Two Years at Associated Content by Yahoo! - a Review

Today marks two years since I submitted my first article on Associated Content by Yahoo. Two years and 212 articles later I still sit and tap at this keyboard.

It is my hope that by sharing the good and the bad that perhaps I can help others who may be considering a journey like mine to decide if they have what it takes to become a freelance writer. Perhaps by being open and honest about my career I can inspire others to follow their dreams.

The year 2010 marked an incredible series of ups and downs in my personal life, yet writing has remained a constant. Last year I wrote about reaching the goal of 1,000 page views a month, which was an accomplishment I worked hard to achieve. I was very proud of those performance payments, and I have only seen them grow over the past year. Now I receive over 100 page views a day, rarely dipping down below that 100 mark but frequently going over it. Currently for the month I am at 3,116 page views; to give you hard figures.

When I wrote my summary last year I was at Clout 6, just below the bonus levels. This year I climbed to Clout 8, and am on my way to achieving Clout 9 within the next few months. This has increased my performance view payments significantly--you would be surprised to see how much a dime per thousand page views adds up every month! My highest performance payment has been $5.69, and for the past several months I have not seen a single performance payment under five dollars.

My work has earned me a Featured Contributor position in the Technology section, and as a result I receive at least three FC assignments a month, with more offers that I can choose to accept. These assignments have improved my bottom line as well.

While all of my articles are my favorites, some have surprised me with their continued page views over an extended period of time. On June 10, 2009 I wrote an article titled "The Benefits of Sleeping on the Floor," thinking that it would spike my page views for a while and fade into the sunset. To my absolute amazement, this little piece is one of my best performers, and has earned over 600 page views this month alone. Last year when I wrote my summary piece I had no clue how well that single article was performing, so I hasten to correct that to demonstrate that writing consistently will bring you some surprising gems!

I have also discovered that Ubuntu Linux articles are rather popular, only now is the install tutorial I wrote on Ubuntu Linux 10.4 Beta starting to wane. I followed that tutorial with instructions for Ubuntu 10.10 Alpha and others, and all have benefited my bottom line.

The articles I wrote concerning subjects close to my heart in a manner aimed toward giving assistance or helping others perform far better than any review or piece of fiction that I have written. This has showed me that people search for knowledge and information on a variety of subjects and if you can answer their questions or help them solve a problem you will receive page views and stand out from the crowd.

The more I have written, the more confidence I have gained. Last year I took a brave step and opened a personal blog . This was one of the more frightening things I have ever done, and I procrastinated by for ages by running a free blog on BlogSpot . That blog is still live, but all of the posts have been imported into my blogging home on Annienygma , where I write about a wide range of subjects from computers to simplicity, minimalism and excess to frugality.

Another thing I accomplished was the publishing of not only one ebook but five. I have one of them "Be Happy Now" available for free on my blog and the others are listed on Amazon and my website. These books are like children to me, and I watch their success like a parent watches a child grow.

I have learned immensely from this alliance with Associated Content by Yahoo, and gained such skills that I never imagined possible when I first started out two years ago. I have gained a whole new online family of writers whom I enjoy watching grow and become. While I named some of them last year, the number has become so immense that I cannot do that now.

To answer the question I posed in 2009 in "Can I Make a Living at Associated Content" I have to admit that my answer has changed somewhat. I do feel that with proper work and application that one can make a living wage from Associated Content; however I feel it is better to consider AC a single source of what can become an incredible multi-faceted income.

For instance, while I earn money from Associated Content, I also earn money from work at Demand and Break Studios and from my own blog. I also now receive an income from book sales, and do little things like search with Swagbucks to give myself a little bonus for something I do regardless.

The Internet is a wonderful living thing composed of bits and bytes, electricity and light. Websites come and go at the blink of an eye as those who create them get bored, consider them failures and move on. Multiple sources of income protect you against these unpredictable happenings. For instance, if one site you are writing for goes down, you can work on another site until the first one is repaired without fear that you will lose that source of income.

Ebooks are also growing at an incredible pace, and those who are willing to put the work into creating them will be adding more to their bank of the future more than some websites ever could.

Progress and success are never guaranteed but consistent work will be rewarded. The writer who keeps writing will go farther than the one who quits after an article or two. The writer who puts their heart out there for the world and keeps pouring will succeed far more than the one who does not publish for fear of ridicule.

If you want to be a writer, ask yourself if you have what it takes to keep writing regardless of what happens. Can you write when you are refused an upfront fee? Will you cry and stop when someone calls your work stupid or pointless? Can you write when happy or sad or bored?

Will you write because you want to write and not because you make money at it?

Ask yourself these questions, the answers will tell you whether or not you can make a living on Associated Content by Yahoo or any other site. For me, the answer was yes and I am now living that dream.

What will your answer be?