#1 Triond

In my opinion Triond is the best website that you can express your writing, pictures, or even media for money.  Triond is one of the safest websites to receive a money transaction.  Plus it’s my personal favorite and I've never had a problem with it.

#2 Helium

I like helium too and they have a lot of great articles about everything.  You could find how-to articles or cooking or sometimes gaming articles.  I've used some of the tips in some of the articles.

#3 Associated Content

The only reason why I have associated content my #3 is because I have had some account troubles before.  It wasn't the payment but the confirmation code.  Anyway...it’s the same thing like Triond or Helium but sometimes you can get paid more if your article is AMAZING.

I know everyone has heard of other great sites like treasure trooper but recommend these sites since I've experienced their content and it’s really safe.  Not to mention that not a lot of personal information is needed unlike treasure trooper.

Have FUN contributing content and earning some cash!!

Content Generation

If you're like me, and coming up with ideas for articles is the least of your worries, then feel free to skip over this section.  Your problem is more likely time management or promotion.  For those of you having trouble coming up with that groundbreaking article, please read on.

Now, this is not to suggest that your experience on Triond should be one of catering to the majority.  If you build a steady following writing prose/poetry or film reviews, for example, then by all means write about that.  On the other hand, if you're willing to do a little research, you can delve into topics you didn't even know would interest you!

First all, be aware.  As other users have said, pay attention to the "Hot Users" section and see what they are writing about.  To get into that section your article has to be something original that will capture people's attention.  (Don't forget a snazzy title as well.)  Take a look at your interests--what are some interesting things about, say, stamp collecting, drag racing, baking, or even writing that you think people may want to know?  Exploring your own interests first will also give people the idea that you've done your homework and you know what you're talking about.  I've noticed that articles that seem to be thrown together some attention, but fade rather quickly.

Secondly, look into some new interests; or synthesize your current interests with something you're unfamiliar with.  This can also help to produce original and thought-provoking content.  Let's say you're into stamp collecting, but you're not that great with history--and perhaps you'd like to be.  A little Google/Wikipedia search could help you track down some well known people who were secret stamp collectors.  See?  You've taken your specialty and given it an intriguing twist!

Finally, a little healthy competition never hurt anyone!  If you're cruisin' Triond--and I suggest you do--and you come across an article to which you would like to respond, then that is another possibility.  You don't simply have to comment, you can write an entire article as a response.  Rememeber, however, that displaying maturity is the best way to be taken seriously.

Quality and Quantity

One of my major problems is quantity, which is connected to the next topic.  Anyway, I like to think that I put a good deal of effort into writing my articles--editing them even after publication for clarity or the inclusion of additional information.  When it comes to content writing in the form of advertising revenues, it is important to have both quantity and quality.  In order to earn a decent part-time income from Triond, you're going to have to write a few to several articles per day that will accrue a great deal of views and comments. 

Your articles are going to have to transcend time--meaning that they are relevant no matter when they are read.  For instance, should I write an article about the upcoming election, the fervor would most likely get me a good number of views, but as the election passes and passions cool, fewer and fewer people are going to be interested in my predictions of said election--for obvious reasons.  There's nothing wrong with writing sometime time-specific, but you must understand that that time will pass.

On the other hand, continuing to produce content keeps an interest going in your overall content.  If someone reads an article you recently published, they will be more likely to go to your profile and read other articles that you've published in the past.  The longer your articles sit around, the less likely your other content is to be viewed.

About editing, I believe it is important to keep your content up to date, possibly responding to new media resources or reader comments.  For example, my article "How to Cope in an Interracial Relationship", is one that covers sensitive material.  Thus, in order to ensure that my message was received as I intended it, I had to edit the first couple of sentences for clarity.  In addition, as I mentioned in "How to be a Bad Fiction Writer", revision is your friend.  It will also ensure you keep your content fresh and interesting. 

Not to mention, if you think your content is killer, but for some reason people aren't reading, try changing your title to something a little more eye-catching.  There's nothing wrong with that!

Time Management

If you're like me, constantly running around trying to get a million things done at once, then writing for Triond may serve as more of a hobby.  To combat the lengthy intervals between articles, I find it quite useful to keep a notebook handy.  It doesn't have to be anything special, just something in which you can jot down article ideas--or even write drafts to be copied online at a later date.  In fact, this section of this article was written in a notebook during some down time.

Another good idea (for writers of all kinds) is to try to keep a schedule.  Perhaps setting aside a specific day or time of day dedicated to writing/revising your articles.  This is also a good way of being memorable to your readership.  If you only publish articles every two weeks, the articles you have already published will lose readership (especially if you are a novice such as myself).

Community/Networking

No matter how many articles you've written--even if it's just one--it's absolutely important that you connect to the Triond community.  This is not to suggest, on the other hand, that you befriend Triond users for no particular reason.  It would be much more productive to add people who share the same interests you do, guaranteeing that they will at least glance at your articles, and you can genuinely comment on the content they produce.  Stronger bonds are built this way and you can establish your own publishing niche that will support one another.  Many users do this already--without even noticing it.  Unless you're very rigorously promoting your work outside of Triond (to be covered more extensively in the Promotion section below) most of the advertising revenue your articles are going to attract are going to come from other users, mostly out of curiosity or in an attempt to get tips for their own writing endeavors.

Another "tips" article for Triond suggested that users copy-paste links to articles that may be relevant to articles on which they are commenting.  I would say this is definitely a good idea for someone with a busy schedule.  Since the name you use when you comment on people's articles is not linked to your profile, it may make sense for your to post a link to your similar/related article so people can get a chance to check you out without having to search the users.  So far, I haven't tried this technique, because I have no been able to connect as much with the community with my busy schedule.  Another means of improvement for me!

Tags

As I'm sure you've read in other Triond articles articulating tips for additional success, it is extremely important that you embue your articles with relevant tags that can be Googled and read by people from as many places as possible.  I would suggest placing as many relevant tags as possible, and once your article has been published and gotten some views, try to Google it and see how long it takes to find your article.  Now, try this with other content that is listed at "hot" and see how long it takes you.  This is just as much as a "Promotion" problem as a tag problem--these things are not mutually exclusive.  If the tags on your content cannot be adequately searched for, then people who don't read your blog, don't use stumble and other networking sites are not going to be able to find you.  It's just as important to establish niches on Triond as it is to attract people who might not have found you otherwise.  I've been trying to work on the "searchability" of my articles since I joined Triond--which wasn't that long ago.

Promotion

Again, in my opinion, the single most important think you can do with your content is to promote it.  No matter how little content you have or how poor you believe the quality to be.  Undoubtedly, the more frequently one produces content, the more practice one has as to what works stylistically and tactfully.  There are a few ways you can actively promote your work--and even ways you can let your articles virtually promote themselves. 

A few of the suggestions on other "Tips" articles has been to use social bookmarking sites such as StumbleUpon, Technorati, Digg, Facebook, etc.  Go for it.  Use all of them.  They certainly help get the word out there.  On the other hand, if you're looking for substantial comments on your articles (especially if you're a creative writer), you may not be able to get that from mere stumbles or clicks.  It will help your revenue, but it won't provide any helpful criticism--if that's what you're looking for.  If you're a creative writer looking for criticism, I would suggest posting your stories on writing forums/groups that specialize in such, with the occasional stumble here and click there that would surely help to benefit you monetarily as well...

Another way to help promote your content is to start a blog.  I know at times it seems blogging is so "passe," but it actually helps to get people to feel a deeper connection to your work.  They get to know you (or your ideals) and then they find an interest in the content you produce; thus, gaining yourself another kind of niche outside of the Triond community.  With Blogger, you can add various kind of HTML to the page and include various social networking subscriptions to your comments--killing many birds with just one stone.  In addition, if you really find yourself passionate about the blogging community, you can join sites like Blog Catalog that help you favorite blogs of interest, join groups, and get in contact with other bloggers from all over the place.  So, whether you're interested in starting a monetized blog for promotional or personal purposes, you can connect with more people who will undoubtedly provide you with more readership.

One tip that will seem quite obvious--even though I have yet to utilize it myself--is to have your content promote itself by having time sensitive content.  When Halloween starts rolling around, produce content about costumes, haunted houses, or scary animals.  When Thanksgiving/Christmas gets near, start publishing content about family gatherings, toy reviews, shopping tips, etc.  Once Valentine's Day makes an appearance, produce articles about flowers, gifts for her/him, love, relationships, and all that good stuff.  What do I mean when I say your content is promoting itself?  Well, the arrival of these holidays prompts people to search for themselves, but if they don't have to search (if you've befriended people with similar interests on Triond) then their "Friends' News" will supply them with all the holiday information they could want.

Well, I hope these beginner's tips have been of some help.  I will continue to update it as I find more useful things to share with other beginners--or even old timers who could use some article rejuvenation!  Happy writing.

One site that is not too good and I have never liked using is Helium. The first red flag to me is they will not tell you how much you make each article. The amount appears to be a random amount if anyone money is paid to you at all. Posting your articles is a major pain on Helium. Just the hassle of getting articles posted in the right place was to much work and kept me from writing to much for the site.

The worst site I know is Essay writers. This site does not appear to be popular or well known. You can end up owing the site money. Nothing good can be said about this site. Personally I was not paid long after I should have been paid and do not know if I will ever really get paid. They have a big infrastructure with people you can chat with but they are of no help. Employees call and harass you if you have not logged on to the site in a day, it does not matter that you have a week to finish an assignment you have to log on everyday. I could go into more details regarding all the problems with essay writers but I will stop here.

Reviewstream is annoying bad for a number of reasons. The first is that they don't tell you how long to make the articles. A big problem is it takes $50 you get paid. They never tell you how much they will pay you, instead they state prices are subject to change. I have known people to get all kinds of amounts per article but since you have to reach $50 I have never known anyone who got any money.

Now for some better sites. Daytipper gives you a dollar for short tips. Daytipper is good about getting back to you fast and letting you know if your tip has been approved or not. One downside is if they do take the tip it can take months tip publish the tip and you don't get paid until after they publish the tip.

Triond is great. They don't pay any upfront payments, however they will accept most of what you write. Very few articles get turned down and they will tell you why so you can fix the problem. You don't make much at one time but you get a good residual income. They split the profits made from people looking at your article that is not a lot at once but over time it can be very good. They pay you regularly even when you did not make much money. They only take original articles so you cannot use previous work you wrote.

Another good site is Associated Content. I have never made a fortune in upfront payments but I can make good money by writing and then continue to get residuals. They have calls for content and you can know upfront how much they will pay you. They have a rating system and if you are featured you get lots of additional hits.

Few sites have been good. I find writing for the local paper, magazine articles, or freelance work like SEO articles pays you the best but if you want to simply write online then Triond is a great place to start.

Helium

Helium is the place where I have written most of my articles and has given me the greatest financial return. When I first joined Helium, they had just started running a Rewardathon where writers were paid per article based on the number of writing stars they had as a result of the rating system in place. The rating system is by no means perfect but the articles generally find their true place after a while. Combined with the Rewardathon earnings, I was also able to sell a few Marketplace articles and won or placed in the weekly writing contests. Without those means of earning available, I would not have earned much simply relying on page views.

Associated Content

Associated Content provided a little bit more on page view earnings but is not the ideal arrangement if you happen to live outside the USA. As a US resident you can earn up front payments, but if not, you have to rely on page view returns which of course is limited. Having submitted articles for a few months, I have been given some idea of the kind of return that can be expected. I certainly wouldn't give up my day job to pursue this as a means of income.

Triond

I am relatively new to Triond having written around 30 articles in the past two weeks. I can see a steady increase as cents are added daily but will obviously need a few months of activity to make a genuine comparison. The difference between Triond and Helium is that Triond will apparently also include a share of ad revenue, although I understand this is only if the click through results in a sale. My general feeling is that it will take a high volume of articles to see a reasonable financial return but time will tell.

Comparing all three from my own perspective, Helium has definitely proved more rewarding financially because of the other opportunities to earn apart from reliance on page views. My guess would be that Helium, Triond and Associated Content will all pay pretty much the same when it come to page views but then again, I'm sure there rae some writers out there who would beg to differ.

Nevertheless, Triond, compared to other content publishing firms, offers better publishing mechanics, simpler and unique distribution schemes and on-time payments. Hence, Triond is considerably a better way to invest free time publishing and writing even at first the earnings hit only less than a dollar.

Based from my personal experience, I managed to formulate a simple plan on how can I increase my earnings up to $300 monthly from my published articles. There are three things I need to consider in reaching this income projection:

1. How many articles do I need to publish per day?
2. How many hits should I attain for every article per month?
3. How long will it takes for me to generate the projected income at Triond?

Starting with the first question: How many articles do I need to publish per day?

In order to answer this question, I have utilized two important components, namely (a) eRPM and (b) projected income per day (PIPD). Based from the Triond earnings FAQS, eRPM ranges between $0.5 to $10.00 per 1000 page views, but for the sake of the calculation, I have simplified the range by getting its average, which is $5.25 per 1000 page views.

If the eRPM of an article is $5.25 and the PIPD is $300, we can use the following equation to determine the how many articles are needed to be published per day. Addition to the equation is the expected hits per article (HPP), which assumes the needed hits per

1. eRPM x 30 Days = Expected Earnings per 1000 page views per month
   
   $5.25 x 30 Days = $157.5 per 1000 views of one single published content per month
   
2. PIPD / 30 days = Projected Earnings per day of a single published article
   
   $300/ 30 days = $10 must be generated by a single article per day
   
3. [(eRPM x 30) / 2] x 1/PIPD = The number of Articles Published with hits of 500 page views per day
   
   [($5.25 x 30) / 2] x 1/$300 = 4 Articles with hits of 500 page views per day should be published

To Check:

[(Number of Articles per day x eRPM) / 2] x 30 days = Approximated PIPD

[(4 x $5.25) / 2] x 30 days = $315 per month for 4 articles with at least 500 page views per day and an eRPM rate of $5.25

If an article will have the maximum of 500 page views per day in the lowest possible eRPM of $0.5 per 1000 page views, then the following equation should be used to know the number of articles needed to be published per day and the number of hits it should possess per day.

[($0.5 x 30) / 2] x 1/$300 = 40 Articles with hits of 500 page views per day should be published in order to obtain your PIPD

To Check:

[(40 x $0.5) / 2] x 30 days = $300 per month for 4 articles with at least 500 page views per day and an eRPM rate of $5.25

In conclusion, you need to publish 120 articles with eRPM rates of $5.25 and should be viewed at lest 500 times per day for you to obtain $300 per month. Meanwhile, if the eRPM is the lowest $0.5 then you must be able to publish 1200 articles with similar conditions above for you to obtain your $300 dollars per month. The good news is eRPM rates increase over time due to several reasons, such as popularity, number of clicks, and quality of the content. Bottom line is you need to publish good content for you to earn higher eRPM rates and eventually getting your projected amount per month.

Whether you are starting out as a writer and building a clip file, or you're well established and looking to boost your monthly writing revenue, it's important to know where to look for legitimate freelance writing jobs that pay. Here are a few online job boards for writers (some sites mentioned in this article are quite well established, while others are less well known places to look for work).

This article is geared more towards the beginning freelancer looking to get a foot in the door, but should also be useful for writers who have established a freelance career. Hopefully, these web sites will make the difficult search for paying freelance writing jobs a little easier.

Freelance Writing Gigs

Deborah Ng's Freelance Writing Jobs is considered one of the most popular sites to find freelance writing jobs. Many freelance writers swear by this site and make it their number one place to look for paying writing jobs.

At this site, you'll find listings of quality freelance writing jobs that are updated regularly, as well as helpful articles about all aspects of a freelance writing career. The nice thing about Freelance Writing Jobs is that it is geared towards beginning freelancers as well as established writers. In fact, the site has many helpful articles about how to land that first paying writing gig; the article titled “Landing Your First Freelance Writing Job-Where to Begin?” should be required reading for those new to the freelance writing world.

At the Freelance Writing Jobs site, don't miss the article called “23 Places to Find Freelance Writing Jobs and Freelance Blogging Jobs” (there is a link to this popular article on the front page of freelancewritinggigs.com.) This article is a goldmine of other recommended sites to find freelance writing jobs that pay.

Accentuate Writers Forum

Accentuate Writers Forum is run by fellow Associated Content writer and freelancer Michelle L. Devon (also known as Michy). On the Paying Writing Jobs Forum, you will find a carefully compiled listing of quality freelance writing jobs. A lot of care is put into these postings, and there is a nice assortment of jobs for content providers as well as those who write for magazines.

In addition to offering a listing of freelance writing jobs, this site offers a place for writers to post and introduce themselves, and chat about a variety of topics. Accentuate Writers Forum has given many content providers, like those who write for Associated Content and Triond, a way to branch out and find paying freelance writing jobs for print publications.

Freelance Writing

Freelance Writing.com is a huge site with an abundance of resources for the aspiring freelance writer. There are tons of freelance writing jobs listed and the site also offers articles about freelance writing, writer's guidelines, discussion forums, writing contests and events.

Jobs range from high paying to extremely low paying; however, if you are looking to land that first paying freelance writing job, this could be the place to find it. This site truly has something for everybody; don't forget to check out the resources for writers and the newsletter sections.

Online Writing Jobs

Online Writing Jobs is a job bank listing opportunities for freelance writers that is compiled from other job boards like Craigslist. There are openings for magazine writers, bloggers, and content providers. The freelance writing jobs listed here range from low paying gigs to higher paying jobs, but this is also a good place for the newer writer to look for that first paying assignment.

Online Writing Jobs

OnlineWritingJobs.net is a blog by Robert, another fellow writer at Associated Content. This site is a real find for its detailed information about where to find paying freelance writing jobs for online writers. The author talks about his own experiences and earnings as a writer, and mentions a variety of freelance writing jobs like those at SharedReviews.com, TextBroker.com, DailyArticle.com, Brighthub.com and many more.

If you are currently writing for websites like Triond and Associated Content and wish to branch out and write for different websites, this site is an invaluable resource. This blog offers a nice balance of freelance writing jobs (geared towards the content provider) and insights from the author's own experience as a working freelance writer.

Honorable Mentions

Check out fellow Associated Content and Triond writer Melanie Marten's blog ArticleWriter101.com. This site is a primer on how to be a successful content provider for websites. Melanie lists writing opportunities, resources and tips for becoming a successful online writer.

Finally, there's always Craigslist.com for a seemingly unlimited listing of freelance writing jobs. A caveat about Craigslist: there are a lot of scammers out there who are looking to take advantage of the relatively new writer, so be careful and use common sense when responding to listings.

That being said, Craiglist can be a wonderful resource for freelance writing jobs. Manhattan Craigslist and the section “Writing Gigs” can be a good place to hunt for work; do a search for telecommuting jobs if you'd like to work from home.

Let this list be a great starting place as you get out there and look for freelance writing jobs that pay. Whatever your experience level, there's a freelance writing gig out there for you. Good luck in your search for freelance writing jobs!

In response to this Top 10 fanaticism, I have decide to throw out the Top 10 titles you should consider using to earn some money on these sites by having featured content:

• Top 10 Venomous Snake Bite Stories You Wish You'd Lived Through
  
• 101 Sexiest Office Furniture Stores
• 10 Sure Ways To Make Your Dollar Work Wonders for Your Nasal Cavities
  
• The Ultimate Top 10 Scariest Stalker Tips
• The Top 10 Stupidest Ways to Get Arrested in Idaho
• 10 Perfect Glue Recipe Secrets
• 10 Wildest Spring Break Knitting Secrets
• Top 10 Nerdiest Hotties You Never Would Have Dated in High School Who Wouldn't Date You Now If You Paid For It
  
• Best 10 Ways to Store Your Stash Before Getting Arrested
• 101 Dieting Starvation Tips You'd Have to Really Be Dumb to Try

Hope you enjoyed these newsworthy titles as much as I enjoyed making them up and feel free to use them and boost your earnings. Personally, I'm dying to know what the top 10 glue recipes are or the snake bite stories.

So I read some more books and had the idea to take a writing workshop online. In this travel writing class, we researched and wrote a complete article from start to finish. Then we practiced composing query letters to print publications and researched possible markets for our stories. This process took about six weeks of working on one article and then figuring out how to market the piece.

When I left this workshop, I had a much firmer grasp on how to write an article. But the workshop was clearly devoted to writing and marketing articles for newspapers and magazines. I tried to market my article but I felt confused about where to begin. The process felt a bit overwhelming. Also, I had no other published pieces so I couldn't “query with published clips.”

I've long been an admirer of BootsnAll, a travel website that has launched the careers of several respected travel writers. I felt it would be very meaningful to me to have an article published on that site. Bootsnall works with beginners and professional writers, so I knew they would be open to my article. If the work was good, it wouldn't matter if I didn't have a handful of clips of my published articles.

I submitted my travel article (with photos) to BootsnAll and it was published in a few weeks. I felt so proud that day to see my work published alongside travel writers I really admire. That really got me hooked on writing content for websites. My next move was to start publishing a library of work on Associated Content, and very soon, I'll have one hundred articles published on that website.

Advantages of Being an Online Writer

I have really loved my one year of being an online writer. I find it offers several distinct advantages compared to writing for print. Writing for sites like Triond, BootsnAll, and Associated Content, I feel part of a creative community of writers and readers. Writing online, I get to know and communicate with fellow writers, meet some of my readers, and get some useful feedback about my articles. Not only is that a nice morale booster, it's good for my work. Constructive feedback is very important to growth as a writer, and the interaction with writers and readers helps overcome some of the isolation that comes with hour after hour of being at home writing articles.

If I wrote these articles for a newspaper or magazines, there might be some feedback or letters to the editor, but it wouldn't be as immediate or personal, in my opinion. Newspapers and magazines get tossed aside and discarded, but my library of articles will hopefully be live online for years to come. I feel that writing articles online is like becoming part of a tribe of people really passionate about reading stories and creating new content, and I've loved being part of that community.

Another plus of being an online writer is the immediate, regular payments for articles, whether it's an upfront cash payment or a share of ad revenues generated by a story. Browsing through my Writer's Market, I notice lots of magazines that say they “pay on publication” and some of them take months or longer to publish an article!

Print publications also tend to spring up and shut down with some regularity. There is always the possibility of toiling away on a great article idea, only to have the magazine fold without warning, leaving the writer hanging without payment. While there are plenty of reputable print publications, sometimes in this economy it's hard to predict what market will shut down next.

I like that review times and payments for online writing at reputable websites are usually swift, and I also appreciate receiving revenue based on performance of my articles. This money that rolls in as a share of ad revenues from my articles is like a passive income stream. I do the work once by writing an article, and years later I could still be receiving payments for my work.

Ease of entry is another thing I really appreciate about online writing. Because the internet is so vast with so many websites, there is always a market for an article. The web needs content and online writers. The bar may seem impossibly high at some print publications, if you don't have a doctorate, a masters, a degree in journalism or a stack of clips from prestigious magazines or newspapers. But there is something very democratic about the web--if your work is good, some website will publish you even if you don't have a journalism background or lots of previously published articles.

The Downside of Being a Content Provider

Lately, I call myself a content provider when I tell people what I do. I get a lot of blank stares, or I get questioned as to what that really means, or sometimes the reaction is silence.

When I mention I'm a freelance writer, I've had people respond “Oh, you write for local newspapers and magazines?” I answer that I'm published on several websites, and sometimes I see them deflate. Like being a content provider for websites is somehow less valid than being a writer for print publications.

I feel there is sometimes a stigma attached to being an online writer. The general public often doesn't realize the expertise that goes into writing for websites. Being a content provider entails different things than filing a print story with an editor. For example, I have to consider keyword density, subheads, discoverable titles for my stories, links, and how to edit photos to be published online with my work.

I've come to realize that being an online writer is really an art form and skill like any other. “Content is king” on the web, so it is the articles and information written by content providers that determine the potential success or failure of a site.

Keeping all this in mind, I can't help but cave into the pressure sometimes to get my first piece published in print. I've been a bit conditioned to feel like that one small article I might publish in my local weekly paper will somehow be more important and valid than my over one hundred (and counting) articles published online. It often bothers me that many people think it's no work at all to be an online writer and that content providers can sometimes get no respect (except from other content writers!)

So I'm looking into getting that first precious clip from a newspaper or magazine, but content writing will always be my joy. I truly enjoy being an online writer and I'm very grateful for the benefits I've received from publishing my work on websites. Online writing gave me my start, so no matter how many print articles I get published someday, I'll always be proud to be a content writer.

Earning Potential

In terms of revenue generated per article, Helium pays the lowest among the three sites. It does however have a Marketplace and Contests, which help to supplement a writers income.

Publishing Process

Helium is the fastest among the three sites when it comes to publishing. There is no waiting time between submission and publishing. Zilch. Helium depends on a peer-rating system that asks writers to rate their fellow writers, which eliminates the need for Helium staff to review the articles. Unlike the other sites where you have to click and choose several options, Helium's publishing interface only requires you to click that "Submit" button.

Topic Restriction

Helium restricts topic titles to the ones already on Helium. You may request for a new topic title, though it'll take some time before it gets approved/rejected.

Rights to your Article

Helium claims non-exclusive rights, which means you can still publish them elsewhere.

Payment

Helium offers only one mode of payment, through Paypal. The payout mark is set at $25 and payout is on the 10th day of each month. At the time of writing, Helium is currently looking at the possibility of a check payout option. The option is still unavailable.

Triond

Earning Potential

Triond pays the highest in terms of revenue generated per article.

Publishing Process

Triond usually takes less than a day.

Topic Restriction

To quote their guidelines: "Your content must not contain any derogatory, offensive, unlawful, harmful, threatening, vulgar, profane, abusive, harassing, obscene, pornographic, defamatory or tortuous material."

Rights to your Article

Triond claims first rights on your article, meaning they have to be the first to publish it. However, you retain the rights to republish the article elsewhere after it is first published on a Triond network site.

Payment

Triond offers payment through either Paypal, Western Union or check. The payout mark is $0.50 for Paypal, and $50 for Western Union and by check. Payment is made on the 15th of each month.

Associated Content

Earning Potential

Associated Content pays better than Helium but not as good as Triond for revenue generated per article. Associated Content does have an upfront payment option which allows writers to ask for payment upfront. This is however restricted to certain topics and residents of the United States. There are also contests on Associated Content

Publishing Process

Associated Content tends to be the slowest if you are asking for upfront payment. You'll also have to wait to get reviewed even if you're not asking for upfront payment if you have not published at least three times there before.

Topic Restriction

None

Rights to Your Article

You choose. Options given are Exclusive, Non-exclusive, Display only. Exclusive means you give Associated Content full rights to your article. Non-exclusive means you still retain the rights to republish them. Display only means you reserve the rights to take them down when you like.

Payment

Associated Content offers payment through Paypal. Payout mark is set at $1.50 and payout is at the end of every month.

As you can see, the three sites Helium, Triond, Associated Content all have their strengths. Helium has a fast,easy-to-use publishing system set in place, Triond has the highest revenue generated per article, and Associated Content offers to pay you upfront. Try them all and see which one you like.

Writing is not an easy task particularly if you write in a language that is difference from your mother tongue. As for my personal experience, I would finish several writings in Chinese within an hour as it is easier for me to express the flow of ideas in my mother tongue. I found myself more comfortable to express whatever I want to say, but in other language it might be a challenge for me to write.

It needs my patience and continual learning in order to master that particular language to enable myself to express in different situations. Sometimes, the language may become an obstacle to express what I want to express if I have lack of knowledge in terms of its usage, grammatical and morphological rules. In short, it is a huge challenge for me to express in English as my native language is not English and I have a minimal exposure to practice with the native speaker in the more natural learning environment. Despite of this, I have to rely upon Internet to learn from BBC World radio, and other on-line English resources.

How do you measure your success in writings? Money? Popularity? More fans? More views?

Well, it could not be wrong to measure your success based upon the money you earned, the popularity, fans who admire your works and the page views you received. I think, apart from these factors, the fulfillment is the foremost part that leads me to write.

The most successful writers, in my opinion, are those whose works have changed the readers' thinking who read on their works. This might be a brainstorming, a motivation to become better, or an improvement in life and attitude. As a reader, I am sure you know who the most successful writes are. In general, they are those who have influential voices to change other people's life to become better besides helping others to achieve their goals or targets in life.

Well, I suppose every one of us, must have felt on top-of-the-world feeling when he or she succeeded to have his or her works published elsewhere. The feeling cannot be described by words. It must be experienced. This wonderful feeling can remain with one indefinitely. I could feel how he or she feels to be in love and having that ecstatic top-of-world feeling. It is quite intoxicating!

Being the most successful writers either in local or global scale may require the writers to fit some of the criteria as follows:

The Use of Language

Different writing field may require different ways to express. Take for example, if you would like to write cartoon, comedy, and script, you have to make use of the dialect, informal language, dialect and accent to attract your reader's attention to read your work. It will not be appropriate to use a standard language as it appears to be too rough and lack of humor. Below are some of the examples of the dialect forms used in writing and communication. Their meanings are indicated in the brackets.

Dialect

I bain't ready. (= I'm not ready)
Can ye no help me? (= Can't you help me?)
She's after telling me. (=She's told me.)
Are youse coming or not? (=Are you-plural-coming or not?)
I ain't done nothing. (= I haven't done anything.)
Dialect and accent
‘elp yerself. (=Help yourself.)
Come wi' me. (= Come with me.)
‘e's gone ‘ome. (=He's gone home.)
Where d'he hide ‘em? (=Where did he hide them?)
I dunno. (= I don't know.)
I gotta go. (= I've got to go.)
I don't wanna eat. (= I don't want to eat.)
It's gonna rain. (=It's going to rain.)
Vegetables ‘n' fruits. (= vegetables and fruits.)
C'n I'ave a glass o' water? (=Can I have a glass of water?)
C'mon, we're late. (= Come on, we're late.)
Yer getting' big. (You're getting big.)

In contrary, if you would like to write a professional article on technology, health, computer, and engineering, you have to include many terminologies that are specifically used in those particular fields. Among all, I found that the health article is the hardest field to write as you need to do research besides using some medical terms that may appear odd and strange to you if you do not have any medical backgrounds.
What makes the article so popular? I would say that it is because it is written in simple easy-to-understand language so that any average reader can follow the content better. That is why a magical story-teller, Michener got all his books all sold out. His books have been adapted for television and big screen. Just like his books, the films are equally popular. His knowledge of the subject he wrote is impeccable, that is to say that he obviously did a lot of research. He does not try to hoodwink his readers by inventing things that cannot be believed. His stories are based on historical facts that are accurately placed in time and location.

Learning Foreign Language

Language is a way which humans use to communicate with each other. Without a language, all communications will stop at drawing or symbols which might not fully expressed what humans desire to express. There are lots of advantages of knowing foreign languages other than your mother tongue. You can always exchange your ideas, opinions and suggestions with some extraordinary people who communicate different languages. Later, you will find that your knowledge is growing day by day when you communicate with these people.

As for your information, most of the brilliant ideas and academic studies documented in French, German, Japanese, Korean, and even Chinese are not all translated into English. Some of them may have translated into English, but I can tell you that the meanings may have slightly varied from their original ideas. Therefore, by acquiring those languages, you have helped yourself to learn more things that are very important in your life either with regards to environment, technology, communication, science, health, or engineering. Indeed, such language is a passport for you to get accessing more brilliant knowledge and wisdom from different people around the world.

Learning from the Mistakes

No one is perfect in this world; after all we are just ordinary people. Even the most well-known editors and writers tend to make mistakes. Well, the mistakes are unavoidable, but the question here is whether you are willing to learn from the mistake to make yourself perform better in the future. The mistakes are signals telling you to adjust the technique, method, and the principles that you used when dealing with things. From the mistakes, we learn to grow up to become all-round people in every field we have ourselves involved.

Attending A Class at Triond School

Triond School provides a very brief and clear guideline for its members to follow the rules to write at Triond. You may also find some useful information to help you in your writings, so feel free to use this free-of-charge service to make you become better in the writing career. It is a fundamental thing you should know before you can become a successful conventional writer.

Keep a List of Contact Number or e-mail

Keeping a list of contact number or e-mail from the experts or professionals are very important to keep you abreast with the latest information. These groups of people may have a background as experienced doctors, lawyers, engineers, scientists, sociologists, archaeologies, counselors and even the professors from the universities around the world. These people will later become your advisors and motivators in your related upcoming articles.

For instance, if you wish to write a topic on a bone cancer, in this case, you should seek advices from the bone specialists as they are more experience in this field than you and thus providing you very useful information to write. The outcome is your created article has lifted up to a professional standard. When someone read your work, he or she will amaze and thereby holding his or her attention to read further. This in turns has risen up your reputation as a professional writer in the reader's eyes. Finally, this will indirectly capture your reader's heart to read more on your upcoming works.

Be Patient in Writing

Roman is not built within one day as the saying goes. Not only writing, but also whatever you do, you have to be very patient. I can challenge with you, you cannot be rich within a few hours, right? Every work needs patience to get it accomplished.

You could not expect a health article to be written within one hour, couldn't you? The work will require your patience to do a research, compile the information you obtained, start writing from your compiled information, before it can be turned into an excellent article.
After all, success came only with practice. It did not come easy. Only after several attempts and much perseverance on your part will enable you to achieve your goals of writing, and subsequently fulfilling your dream as a writer.

Providing Useful and Informative Articles

As you know, internet users hate to waste time reading "junk" articles that will not benefit themselves. Most of them are on-line to search for useful and informative information that will improve their life, health, knowledge, skill and welfare as well. They may also a group of school children or college students who wish to search for useful information to help accomplishing assignments or school projects. In a nutshell, they do not prefer wasting time to read low quality content. Therefore, you should always remember to generate readable articles that will gain you more continual page views instead of the page views that only remained there for a month.

Specifically, useful and informative articles may serve as a future reference and guideline for thousands or even millions of internet users to access anytime and anywhere. As a result, you gain a non-stop reads rather than it only sits there over months without people visiting even one view. This is one of the secrets that you bring traffic to your published articles.
As Michener had put a lot of care and effort into his books, nobody wants to have his intelligence insulted. Some authors debase themselves by writing inaccurate or biased facts thinking that by sensationalizing their works with sex and violence they can become popular. Such authors are poor minded. Bear in mind that the readers are more intelligent than they think. Only genuine writers stand the test of time and emerge as giants in their field. I am thankful for such writers who put in effort to provide the readers with useful and informative articles. Indeed, they have colored people life while enriching the world.

Never Boast of your Success, but Be Humble

No one is better than the other party. As a writer, you are always learning from others to supplement the inadequate part of your knowledge. Therefore, you should not boast your success just because your articles are listed in the top-ten hot list. At the same time, you should never put a bar across the standard of a newbie, as they may be more knowledgeable than you in certain fields.

Thus, their abilities and existences should not be ignored. You should always be humble, so that people will offer their helps to assist you in whatever you do. No one likes to teach a person who likes to show off or boast on his or her ability, talent or knowledge. You and I are just the same, as we are learning from the best, the most experience, and the most knowledgeable people.

Improving Yourself through Comments, Feedbacks and Critics

Constructive negative comments, feedbacks or critics excluding the nasty comments are not always bad. They are sometimes a powerful booster to boost your ability to its full potential. They help to improve and upgrade you to a level that will later be recognized either locally or globally. With this recognition, your readership is gradually building up, and subsequently it will earn you more points and thumb-ups from the readers. You will finally discover that your name and fame has been established within a large group of audience who wish to read more amazing works from you.

Learning from Other Veteran Writers

There are many brilliant and talented authors at Triond for you to learn from. I hereby attached here with some of the authors according to their expertise for your reference as follows:

• Recipe: Lanne, Ruby Hawk, Joe50342
• Music: Steven Kim, Julius Vortemizzi
• Travel: Ronald Marbles (The Abacus), Kenny Stenzerfield
• Science: Lonely, Nobert Soloria Bermosa, Lucy Lockett
• Health: Judy Sheldon, IcyCucky, Darlene McFarlane, Louie Jerome, Valli
• Webupon: Garrett Santos, RJ Evans
• Writing: Nelson Doyle
• Game: Krigjsman, Raylight, Jared Stenzel
• Computer: Jared Stenzel, Mikel Alexander
• Technology: Eddie Starr
• Poetry: Darlene McFarlane, IcyCucky, Liane Schmidt, Marcus Edward John Cross, Speed Limit, Judy Sheldon
• Motivation: Liane Schmidt
• Relationship: Ann Lyken Garner
• Religion: CO, Gail Nobles, John aka Jupiter King, NiceGuy
• Spanish publications: Jachguz, José Martínez Sánchez, DON Esteban de Carrego

I apologize if I have left out other authors at Triond. I recommend you to reach Triond to search for your desired authors there. You may find many talented and excellent authors at Triond. Besides that, I also recommend you to check on the veteran writers at eHow, Helium, Tutorialtub, Hubpages, about.com and Associated Content. This is important as it will improve your skills of writings. You will learn the technique and style of writing, organization of words, extraordinary ways to express ideas by different groups of veteran writers around the world. By doing this, you are having a good start to upgrade yourself as a standard writer while helping to raise the reputation of the writing platform you have chosen in the global scale.

Always Furnishing Yourself with Variety of Knowledge

As a writer, you are obliged to furnish yourself with a wide range of knowledge to help you creating a more diversified topic. It is always a great advantage to create topics from different field instead of one individual topic. You will not be captured a diverse reader who may need different types of knowledge and information. Multicolor is always attractive than mono-color, isn't it? So, if possibly, try to create two or more different fields to attract people from different background to read your work.

Never Be a Copycat

Do not copycat other people's works just to fill up your pocket. It is wrong and not right to steal other people's hard works without their prior agreement. Even they agree you to do so; it will not be nice to copy their works as your works to get published elsewhere. If so, what is the point of writing then? The writing will not seem a fulfillment for you as the published works are not yours as they belong to someone who might have spend much time writing. Let your work be original in its nature in order to attract more reads.

Maintaining a Supportive Group

A supportive group is a group of people, who might be your friends, family members, relatives, and fans who love to read your works. Their presence is always desirable and encouraging to boost up your mood in writing and also to motivate you when encountering problems. I am very lucky here to have a group of extraordinary people at Triond who keep on supporting me. Thus, I gratefully acknowledge their constant support throughout the writing at Triond. They are Darlen McFarlene, Liane Schmidt, valli, IcyCucky,Nobert Soloria Bermosa, Lucy Lockett, Alexa Gates and Dee Huff. Apart from that, I am also sincerely grateful to have my sister, Judy Sheldon, who keeps on motivating and encouraging me writing in English. Otherwise, I may have stopped writing at Triond due to rejections by the editors. My sincere thanks are also extended to all the staffs at Triond, who support my works through their thorough guidance and valuable comments. Indeed, your support and encouragement is an excellent booster to keep up my enthusiasm, spirit, confidence, particularly when facing problems.

Creating an Interesting Topic

An interesting and attractive topic or theme you chose is not necessary the hot issue. It refers to any topics that may have caught other people's attention or it might be a topic not being discussed and thus stimulating people's curiosity to know more. There is not particular guideline to tell you which is a hot topic and which is not. A hot topic in January may generate low reads in the following month and so forth. Sometimes, a very common topic may turn out to be the hottest in the particular month. You can only know whether it is a hot topic among the readers when the article was published. Nevertheless, when you write more, you may have acquired certain abilities to guess which article receives better page view and which is not.

Selecting More Appropriate Keywords

An appropriate keyword is attached together with the article you wrote, so that the search engine can compile your work by relating the keywords you chose. Generally, the appropriate keywords help the search engine like Google, Ask, Netscape, AOL and Yahoo to enable the readers to get your article read. If the keywords you picked are appropriate, they will definitely bring more traffic to your blog or website. If the keywords you chose are always picked by the search engines, you may have high page views in that particular month.

Promoting Your articles to Social Bookmarking Sites

You should promote your published article at the social bookmarking sites by bookmarking each piece of your published work. This is important to introduce yourself to a large group of audience. The recommended excellent bookmarking sites are reddit, Digg, StumbleUpon, Facebook and MySpace.

Your work is your product and social bookmarking site is a mean for you to advertise your product to your client. Whether your product will gain you a profit, it will depend on how influential your product to the client. Therefore, you should always ask yourself whether the product you are going to market is important for your client to try on. Your first article is very important here. If the article left a good impression, this group of people may have desired to read your upcoming articles.

Final Remark

I hope this article has answered the questions from some of my readers who asked me how to become a successful writer. I apologize if my answer has not reached to your desired expectation.

I am just like you as a newbie learning here, so if I have any mistakes please do not hesitate to correct me. I wish you all happy writing and happy publishing at Triond and at other writing platform as well. Good luck!