Why you should put your picture and bio on your Helium site
by Karon Brandt
Helium is a top quality, freelance writers' platform: a safe, self-monitored community of paid staffers plus hundreds of thousands of peer-writing members. Helium's 40,000 active members are highly motivated to protect their community.
Helium has created a reputation for top-quality writing from credible writers around the world. Writers should present themselves in the best light possible. This is the equivalent of free advertising.
By doing a search on Helium, readers view several titles about a topic. If they click on one that you've written to, you'll want to be in the top five because that is what they'll see.
Once they read your informative, high-quality article, they will probably click on your name, which directs them to your "About Me" page. Sell yourself; brag a bit. Feature your favorite article; change it often according to ongoing news' interests: home mortgages, saving money in a tight economy, health care, open job markets, cars that get great gas mileage, etc.
Emphasize your writing experience - starting with keeping a diary or journal in elementary school - or even before that.
A searching editor or publisher could learn a lot about you in 5 minutes from your personal bio and photo; you want to make a good, and lasting, impression.
Publish only your highest quality works on Helium from your writer's portfolio. If you are a serious writer, and a member who is earning blue stars, you probably want to be featured on Helium's front pages or chosen by Marketplace publishers. Both require a credible name and photo. Readers want to know something about you, the writer of the featured or purchased article.
Include an active link to your other works, your personal blog, and your website. Include some of your top-rated Helium writings under your "favorite articles." Have you been published in other places? Where? What other kinds of writing have you done? Do you have an upcoming publication in the works? Advertise it.
Underscore your previous writing experience and note your special areas of expertise.
Your "About Me" page lists your writing stars (which recognize a level of proficiency), your stats - with the number of articles you've written and the channels they were written to - and the titles of the last 10 articles you wrote.
You might also have a badge identifying you as a site steward, another for creative writing, and another with the number of articles you've published in the Marketplace. If you have earned one blue star, you will also have a "Marketplace approved" writer badge. Three stars are rewarded with a "Marketplace Premier" writer badge.
Some Marketplace publishers are requesting higher-starred, more-experienced writers for particular assignments. Your earned blue stars count as experience and competence in writing. Publishers, editors, fellow writers, and visiting readers notice them.
Helium expects to offer more badges to recognize other specialized fields, such as professional nurses, journalists and lawyers.
On your associated "Articles" page, Helium, with good business acumen, lists all of your articles in their descending order of rank. That should motivate you to use Helium's leapfrog option: revise the lowest and bring up your average. You will earn more stars, a higher percentage score, and you'll earn more money for your efforts.
Are you available for hire? Do you do editing, copy work, ghost writing? What else can you offer people who have just read your article and biography?
And, most certainly, they should have noticed your eye-catching, professional-looking photograph! Let me emphasize the need for a quality photo - preferably of you dressed as though you are ready for a job interview - because that's what this "first impression" is equivalent to.
Of course, you want to be recognized by a real-sounding name, if not your real name. Perhaps you wish to maintain a bit of anonymity on the Internet, but you don't want to be known as "The Funny Bunny" or something equally amateurish and nonprofessional. Alternatively, a real "John Smith" may wish to be more memorable as "Jonathon Smythe."
You may want to list your general geographic area and mention any degrees, credentials, or special qualifications you might have as a writer. Some publishers want "local" authors to write about particular geographical areas.
If you've been a parent for 12 years, are a retired army vet, have three Labrador retrievers, garden in your spare time, or you've done volunteer work for the Boy Scouts for 10 years, mention it.
Create an in-depth, broad picture of yourself as a well-rounded person with a lot of life experience who could write about almost anything - even if the topic would require a bit of research on your part.
Print and news media are watching Helium carefully as a business model with qualified writers who can supply freelance material on short notice. That's the whole purpose behind Helium's Marketplace section.
Helium presently recognizes "premier writers" as members who have earned at least one writing star. A member who has written at least four to 29 articles, which average in the upper 75th percentile, or above, qualifies for one star. But the requirements may get tougher.
Some publishers for magazines, newspapers, websites and other media are browsing the site for stock content. They might also be searching for an available, uniquely qualified freelancer to do a special assignment.
Thus, the necessity of presenting your best work in every article you write. We all have weaknesses, but emphasize your strong areas in channels in which you feel competent. If you have special knowledge in computers, sports, business, or health areas, write often to that channel and let readers find you there.
Over three million people including editors and publishers - are reading articles on Helium monthly. One of your already-published Helium articles could instantly meet their needs, if it is well written and slanted for their publication. Helium negotiates with publishers for stock content and puts the earnings into your Helium account immediately.
Every article represents you. Show what you can do. Proofread, self-edit, spell check and review your article before publishing it on Helium. Don't copy/paste some outdated, low-quality article you wrote 10 years ago; rewrite it before posting it to the world. Revise and update your material often with leapfrogs; that's what they're for.
Every one of your Helium-published articles is equivalent to a business card.
Helium offers instant publication with your byline. Let every article, your bio and personal photo, represent you to the world at your writing-professional best.