Helium.com Overview: Making money on Helium.com

Helium is a paid to write website that pays you to write articles on a wide variety of subjects. It is free to join with no hidden fees or cost to you at any time. Helium only pays through PayPal at this time with a minimum balance of $25. You can hold your money in your Helium account as long as you want over that amount, requesting it only when you want/need the money.

Once you have joined and set up your profile and account details, it's time to start writing. There are a couple of choices to choose from:

1. Writing general content: Unlike a blog or HubPages, you do not choose your own title. All of the titles are chosen for you. What you can choose is which title you would like to write about. You are then matched up against the other writers who have written an article under the same title and judged by other Helium members. You are then ranked by your content. If you have the best article you will get the most page views. If you are the worst, you will get the least.

2. Contests: There are monthly contests you can elect to write in/for. Again, you are ranked in the same way, by your peers as before. The person who has the most articles under the content subject with the highest ranking will win. Prizes can vary from dollar amounts to free T-shirts. The prizes are listed in the contest section, so you do know what you're shooting for.

3. Market Place: The market place is where you can go to write articles for other companies. They offer Helium to pay a specific amount to the winning/best article. This can range from $1 to $5 depending on who is hiring. Once your article is selected as the best, that amount is deposited into your Helium account.

4. How To Writers: This is a separate section entirely. You must apply to become a "how to" writer on Helium. They will look at your ranking, your submission article, and a couple of other things to ensure that you are a high quality writer. Once accepted you have freedom to choose your own titles. You must follow the guidelines for writing "how to" articles to the letter. Only one article per title gives you a greater chance of higher page views. The pay system for "how to" writers is different and higher than the general submission writers.

5. Rating: You must rate to get paid. If you do not rate other articles on Helium, your account goes "inactive" and Helium keeps the profits they would have otherwise shared with you. The star system for both writing and ranking works in your favor. By following their ranking system with rating stars you can earn an extra $3 per month just by holding your 5 star rating position.

That all depends on your writing skills. If you are a higher ranked writer you will earn more because you get more page views. Helium pays per 1,000 page views. You can increase the number of views you get by advertising links to your articles in blogs or social websites you use.

Few people on Helium can call it a full time job. The best bet you have for completely replacing your income and writing for Helium full time would be to build yourself up over the course of a year or two.

With the possibility of earning money in so many different areas on Helium it is impossible to give an average or an estimate of just how much a single person can earn. The average hobby writer will probably end up earning between $0.50 and $1.50 per month.

Someone dedicated to making Helium a "reliable" income by writing quality articles every day and keeping their rating stars high could earn closer to $4.00 to $10.00 each month in their first year. This is not including winning contests, getting paid through the market place, or becoming a "how to" writer.

The referral program for Helium was canceled in 2011. They used to pay you 5% of whatever someone you signed up earned. After contacting Helium directly, they told me that there was not enough interest or activity in the referral system so they no longer provide this service.

What you earn is strictly from your own writing.

You must stay active with at least 1 rating star in order to earn on the page views to your articles.

Helium is a great place to write. They do pay you. It is a great place to write for if you find you have trouble coming up with your own titles. Just look through their hundreds of categories until you hit one that you want to write about!

As a residual income it is consistent and reliable.

It is a fantastic site for new or beginning writers because of the ranking system. You can see how your writing on the same title stands up to others who may be more seasoned writers. In this aspect you can gain a better understanding of how to improve your skill.

There is a "leapfrog" option available so that if you want to re-write an article with a low ranking you may do so. The new article is rated against your old article. The better article (according to other Helium writers) is the one accepted and published on the site.