Hey everyone! This week I have a great resource to review for you: Helium.com. Helium is one of those sites that for some reason doesn’t get all of the attention that it deserves. You can make a fantastic residual income on the site as well as find high-end clients so it’s definitely a site worth checking out.
Helium was originally created to improve on the Associated Content business model for writers. It has changed over the years and doesn’t get much recognition for a few reasons. The primary reason is due to it being somewhat complicated to get the hang of quickly without help. If you are new to online writing or even freelance writing in general, this is an outstanding resource and terrific place to get your writing career started. In fact, this is probably the single best place for brand new writers to get started because of the dual opportunities of both money and writing improvement.
Getting started with Helium
Getting started is super easy. Just sign up and you are done. There is nothing more required but if you stop there so will the money. You want to fill out your profile, include a photo or logo and get ready to submit an article to the site.
Helium has several components and one of them is the pay-per-view revenue portion and this is where you will begin. The quickest way to get started is to submit a non-published article to the site. Virtually every topic has been covered so you can just click on the ‘write’ button and follow the instructions. Then copy/paste your article into the writing box and hit preview to make sure the formatting is good and then submit. Your article will be live almost instantly.
Writing an article at Helium
Helium is a little different than other sites that allow you to submit anything you like in that they control the titles. But any half decent writer can find a title that fits an already written article because there are so many. Choose a topic and scan through the titles until you find a match. You can also scan through already written articles and see if you have a different take on the title and submit under that. Just because a topic or title has been covered doesn’t mean that you can’t cover it again with a new spin. That’s one of the great things about Helium.
Let’s assume you clicked on the title finder and typed in your search term. Your results will have either a ‘write now’ or ‘debate’ next to them. Obviously the ‘write now’ choice allows you to write and submit an article. The ‘debate’ choice is different. If you choose that title, you will see the various articles being debated. You will also see an option to write your own opinion. This is a great way to quickly increase views and traffic to your articles of a similar nature. It’s also a great deal of fun.
If you have decided to write an article, you will select that option and be taken to the writing page. There are 4 distinct sections here, starting with the writing block for your text. You do not include the title here. It’s extremely basic and there is no automatic save feature. I always just write in Word and then paste into the box. There is a minimum word count of 400 words.
The next section asks for your headline or title and the third section is for any photos you want to include. Make sure you only use photos that you have a legal right to use. Proper attribution is important both to Helium and to your future.
One important and very different area to pay attention to is the fourth area. Before you publish the article you can decide where you want to donate the money from the article or you can choose to keep it. By default the money is not donated and accumulates in your account. Hit the publish button and you have published your first Helium article!
Editors and editing
There aren’t any. If you see a problem with an article or someone points it out to you, you can go back and correct your article and republish it. The individual assignments may have some editorial direction but that is extremely rare. If you take one of the freelance writing positions then you can expect that company or client to have their own standards. Helium itself expects the writers to do their own editing.
There is a lot more to this site though than what you have just done. Let’s take a look at the most comprehensive Dashboard you will likely see in the writing world.
The Helium Dashboard
As one of the original writers on the Helium site, I was there when there was nothing more on your dashboard than a list of your published articles and your earnings. It has changed a lot over the years.
Your main dashboard has your photo, a space where you see how many articles you have written and then your earnings. Under that are any current announcements and under that you will find any assignments you have that you need to write.
To your left is a sidebar that will take you to your articles and show you their ratings, a link to contests, and other things of that nature. I highly recommend writing 2-3 articles and then just clicking and looking around on the dashboard until you are comfortable with the layout and can find your way quickly.
Credentials
If you have a degree in a particular field you might want to consider applying for a credential badge. This will open up even more opportunities for you at Helium. You just click on the appropriate credential and submit your information. Once approved a badge will also appear on your profile.
Making money on Helium
Helium started out as another site akin to Associated Content. Over the years it has changed in response to the writers demands. They discarded the things that didn’t work and improved on the things that did.
You make money in various ways through Helium. You of course get a pay per view on your articles but there are also writing contests to enter and some of them pay very well. The big money maker on Helium is the combination residual payments and their freelance writing opportunities. You want the combination because fresh material draws people to read your older material. There is no time limit on your articles. I’m still earning on articles I published nearly a decade ago.
At the bottom of your dashboard you will see a link to freelance writing opportunities and can look over the options. These change as needed and that is generally a few times a day through the workweek and a couple of times a day on the weekends. It varies so check frequently.
The Rating Game
One of the best things about Helium is that this is a writing site by writers for writers. Your articles will be rated by other writers and ranked accordingly. This not only improves your page views it also improves your writing. The higher your rankings, the better your opportunities are going to be with Helium.
Not only will other writers be rating your articles, you will read and rate theirs. This is easier than it sounds. It’s a simple reading of two articles side-by-side and then choosing which one you prefer. You will not get your own articles.
There is a residual payment catch. You have to maintain at a one star rating to be eligible for the ad share revenue. Before you pass on this, which amounts to one single rating per month to maintain the minimum. It’s well worth it to put the time into it as many people consistently earn $1000 or more just through the residual payments. You do not have to maintain any sort of rating for contests or assignments.
Social community
I cannot stress enough how important it is for writers to have some sort of professional network. Writing is by nature a solitary occupation and it’s easy to get lost in your work. The Helium community offers a place for writers to connect with each other, exchange tips and ideas and even get leads on new clients and writing opportunities.
One essential benefit on Helium is that when you connect with the other writers then you have people who can give you an honest and professional evaluation of your writing. They can tell you where your weak points are so you can quickly improve your skills. Helium has a large number of professional journalists (They are certified and have a badge on their page) that are willing to help out new writers by reviewing and offering suggestions for improvement.
Payment
Payment is extremely basic. The site pays twice monthly to Paypal. There is a $25 payout minimum. Payout is on the 15th and last days of the month.
Helium is a deep and valuable resource for both new and experienced writers. Once you get acclimated to the site you can zip through it quickly and easily. It’s essentially one stop shopping for writers in that you can improve your writing, catch up on the freelance world and find great new clients all in a matter of minutes.
Happy writing!