Secrets of a Somewhat Sorta Successful Associated Content Contributor

I just went over 100,000 page views! Woo-hoo! I'll say that again. WOOOO-HOOOOOOOOO! It only took me 18 months and 104 published articles on Associated Content to reach this milestone. Five of those articles were pretty good, too. Now that I'm a proven "successful" AC Contributor (Source, Content Producer, etc.), I'd like to share some secrets with you-the secrets of my truly remarkable success on AC...

What? Are you freakin' kidding me?! Someone just told me that I should have hit 100,000 page views in my first month on AC-that if I knew anything about search engine optimization (SEO) and "keyword density" (huh?), I'd have well over a million page views by now! Maybe even a quadrillion, if only I'd written more celebrity gossip articles! Good grief!

You know what? I don't care. I'm still going to celebrate! I never thought I'd make it to 100,000 page views because, let's face it, creative writers are often (almost always) overlooked on AC. And that's how I started out-as an easily-overlooked creative writer who thought 25 page views for a single article was pretty good. If I can pick up 100,000 page views on Associated Content, anyone can.

Secrets of my "success" on AC: Lots of p words! Persistence, patience, and a positive personality. If you don't already have a positive personality, it's fairly easy to fake (most of us will never meet you in real life, after all). No...That's terrible advice. Don't pretend to be someone you're not, unless you find that you get more page views that way. This "Maria Roth" persona I've created here is working pretty well for me. You wouldn't want to meet the other me-the fifty-four-year-old ex-professional wrestler named Bill.

Secrets of my "success" on AC: I publish regularly, but I value quality over quantity. The only reason I'm here is because I love to write. I really can't imagine trying to churn out article after article just to make a little bit of extra money. Thankfully, I don't have to do that. This is "fun time" for me; I write only what I want to write, and any money I happen to earn is icing on the cake. If you're here to only earn money, I'm afraid I know nothing about that...

Secrets of my "success" on AC: I'm a Comments Pig. Most of my articles that end up on AC's Most Comments list do tend to earn more page views than my less-commented-on articles. But my highest page-view-earners do not have the most comments. My highest page-view-earners are rather boring articles on frequently-searched topics. So, what I'm trying to say is, it's nice to be popular and gets lots of comments, but you can still be very successful on AC without being a Comments Pig. Oink, oink!

Secrets of my "success" on AC: I stopped giving my articles cute, creative, clever titles. Okay, that's not entirely true. Sometimes I can't help myself. But I found out the hard way that if you want anyone to find your articles online, you must give your articles appropriate, specific, searchable titles! I could have called this article "100,000 Reasons to Celebrate." Many of my friends and subscribers would have wondered why I was celebrating and would have clicked on my article out of curiosity. But why would anyone else read an article called "100,000 Reasons to Celebrate"? It's a cute title, but it's very vague. Don't you want to know what I'm celebrating? If I'm going to give you a bunch of useful tips (or "secrets"), shouldn't I say so in the title?

Ask yourself, "What would someone type into Google to find this information?" Use those keywords in your title, and repeat those keywords throughout your article. It's annoying, but it will get you more page views. The body of your article can still be fun and creative, because you're a very talented writer. Yes, you are! (See how easy it is to fake a positive personality?) That clever, creative title you came up with doesn't have to go to waste; you can still use it as your subtitle.

If you want to know more about using keywords and "keyphrases" effectively, don't ask me! You know who's super-sweet and super-smart and super-helpful? Lyn Lomasi. Lyn's article, "Easy SEO Techniques for Online Article Writers," is a great place to start if you're desperate to learn more ways to increase your page views on AC.

Secrets of my "success" on AC: Fans. You don't have to have a lot of fans and subscribers to get lots of page views on AC, but it sure doesn't hurt! I certainly wouldn't have 100,000 page views if I didn't have any regular readers. If you want more fans, spend some time exploring the Associated Content site when you're not busy publishing your own work. Visit the AC forums and read the work of other writers here who share your interests. Don't be shy about leaving comments on the articles you read (unless you don't have anything nice to say). If you respect someone's work, tell them so! They'll probably check out a couple of your articles in return, and, before you know it, you'll have lots of fans. 200 fans! No way can you keep up with all their articles and write articles of your own. You'll go out of your mind! The guilt will eat away and eat away and eat away at you, because you want to support your subscribers--you really do. But there's just no time, especially when things are so crazy at home...

Secrets of my "success" on AC: I know when to shut up. Actually, I don't. (Did you read that last paragraph? Case in point!) Most of my AC articles are waaaaaaaaaaaaay too long. You might think that a longer article will get you more page views, but I know from personal experience that it won't. Aim for two or three-page articles. Leave it to AC to insert all kinds of obtrusive (uh, I mean "helpful") ads, above, below, to the side, and inside your article. Jeez, when you factor in the ads, your three-page article has suddenly grown into a five-page groaner! That's right-a groaner. When your subscribers click on your article and see that it's five pages long, they'll groan. How awful!

Don't fret. Even groaners may someday get the page views they deserve. Read my "Page-View Poison" article to learn how you can get one of your criminally-unloved articles featured in a future article written by me. "Poisonous" articles-articles with extremely low page views-happen to the best of us. (I just demonstrated my last secret: Include links to other AC articles you've written, when appropriate. Most people won't click on the links, but a few will. Every page view counts.)

I wish you all lots of success on Associated Content, and beyond! Where's my cake with 100,000 candles?

Sources and Related Articles:

Personal experience. Bill's not here right now.

Didn't I already give a lot of these same tips (and more!), plus a breakdown of all my page views by category, in a previous article? Oh, yeah! I did! Right here: "One Year on Associated Content: What I've Learned About Writing for AC"

And there's this article, too, which I wrote when I had the stinkin' swine flu: "Jealous of Other, More Successful AC Contributors?"