which is better: associated content or helium?

Both are good, if that's your market. AC has the better upfront deal and it's a LOT easier to earn regularly - they don't have any requirements of reviewing content or anything, so you just publish and watch the page views. Helium is considered "higher quality", but it gets less than half the traffic of AC (if I remember right). Writers are also forced to rate other articles to get paid (10 every 30 days or something). That's annoying. The Helium Marketplace, however, is definitely worth a look: you can rake in some serious cash from there. One word of caution: I have seen it said - often - that a lot of people who pay for freelance writers look down on the article directories (AC, Helium, HubPages, Squidoo, Bukisa, Triond and others). They consider them slave labour and anyone who writes for them as lower quality. I have NOT run into this attitude myself, but I thought it best to mention the warnings I've heard. None of those sites are considered to be for "serious" writers, either. The serious folks tend to aim for better-paying marketplaces like Constant-Content, the freelancing sites (of which there are many) and direct proposals from publishers. Nice money, I would imagine - if you can get it!

You can submit to both sites. I think it depends on how productive you are as a writer. If you only write an occasional article you may do better at AC. At Helium you need to build up a good stock list and to gain stars before earnings really start to kick in. I am happy with what I've achieved, and continue to achieve, at Helium. There I sell some of my articles to other publishers as well as having a good number of articles earning daily income from page views. Both sites offer upfront payments if you are in the USA. At Helium these payments are based on number of writing stars, and you have to be active in the rating system.

My personal experience is that Associated Content pays more with much less effort. By less effort, I'm not talking about the quality of the article written,I'm talking about the fact that you do not have to rate other articles and such in order to keep at a certain pay level. Your pay is based solely on what you write, how well you write and how many page views your material receives. There are also assignments you can claim and receive upfront payments. If your writing is considered of a certain high quality, you are considered for higher paying assignments which may be picked up by other news organizations, such as Reuters...etc. What I love about AC is the fact that articles I published on the site 2 years ago are still earning money for me...and some of them fairly substantial amounts. My amount increases daily, whether I have added material or not. I will go back and check my old content and it is easy to see which articles are making the most money for me. This gives me an idea of what people enjoy reading. I can see where money can be made with Helium...but it seems to be very time consuming. They have a lot of contests and various publishers who may pick up an article, but the competion is fierce and the money seems to pay out much less on regular articles than on AC

Each site has their own perks. I prefer associated content. You make more in upfront payments on AC and my page views do well as well. However, if you are a very talented writer there is alot of money to be made in the helium marketplace. Many of the articles there pay upwards of $80. So I believe each one has their own uniqueness.

I was on helium for some time, and feel it is a very good site to learn, both in language and in the respective fields. One issue for me is the difficulty to find where to post my articles. I did twice and was told in the wrong link and deleted, which is frustrating. Good to know recently that they are making improvements to help links on the front page. I would have another try. And Associated content is also attracting to me.

I write for both, but have done better money-wise (so far) with Helium. That is based on the fact that I put forth more effort on that site and I also have a referral that I make money from. However, I can see where AC would bring more money due to the up front payment. Most of the work I have posted on AC appears on other sites, so it is not exclusive, and did not pay an up front payment. The one exclusive article I did for AC paid a nice up front (and immediate) payment. Lately I have taken a break from writing for either site. Let's call it writer's block, I guess. The only writing I have done lately is on MyLot (discussions and tasks). I hope to get back into the swing of writing for both sites soon.

Both are good sites.

hi i think helium has committed grave injustice to members of some international countries like mine for example by bltantly suspending their account-i had submitted 5 articles which were accepted by helium-and one fine day i try to log into helium and i just cannot log in since the facilty is denied to members from my country-i try to contact them but am unable.but i think AC is good in that respect-i have submitted nearly 50 articles in AC and i dont make much,usually 3-4 USD, but they regularly credit my paypal account.

I am not sure about which is better. However, I have not yet tried Associated Content. I have been paid by Helium once, but have ceased participation totally because I just don't have time for it and I am not quite 100% dedicated to the site. If you have the extra time and luxury, you could focus your time there and perhaps you can be successful like the rest. However, I am not really into it at this moment. I heard lots of good things about AC, but then again, international members aren't paid unless for page views. Hope this helps.

I have not been a member of helium but I am a member of associated content and you could earn some serious money with upfront payments and performance payments. From everyone that I have heard, AC is the better site than helium.

I have to say that in the short time I have been a member I have found helium to be a frustrating experience often. I did not understand how things worked initially and therefore my initial experience wasn't that great. I now have a better understanding of how the site works but if I had started out at Associated Content first I might never have signed up at helium. One thing I like about Associated Content is that you can submit pictures with your article. Not being able to do so at helium is the main thing that initially delayed my posting my articles to them. My first article at Associated (my only so far) was on a local festival and I asked for upfront payment. They responded with an offer of $4 and said I could still get performance payments. I accepted and started posting photo slide shows to increase my page views. I also like the fact that AC allows for audio and video posts. I plan to start posting to those categories soon as well. I haven't had a published byline recently enough to count so helium and AC are an advantage for me to showcase my writing and posting articles regularly keeps the writing "chops" up. I didn't like the idea of posting competitive articles at helium because I thought it was a waste of time writing to titles that already had articles. You can't get rated without doing it though and it does have some advantages.

I am a fan of ac over helium. A new site i started getting into last month was textbroker. They have articles that pay for 2-10 bucks. I made about 100 bucks in 10 days, but lately they have not had any articles up for grabs.