Associated Content. Com Review

My two year anniversary writing for Associated Content is quickly approaching and as it does I take this opportunity to look back at this paid to write website; the good, the bad and the ugly. It was with a great deal of fear that I submitted my first article, thinking "Gosh what if it's so bad they don't accept it?"  I had actually chosen Associated Content as the place to begin my journey doing freelance writing and this was my litmus test. 

Associated Content is an online magazine which may or may not pay freelance writers/idependant contracters for written, video, image or audio submissions to their site. They accept product reviews, how to articles, general articles and even poetry and news as well as the other media submissions.  Readers (whether they are members of the site or not) may leave comments.  Articles may be on any topic you desire, or they may in answer to a "call for content" or assignment.  There are also "partner calls" where you create content for a partner site, as well as bonus reprints where a partner decides to reprint something you have written and you get a bonus for that reprint. 

There is a community, discussion forum, writers workshop, online meetings, and "training" sessions for members of the site, which number in the over 100,000.  Both professional writers and content producers as well as those just starting out may use the site for a variety of reasons. 

How does Associated Content Pay? You submit an article requesting upfront payment. You can choose to offer it exclusively or non exclusively to AC.  Associated Content will then make you and offer, tell you they want to make an offer but you need to make changes, or that they can pay for the article but you may submit it for display only. 

Display only means that you may post your article without pay. 

In addition to the upfront pay scale you also receive a page view bonus based on the number of page views your content recieves. This is a sliding scale with more payment going to those that have more "hits" or page views. 

Other features on AC include friends and fans, contest, publishing tools, reports, featured writers, promotional tools (after all more promotion usually makes more page views which ends up in more bonuses). You also have different levels of writing from 1-10 as well as badges to show any awards or offices you hold on the site. 

My Viewpoint:  Associated Content has been an excellent start for learning the ups and downs of web content writing. I continue to write there but the experience has helped me to gain more clients and writing opportunities both on the web and in print.  It is very different from print writing, which I was I was educated in.  SEO keyword is king and occassionally that means that some of the writing on the site sounds stilted, contrived or fake.  The home page is far too plain for my liking, and I avoid it at all costs. I send people directly to my "home page."  You can make a good community of friends who are often willing to share their knowledge and exchange ideas, but there are of course those in this online community writing site that are not so friendly or helpful to others.  

Overall, I have learned a great deal from writing on Associated Content, and have made not only some money in the process, but someone I consider among my closest friends.  If you are interested in getting paid to write, challenging yourself, and spreading your pen (instead of your wings) then Associated Content is a great place to try. Interested in trying Associated Content out?  Send me a private message for a referral link to begin.  Or just go visit there read some content and see that you think.