Writing Online to Make Extra Money

Writing websites that pay for content are one of the most legitimate ways to make money online. These websites pay you for content either through the amount of traffic you generate or an upfront payment for your article. The two main websites that offer these services that are free to sign up with are AssociatedContent.com and Helium.com. While both provide a site for writers to get paid for posting content, Associated Content seems much more worth the effort. Helium does have its positive points, but I have almost given up on this website because of its flaws.

Associated Content will publish your articles online for others to view or even buy and so far my experience with Associated Content has been very positive. They offer upfront payment for your articles, via paypal.com, and also you get paid through page views. This means you get paid upfront and then your article continues earning money the more it gets viewed. The great thing about the way Associated Content sets up your account is that you can view the number of page views each articles gets. This is something Helium doesn't offer. Associated Content also lets you write on whatever you want. It has to get reviewed by Associated Content first, but if it is a quality article they normally accept it. This is the other very positive feature of Associated Content. They review the article and determine its value. Again this is something that doesn't happen on Helium.

Helium is very similar to Associated Content in that it publishes your articles and you can make money from page views. Sometimes they will offer payments for articles, but only if you have enough stars. The stars are definitely the major problem with this website. You earn stars for writing and by rating the other articles on Helium, so when you write an article on Helium the other members of Helium review it. A decent idea in theory, but in actuality it is a poor way to rate articles. Week to week my writing stars change, sometimes even day to day, and your writing stars are the major way Helium determines how much you get paid for page views. Many of my articles are ranked very high on Helium one week and then poorly the next. In one instance this cost me a bonus payment for writing on certain topics because I needed a certain number of stars on a certain date and when that date came my writing stars had dropped. My stars have now bounced back up, but my articles never changed. Another problem I have with Helium is that is doesn't allow you to see your total number of page views. You have a chart to go by, but the way Associated Content allows you to see your page views is better. In my opinion, the one positive Helium has is it's Marketplace. This is where websites or magazines post articles or reviews they are in need of and the payment for these articles, if chosen, are much higher.

You can earn money through both of these websites and many people do use both websites to publish their articles. However, in my experience Associated Content is the way to go. While you can publish the same content on both websites if you don't give Associated Content exclusive rights, I don't even bother posting articles on Helium anymore. Associated Content has given me upfront payments and much higher page views than I receive on Helium. If you are looking to make a few extra dollars and enjoy writing I would definitely suggest Associated Content.