Rewarding Writing

I'm here to toot my own horn, but also to share some information about a great new site that awards you for your writing.

Just last weekend I joined Helium.com based on a comment posted to an article on Gather. I decided to give it a shot because it seemed like a great place to explore my thoughts on topics while giving me a chance to earn a little cash in the process.

Since last weekend, I've written 15 articles. It sounds like a lot, but it really didn't take long. Helium limits articles to specific titles/topics, some of which are in the form of a question, such as, "Is shopping online really cheaper?" It doesn't take but a couple of paragraphs to answer the question and, ba-da-bing, you have an article.

Of those 15 articles, one was chosen today to be featured on Helium's main page. I consider it an amazing achievement to have an article featured within 7 days of joining the site. But, it may not be such a difficult challenge at all. Maybe the site is still small enough that it's easier to become a big fish in a little pond. What ever the reason, I don't care. It's just fun being featured. Click here to read the article Helium felt was worth being featured.

How is Helium different from Gather? Other than posts being limited to prescribed topics (though, you can suggest a new topic at any time), the other major difference is that you don't have to get people to comment or be interested enough to join your network. By the looks, any time someone views your article (whether they like your article or not) you earn a penny. Yeah, it's going to take a lot of views to earn much, but at least I know what the equation is. Here, we have no clue.

Your articles are rated, but not by the casual viewer. They are rated by other writers on the site. When you choose to rate articles, you are given two random articles on the same topic. You do not know the author of either article or the articles' current ranking. You simply decide which article is better for the given topic.

The more rating you do, the more often your articles will come up for people to rate. And, the more they are rated, the greater chance you'll have of your article being ranked one of the top 5 in a topic. It's only the top 5 articles that are immediately shown for each topic, so they are the ones most likely to be viewed. Though, I have earned a penny on an article rated 22 and another one rated 13. So it is possible to earn even if your articles aren't ranked in the top five.

In the past week, I've earned only $0.21, with my greatest earnings coming from the article featured today. While that's not a lot, I imagine I will continue to build earnings more rapidly as I add more articles. Older articles never die. If someone looks up a topic I have written on, they will see my article and I will earn a penny. The Gatherer who referred me to this site had earned $70.00 from Helium. I don't know how long it took her to earn that much.

 A membership on Helium could dovetail nicely with your Gather account. If you make a post here and provide a link to your article on Helium, you will earn a penny for each person who decides to take a look.

As most sites, you can earn money by referring people, too. If you appreciate the information I've shared here and decide to join, please consider allowing me to refer you. Just message me with your e-mail address and I'll initiate an invitation to join Helium. (I promise not to do anything else with your e-mail addresss.) Using the link in that invitation will give me the credit for your referral.

Keep in touch after you join Helium! I'd be happy to help you promote your articles.

Happy writing....and may you develop a Helium High! ;-)