Freelance Writing|Freelance Writer

Associated Content Review

Associated Content (AC) can be a great income stream for both full-time and part-time freelance writers. But if you think that you are going to get rich from AC, you are most definitely in the wrong place. Although you can pick up a few dollars here and there, you will be hard pressed to make a decent living submitting content exclusively to AC.

AC refers to themselves as the “The People’s Media Company.” I suppose the reason for this is that all the content is created and submitted by the people. Another one of their taglines is simply enough: “Submit Content and Earn Cash.” And when it comes down to it, making money with AC really is that easy.

The Process

Before you can do anything, you need to sign up as a member. This is done by providing your contact information, PayPal address, etc. Just your basic information. You will also have to agree to AC’s Terms of Use and Private Policy; there is nothing here that should alarm you.

Once you are a member of AC, the real fun starts. If you need to sign up, here is the link: https://publish.associatedcontent.com/signup.shtml.

First Time Signing In

The first time that you sign into your AC account you will want to navigate every page. They did a great job with the design of the account area, so you should never get lost. Make sure that before you move on you fill out the biography section, and of course, do not forget to your site’s URL. This way, visitors can find you!

Submitting Content

Now that you are through the preliminary details you are ready to start making money. The process of submitting content for consideration is easier than you may think. In fact, I was very surprised at how simple the entire process was my first couple times around.

1. You must first write an article that you feel is worthy of submission. Remember, AC does not accept everything that is submitted. So if you want to give yourself the best possible chance your content should be original, longer than 400 words, and of high quality

2. When your article is ready to go, click the submit content button. This will lead you to a page full of submission options. Choose the category that fits your article the best. For instance I wrote an article on traveling to Chicago a few months ago. This was submitted under the “Travel Guide” category.

3. Once you choose the category, you will be taken to the next page where you have two more options. First off, you need to check either exclusive or non exclusive. Exclusive content is anything that you have not submitted anywhere else. This is where the majority of your articles will fit in.

You will also need to check whether or not you want your article to be considered for payment. Obviously, if you are trying to make money you will want to check yes.

4. The next step is to copy and paste your article from your word processing program to the AC page. You will also want to include a headline as well as a brief abstract.

If these four steps sound difficult, trust me, they are not. Once you go through them once it will be a breeze from there on out.

How much will you make?

Ahh…the most important question. You want to know how much money you will earn through AC. Unfortunately, there is no way of saying for sure what you will get paid for each article.

When you submit an article it will go to the editor of that particular category. They will then review the article, usually within two days or less, and let you know how much they think it is worth. Keep in mind that you do NOT have to accept their offer. If you feel that you are not getting what your article is worth, you may want to revise it and try again.

Payment for submissions range from $3 to $20 and is based largely on your “Clout Index.” Generally speaking, your clout ranks the number of total page views that your content has collected. The lowest clout range is 0-100 page views, and when you hit 1 million page views you have reached the top. As you can imagine, to reach the highest level you need to write a lot of content, and then market the heck out of it. While this may take some time, once you reach a higher level you will notice it in the offers that you receive.

Payments are processed three times per week so you should not have to wait too long to see the funds in your PayPal account.

My Experience

To be honest, my first article was published on AC in March of 2006 and my last a couple of months later. My short time with AC had nothing to do with the quality of the service, but more so my lack of time.

Here are some of my stats over the two months that I submitted content on a regular basis.

Articles submitted: 72
Articles accepted for payment: 56
Total acceptance rate: 78%
Total payment received: $310
Highest offer: $10
Lowest offer: $3
Average offer: $5.54

As you can see, you can make a good side income if you are devoted to submitting content to AC on a regular basis.

Right now, my Clout Index is 7 of 10. That means that my content has between 50,001 and 100,000 page views. While this is far from the top level, I hope that when I start to submit again that my offers are closer to a $10 average.

I have kept a close eye on AC since their introduction, so expect more posts in the future. They have rolled out a new bonus performance program as well as some other great features. But for now, you should have a good idea of how to get started submitting content. And by taking a look at my stats, you should have a better idea of what to expect.