Millions of people are on the web at any one time searching for news, views, information and knowledge. Helium.com is one of the several sites that serve to provide all these, by obtaining them from writers and contributors across the globe.
Like its competitors Suite101.com, Associatedcontent.com, Howtodothings.com and so on, Helium too compensates its writers in some way by sharing a portion of its advertisement revenue.
What are the unique features of Helium?
Multiple Authors can Write on Each Single Title at Helium
Helium welcomes multiple writers to write on same topic under thousands and thousands of available topics. If one wants to know how to speed up the PC, one will find about 50 articles dishing out advice on the subject at Helium. It does not end there. Helium will have similar sounding titles – “How to make your PC faster”, “How to accelerate your PC” etc and there will be 10 to 50 articles in each category, written by as many writers!
Helium’s strategy is to lure any search engine query to end up in their site so that the seeker gets something to read on the subject.
All Articles are Rated and Ranked by Peer Group at Helium
As multiple articles are accepted under each title, Helium members are obliged to rate the articles one against another under the same title and select as to what extent one is better than the other. After going through a complex “statistical algorithm” across “adequate” number of rating cycles, the articles get ranked (the best is 1, the next is 2 and so on). Top ranking articles have a better share of readership and consequently have better earning potential for the authors. Rating is a continuously on-going process at Helium.
Helium Accepts “Non-exclusive” Articles
One great advantage of Helium is that it does not insist on “unpublished” material. A writer can post articles published elsewhere already in print or in other websites, at Helium (provided this does not violate the writer's contract terms with the original publisher) .
Helium holds the right to keep the writer's article indefinitely on a non-exclusive basis at their site. The writers are at liberty to post their articles written at Helium at any other place, provided the other publisher does not mind accepting already published articles.
This means that Suite101 authors, for example, can post their articles at Helium only after the 1-year contract period of the article's presence at Suite101 is over, and try for getting additional revenue from the articles.
Authors Get “Stars” for Writing and Rating at Helium
Helium has a graded system of awarding Writing Stars for authors reflecting their quality and quantity of writing; they also award Rating Stars for the member’s labor for doing Rating over a 90-day period.
Authors and members can earn up to a maximum of 5 stars in each category.
Earning Potential For Authors at Helium
Helium shares “page view” earnings with the authors at some rate not disclosed to the authors. Helium, with effect from 1st November 2008, have also started offering “up-front payment” for each of the newly written articles (ranging from 0.5 to 2.5 dollars per article) under certain subject groups, and subject to certain conditions.
Prior to this, Helium offered two promotional programs and paid authors 1 to 4 dollars per article. Many authors earned several hundreds of dollars including a couple of them in thousands. A member can withdraw his accumulated earnings from Helium once it crosses a minimum of 25$. Payment through Paypal is available for international writers.
“Marketplace” and Contests at Helium
In Helium, there is a “market place”, where publishers and websites seek articles to specific topics and word-count; Helium members can simply write and submit their original articles there. The publishers will select one (or more) of the articles of their choice and then pay anywhere in the range of 24 to 120$ per article. The unselected articles mostly return to Helium's article collection and they keep earning pennies for the authors.
Helium also offers weekly “Writing contests” where one can compete and write any number of articles in a package of 20 titles under a general subject group. Points are given based on the rating rank of the articles and the highest scorers will be able to win from 30 to 60 dollars per contest.
Writing for Helium - Pros:
- Instant publication – no editorial filtering; no pre-qualification required to join as a writer.
- Membership open to non-US writers too.
- No need for “unpublished” articles; you are also at liberty to post your Helium articles elsewhere (subject to the terms and conditions of the original/ subsequent publishers) .
- “Upfront” payment for each article you write (conditions apply). Good earning potential for those who write in quantity and quality.
- You can gauge your quality of writing by the ranking you get for your articles. Excellent advice is available for writers through discussion forums.
- Thousands and thousands of titles readily available for writing; you can write on what others have already written or you can initiate your own title.
- Helium has excellent interaction with its members through community boards and member’s complaints and suggestions are responded very actively.
Writing for Helium –Cons:
- You cannot delete any article from Helium once posted. Even if you cancel your membership, the articles will still remain at Helium and earn for them.
- You have to essentially do rating and maintain at least 1 Rating star continually at Helium to get any earnings from the site.
- Helium neither provides any data about the number of page views they get nor any information about the average rate at which they pay for page views.
- The earning potential from Helium based on page views is comparatively low; even to get it, you have to do rating to maintain 1 star.
There are many thousands of writers who keep writing in Helium and enjoying their presence there. Helium is an enthusiastic and vibrant community.
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