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Helium was once a Q & A site, and many writers got used to posting quick replies, opinions, and retorts. But readers wanted more depth of information.

Who makes up Helium's target audience? Obviously, Helium's world readership covers a multitude of backgrounds, educational levels and cultures. Web-savvy readers want quick, but substantial, answers to their searches. Readers are tuning in for some condensed, relevant information that is worth their time and a possible printout.

Helium studied its target audience and found that average web readers want to read articles in the 400- to 1500-word range. Helium also studied SEO (search-engine-optimized) words and pre-wrote titles that people were looking for. Thus, your "assignment" is laid out for you.

Helium runs a smart business that responds to its readers, and it is upgrading its quality with working, unifying, standardized guidelines. Although Helium offers a "Creative writing" channel for those people who want to write poetry, short stories, memoirs, etc., that is not Helium's major audience.

Follow the money trail to figure out what's important to people. Notice that short shelf-life topics like Politics, News and Issues (PNI), Creative Writing, Religion and Spirituality, Society and Lifestyle, Entertainment, Debate articles, and the generalized "Other" do not offer blue writing stars or upfront pay. Writers earn badges of recognition - and maybe lots of fun - for their efforts, but no real income.

What earns money? Knowledge articles. Helium has developed into a high-quality, fact-based database that demands credibility and authenticity. Helium still wants people to share their personal knowledge: "Learn what you need; share what you know." Now it wants magazine-style writing on a more sophisticated level.

Helium probably has the friendliest, most helpful writing community on the web. It was created from the idea that there are millions of "diamonds-in-the-rough" writers all over the world who could become the future 5-star Helium writers. The supply is endless; so is the need for knowledge.

Helium's loyal, dependable writers have become more experienced and are trying to keep up with the site's visible growth. Anyone who hasn't visited the site in a while immediately notices the difference. Newbies are welcomed with open arms. They have all the assistance they could want or need at hand: helpful staffers, other cooperating members, and help through the writer's forums and the mentor@helium.com program,

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