Reaching Out to Members Who Tried Helium and Gave Up
@RebeccaScarlett (2532)
Canada
January 3, 2011 2:22pm CST
I know there were a few members who joined Helium after talking with me, had an article removed, and gave up in disgust. I wanted to share a little advice and encouragement, as Helium is a really great and easy place to earn -- I've made over $500 USD there in the past 6 months, and many days I don't write at all, but when I spent 2 hours a day, I was pulling in $100/month easily.
Now, sites like Triond that accept anything and everything might be giving false expectations. Triond does not pay well, and the only way to earn is from page views. If you are fantastic at SEO and promoting, and you are making good money from Triond, then (assuming your writing skills are good) you could make much more at Helium.
One of the misunderstandings is that Helium allows you to publish what you have published elsewhere, but that does not mean you can just cut and paste. If your article does not fit the title you have chosen at Helium, it will be removed. A few minutes of editing can transform your prior work into an excellent Helium article that fits an existing title, however: there are so many titles on Helium and even a title search feature.
At Helium, if your English is poor (even if you can be understood well by other mylotters, your English is not fluent is you are constantly making errors in spelling, syntax, and subject-verb agreements) your article will be removed, or you will be contacted with resources to help you improve your written English.
Helium is a great place for aspiring writers, so don't give up!
5 people like this
12 responses
@Sandra1952 (6047)
• Spain
3 Jan 11
Hello, Rebecca. I'd echo that. I've been averaging less than a dollar a month at Triond, and they want original content that hasn't been published elsewhere. On Helium, I've been earning over $200 a month - no contest, is there?
I didn't like the changes at Helium, but they're the best paying writer's site around, and there's a great support network there. I had my first 3 Marketplace articles deleted, and that hurt, because I'm a 5 starred writer, and I've only had 3 articles deleted in 3 years at Helium.
I've now worked out how to write well for Marketplace, and every article I've written since the first couple of days of the new system has either been purchased or transitioned for credit. I'm a little down on previous earnings, but I still did well in December. Helium is the best writing site out there.
1 person likes this
@RebeccaScarlett (2532)
• Canada
3 Jan 11
There were a lot of complaints about the upfront changes, but before you might have to write to a title you weren't that interested in just to get the empty title bonus -- and now I've written I think 6 articles to the new marketplace and gotten the highest amount for every one!
If you take care to write great articles these are changes for the better, I think!
1 person likes this
@Suzieqmom (2755)
• United States
3 Jan 11
Hi to both of you--Sandra, I just saw your post to my question too. I just wrote and published a "title" on Helium--my first, and then had to rate a thousand articles (it seemed). Do I want to keep doing this to get stars (I think that's your advice, Sandra, if I understood it correctly), and do I earn any money from these articles, or just the marketplace ones? And, on the bottom of the home page, there are article topic suggestions--are these "titles", marketplace articles, or something else? I still find the site to be VERY confusing. 
Thanks, and RebeccaScarlett, I will try not to get discouraged! 
Thanks, and RebeccaScarlett, I will try not to get discouraged! 2 people like this
@Sandra1952 (6047)
• Spain
3 Jan 11
Rebecca - well done with the MP titles. You're right, of course. Good writing will always rise to the top. At least now the people who get the money will be those who wrote the best articles, rather than those who were quickest off the mark.
Suzie - First of all, you don't need to rate lots of articles to get that first rating star. I'd say rate for about 10 minutes each day, and before the end of the week, you'll have at least 1 rating star. That guarantees you'll earn page view income from your own articles.
Where Marketplace articles are concerned, if your article is chosen for purchase or transition, you earn an upfront payment or transition credit. Then the title goes live on Helium and you earn page view revenue on those as well. It takes time, but it's possible to earn a good income from Helium if your writing is up to standard.
1 person likes this
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
8 Jan 11
Well, I don't have nearly the number of articles on Helium that some people do, however I am getting there, slowly but surely and I'm now up to 40 articles I think.
Since the inception of the new method of upfront payment, I really didn't jump in at first because I wasn't sure whether or not I would like it. However, last week as part of my new goal of making more money online this year I decided that I was going to try to write to one marketplace title every day. So far I've written ten new articles, none of which have been rejected. I've had five of the articles bought and five of them have transitioned. I was just able to request my first payment from them today so I'll be getting that on the 15th and I'm thrilled about it.
1 person likes this
@RebeccaScarlett (2532)
• Canada
8 Jan 11
Wow! Great success on the new Marketplace!
1 person likes this
@EvrWonder (3571)
• Canada
4 Jan 11
I agree and good for you for your success with Helium so far.
Helium rocks and not just for a means of residual income but for the sake of aspiring writers to learn more about their art.
The opportunities are amazing as well.
Personally, I enjoy the writing contests.
I have been a member of Helium since it's inception, although I am not on their regularly unfortunately. It takes time to write quality worx and often times I just do not have that extra time to put my all into it.
I have never written on Triond but have taken a look at the site. I feel that I need to make more time in order to just contribute more to Helium that to sign up for yet another writing site opportunity.
In any case, your review here is a goof one. Thank you for the input!
@EvrWonder (3571)
• Canada
12 Feb 11
Nice! Good for you Rebecca. happy for you that you have this opportunity and that you choose to write during these times.
I love to write and anticipate a space in time that allows me the opportunity when ambition is at it's peak.
@RebeccaScarlett (2532)
• Canada
4 Jan 11
Thank you for the kind words! It is hard to put the time in to write every day if you are busy with other things. If I hadn't gone on maternity leave I don't think I would have discovered how well I can type a few articles when my daughter is napping!
@1hopefulman (45120)
• Canada
4 Jan 11
Hhhhmmmmm! You have done pretty well. Maybe I should re-look at that sight. Do they accept writers from Canada? And you say, it is better than Triond. I have only earned a few dollars in December. I will look at it more closely. Have you read anything I wrote on Triond? From what you read, if you have, do you think I have what it takes to earn $100 in a month?
1 person likes this
@RebeccaScarlett (2532)
• Canada
4 Jan 11
I responded to your PM. Will do! Check the PM as I also asked you a question that it is fairly pointless to repeat here :)
1 person likes this
@IchaSweetz (51)
• Indonesia
4 Jan 11
I am a Helium writer and I am happy although I haven't earned any money yet. I love to write and the mentors really teach me. Unfortunately I can't find writing icon / tools above the box anymore. I don't know what happen but I can't edit my writing. They removed it and I am quite disappointed. I really still want to write and although I use leapfrog, there are still no icon above the writing box. Wondering if I can't find solution on this.
@IchaSweetz (51)
• Indonesia
5 Jan 11
Yes. When you write on that page, there should be many tools icon above the box. You can use those tools to edit, count the word, check the grammar, etc. Now, I don't see those icons at all. I can't edit my writing.
@RebeccaScarlett (2532)
• Canada
5 Jan 11
That is very strange. I would send an email to support@helium about it, but maybe it's the browser you're using?
@RebeccaScarlett (2532)
• Canada
4 Jan 11
I'm not sure what you're referring to. When you read an article, there is a little pencil above it beside "write now!" and that will take you to the page you write on. You just place your cursor in the box and write, and scroll down when you want to submit.
To earn you must keep at least one rating star, so rate a few pairs of articles each day (or 30 pairs in one go, then a few each day) to get that star and start earning from your page views!
@thea09 (18305)
• Greece
6 Jan 11
Hi Rebecca, I've loved writing at Helium as could suggest titles that interested me, make the $3.50 empty payout plus good page revenues. I sussed the system of how to earn well in the first month which most don't consider, and pride myself on turning out quality in prolific amounts (I'm Katerina Nikolas on there). There were many complaints as some writers got their 5 stars and then coasted, churning out drivel with exact 400 word counts - the new system put an end to that. Good writers care about quality along with quantity as its the only way to guarantee long term revenue.
The new systme also means a drastic decrease in earnings for myself as suggested titles now have to take time to filter through and are open to competition which can be biased in some instances. The new system was meant to promote quality but there was a hideously ungrammatical article which transitioned, that is ungrammatical with plenty of errors in the opening paragraph, which means the editors were either asleep of unaware of grammar themselves.
Along with losing earnings I'm losing interest, but like Sandra I'm an international writer with fewer paying options. By the way those who are dubious about earning potentials are many - I won't say how many times you could multiply your $500 earning to equal mine but lets just say by thousands of dollars in one year.
@RebeccaScarlett (2532)
• Canada
7 Jan 11
Well, I know for sure that if I locked myself in a home office and wrote 8 hours a day like a full time job, that I could make full-time income to support my family easily. I was making that much money writing an article every few days.
I agree with what you've said about the new system, but yes someone must have been asleep at the wheel for that one to slide through.
@RebeccaScarlett (2532)
• Canada
5 Jan 11
No problem! And let me know if you discover any triond tricks: my earnings are dismal there!
@tjburcham (690)
• United States
5 Jan 11
Wow. I had joined Helium years ago. Sort of just neglected it more and more over the years.
@tjburcham (690)
• United States
8 Jan 11
I keep it in mind. I have a full plate right now, maybe someday I will again give it a try.
@RebeccaScarlett (2532)
• Canada
8 Jan 11
Well, if get back at it, who knows? You might be lining your pockets with some extra cash :)
@ptrikha_2 (46951)
• India
2 Feb 11
Yes, I too have faced difficulties at times with Helium. There was an article of mine for which I was asked to review around 4 times, and the original which I wrote was relevant as well as had good grammar. Also, (including one very recent case), some of my articles were deleted by Helium, and I had to re-submit them. Yet, I believe that this adherence to quality and relevance of subject matter(though too strict at times) is what makes Helium a good site to be at and earn handsomely.
Regards
@RebeccaScarlett (2532)
• Canada
3 Feb 11
From what other mylotters have shared with me, it seems that the people responsible for deleting articles get a little overzealous at times. I admire that they want only top-notch articles on the site, but when the error is a minor stylistic thing, I feel one of their editors should just edit it, rather then delete it and make you re-submit.
@trruk1 (1028)
• United States
4 Jan 11
I have about 200 articles on Helium. I am dubious about any earnings claims from that site. But then, I am dubious about ALL earnings claims. The process of writing with a new title has been extremely frustrating. It is relatively simple to post something under somebody else's title, but creating a new one is very different. they recently rejected a title of an article about NASA and the life-form that uses arsenic. I asked for suggestions for an acceptable title. They offered two, both of which contradicted the basic premise of the article. They accepted and posted two other articles on that subject, both of which were patent nonsense. So I could either write under a title that I would contradict in my article or just give it up.
I have been on Helium for two or three years. I have been on Triond for three months. My daily earnings from Triond are now higher than those from Helium, despite the much greater volume. Maybe I'm missing some marketing tricks for Helium, but the way it is now, earning .16 a day is not exciting.
@RebeccaScarlett (2532)
• Canada
4 Jan 11
Well, I am sorry you haven't had the success I have. I promise I'm not lying about my earnings :p I always write under existing titles, as I find there is more than enough there that I can find one to my liking. Perhaps the articles you write are not searched for that often: I have just over 200 articles there and I make more than 50 cents a day from residuals, as well as making money from contests and the marketplace. Writing to the contests is good even if you don't win: the topics are always ones that are highly searched-for, so you will see a spike in your residual earnings.
If Triond works better for you, that is awesome! :) I wish I could make more with Triond, but with thirty articles there (many of which are the same topics if not the same articles I have on Helium) I am lucky if I make 50 cents a month!
@trruk1 (1028)
• United States
4 Jan 11
I continue to write for Helium (I posted two articles today) but over time, it has been a lot of work for very little money. Very little is more than none, so I will probably keep at it. Many of my articles have a #1 rating, which is nice but does not seem to make any difference in earnings.
@shattered (1728)
• Philippines
4 Jan 11
Good point. I gave on Helium because I couldn't understand the rating system. However, I think you have a point, I'll try writing in Helium again. Give it one more shot. Hope I could make as much as guys though!
@RebeccaScarlett (2532)
• Canada
4 Jan 11
When you rate, you compare two articles to each other and say which one is better. After hundreds of rates (there is a system to it) the article rated better will edge up in the rankings.
It can be discouraging at first: you have to remember that every Helium member is rating, so what you were taught in school about writing "professionally" might seem dry to the average rater, and be rated down. After exploring the site, reading other well-ranked articles, and practice, you will start to learn how to strike the right balance to get good rates from the Helium community.
Good luck!
@Haimrazat (30)
• Singapore
4 Jan 11
Hi Rebecca,
Thanks for the encouragement. In fact, I've posted 2 article on Helium and both was removed. But i never did feel discourage on this, i know there still improvement needs to be done on my writings.
I wrote in for a mentor at Helium, for my first submission article in Oct 2010.Ever since then ive not gotten any reply from them as yet.
I sure look forward to have a mentor to guide me in improving my writings. I love writing article., i hope to have writing as my second nature. And maybe someday i like to do travel writing.
But the funny thing is one of my article get publish on Associate Content. And i was so happy.
I still look forward for the mentor reply from Helium.
@RebeccaScarlett (2532)
• Canada
4 Jan 11
That is too bad that they have not replied; I didn't know it took so long. Is Associated Content paying non-American writers now? I wanted to try them but I am Canadian, and before they were only paying Americans :(
And you are getting better on your own; already your English writing is better than the last time we spoke on mylot!
@Haimrazat (30)
• Singapore
5 Jan 11
Hey, guess what? The mentor finally reply to me today, I'm so very happy. I now look forward to hone my writings. Well-done!... Thanks!
