User Guide

About Me page

Your “About Me” page is like life — it’s what you make of it. You design your own destiny. Share your career goals and personal achievements, create links to your favorite websites and anything else that defines you. Let the world know who you are, increase your visibility and your earnings right here.

Your “About Me” page has two views and two tabs. Why? Because you’re so multidimensional, that’s why.

About Me views

1. Public: This view represents how your page appears to everyone else (members and visitors alike). By clicking on pen names throughout the site, you’ll be brought the public view of their “About Me” page.

When editing your “About Me” page, you can also see what it looks like to the general public by clicking “Preview” next to your pen name at the top of the page.

2. Private: This view is for your eyes only. Find various controls and tools to edit your “About Me” content.

To get to this view, you must be logged in. You can click your user name at the top of the page or click “My Helium” in the top navigation bar, then “Edit About Me” in the left navigation bar.

About Me tabs

1. Writer: This tab flaunts you.
2. Articles: This tab flaunts your Helium articles.

“About Me” is your chance to introduce yourself to the Helium community — and to the world. Yes, the world. Helium has a global audience constantly investigating your potential — whether it’s the editor of your favorite magazine, a respected writer or an old classmate who looked you up on Google.

Don’t be an Average Jill or Joe. Impress people.

Here’s how to add lots of personal content to your “About Me” page:

About Me: Writer tab

About Me section

• This is your biography page, so make it sing! To add content to the “About Me” section:
• Click “Update” at the top right of the “About Me” text box, and start writing. We suggest that you write first in Word or a word-processing program, then save your writing in plain text, copy and add that to the text box. That way you can be sure you’ve checked for typos (who wants those in a bio?), grammar and spelling. You can also use spell-check just below that box too.
• Hit the “Submit” button.
• Feel like somebody.

Briefly Me section

“Briefly Me” is an another opportunity to share information about yourself — from your childhood ambition to your favorite memory. Complete phrases like: “My parents always told me . . . [your words here].”

To add content to Briefly Me:

• Click “Update” at the top right of the “Briefly Me” box.
• Fill in the blanks.
• Hit the “Submit” button.
• Feel like you achieved something today.

My Helium Favorites section

They say you are what you read. Attach yourself to your favorite content by linking to noteworthy Helium articles and titles from your “About Me” page.

You are allowed up to 10 favorite titles and 10 favorite articles on your “About Me” page.

To add titles to My Helium Favorites:

• Find a title of interest on the site.
• If you’re starting at an individual article, click either “Click here to see all the rest” at the top of the article or “View All Articles” at the bottom of the page to get to the title or topic page.
• From the title page, click the “Add to Favorites” plus-sign icon.
• Receive confirmation: “Title has been successfully added to your favorite title list.”
• To delete a title, click on “Remove.”

To add articles to My Helium Favorites (not necessarily your own):

• Find an article of interest on the site.
• Click the “Add to Favorites” plus-sign icon on the page.
• Receive confirmation: “Article has been successfully added to your favorite article list.”
• To delete an article from “My Helium Favorites,” click “Remove below the article.”

Featured Article section

If you could choose one article of your own to best represent your writing talent, which article would you choose? That’s not hypothetical — your featured article should be the submission you’re most proud of. Choose wisely. The eyes of the world are on you.

To add your Featured Article:

• Go to your “My Articles” page (it’s a link in the left-hand nav).
• Click the “Featured Article” button under the title you want to select.

My Info

Let people know where you’re coming from. Literally. “My Info” displays your city, state and country.

• To turn the display on: Check “Show location info?”
• To turn the display off: Uncheck “Show location info?”

Member Star status

Every day, writers share their passion for topics from pet care to personal finance in articles they publish on Helium. In turn, this same writing community uses a simple yet effective rating process to determine the best content, whether there are 5 or 500 articles on a topic.

Throughout Helium, excellence counts and quality rises to the top!

At the center of Helium is its community of members. And now, in addition to writing and rating, the community recognizes its most active and talented members.

When you see stars next to a writer’s name anywhere on Helium, you’ll know that member has achieved special recognition from his or her peers.

Star status is awarded for writing and for rating. Here’s how it works:

Writing Star status

In the stratosphere. These writers have written a total of 500 or more Helium articles, which rank on average in the top quarter.

Above the clouds. These writers have written a total of 300 to 499 Helium articles, which rank on average in the top quarter.

Above the treetops. These writers have written a total of 100 to 299 articles, which rank on average in the top quarter.

Rising nicely. These writers have written a total of 30 to 99 Helium articles, which rank on average in the top quarter.

Achieving lift-off. These writers have written a total of 4 to 29 Helium articles, which rank on average in the top quarter.

Rating Star status

Rating is a private affair on Helium, but we can track members’ voting profiles in relation to the rest of the community. Scoring for recognition stars for rating is determined by the quality of rating.

Awesome. These members have consistently high rating quality, and they have completed more than 500 rates in the last 90 days.

Fabulous. These members have consistently high rating quality, and they have completed from 300 to 499 rates in the last 90 days.

Superb. These members have consistently high rating quality, and they have completed from 200 to 299 rates in the last 90 days.

Really good. These members have consistently high rating quality, and they have completed from 100 to 199 rates in the last 90 days.

Admirable. These members have consistently high rating quality, and they have completed from 40 to 99 rates in the last 90 days.

Important notes on earning writing and rating stars

At Helium, there are some important benchmarks that must be met before you can start earning writing and rating stars.

1. For writing stars, at least 25% percent of your articles must be in “competitive titles.” A title becomes competitive when it has three or more articles written to it.

Example: If you wrote 100 articles and 76 were in titles that had fewer than three articles written to them, you wouldn’t qualify for three writing stars. If one of those 76 titles becomes competitive so that 25 of your articles are in competitive titles, all of your articles would qualify for writing stars.

2. For writing stars, we don’t count the lowest-ranked 10% of your articles. So, to receive a star, the top ranked 90% of your articles must have an average rank that is at or above the 75th percentile. Even better, when your average rank is at or above the 85th percentile, you will receive a bonus star on the first 4 member recognition levels. That means that you can earn up to five stars by meeting only the four-star article number requirement (you can’t earn more than five stars, though).

3. To earn rating stars, you must complete a certain number of rates within the last 90 days. To earn writing stars, you must have a certain quantity of articles written on Helium. The more you rate or the more articles you have written, the more stars you are eligible to earn. (Refer back to the star charts for more details.)

A look at rating percentages

Many members have asked about rating percentages and where that stacks up against the number of rates they have performed. This handy chart should outline how many ratings you need to make and what percentage of quality rates you need to qualify for each star.

Rates
40-99	75	85
100-199	73	75	85
200-299	71	73	75	85
300-499	69	71	73	75	85
500 +	67	69	71	73	75

Losing stars

Be careful – you can also lose stars! If your percentile declines, you won’t lose all your stars at once. That’s harsh! Based on a statistical (bell) curve, your stars will decrease as your ranking percentile declines. So, if the number of your articles rated above the 75th percentile goes down, your stars will gradually wink out as that percentile declines.

How can I become a Writing Star or get more stars

It doesn’t take much to get into the game. You need a minimum of only four of your best-quality articles. If you’re trying and still not rising high enough, here are some suggestions:

• Leapfrog. You can post an improved version of your article. For details, consult “How to edit your articles using Leapfrog” in the User Guide.
• Typo fix. Maybe a couple of teensy flaws are holding you back. Drop at note to the Content & Community Team with the subject line “Typo Fix.” Include the URL of your article and specifics about what you’d like fixed (limit of three typo fixes per article, please!).
• Members’ Feedback Forum. Ask your fellow writers on the Community boards. Fun and supportive.
• Writer’s Workshop. Also on our Community boards, here you’ll find lots of resources and helpful answers.
• Mentor@Helium.com. Need one-on-one advice? We can set you up with a Helium Star Member who can work with you privately. Just drop a note to Mentor@Helium.com with specifics such as URLs and what’s troubling you.

Donations

Below your writing and ratings stars, you can choose to show the amount of money you’ve generously donated to charitable organizations that have partnered with Helium. While individual contributions might be small, the combined contributions of the Helium community can help make real differences in others’ lives. Show the world how philanthropic you are!

Click the check box for “Show charitable donation total?” and the amount you’ve donated will display on your “About Me” page in the “My Info” section. If you don’t want your donation amount seen by the public, deselect the “Show charitable donation total?” box in the “My Info” section.

Image/photo

Upload a picture of yourself. Or show off the cover of your latest book. However, readers and publishers would like to see the real you. It’s a visual world. Show us something tasteful that expresses who you are.

Image requirements:

• File size should be under 2 MB.
• Supported file types include .jpg, .png and .gif only.
• At least one side of your picture should be at least 150 pixels or it will be distorted on the page.

To upload your image:

• Click “Update” below the “Image Not Available” window
• Next, click on “Browse” to locate the photo you want on your “About Me” page.
• Once you have the location in the browse field, click “Upload” and your image should appear.

My Links

“My Links” is your chance to link to your friends’ blogs (or your own). Associate yourself with interesting people and things. Highlight websites that showcase books, artists, charities and organizations that attract you.

You get the concept — point people to places you like.

To add links to My Links:

• Click on “Add a favorite” (below “My Links”). You will arrive at a page that prompts you with two fields: Description and Link.
• Complete both fields. The first is for the name of your link (i.e., My Very Own Blog). The second is for the URL of your link.
• You may edit or remove links at any time by selecting “Edit” or “Remove” (below your active links).

My Stats

How many articles have you written? How many writers have accepted your invitations to Helium? These stats are here for you and others to see. Big numbers get bragging rights. Here’s where you can check your standings — it’s all automatically updated for you. For details, read the “My Articles” page and the “My Invites” page in this guide.

Writers List

This list is similar to your “Favorite Titles” and “Favorite Articles.” When you visit one of your favorite writer’s “About Me” pages, you can click the icon with the plus sign (“Add to Favorites” icon) in their “My Info” box. This will add a link to their “About Me” page to your “Writers List.” You can delete favorite writers by clicking “Remove” below their pen names on your “About Me” page.

About Me: Articles tab

Here is a list of all your articles on Helium. You can sort this list too.

• Articles By

Here are all your articles, organized nicely for the public to peruse. The “Articles By [your pen name]” is a list of your live articles displayed with the newest at the top. This is where visitors see your articles when they land on your “About Me” page.

• Recent Articles

Your most recent articles are automatically displayed on the right-hand side of the page.

• My Channels

“My Channels” displays your articles by the channel in which they appear. Click on Health & Fitness, for example, to bring your articles written in Health & Fitness onto “Articles By.”