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Is the time and effort put into article writing on Helium worth it?
Results so far:
| Yes | 71% | 224 votes | Total: 317 votes | |
| No | 29% | 93 votes |
Yes
by Anthony Megna
Created on: October 24, 2010 Last Updated: August 29, 2011
The question of whether article writing on Helium is worth it or not comes down to semantics. Is it "worth" it or not? Some people value worth differently than others. For some, money isn't that much of a factor, as they would rather have their voice out there on the Internet causeway to be heard. And for others, writing articles is an important source of extra income. So the question of worth means different things for people.
Personally, I've found the Helium site to be very much worth it! Before Helium and for that matter, the Internet came around, in order to have articles published you would have to mail them to a publisher and then wait for a response. This method not only was slow, but also quite frustrating, as the amount of rejection letters would always outweigh the amount of positive response. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that this was the rule with most writers. Even famous writers got rejected when they first started out!
For many, their resolve to write would wither and die, as they would find the rejection just wasn't worth it for all the hard work they put in. But with the advent of the Internet, and specifically Helium, many otherwise unknown writers now have a shot to get their articles out there in the mainstream, and get some dollars back to boot! How wonderful is that? For me, that has kept me scribing on and on. I know I wasn't willing to go through all the boring work of trying to convince a publisher or editor that my articles deserved to get published. It just wasn't worth my time, and therefore I lost interest. The rules of the game have changed big time!
For those people who remember what it was like before the Internet and Helium, I think they can identify with how difficult the writer's life was. Not that the writer's life is a ticket to easy street, far from it, but now that Helium exists it really is a dream to know that all that boring prep work is history! Just walk on over to your computer if you have a good idea and write it down. Instant publishing! This is just fantastic, and I for one am thrilled that Helium is the leading writing site in existence. I take my hat off to those that had the fore-site and persistence to create Helium, and hope it stays healthy for the long term.
The other nice thought is that one never knows who is going to read what you wrote. In fact, at any time you might get a notice from Helium that some entity is interested in either leasing or purchasing your article! This is like Christmas morning to those who"ve been lucky enough, such as myself, to have had this happen. I know I was thrilled when my notice came that someone was interested in purchasing one of my articles. The funny thing is that it wasn't the money so much as the recognition that really excited me! To think that something I wrote is "worth it" enough for someone to want to buy it? Yup, that's the ticket!
Learn more about this author, Anthony Megna.
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No
by Naomi Nakashima
Created on: March 20, 2011 Last Updated: March 21, 2011
If writing is your first source of income, Helium is a great resource. First, Helium has a nearly unlimited number of ideas - titles regarding every subject are just waiting for you to add your opinions, advice, and expertise.
But if you're not a writer by trade, you will find Helium to be, at best, a secondary hobby and, at worst, a source of frustration and under appreciation.
First, the rating game. Since Helium prides itself that the quality of content counts, payments are often a direct reflection of the quality of content you write. Again, for writers, this is great. But if you're a web designer or graphic artist, you will find yourself struggling in the competition. Not because your content is lacking, but because you're not being rated by other web designers and graphic artists. Nor are you being rated by the audience that you are targeting.
Instead, your content is being rated by writers. And while writers may like that quippy joke regarding Adobe PhotoShop or that humorous reference to Paris Hilton, they don't know the ins and outs of web design and graphics enough to judge the content on its merit.
What you end up seeing is that the articles with the jokes and only a little bit of information are almost always rated above the more informative, straight forward articles. This can be disheartening.
And if your job is a web designer or graphic artist, then chances are you don't have time to spend every free moment leapfrogging your articles or searching for new titles to write to. You likely will write to an article if you happen across one or see it...but in-depth searching for an article is not likely to be high on your to-do list.
In addition to your ratings as a Helium contributor, your earnings and payment rely on how many articles you rate in return. This system was probably implemented to help make sure that the most active writers get paid, rather than people coming to the site - throwing out 20 articles in a day and never returning even though they will continue to make some residual income off those articles. However, trying to keep up with rating articles takes time. Again, if you don't have the time to dedicate to Helium, you will not do well. You may suddenly find that because your job suddenly required more attention from you, that you've lost a rating star - seemingly overnight.
And other than rendering your articles eligible for payment, ratings give you no other benefit.
Of course, Helium warns everyone up front, "Don't quit your day job". This means that they understand that not everyone is going to start writing and suddenly afford to stop all other sources of income. As a matter of fact, judging by the wording they've used, they likely know that most people will not be able to ever generate enough income from Helium to make it a viable, primary source of revenue.
Is it possible to make a decent amount of money writing articles for Helium? Absolutely, and there are plenty of people who do just that. However, the potential is there for people who have 8-9 hours or more to dedicate to their Helium articles. This leaves professionals in other fields on the back burner. Whether you're a web designer hoping to reach out and help other new designers or a graphic artist hoping to pass on lessons you've learned, you will likely find that Helium is not suited for you. You will find yourself struggling in vain to compete against writers who know less than you yet continue to dominate the rankings because they are being judged by writers.
Learn more about this author, Naomi Nakashima.
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