by Karon Brandt

Created on: April 06, 2009

Three components must work together to create articles that earn high ratings on Helium. To fulfill this title, 1) "quality" articles must be written for 2) a specific publisher, Helium, which will 3) earn high ratings according to the site's guidelines.

An article should be more than a chunk of writing with a beginning, middle and ending. By definition, an article is "a non-fictional literary composition that forms an independent part of a publication, as of a newspaper or magazine." (American Heritage Dictionary)

An article should contain worthwhile, factual information, and be written in correct English. It must focus on the topic, which should be presented in a logical, orderly way. It should be written in moderately informal language - not too stuffy and not overly chummy - for a broad, PG-13 audience.

What is Helium? Every writer should know something about the publication (s)he is writing for. Every publication has writing guidelines with requests for word limits and a particular slant for its target audience.

Helium is a site "where knowledge rules." According to Helium's CEO, Mark Ranalli, Helium.com started as "a directory of real-world knowledge powered by people." (October 2006.) It has evolved into a business venture that brokers high quality, fact-based articles to its co-partners in print and web publishing.

From a post-a-note board of questions and answers, Helium has matured to a full-fledged, credible source as an article directory. By eliminating thousands of sub standard articles, Helium has become a showcase for over 850,000 quality articles from writers worldwide.

Helium's writer's guidelines are reasonable for a site that allows writers as young as 13 to publish their articles and bylines. Obvious "Don'ts" include no plagiarism, profanity, adult content, or self-promotion within articles. Writing in all caps is seen as unprofessional and goes against Helium's User Guidelines.

As a self-monitored writing community, Helium's staffers, along with more than 150,000 active members, are constantly patrolling the site for inappropriate content and language.

What does Helium want from its writers? Helium is the site "where knowledge rules." It wants quality, fact-based articles written in magazine-style formatting. Based on research, Helium's web readership wants articles within the 400- to 1500-word limit range. Helium's readers are family-oriented and expect G-rated material.

Most magazines and newspaper articles are written in language suitable for

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