How to Earn Money Writing on Helium

 There are several ways to earn money writing on Helium, but like any freelance work, you need to tackle it as you would any business.  You are highly unlikely to earn straight away, as all new businesses take time to build.  However, the site is easy to join, and, like Hubpages, there’s loads of information to help you get your writing business off the ground.

Once you’ve joined the site, I would read absolutely every bit of it that gives info on how to earn money, because I can see that it would be easy to write a little stuff and not earn anything from it. 

Revenue share – Again, like Hubpages, you earn a share of the ads that are placed around your articles.

Upfront Payments – The beauty of writing on Helium, is that in addition to revenue sharing, Helium will pay an up front amount for your articles, but you need to know how the system works, or you won’t get a bean from upfront payments.

Freelance copywriting – I know, this is my favourite subject and I’m becoming boring, copywriting online works for me. Helium has a section called ‘Marketplace,’ where buyers post projects they need writing and you write for them.

Low payment threshold – The site pays out monthly once you reach $25.00.

This article will focus on upfront payments and the Marketplace.

 In order to receive upfront payments, you need to earn writing stars.  You earn writing stars by….. wait for it…….writing.  Helium rates your work and dishes out stars accordingly.  The more stars you have, the more you receive in payment, for example, if you have one writing star, you earn $0.50 per article, and if you have five writing stars, you earn $2.50 per article.  This is in addition to the ad revenue share.

However, not all articles are the same.  You need to ensure that you write on competitive subjects (ones with more than three articles written) and that your article is within the first five titles of that subject, or ranks within the first five.  Earnings are calculated on the 24^th of the month, and any submitted on the 25^th will go over to next month’s calculations.  The pay out threshold is $25.00, so once you reach that amount you can request a payment.  All requests received by 4^th of the month will be paid on 10^th, but you do need a PayPal account.

Not all subjects qualify for up front payments, and Helium has a list on their site, but it’s generally subjects that don’t earn much ad revenue, such as creative writing and poetry, although they can earn merit badges (no money attached).

In addition, you will receive $1.00 for writing to ‘empty titles,’ i.e. titles on the site that no-one’s written about, providing your work is ranked within the top five as more are written.  They are easy to find, as there’s an empty title button to check when you search for titles.

Each day titles are posted to this part of the site, looking for copywriters to write to them.  Payments offered are clearly marked at the side of the work, and there is usually a detailed brief from the buyer about what is required.  The lowest payment that I’ve seen offered so far has been $20, and the highest $120 (for 1-2,000 words – not bad!).  Only writers who have at least one writing star can write for Marketplace, and some titles are asking for specialist writers from a certain group, although you can apply to join various groups.  These payments are added to your account as adjustments.

As all payments are calculated on 24^th of the month, it really pays to make sure you have a good cache of stars and high-ranking articles at that time.

The rules may be a bit complicated, but they are transparent and are written on the site for all to see, so if you treat writing on Helium as a business and work the system as it’s set out you can earn money by writing there.