by Daniel Thrasher

Created on: June 09, 2009

Associated Content is a freelance writing website that measures your success with a "Clout Index." If you have the right stuff, you can rise up through the Clout Index and emerge as a Clout Level 10 contributor: the Big Cheese, the Grand Pooh-bah, the Master.

So, is the Clout Index effective and fair? Does it encourage quality writing or just a mad dash to put out half-baked articles? The answer to both is yes and no. It depends not only on your attitude and your willingness to work, but also on your skill with search engine optimization and content promotion.

On Associated Content, your clout is based on a combination of your total page views and a percentage bonus based on how many articles you've published on the site. Right now, I have 30 articles on the site and 17,591 page views. To calculate my "Clout Index", I would multiply my total page views by 0.3 (one percent for each article, up to a maximum of a 200% bonus) and then add that to my page view total. Example: 17,591 x 0.3 = 5,277. Then, 17,591 + 5,277 = 22,868.

So what does that new number mean? This is the number that determines where I fall in the Clout Index. I happen to be at Clout 6, which is between 20,000 to 50,000 indexed points. What this means is, you are encouraged to write a lot, because the more you write, the bigger bonus you get on the page views you've accumulated. However, that doesn't mean that you'll do well writing bad articles, because you need a lot of page views too, and if you're in it for upfront payments, a decent page view average.

Theoretically, the Clout Index system is flawed in that a person who attracts a lot of page views can still have a lot of worthless articles and be making a lot of money for them. Now, this isn't likely to happen too often, but it can. Conversely, on a site like Helium, the fact that the writers are rated higher for having quality articles makes it more likely that a good writer is rewarded over a poor one.

Associated Content's Clout Index is set up so that people can rise up through the first few clout levels relatively quickly, but the jump from 6 to 7 is huge, and the distance to the next level just keeps growing with each subsequent clout raise. However, those writers who are committed enough to get that far are rewarded with minor pay increases; instead of $1.50 per 1000 page views, by clout 10 you'll get $2.00 per 1000. This, coupled with upfront payments, makes Associated Content a reasonable place to earn some money.

In the end, though, the Associated Content Clout Index does seem to favor page views over writing quality by encouraging lots of content without accountability for poor writing. This does not mean that Associated Content is necessarily a bad choice, but its Clout Index has the potential to ignore good writers if they haven't mastered SEO and promotion. This is something to keep in mind.

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