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After nearly three years on Associated Content, these are the conclusions, both good and bad, positive and negative, I have drawn that may help new or even seasoned Content Producers make the most of their time on Associated Content.

Conclusion #1:

Poetry and Humor don't pay upfront, and they don't perform well comparatively. These types of articles, unless you already have a really big fan base or think you can draw a really big fan base, are likely to knock down your overall average for both page views and initial offers. I personally will not submit

poetry to AC again, because a freelance writer should know their market, and AC is not a poetry market.

However, I may still submit a humor article now and again, but I will ensure my humor articles can also provide some relevant information, so they can be placed in a category besides humor and possibly receive an initial payment, or at least earn more page views.

Helium is a much better market for creative writers than Associated Content likely will ever be.

Conclusion #2:

Opinion/Editorials are a shoe-in for page views if they are well written and non-ranting. I have one that is ranting, and its page views are low, but the rest are doing pretty good.

The problem with Op/Ed, as I see it, is that AC rarely pays anything for them upfront, or if they do, it's rather low, and the page views, while they look great, aren't enough to cover the loss of initial payment vs. page views.

Now, I'm not saying don't write Op/Ed pieces. They have a purpose and help draw a readership, and if page views are important to you to help increase your average page views, Op/Eds that are well written will definitely give you a better page view average, but they are going to lower your overall average payment.

My Op/Ed recommendation? Save your Op/Ed pieces for things you feel very passionate about that you don't mind writing about even if you don't see a penny, and then write them in a compelling manner. Otherwise, consider looking for debates on Helium and vote for one side and write your Op/Ed piece that way.

Conclusion #3:

Calls for Content (TM) C4Cs are special offers Associated Content provides that allow content producers to write an article on a specific topic and receive a guaranteed minimum payment that is usually a bit higher than what they normally would receive for the same type of content.

Calls might help raise your overall average initial payment if you take advantage of them, especially if you are new to the site.

Conclusion #4:

Well written and well promoted news that is properly indexed by Google in their News channel consistently performs in the several thousand page view range for me, and I have heard other CPs tell me that News that is properly indexed continues to perform above average for them too.

The challenges I see with News are threefold: 1) you have to write very timely topics, 2) you need to get page views in quickly after publishing to index in the Google news channel, and you need to index HIGH in the Google news channel, and 3) you are limited to a maximum payment - so if it doesn't perform well, AC's maximum for News isn't all that much.

Yet, some of my News articles have hit over 2,000 page views in less than 3 day's time - and still get trickles of page views and comments even several months after publishing.

If you are going to write News articles, write good ones - timely, interesting topics, good titles - and promote the heck out of them IMMEDIATELY upon publication.

Conclusion #5:

Holiday articles perform well if submitted timely enough. My Christmas Holiday gift guides have done quite well with ZERO promotion from me. A friend of mine is a CP on this site, and he's written Halloween articles that are by far his best performers that came out October 1 and October 6. Another CP here has comment that her best performer is a Halloween costume article. Another friend of mine write an Romance and Intimacy article right before Valentine's Day that is her best performer.

Holiday articles that are about standard, mainstream, popular holidays seem to do well if you have good keyword density, snappy and informative titles, and get them out about four weeks prior to the holiday in question. These should also perform well again around that holiday every year, especially if you promote them again every time the holiday rolls around.

Conclusion #6:

At first, I was really surprised how well the Legal category performed as far as page views are concerned, especially considering I've done nothing to promote the articles in that category.

Being the closet geek I am, I sat out to find out why they had performed so well with no help from me. I realized soon enough why that is-the legal information arena is a virtually untapped writing niche!

There are tons of websites about finding an attorney, legal aide counsel, sales and solicitation sites for legal services, but there are very few quality legal information articles out there. Of course, one reason for this is because laws vary from state to state and even city and county. However, there are many general topics in the legal field you can write about at the 'federal level' and then simply use a disclaimer: "Federal law says XXX, but your local or state laws may be more stringent. Be sure to check your state or local laws for any changes to this information." Or something like that.

The Legal category might very well be a veritable treasure trove of an untapped market that people ARE searching for! Also, since Business articles seem to perform decently, if you can mix some Legal and Business together into one article, and promote it well, you might just have a winner.

Conclusion #7:

Arts & Entertainment performs well on page views, but is awfully low on initial offers most of the time. This is likely due to the fact that it doesn't align well with advertising. If you happen to touch on a very timely, charged topic, you can probably get a good initial offer, but if not, chances are your initial offers in this category will be low.

However, unlike Op/Ed pieces that the performance bonus does not make up the difference in the lost initial offer, my experience with Arts & Entertainment pieces is that the performance bonus will likely make up for the difference, and since they help increase your average page views per article, I think that writing quality, long-lasting, and highly searched for A&E pieces is likely worth the trouble.

Conclusion #8:

Lifestyle articles perform well and perform well consistently, with slightly higher than average initial offers, especially if they are evergreen Lifestyle articles. Under the lifestyle category heading, the Dating & Relationships sub-category seems to perform the best both in initial offers and in page views, and Parenting doesn't do half bad either, but overall, the other sub-categories in Lifestyle perform well for me too. The one thing I notice about Lifestyle articles is that I see a quick influx of several hundred page views, then a steady stream of page views every month thereafter.

Conclusion #10:

Health & Wellness is a broad category, with many sub-categories that some perform well and some do not. Diseases & Conditions do acceptably well if promoted properly. Drugs & Medication don't perform quite as well, but Beauty seems to do well consistently. You won't see a large influx of page views upfront with the Beauty sub-category, but every one of my Beauty articles are receiving a steady stream of page views every week. Beauty articles also tend to align well with advertising, which may account for the slightly higher than average initial offers in this sub-category too.

Final Conclusion:

Associated Content is not your average freelance writing gig. Some freelance writers might tell you that the amount of money paid on Associated Content is small in comparison to what is available in the freelance market today, and I cannot disagree with that. As a freelance writer, it is not unusual to make anywhere between $25-1500 per article in print venues.

Because of this, many believe Associated Content is not a good place to write for an established freelance writer, and is better left for those who are just wanting to earn some extra money or to break into the writing field and get their feet wet before jumping on those larger offers.

However, when writing for other publications and sites, a freelance writer has to write what that publisher is looking for, the way that publisher wants it, on the topic that publisher needs. Associated Content allows a freelance writer to write on whatever topic they enjoy writing about, submit as little or as much content as you desire, and to write in just about any style that you want to write.

Not to mention, one content producer made over $1000 one month in Performance Bonuses alone, and consistently rakes in over $700 per month in residual, not including the initial payments she may have received. Another Content Producer this month will earn over $300 for the page views received on just one article that happened to go viral and really take off in the first few hours of it being published, and that's not counting any additional performance bonus or initial payments received. There are plenty of other success stories just like this on Associated Content. The ability to earn good money regularly does exist.

Learn more about this author, Michelle L Devon.
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