Constant Content

Yesterday was such a great day for me! I made the Author's List here on CC and got a promotion to Feature Writer on Suite101.

I'm still very excited so I thought I'd share it so maybe I can quit grinning to myself and get some work done!

Congratulations! Everyone says it's not a big deal...but it was for me, so

Congratulations, Tifferbugz! I'd never heard of Suite 101, but took a look after your email. Well done! Is it a good site to write for? I read some mention of having to commit to a set number of articles over a period of time - is this right? What are the pros (and cons, if any) of writing at Suite 101?

Congrats again

Jane

Thank you both for your congratulations.

To answer your questions Jane, Suite101 has both pros and cons. The minimum number of articles for a Contributing Writer on the site is ten per 3 months. The minimum for a Feature Writer is 1 article per week in your subject area and 1 blog post per week. The articles are 400-600 words each and the blog posts are 250 words each. I don't think that they require a lot, considering.

The pay structure is a bit different, and may be seen as a negative by some. You are paid by ad share, so the higher your page views and the better your keywording and other Google-ish things the better your revenue. Suite is basically a long-term residual revenue source. The revenue starts as pocket change per day and builds as you build up your articles and site.

The key difference between Suite and sites like Helium is that they rank better with Google and so your articles (if keyworded properly) actually show up pretty highly ranked. My articles show up on the first page or two on many common Accounting (my subject area) searches. My articles in other areas on Suite rank pretty highly as well.

I know that once most people get a lot of articles built up in their subject area (or throughout the site as a contributing writer) they make decent residual income. Although writers aren't allowed to be very specific, I know of some writers that make the majority of their income from Suite. The nice part is, if you write evergreen articles they continue to make you income even if you never write for the site again.

If you get a Feature Writer spot, they raise your adshare by 20% and once you get 100 articles on the site they raise it another 10%. If you're a Contributing Writer you get another 20% after 50 articles I believe.

I really like the site because although it isn't quick money, it is consistent and can last virtually forever (I think the site has been there for 10-15 years) and the editors and staff are very helpful and give you a ton of materials and advice on writing for the web. They do demand exclusivity on articles for one year, then you can do what you wish with them although they remain on the site.

I like it a lot personally, but I'm sure it's not everyone's cup of tea.

Thanks for your response, Tifferbugz; I much appreciate it. Yes, I might investigate further. Although being very much the dilettante, I'm not too sure I have a "specialism."

Anyway, I'll let you get back to your writing now...

Congratulations on both your successes!! Also thank you for providing information about Suite 101. I've visited the site before, but didn't understand it. Your post answered a lot of my questions.
Mary B.

tifferbugz,

CONGRATS to you!!!

May you sell MANY, MANY more!!!

Catnipp333

tifferbugz,

Well Done.

I also wanted to write for suite 101 but they don't take aliens from South Africa!

May you sell lots and lots more.

Regards
Annetta

Thank you guys sooo much!

Annette, I'm surprised that they don't. I thought one of the people on there was from Brazil and another from Israel. I may have been mistaken. Well, it's their loss!

Hi tifferbugz

Yes you are right, it's AC not Suite 101 that doesn't accept aliens. I went to re-check.
Regards
Annetta

Tifferbugz,

I recently applied for a writing ad & it was from Suite101, which they did not mention in tha ad. I am glad you pointed out the "process" as I was lost when I went to the site. I have seen Helium also, but am in the same situation -- how do they work? Are they worth it?

Things have been SO VERY slow for me at CC that I am expanding to other outlets online, but am worried about all the scams out there. Any & all info is GREATLY APPRECIATED. I also have a HowToDoThings page with NOTHING on it, since again -- I REALLY am not sure "how they work" even after reading all the info. It is something about google adsense, but they want 1/2 of it???? I don't know -- have you ever dealt with them?

I even submitted my first article to AC, even though I have had an account there longer than here (I never submitted anything -- once I found CC) --- I just never thought I could make any money there, but right now -- I NEED all the help/income I can get -- pretty pathetic huh, but what else can I do?

In your opinion -- which sites are "worth" the effort? Suite101, Helium, HowToDoTnigs, AC???

OF COURSE, CC is and always will be my NUMBER ONE, but I am in need of "backup"!!!

THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP!!!!

PS. Do they have affliates at any of these sites? Specifically Suite101 & Helium, since they are the only ones I do not have an account at yet? If I can give you a boost, I sure would not mind!

Catnipp333

I know this was not specifically addressed to me, but I would like to add my 2 cents:

I used Helium before I found CC. I actually saw CC mentioned in someone's bio at Helium.

Helium has a whole different concept than here. Articles appear instantly, which can make for a whole lot of garbage. However, a lot of serious writers go there too.

I would concentrate on writing articles for the marketplace section. Good writers have a chance of being chosen by the publisher and you get paid that way. If you rely on just churning out articles to earn you cents until you get to the payment threshold of $25.00, you might as well file bankruptcy.

Okay so I am being cynical here. Some people have actully earned $10.00 or more in a short time. How that works is beyond me.

You can try your hand or pen at the weekly contests too. However, those work solely on peer ratings. For the marketplace however, even if peers rate you down for whatever reason, you still have a chance to get published.

I have been on Helium for two months and have not cashed in yet. My marketplace submissions have not come to the deadline yet, so we shall see. They have rated well, but that means nothing. However, my contest entries usually get rated to the bottom. Go figure.

AC is weird. They pay me more for articles written in the first person. Articles of CC quality usually get turned down or get a lower offer. However, it is good for a quick fix. They have a 400 word minimum. This is not a problem, even for this ADHD challenged adult

Alexandra,

THANKS for the info on Helium. I dont think I will bother with them, at least not right now. I had not really checked them out & no sense "wasting" my time on them.

Catnipp333

[quote="catnipp333"]Tifferbugz,

I recently applied for a writing ad & it was from Suite101, which they did not mention in tha ad. I am glad you pointed out the "process" as I was lost when I went to the site. I have seen Helium also, but am in the same situation -- how do they work? Are they worth it?

Things have been SO VERY slow for me at CC that I am expanding to other outlets online, but am worried about all the scams out there. Any & all info is GREATLY APPRECIATED. I also have a HowToDoThings page with NOTHING on it, since again -- I REALLY am not sure "how they work" even after reading all the info. It is something about google adsense, but they want 1/2 of it???? I don't know -- have you ever dealt with them?

I even submitted my first article to AC, even though I have had an account there longer than here (I never submitted anything -- once I found CC) --- I just never thought I could make any money there, but right now -- I NEED all the help/income I can get -- pretty pathetic huh, but what else can I do?

In your opinion -- which sites are "worth" the effort? Suite101, Helium, HowToDoTnigs, AC???

OF COURSE, CC is and always will be my NUMBER ONE, but I am in need of "backup"!!!

THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP!!!!

PS. Do they have affliates at any of these sites? Specifically Suite101 & Helium, since they are the only ones I do not have an account at yet? If I can give you a boost, I sure would not mind!

Catnipp333[/quote]

I completely understand your need to branch out Catnipp333! I think it's an important thing to do as a freelancer.

Personally, I think Suite101 is worth it if you have the time to put articles up (quite a few to be honest) and the patience to wait for the revenue to come in. Honestly, my first few weeks when I had 5 articles up I was making pennies a day. Now I have 17 articles up (still not many) and I average around $1.50 per day. That's not a lot but I'm confident that it will increase as I've seen it do so far.

Honestly, Suite is a long-term commitment to get any decent income. I do know of people that have around 200+ articles up that are making very decent money. The nice thing is, if you get that many up and then quit you will continue to get the revenue.

The Google Adsense stuff is something I don't deal with other than to check my previous day's revenue daily. It is best to write articles based on easily and often searched keywords because your revenue is based on ad clicks. Suite is an awesome place to learn more about writing for the web and it's somewhat harder to get a position with so it's a tad more exclusive than some places. Personally, I really like Suite101 but you have to give it at least 3 months to get enough articles up and on Google before you can expect some reasonable returns, depending on how many you put up that is.

I use AC occasionally; it does give you $3-8 per article usually with a pageview bonus of $1.50 per 1000 pageviews. I have been reasonably successful with AC but I would not rely on it solely. If you have sold articles here for usage I would recommend selling them to AC as nonexclusive because you might as well get the extra cash from them. I have much higher pageviews through Suite.

I have not had a good experience with Helium. It's really a community site from my experience rather than a site to make income from. They don't rank as high in Google so even if you write a dynamite article there it may not ever be seen.

There are definitely other opportunities but I like CC and Suite best. One for the great prices you can get for articles and the other for the exposure (I've received a couple of other job offers from Suite from people that have seen my work off of there) and long-term residual income.

There is no referral program on Suite that I know of but thank you so much for offering. Helium may have one though, but honestly the $0.50 I've made there in 3 months doesn't make me want to recommend it to you...

Another thing that I've done to get through was content writing for companies. I have a great company that I still work with occasionally but it's really terrible pay compared to anything else. They're basically articles that they give you a keyword or phrase to use a certain number of times through the article and then you do a very quick 410-600 word article about it.

However, since the pay is not great it's only a good backup if you need a certain amount to cover your bills...at least it's guaranteed cash. I know a lot of writers hate companies like that but it was a good place for me to start. I learned about keywording from them.

Also you can try absolutewrite.com/forums under their "Paying Markets" forum. I've found some gigs there as well as through Craigslist.

Let me know if you have any questions. Sorry for such a long post!

Tifferbugz,
Don't be sorry it was long -- THANKS FOR ALL THE INFO!!!!

I applied to Suite101, but they need more info. I will do that today. It sounds like a good deal to spend some time on.

I still dont think I will bother with Helium OR HowToDoThings since they do not seem very profitable. I'm in need of $$, not just seeing my name online for free.

I have a few articles going through at AC -- will have to wait & see how that works out.

OK, I can NOT find the "paying market" forum you speak of. I have been to the absolute site several times, but I can not find the specific forum you mention??? What section is it in? What is it called? I cant find one called "paying markets"?

I do not only check craigslist & apply (that was how I found Suite101, or rather "they found me") daily, I also listed an ad for work & also my resume. I hope to get something from that.

OK, you may regret asking for questions, but I REALLY do APPRECIATE all the help. Also, which section are you the feature writer for at 101? If you dont mind -- just my "cat curious" working overtime!!!!

THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE HELP!!!!

Catnipp333