Thank you, Helium - and my MyLot friends!

So MommaJ, what are you working toward this month? I am trying to meet weekly goals; I tried to write it all out last Sunday, and so far I am about half way through...but I think I should be farther along. As usual, always running behind. I had a good month in Feb, but January was better for me. So, I clearly have work to do this month!

I'm not very good at getting my mind set to rate. In fact, I just rated five articles and I am glad I am done with that. LOL A lot of the articles are too close to judge and then others that are compared have such a twist on the same subject I don't know which one to rate as better. I like them both! I am trying to write, but so far today I have not had much luck. I am going to try to not only keep my rating stars but to get five. Maybe this month. It's a new month!

Hello, Mommaj. I find that if I rate for 10 minutes a day, it maintains my 5 rating stars. At the moment, I'm going to town on empty titles and under 5s, so I just rate 5 pairs of articles after each submission. Actually, if you aim for 10 minutes rating a day now, you'll probably have 5 rating stars by the end of March, so you'll get the $3 rating bonus as well.

Hello, Pikey. Like holidaying in Hemand - I always tell my best friend when she makes noises about coming to see us that we've sold our apartment and we're just about to complete on a duplex in Helmand Province, so we're both on the same weird wavelength, it seems. Writing on Helium is published immediately, but you also have to rate articles, as unless you have at least one rating star, you cannot earn for page views. It takes a day of serious rating or a few days of 10 minutes a day to get the first star, and then the others follow fairly quickly, as long as you rate a little each day. Once you start to get writing stars, you can write for upfront payments as well, which is how I did so well last month. It's definitely worth fathoming out. I'd say go back and read the help pages, and also look at other discussions under the Helium interest here. By my reckoning, I've already earned $20 towards the March payout, so I think Helium could be a good source of income for you, and there are several MyLot members over there to show you the ropes and help you get started.

My problem is that I want to write what I want to write Sandra. I did have a look at the UK page. It was all about Manchester! I did once work there for three weeks 30 years ago. But haven't really been since. I suppose that it makes a change from London but it does seem very limited if everyone in the UK can only write about one city! There isn't even a link for Afghanistan!!

Hello, Pikey. You obviously didn't look in the right places. In the Travel channel, there are pages of article titles for the UK. At the moment, I'm writing to empty titles under camping, and again, there are lots of titles for UK writers. Then there's the writing channel, and relationships and family and health and fitness, where a lot of the stuff is appropriate to anyone, wherever they live. If you want to write to your own titles, Bukisa and Triond are better options, but the pay isn't as good as Helium. As I said, give me a shout if you decide to give it a go.

lol and I was just about to go off on the "I knew you before you were famous" bit...

Hello, Dawn, and thanks for that. You're a proper writer now - I love to read your posts.

Hello, UmiNoor. One star is only the start - I'm sure you'll soon get more. It takes a while to get the hang of things on Helium, but once you do, it's possible to earn well, as other people have said. Have you put a link to your Helium page on your profile page? It helps with page views, and it means other MyLot members can find you over there.

Yes Sandra, The link to my Helium articles are now in my profile. I've only got 14 articles at Helium. You're welcome to read them. Thank you.

UmiNoor you are doing just fine at Helium. Just keep adding articles and you will not have to worry about your stars. You only need for 25% of your articles to be competitive so you can write a lot of articles for empty titles and get bonuses. How did you make the Helium banner for your profile?

Hello, Janey, and thanks. Too late for the warning about addicted - I've been addicted to writing for years - just never got paid very much for it until now.

Well good for you! It can only increase your confidence to write even more.

PandaEyes: I think that Helium is like MyLot. When I first came on here, I couldn't figure out this site. The questions seemed so boring to me. It took me awhile to realize that by following groups with topics I am interested in, I could really enjoy this place. Helium is the same. You need to find the right channel for the topics you like to write about. Once you do that, you will enjoy the site more. I love to write about travel, and that (along with art and books) are what I write about most. No matter what topic you like, Helium is likely to fill that interest. Try searching by what you like, then write to that topic. Good luck!

Hello, Pandaeyes. You need to know where to look. There's some good stuff in the health and fitness channels, and relationships and family. And there's a whole section on the UK under travel. I'm just doing some camping articles, and there's a new section about camping in the UK. There are several of us from MyLot writing on Helium, and we're all doing quite well, as we help each other out over there. Actually, the others have done better than me, but I'm happy, and I know now that it's worth putting the time in. If you decide to try again, I'm Sandra Piddock on Helium - give me a shout. Or go across to my profle. There's a link to my Helium page, and you'll see that I find plenty to write about.

Thank you for the encouragement. I will take another look at it sometime. At the moment it looks like I might be getting some freelance work in another direction, more akin to my original work with photographs so I am keeping the time free until I know for sure.

Hello Zandi, and thank you. Don't play yourself down - you write some great posts, and if you've earned from your music reviews, other people appreciate your writing as well. I'm full of enthusiasm for my writing at the moment, and knowing I can earn a respectable sum for doing something I love is wonderful.

LOL... keep writing until you die.. that's really awesome. Writing is total solace. Happy for you that you've found your niche in Helium.. you are welcome.

Hello, Zed, and thanks for that. I think we've found our niche in Helium, and it's great to be paid for doing what we enjoy. Keep on writing? I'll write until I die - it's something I just have to do.

hi sandra, thanks for the information, I will check helium in a while. the challenging part in writing is what to write, if that the case of Helium. I would definitely love it.. thanks again and happy mylotting.

Hello, Dorothy. It's taken me a while to get there, but I'm really enjoying it now. Helium is easy to write for, as they give you titles to write to, and you can request a mentor to help you improve your writing. They pay up on time as well, which is nice.

Hello, Sikat, and welcome to MyLot. Nice to know I've inspired you to go back and have another try at Helium. $50 for a marketplace article is great. That's my next goal - and I'd like to get a place in a writing contest as well.

Hello, Sblossom. That's good going, and of course, your articles will continue to earn pae views. From what I've learned from other Helium writers, the bigger your portfolio, the more you earn from page views. I have nearly 300 articles there, and my page view earnings for February were over $20, so I guess they're right.

Hello, Greatsasuke. Helium only started doing this last year. It depends on your writing stars, but for the first 5 articles in a title, you receive from 50 cents for one star to $2.50 for 5 stars, plus an empty title bonus of $1 if you write the first article to a title. Performance payments vary, because some topics get more page views than others. Travel, personal finance, internet and health and fitness all seem to do well.

Hello, Sunny. It's entirely my own fault I did not earn more at Helium before. On Helium, as on here, reputation affects your earning power. I just did the odd article here and there, with no real plan of campaign. Thea joined Helium last month, and she very quickly got me organised and upping my writing score. Now it's all system's go, so next month's earnings will be even better.

I havent seen her offlate so she is busy with writing articles---good to know that she is helping you out---hope you manage to earn all the money you missed out in the last two years

Hello, Gany. Helium is more of an article directory than a review site, although they do have product reviews among the other articles. Some of the money came from page views from articles that have been on Helium for a while, but most of it came from upfront payments for being one of the first to write to new titles. It's a bit complicated to work out how Helium operates, but it's definitely worth it.

It certainly is, and there are a lot of MyLot members writing on Helium as well. My friends - in particular one friend - have got me organised in the past few weeks, so I've come to regard Helium as an earning opportunity as opposed to just a site I write on occasionally.

Hello, Cher. That's good money, but obviously unsustainable for the company. I think once you build up a decent portfolio on Helium, and get the ratings to earn writing stars, you can make some good money. I shall certainly be spending more time over there.

I write about all kinds of things. Most of my Helium articles are those which I have already sold at Constant Content for non-exclusive rights. Once that happens I look for a relevant Helium title and adapt them for it. The top three in my Helium portfolio are 'Places Worth Seeing in Barcelona', 'Small Business Success Tips' and 'Self Motivation. The Way it Works'. How about you?

Jakill what have you written about at Helium?

Hello, Jakill. Thanks for that. The tip I've received is that after 24th of the month, which is cut off day for upfronts, leapfrog any lowranking articles, and only write to non competitive titles (less than 3 articles). Apparently it works, so may be worth keeping that in mind.

You could definitely still write about them and there is a crochet contest in progress right now! There are often titles that are simply addressing where to find free patterns. Sewing titles, crochet and knitting titles are a good choice. I have one article on making a purse that earns almost $2 consistently each month. My education articles earn pretty well and articles on gift giving and seasonal topics even earn a bit in their off seasons. I have been trying to spread my writing around but I can tell you that Hobbies and Games is in the top 5 for total page views. Unfortunately I only have direct access to stats for my own channel, but my suggestion is that you spread it around and talk to other writers about what has earned well for them. Even ten articles that consistently earn $0.10 per month can make a difference and when you can turn that into 100 articles it all adds up.

Thanks for that, Canellita. I've just done some empties to Dogs, and they started to earn right away. I'll certainly look at the handicrafts titles. Surprisingly, my best earning article has never risen above 3 of 3, yet it earns more every month than anything else. That's in travel, and I do find they earn well.

Hello, Canellita. Thanks, and well done to you, too. I don't do any handicrafts now, as my wrists and hands are quite badly affected with arthritis. I used to do a lot of knitting and crochet, but now I find that after a few minutes, my fingers go completely numb. About all I can manage now is a little bit of mending, but I suppose I could still write about them. I would like to get my stars up to at least 4, as I would feel less vulnerable then. If you could give me a few pointers as to which channels to write to, I'd be grateful.

Hello, Adhyz. Yes, Helium is definitely worth persevering with.

I have 158 articles and 4 writing stars. My writing score fluctuates in the low to mid 80s because people are always adding articles and it used to drive me crazy but the affect is only temporary. I will take a look at your stuff Louise and see if I can make any suggestions.

Hello, Louise. Yes, the earnings build up with your articles. From what I've gathered, 300 is the magic figure for articles, then 500. When you get to 300, the percentage you need to keep your writing stars drops, so it's easier to hang onto them. By 500, most writers have 4 or 5 stars, so they're more likely to keep them. What's your Helium name? If you don't want to disclose it here, my profile page links to my Helium page, so you can contact me that way. There are lots om MyLot members on Helium, and we're very supportive of each other. It's nice not to feel alone over there.

My Helium name is the same as here - Louise Frank. I'm way off the magic 300, about one-tenth of that as far as I remember. I have one writing star and have managed to keep that. I have four or five "leapfrog" credits too, so I keep a close eye on my percentage and intend to use them when I need them. There seems to be so much to take in on Helium - about what you do and don't get paid for, what channels aren't worth bothering with, writing to empty channels, what are the best strategies to add to your income. I'll have a look at what you've written too. Thank you for your support.