Comparing Four On-Line Writing Job Venues

Many people are trying to make some extra income, or even their primary income, by writing on Internet sites. As may be obvious if you glance at my rank here at Shared Reviews, I am one of these people. For three years, Ive been writing for Shared Reviews (SR), Associated Content (AC), Helium (He), and Textbroker (TB). Heres a comparison of these sites

First- just some side-by-side features

Ability to Choose Your Own Topics/ Titles
SR - yes
AC - yes
He - mostly no (you can suggest titles, which may or may not be approved)
TB - no

Payout - all by PayPal
SR - monthly, with 2 month lag and $10 threshold
AC - monthly for pay-per-view (PPV) and $1.50 threshold, within a few days for upfront offers
He - monthly with $25 threshold
TB - twice monthly with $10 threshold

Payment Scheme
SR - achievement levels lock in monthly payment, plus PPV
AC - upfront payment options, plus PPV tied to your clout level
He - complex scheme dependent on writing stars earned, payment for writing to empty titles, plus PPV
TB - per word on a scale tied to your level

Investment Potential (assuming all sites are stable)
SR - articles/ reviews can earn indefinitely
AC - articles can earn indefinitely
He - articles can earn indefinitely
TB - you are paid once per article, then no further income

Quality Level Expectations
SR - peer rating system, with editing options, but can be ignored if articles are basically legible
AC - for PPV only- none; for upfront pay- must pass pre-approval
He - peer rating system- very annoying- see following notes
TB - levels for authors 2-5 star system - client must accept article, higher levels very demanding

Article Length Minimum
SR - 300 words for articles, 200 words for product reviews
AC - 400 words
He - 400 words
TB - requested from client, varies

Ongoing Activity Required
SR - higher activity generates points, but not required, reasonable minimum participation to maintain badges
AC - no activity required for PPV, but you must log in once every 60 days or you lose everything
He - you must maintain rating stars to be paid, which requires a near-daily commitment
TB - at your preference

Annoyance Factor
SR - moderate - people and admin are friendly, payments may be slow but always eventually come
AC - high - moderators are snobbish - it takes up to two weeks to have articles approved, there sometimes seems to be no reason why articles are declined
He - very high - moderators are patronizing - the rating system is completely maddening
TB - moderate - editors are very tough - clients may request rewrites, very high standards expected for level 4 and 5 writers considering the rate of pay, sometimes client requests are unreasonable

Topic Range
SR - good - product reviews, almost everything except food; and articles, almost anything
AC - good - almost anything, although the fit within the category choices can be a bit strained
He - moderate - you can suggest titles, but mostly you need to write to lists of titles they have generated. However, they do have some subcategories that other sites do not, therefore improving search engine success for these topics
TB - moderate - there is quite a range, but you are writing for third-party clients, so you MUST write what they request

Additional Opportunities
SR - promised bounty program to write for third-party clients is not yet in place
AC - possible for articles to be purchased for larger distribution
He - possible for articles to be purchased for larger distribution
TB - none

Extra Comments on Each Venue

Shared Reviews - You have the power to control your success on this site, although it requires a serious time commitment. Hard work and good writing will end up giving rewards, although it may take a while to reach residual income levels. New writers are treated with respect. I earn the largest amount of passive income per month from this site (before and after the new scheme)

Associated Content - It takes a long time to build up enough articles and views to raise your clout level. You need hundreds of articles, and hundreds of readers to earn more than about $5.00 a month. I backed off to submitting for PPV only for a year because I was so annoyed with editors who declined articles for reasons that made no sense at all. I havent been on the forum recently, but I backed off from it due to a generally patronizing atmosphere.

Helium - You have to have a thick skin, patience, and determination to succeed on Helium. The internal rating system is despised by most writers. You have to read two articles side-by-side and choose the better one. (You are not shown articles in titles you have written to). This results in a hierarchy within each title. To earn writing stars, 10% of your articles must be in the top 25% as determined by raters. I cant tell you how frustrating this is. Many good, solid articles languish at the bottom of their groups, for no reason I can determine. It looks very much as if raters are not reading the articles, although an agreement percentage is supposed to guard against this. All this means is that if everyone seems to agree that a bad article is good, then its good. The benefit is that there is a reasonably high monthly payout per article, tied to the number of writing stars you have. You have to have at least one star on the last day of the month to be paid, and you can gain and lose both writing stars and rating stars with amazing speed. Forum moderators are somewhat helpful, but they defend the strange rating system to the death, and there is no real way to protest perceived graft. (Ive tried). If you wish to take a chance on Helium, send me a message.

Textbroker - This is without a doubt the fastest way to get guaranteed money in your pocket. You select a title from a long list of options, and write the requested number of words, before the deadline (usually 1 - 7 days). The drawback is that you will probably have to do a fair amount of research for most titles. But once the client accepts the article, the cash goes in your account, and you can withdraw it twice a month on the 5th and 20th. I have made hundreds of dollars here, but it takes hard work, and is not even remotely creative. Editors are very, very tough. You must write using AP guidelines. I was a level 5 (the highest), but got busted back to level 4 due to comma errors.

Conclusion
These are certainly not the only venues for article writing on the web. However, these are four which I know quite a bit about. Perhaps my experiences will help you make some choices.