You can make money writing and selling articles for Helium’s Marketplace. I did. I wrote an entire article about my experience. You can read it by clicking the link below this hub. Now back to the topic at hand.

First of all, of course, you have to join Helium. It’s free to become a member. Just go to their website at www.helium.com and sign in. If you use a real-sounding name instead of a silly-sounding nickname, you’ll be taken more seriously by publishers. Also, the writers with photos on their profile seem to have a slight advantage. Again, don’t use an outlandish pic.

Go to the Marketplace section and search the topics. There are some that you won’t be able to write to until you get a writing star or two. This isn’t difficult to achieve. Just find a topic in the “write now” section that you’re interested in and post a few articles.

Once you begin writing for Marketplace, I suggest starting with the lower-paying articles. Publishers review all the articles submitted and find the one or ones that best fit their unique needs. The more experienced Marketplace writers are going to be vying for the top-dollar titles, so you might want to start where there’s less competition until you get some Marketplace experience under your belt.

When writing for Marketplace, read the publisher’s guidelines carefully. Most publishers provide links to examples of the type of articles they’re looking for. Take advantage of this option. Also, most Marketplace articles will immediately disqualify any articles written in first person. Occasionally, a first-person article will be requested, but this is not the norm. The publishers will tell you what they want.

When you write your article, use short paragraphs. The Marketplace publishers usually like to see a lot of “white space.” Skip a line between your paragraphs.

Inject you unique writer’s “voice” into your work. From my experience, most publishers prefer a unique style over dry, boring facts. And speaking of facts, make sure yours are accurate. Don’t try to make something sound good if it’s not. For example, if you’re writing a travel article about Jekyll Island, don’t say the water there is crystal clear – it’s not. Instead, discuss the positives about vacationing at the locale, but be careful not to mislead readers. When I wrote about this island, I told readers the water was somewhat muddy, and I explained why. Then I went on to extol the island’s salient characteristics. If you can offer “inside” advice about a topic, you’ll be ahead of the game.

When you’ve finished composing your article, let it “rest” a few hours before proofreading. Your mind has a way of mentally correcting mistakes that are very recent. You’ll do a better job of spotting errors after you’ve waited a couple of hours before proofing.

After you write and submit your article to the publisher, you article will be rated by other Heliumites. DO NOT get obsessed with your rating. Marketplace publishers don’t pay a lot of attention to the ratings, in most cases. I’ve had plenty of #1 articles that weren’t chosen by the publisher, and I’ve had articles rated as low as #13 that were purchased.

Make sure your article is submitted before the deadline. Helium doesn’t allow for error in this regard. Sometimes a publisher will re-open a title and give it a later deadline. This happens when they didn’t find an article that they wanted to purchase. This is a fairly unusual occurrence, however.

Once an article has been selected by a publisher, you’ll receive an email from Helium letting you know that your article was purchased or that it’s transitioning to the regular article base. If your article wasn’t chosen, you’ll still be eligible to get page-view earnings on the article, along with an up-front payment or “kill fee.”

Each publisher posts his purchase deadline on his titles in Marketplace. These are not “written in stone.” Give the publisher a few extra days before inquiring as to the status of those articles. If you haven’t heard anything from an article submitted to Marketplace, give the publisher five business days beyond the posted deadline. At that time, you can post a question in the Marketplace Update section of the forums to get an answer.

To get payment, you’ll need to have a Paypal account. Helium makes payment once a month, on or before the tenth. If you’ve reached the $25 payout threshold, request payment by the fourth of the month to receive your earnings. If you haven’t reached $25, it rolls over to the next month.