Use Associated Content Forums to Help You Get Started

My first month on Associated Content was slow. A complete novice, I read articles about writing for the internet and was quickly overloaded. Tons of information is available for how to use search engine optimization (SEO), and other more subtle tools. There is even some information discussing the community of Associated Content. What new Associated Content providers need is a guide to connecting with their fellow writers through the site.

Firstly, get on the forums. First click on Community. You will go to a screen with people who've won awards. Right above them there is a bar with community choices. Forum is on the far left hand side.

New forums always make me nervous. This is true whether it is Associated Content, Distributed Proofreaders, or just a gaming forum. I dislike posting to people I don't know. I don't like posting forum questions that veterans writers have answered a million times. It's difficult to figure out where to post your question or how to get to know people on the forum and encourage community.

Two subgroups on the forums have really helped me get started and rolling on Associated Content and in forums in general.

Goal Setters forum threads

There are two forum threads that I regularly follow with the goal setters. One is for weekly goals and the other for monthly goals. The monthly forum thread is not nearly as active as the weekly thread. On these forums I find writers of all experience levels making monthly and weekly writing goals, providing progress updates, encouraging each other and celebrating everyone's successes and milestones. In this community, writers who were clout 10 congratulated me on reaching clout 3. No milestone was too small to celebrate on goal setting forum threads. These threads are great for getting started on Associated Content.

Goal setting is good for every writer. Whatever we measure we see progress in. If we measure our writing output it will grow. If we measure our page views, they will grow. Setting goals and encouraging others to achieve their own goals is a great way to break into reading and interacting with the forums. It can operate as a home base from which you can explore other forum threads.

To find the current goal forum threads I type in the forum search box "goals". Then I refine it by saying those forum threads active within the past month.

New Subscriber for Subscriber forum thread

The new subscriber for subscriber forum thread can usually be found among the "Active Threads" to the far left of the forum page.

The theory behind the subscriber for subscriber forum thread on Associated Content is that we all want to be read and we all like to read so we might as well combine these together and create a mutually beneficial relationship. Associated Content writers on this forum subscribe to one another so that everyone has a dedicated readership. If someone subscribes to you it is proper to subscribe back. It is also good to leave a comment when you can to show that you are reading.

Getting started on this forum thread required a bit of a leap of faith on my part and was much scarier than the goal setting. Here I was asking for other people to read my writing. What if I annoyed them? Well, I swallowed my fear and found a very supportive community. Comments are positive and I have gotten so much out of my relationships with fellow subscribers.

On Associated Content, there is so much to learn and you can't assimilate all the advice at once. Through subscribing to fellow writers I have found out what makes good internet writing. Additionally my subscriber forum buddies have given me great ideas for articles that I wouldn't have found by just searching.

If you want to get started with the subscriber for subscriber forum, simply respond to the thread. Mention that you are new to associated content and would like to read other people's writing and have your writing read as well. It's also good to ask them to send you a comment saying they added you. This way you have an easy was to check who you've added back.

While there is some controversy about this thread, if you take it as a useful place to start you benefit from the experience. Note that in order to make real money on this site you will need to improve your writing for internet skills and get a lot of readers outside of this thread. The thread will give you a welcoming community to start gaining those writing skills however.

Expanding Out

Now I've started rolling with Associated Content and feel like I have a genuine writing community that supports me. I'm surprised I was ever worried about posting on forums. I have a home base and I feel comfortable exploring other forum threads and responding with my own information and views. There is no reason to write for Associated Content all by yourself. Selecting specific supportive forums makes new writers feel like part of the community here at Associated Content and makes for a great start.