by Jonte Rhodes

Created on: August 16, 2008   Last Updated: December 20, 2010

The market for websites that pay their members for creating content for them has been growing steadily for a number of years now. So much so that there is now a great amount of choice when considering which website you are going to write for. There are also different ways of your articles being displayed, as well as different payment rates and methods. So knowing which sites are suited to your needs is essential.

Of the best writing sites out there for beginners is Helium.com, which has played a part in starting the careers of many now well known freelance writers. The reasons that Helium tends to be a lot easier to start out on than other sites are numerous.

Firstly there is a supportive community of writers and mentors available, meaning getting used to the site is a lot faster. Secondly, most titles on Helium are predetermined, meaning that you simply choose one you know about and begin writing. There is also a peer rating system which determines how articles attached to each title are ranked, allowing writers to learn quickly what kind of standards are expected and required.

In addition to the standard titles, Helium also offers news based articles, how to articles and has regular competitions and a writers marketplace. The marketplace allows writers to sell articles directly to publishers for a predetermined price and any articles that aren't accepted are instead hosted on the main site so that they will still generate income.

Helium pays based on page views and the advertisements displayed on those pages, meaning that certain topics will earn more despite having less views. Helium is also different because all of the articles they publish are predetermined titles that you choose from, although there is a function for proposing your own as well.

From there all of the articles that are on the same title are rated against each other by the other members, and a rank is achieved. These ranks then determine in what order someone viewing the collection of articles sees them, and also affects the amount of income that the article will earn.

Helium in this way is a good starting website because it is easy to use and it allows you to compare your own standard to those of other writers. As a reader, because there are often many different articles based on the same title you can also see different interpretations of a question. Also the wide range of topics allows you to broaden your own writing horizons, and write about subjects that you wouldn't normally have attempted.

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