by Jeremy Rutherfurd

Created on: January 11, 2009   Last Updated: January 20, 2009

How would you like to earn $1000 from your Helium articles?

I'm not asking you to daydream: this has been done. And the Helium member who did it actually earned more than $1000 from just one piece.

All you have to do is post a link to one of your articles on a media-sharing site. (See the end of this article for the proper way to do this.)

In the evening of Dec. 14, 2008,

Peter Johns posted a link to one of his Helium articles on Reddit.com and earned $1,246.00 in a single 24-hour period.

Reddit.com, which is affiliated with Wired magazine, is also known as a "social-media" site because members do not only post links to articles, photos and videos, they also also leave comments underneath the links, and sometimes engage in lengthy debates. Often it's these debates which draw redditers back again and again to a posted link.

The Helium article Johns linked to is Credit cards: Dirty little secrets and he crafted a title for Reddit specifically designed to entice readers to click his link. The link was up-voted almost immediately after he posted it, and readers left numerous comments, some creating long conversation threads. He checked his Helium earnings page several times before going to bed and noticed his earnings had risen anywhere from $10 to $30 each time.

Johns woke the next morning to discover his article had been up-voted more than a hundred times, was now on the Reddit home page and that income from the piece had risen to over $900. The up-votes, comments and income kept growing throughout the day.

By evening the article had won 763 up-votes, Redditers had left more than 300 comments and Johns had earned $1,246 from that one piece alone.

Peter Johns happens to be a close friend of mine - we both love Reddit and have been studying the site together as a team - so I sat down and interviewed him about his success.

Q: What title did you use for the Reddit link?

Peter Johns: "This 0 percent credit card offer tried to trick people, but this guy turned it around on them and beat the system...one for the little guy!"

Q: I've had a bit of success myself posting Helium links on Reddit, although nothing like you. I can see that your title was written in a way to grab readers' interest and make them want to learn more about how you "beat the system." Why do you think your article became such an overnight hit?

Peter Johns: I guess a lot of it is timing (and I'm really guessing here). Is the right person going to see it at the right time? Are all the other "right" people at their

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