Making Money at Helium.com

As I am bobbing around Hub-pages, and getting a feel for this website, I have come across a fair few hubs about Helium.com. Many of these Hubs are quite negative and, if I did not know better,  would probably deter me from joining Helium.com. However, if you want to get your literary work noticed and earn some money Helium is not a bad place to start.

Now do not get me wrong. I really like Hub-pages and feel that it is somewhere I shall no doubt attach myself to for quite some time, if not even forever. Who knows? Life is strange and what suits at one period of our life, may not a few years down the road.

The thing is that I do feel some loyalty to Helium.com and hate to see them taking a battering, especially if it is not warranted. If there is one thing in this life that gets me going it is injustice.

So this Hub will hopefully tell you a little of my experiences with Helium.com and help you make an informed choice about if you feel that it is a site you would like to join and participate in.

As a British writer I was well aware that Helium.com was an American site and tended to have more American than English writers. However, over the years more UK residents have joined and these days there are plenty of Heliumites from all over the world.

Joining is simple.

Click on the join button and supply all the mandatory information. Offer as much of the additional information as you feel comfortable with. I chose to write under the pen name of Ethel Smith and have stuck with that name. I quite like calling myself Ethel Smith.

You will need to have an email address in order to complete the signing up process. Many web writers choose to have an additional email address which they use only for their web activities.This can help to keep your main email address safe and junk free.

I joined Helium.com in January 2007 after reading a review of Helium on either CIAO.CO.UK or DOOYOO.Co.UK. I can't quite remember which as the writer in question used to write for both of those review sites.

In the beginning

When I first joined Helium it was really just starting to lift off. When I was rating articles I would soon find that I was getting a message stating there were no other reviews to rate at that time. How things have changed.

When I first joined Helium each article or review did not have to be very long. There was no spell check available and you had to write in something such as Word in order to check your work. You would then need to copy and paste your work across into Helium.

Before you could hit the send button more often than not there would be a blip and you would lose your work. I learned the hard way that it was better to save a copy of your article just in case. These days you get a warning before the web page attempts to change which is a great improvement. I will try and keep this Hub impartial but will share some of my thoughts about Helium.com. This is not done to offend anyone but simply to explain Helium.com the way a humble Heliumite sees it.

In recent times some of the changes have included:-

• The minimum word count is now 400, and 300 for a recipe. This can mean that your earlier work may end up deleted or languishing at the bottom of a pile of other reviews unless you update it. There has always been a leapfrog facility which enables you to update your articles on Helium and this is useful. It means that you can update your articles in order to meet the new targets and improve just where your article is ranked. However it is a bit of a pain that they keep changing the goalposts. Your earlier masterpiece may now be classed as a bummer due to Helium changes. You can bet your bottom dollar that such changes will be ongoing.

• Contests on Helium used to only happen occasionally but there are always some contests running these days. It does seem as if some people always seem to dominate the contests and grab all the winnings but overall I think these contests are fair. You just need to write loads of articles for any contest that you are entering. They must all be high quality though as low ranking articles will offset your high ranking articles and pull your overall score down.

• Each Helium member who is active on the site now receives writing and rating stars. It is explained on the site how these stars are worked out. When there are special payments available you will need to have at least one rating star. However if you rate just a couple of articles daily you should be able to maintain rating stars. It is not always so easy to maintain your writing stars. Although you may think that these stars are a little childish they do effect your earnings so watch out. When there was a summer rewardathon last year I was determined to up my writing stars in order to receive the maximum payout. I leapfrogged all of my earlier work in order to improve its quality and length and with hard work achieved the maximum five writing stars and a great payout.

• There are all sorts of badges on Helium nowadays. If you write to creative titles such as poetry you will be awarded either a bronze, silver or gold star.

• Depending on your star status you may be offered the opportunity to write on Premium Titles in the Marketplace. These usually have strict requirements but pay very well. Usually if you write to a marketplace title and your work is not bought it will stay on Helium and continue to earn you money. In the rare cases when this will not happen it will be detailed in the specification.

• The most recent invention on Helium is their social networking attempts and the ability to create zones. Zones are a lot like hub-pages. I suppose this is why I knew pretty much what to do when I created my first Hub. At first creating these zones was fun but they have begun to cause Heliumites some problems. As Helium try to decide just where it wants ita zones to go it keeps changing things. Layouts, colours and such items as RSS feeds have all suffered from bugs, and fabulous zones have ended up looking completely ruined. This means that if you want your zone to keep looking sharp you must continually keep amending it. With nothing as yet decided on the possible payout for such zones it is not yet clear to me whether Helium's zones are worth the hassle. With the zones it is possible to become an affiliate for Google Adsense and Amazon and hopefully earn some extra money. Zones are also good for those who have sites that they are trying to drive web traffic to.

• In the last year or so Helium has also started a stewarding program which for me is a mixed bag. Dooyoo and Ciao have a similar stewarding programme and in fact some of Helium's stewards can be found acting as Guides on those sites also. I think that whether stewarding or guides are any good or not depends on the particular person, their reason for taking on the role and how they go about their task. There will always be bullies and egotists and I guess this is why this programme sometimes fails. Instead of encouraging and applauding new talent they are often passing on negative feelings and some are there simply to keep the best for themselves. Good stewards however work hard and do not reap vast additional rewards. They are however often privy to information which mere Helium writers are not.

• Stock content is also a fairly new concept on Helium. Publishers can buy your article for five dollars. They do not buy the copyright though and your work remains yours. It also stays on Helium earning you money. I have sold a fair few articles this way and have no idea who to or what the appeal has been. The articles have not always been high ranking so perhaps some have been bought as a joke. Who knows?

• There is also now an editorial advisory board but this is a bit of a mystery to me. I think that in order for Helium to attempt to maintain a high standard of writing this board amends the odd typing error and the like. I do not really know how this works. In some ways it seems wrong to amend someone else work but as I do not know the ins and outs I cannot comment.

• The forums, as they were, have disappeared. Helium is trying to get people to communicate in specific forums and groups that are part of Helium's Zones and Social Networking. Here you can add friends, message each other and follow people's writing.

• Helium now has an official blog which I have only just discovered by creating this hub page.

• The payment system. Once you have 25 dollars in your account you can request a payment. These days as long as you request payment before the 4th day of a month you will be paid by the 10th day of that same month. These days I always have at least 25 dollars in my account and so receive a payment each month. It is prompt but as it is in dollars it does depend on what the exchange rate is, as to what I actually receive in English money. The payment is cleared as soon as it arrives.
• Helium now offers Upfront Payments on some topics and these pay well. Similarly they have been paying an extra incentive for being the first to write on a title. The payment was up to five dollars depending on your star status but changes at times.
• If you refer someone to Helium, who joins and is an active member, you will receive a bonus, of sorts. Anyone being so kind as to let me refer them please let me have your email address. Even if you do not want me to refer you if you join and are stuck ask me for help if needed and I will try and oblige.
• The marketplace enables you to write to specific titles for a publication. These may require anything from around 500 words to 1000. The fee may be small at around 12 dollars or as much as two hundred dollars. Only writers who have earned their writing wings on Helium are allowed to write for some of these titles.
• Helium are always trying to attract new writers and keep existing ones happy. This means that different bonuses and contests are always likely.
• You can write as often as you want on Helium. Members on some sites deter you from writing too often but not on Helium. You can also add new titles which interest you and then be the first person to write on them.
• You can become as involved with Helium as little or as much as you like. Some people thrive on forums and interaction whilst offers just want to write and rate a few articles and then sign off. At the present time this is still possible.
• The members of Helium are a great mixed bag of all nationalities and ages. I love this.
• You can link your homepage to other work you may have on the web.
• You can write under a pen name.

• I find that some of the recent changes do not appeal to me. However at present there is nothing to stop established writers continuing in the same old way of writing.
• The fact that at times you only receive limited information. If writers had known that Helium was about to make lots of amendments to the zones many would have waited before participating.
• The new social networking side of Helium and the zones still has a long way to go in order to make them user friendly and appealing.
• The steward programme for me can be a negative of Helium despite my participation. It opens the door for little cliques of members which is never a good thing. It also means that information is selectively shared amongst steward members as if mere members are second class Heliumites. Of course some of the information is there but if like me you work for a living and write on a few sites time is always limited. I do have a life also, just.
• Although the rating system on Helium appears fair on the surface it is open to corruption. I have no doubt that some members do not rate as anonymously as they should be doing.

I hope I have not sounded too negative about Helium.com because I do think that It is a great place to write. If you are in to the social side of websites this is starting to take off at Helium.

Of course there is much more that I could tell you but this is just a taster. I also wanted to set the record straight about those who claim that Helium is simply a scam. From my experience I would have to say that is definitely not true

HINTS AND ADVICE

1. Do not write your whole article in capitals as it will be deleted.
2. Make sure that you have supplied details of an active paypal account and an active email address. This way if any of your articles are in danger of being deleted you should receive a warning. This gives you a chance to amend your article and correct any issues.
3. Ensure that you have fully completed your account and security settings.
4. Do not write offensive or bad language as Helium is a family friendly site. Helium has many young members who are still school age.
5. If you need advice just holler. Someone on the site is bound to be able and willing to help.
6. Leapfrog your articles regularly in order to keep them fresh and up to date with Helium's ever changing targets. This will also keep the money rolling in.
7. Be patient when you join. As the amount of your articles grows so will your earnings. In the first couple of months I only made a few cents. It was a while before I made the 25 dollars needed for a payout. As I have already said I receive a payout every month now. It is usually around 100 dollars but depends how active I have been on Helium that month. There are members who regularly make 500 dollars a month.
8. Even if forums are not your thing join the ones that give details of Bugs on Helium and new releases. These should help you to keep up to date.
9. If you experience any problems such as nasty comments on Helium.com email the powers that be. Such behaviour is not tolerated on Helium.com.

Although I have said that I wanted to spread my Internet wings somewhat lately I still love Helium, especially its concept. Sure not everything is perfect or my particular style. However I have met some lovely people on Helium and the site has helped my writing immensely. There are even writing critiques now if you feel that you need some help. However much I diversify I see myself as being an active member of Helium.con for the foreseeable future.

Helium.com seems to be going from strength to strength and now may be a good time to jump on board.

So if you fancy earning a few more pennies, or cents, why not give helium.com a go.