Writing, to those who don't do it, seems like such an easy thing to do. You wouldn't think that there is much to know about how to write and submit an article. You just say whatever is on your mind and the it's perfect, right? Not exactly. There are far more issues that you need to look at before submitting an article to Helium.
Helium has very high standards. Although it is true that your work is automatically published when you hit the button, that doesn't mean that it doesn't matter what you put in the article.
Here is a guide to submitting articles to Helium:
Read
It is very important to read the Helium standards before publishing any work. You can also find a great deal of advice on the site from other writers who already know the site. There is no limit to the number of authors that are willing to share their experience and knowledge. Use that to your full advantage.
Figure Out What You Want
When you first begin your Helium journey, you should write to subjects that you know the most about. You can always expand to other areas once you get to know the site better. Figure out what you want to write about. There are many channels that you can write to and you will get a lot of ideas from looking through the available listings.
If you don't see what you want, you can always suggest a title. This can be done by finding the "suggest title" button that is in the sidebar. Be very specific and choose titles that will be easily searchable in Google and other search engines. You can always write the article before the title is approved. Then you will only have to upload it after you get the approval email.
Research
It is very important to get your facts correct when you are writing. Many people will read the article and Helium wants that information to be correct. Helium does have a fact checking team. If your information is incorrect, you will be asked to change it. You will be given a time frame to change the information. If it is not fixed within that time period, the article will be deleted. It is easier to research the article to make sure that your facts are correct.
The Meat
There are many articles on the site that will lead you in the right direction on how to properly present your material. Take advantage of those articles. This information comes from seasoned Helium writers that want the site to continue growing as much as it has been. Keep your paragraphs to a minimum. Two or three lines per paragraphs is good.
You should also be sure that your spelling is correct, grammar is in tact and that your formatting is easily readable by those that come to the site. You don't want one long paragraph for the entire article. This is a turn off to the readers who aren't members. To those who are members, it's a major headache when trying to rate and you will get rated down for that.
Proofing
This is one of the most important things that you can do. Proofread your work. It keeps you from publishing embarrassing mistakes. Even when you use a word processor to write, you need to proof. Word processors don't catch everything.
Publish
This is the moment that you have been waiting on from the moment you began the article. Once you have completed the above steps, you are ready to publish. If you wrote the article in a word processor, you need to click on the link at top which has the little clipboard picture. It will say paste from Word. It doesn't have to come from Word though. You should use this button when pasting any program.
When you paste to the popup, you can then click on the insert button. Once you do this, the article will appear in the bigger box. Check it for formatting and re-read it again, just in case.
Be sure to check the writer's agreement box then click publish. You have just succeeded in publishing your article to Helium. Helium offers many things to its writers. It is well worth the journey that you will take to learn all of the ropes.