article is set to be lucky number 50 for me. After I realized that AC was a site I wanted to stick with for my writing pursuits, I made a personal goal to submit 200 pieces here for the year. Wrapping up this first month with a quarter of that goal reached feels great, and I'm looking forward to my next 50. I certainly don't expect to be at 100 articles when May 14^th rolls around, but I'm still surprised to realize I've submitted so much so quickly. Simply enjoying writing here has fueled my inspiration, and I find myself coming up with more ideas than I have time to write about. If things continue like they have been, I have no doubt I'll meet my goal by the end of the year.

The third milestone I'm celebrating today is my first page view payday. Between March 14^th and 31^st, I racked up 1,480 page views (which still shocks me - in a good way). That earns me a page view bonus of about $2.25. Nothing to set the world on fire, but I feel about that money like many businesspeople do with their first dollar earned. I've submitted several pieces for up-front payments over the course of this month too, but page view earnings are just different. They prove that someone out there wants to actually read what I write, which still amazes me. Even more shocking is that I've already more than doubled my page views since March 31^st, guaranteeing me a higher page view bonus payout for the month of April already.

A side component to those page views, which I'm very excited about, is my Clout level. I shot up to Clout 4 by the end of March, less than two weeks after joining the site. I made another personal goal with myself then, to reach Clout 5 by the end of April. I'm happy to announce that I should be earning Clout 5 within the next few days - if I haven't already. As of April 12^th, I was 87% of the way to Clout 5. Since page views disappear temporarily and reset for the month on payday, I'm not sure how many views I received on April 13^th. I was only a few hundred page views from crossing the Clout 5 mark, so I expect to see my fancy new blue planet soon. I'm happy to not only reach this goal, but also do it in a shorter time than I alloted myself. Of course, meeting this goal means making another one - so I guess this is a good time to announce that I will be shooting for Clout 6 by the end of July. Considering the page view difference between Clouts 5 and 6 is 15,000 page views, I expect it to take some time to reach.

I've set the personal goal to eventually become a page view millionaire. With time and perseverance, I have no doubt that I'll be able to do it. Hopefully between now and then I'll become a much better writer, and have that to also show as an achievement. I don't have a set time in mind for getting my hands on my Millionaire's mug, but I'll do my best to get one someday. Another happy surprise this month was being accepted into the Featured Contributor program - for video games. Since you can eventually become a FC in three categories, working up to that point is also a long-term goal. I have the specific categories in mind, but I don't want to jinx things by spilling the beans just yet.

A shorter-term goal that I hope to achieve is winning the Rising Star award. With the high number of (what I consider to be) far more talented writers than myself joining up and contributing, I don't particularly expect to win. It would obviously be a huge ego boost - and help me get it through my head that I might be a decent writer, after all. The writers I've come across on the site that have earned the Rising Star award have all been very deserving in my opinion, so being listed among their ranks would be a huge achievement. I've nominated myself, so now it's just waiting to see if AC thinks I deserve the badge.

It feels a little strange being on the other side of this first month as an AC writer. It's really not that long a time to belong to the site, considering folks who have been here since '05. I feel like I've learned and grown so much as a writer in just this short period that it astounds me. I'm looking forward to seeing what future months bring.

I'd love to know more about how other writers are faring here at AC. I've read a few accounts of how people have increased their clout very quickly or earned a lot of money in a short amount of time, but I'm eager to hear more - especially from newbies like myself. Please comment below - or consider writing an article about your own achievements. Thank you for reading. :)