I’m sorry but saying those who are complaining…are essentially doing so because they have created a scam or plagiarized, write bad articles…etc WELL thats a joke and a sad attempt from you to push AC> THE truth is that many ppl do not like or complain about pay because it is an average of 3-5 an article rarely or if ever more than 5…AC IS a content site, it has nothing to do about writing skills…you must be “good” at keywords. The so called editors do not read articles, they run them through a software program that catches and count keywords and check to see the likely hood of an article being maxed out on web…This SITE IS NOT For serious writers. If you use AC to promote your writing nobody worth your time is looking…and putting your work on any resume or otherwise would actually hurt your chances of getting a real job freelancing. Be smart and leave AC TO THOSE who can not WRITE and are truly desperate for money!!!!

Hey Bob,

Thanks for your comments. But let’s settle down. I didn’t mean to imply that everyone that complained was doing something wrong. I know of many programs where people did nothing wrong and were penalized. So that’s not what I meant to imply.

I don’t work for Associated Content so I can’t verify your claim they are using software to determine which articles should be used. In theory that makes total sense because sites like Associated Content want “keyword optimized” content because that’s what gets ranked and thus will help bring them visitors that click on sponsor links which is how they get paid and how people that write on their site gets paid.

So obviously its in their best interest to reward the people that understand this concept. No secret there.

Now with that said, is this necessarily fair to real writers that are writing great content that don’t keep Search Engine Optimization in mind Probably not! But there are writers out there that can produce quality content that is keyword rich. I know because I do it all the time for my own blog and sites.

What associated content should probably do a better job of is providing keyword optimization guidelines for experienced writers who aren’t search engine optimization savvy. This would allow for “good” writers to produce quality content as they usually would but with keyword optimization in mind. I think this would be helpful to be traditional writers that know nothing about SEO and keyword optimization.

Some writers may not want to do this because of creative reasons and that’s fine and you’re right they should just spend their efforts else where.

But for regular folks that are trying to make money I think it’s worth a shot and effort. I’m a strong believer in doing a little bit of everything legitimate to earn an income at home.

Work at home jobs are hard enough to land so instead of people not making money searching for work at home jobs, why shouldn’t they make some money by writing articles at places like AC. This provides them a stronger chance of actually making money than spending hours searching for an elusive work at home job does.

And finally I really can’t say either way how writing for associated content would somehow tarnish writers reputations. If you’re producing crap for the world to see, then yeah I guess that would make sense. But if you’re writing good, optimized content, I can’t see why that devalues you in the job market. Maybe you can shed some more light on this claim.

In any event, I really appreciate your comments.

Always great to have intellectual debates. We don’t always have to agree but it’s nice to air out points from different perspectives.

Eddy

I have found AC to be very fair and they always are willing to state reasons why they don’t use your content. But it has only happened to me once or twice. When they say they’ll pay, they pay. I have made some good little bits of money on the side. And I AM a “real” freelance writer. AC is a good place to share articles you haven’t been able to place elsewhere, or you are looking for more audience for your favorite topics And people are allowed to comment, so you get a feel for how your stuff is being received.

Also, you meet other writers who are willing to link to you on their blogsites, if you have a book published or another website.

Hi Shari,

Thanks for sharing your experience with us. It’s always good to have several perspectives regarding a given company. So we appreciate you chiming in.

Eddy

I have found AC fun over the past couple of years. It’s certainly not a scam. They don’t pay much anymore, but then they do pay residuals for work that I wrote two years ago.

I can’t figure out what “People try to “game” the system by writing articles that they have no knowledge of” means. That you are only legally allowed to write about things you have personally experienced As a Web writer, that’s kind of what you do every day.

Hi LShep,

Thanks for chiming in. Glad to hear you’re still making residual income with AC. Isn’t residual income the best lol

I’ve definitely heard AC doesn’t pay much anymore but for most that is still better than not getting paid at all which is what most work at home seekers face.

Eddy

I have written for AC for nearly a year now, and, before that, for several other sites (Speakaboutit, Helium, jollyjo.com). I also wrote (briefly) for SEO, which was a stultifying experience, at best, and, at worst, drudgery of the worst sort. From having worked at SEO, I am aware of “keywords” and the search engines’ hunger for them, but I am a writer, and I at least feel that Associated Content appreciates that. I do not agree that NONE of the articles is “read by a real person.” I do agree that, sometimes, the reasons for rejection can seem arbitrary, but that is why I established my own blog (www.weeklywilson.com). I like to write. I have 3 books coming out in rapid succession, making the 3th, 4th and 5th, and contracts for 2 more. I’m not getting rich on AC, and I do think that some writers are definitely better than others, but the concept of it being just a “machine” that reads content is inaccurate and my experience with them, while not particularly lucrative, has been very positive.

Hi Connie,

Thanks for sharing your insight. Congrats on all your success! That’s very inspiring to hear. Obviously I agree with you about this whole nonsense of a machine managing the approval process of the content.

At the end of the day AC can make people money. It may not be a lot but its better than nothing. And most people searching for work at home aren’t making any money so we’re always happy to share various smaller ways to make some money than none.

Eddy

I won’t speak much about this. Though you quite endorse AC, I have reasons to say that their business practice is rather deplorable.

Thanks, Lenin

Hi Lenin,

Feel free to speak about it here. I have an open mind and I have no problem hearing out any reasonable reasons you think their business practices are questionable.

Just because I may like a company and endorse it, doesn’t mean I can’t acknowledge possible weaknesses. I’ve done so with other companies. What I don’t have a tolerance for is when people “vilanize” a given company because of a few complaints here and there.

So feel free to post some of your objections to the company here. I’m sure our readers would appreciate reading another point of view like they do with the other articles we’ve written here.

Eddy

To Lenin,

It’s definitely not helpful to post that you find a company’s business practices questionable and then not post reasons why. We who want to find ways to make extra money need to know the reasons so that we can find out on our own whether or not they are valid.

Otherwise, the statement looks like a vague accusation and leaves me with the impression you might be a disgruntled rejectee.

Tell us your reasons!

Rosie

AC is a scam, I submitted 500 articles and they haven’t paid me a single penny for that till. They accepted all the articles and my pending balance is 2600$.

There are the real SCAM

James,

Let me start by saying I am not a writer for or a member of AC, just a person interested in possibly doing so… so these questions are meant to clarify your comment that AC is a scam. Please do not take them as attacks or antagonism, they are for the benefit of (myself) and others interested in learning about how AC does business.

Are you saying that you have a balance of $2600 recorded on your AC account Or that you figure your balance for the accepted articles is $2600.

How many page views have the accepted articles received and is there an online record of this

How long a period of time are you talking about to have submitted 500 articles

Have you submitted proof of this to AC and if so, in what form, and if so, what was the response

If there is online proof of the acceptances, the number of views for each, and of the balance due you…Have you printed screen shots of the details as proof of what you claim (this might be helpful to you as legal evidence if indeed AC is withholding your money without good reason.)

These sorts of details are very important and would be most helpful.

(that said, a caution… I was viewing a blog the other day with claims about a particular political candidate’s plans that included screen shots from the candidate’s website that had been doctored to fit the person’s claims… a look at the actual candidate’s web page showed the verbiage to be quite different. The point here: a person with an agenda and a computer can fabricate just about any claim and post it as reality.)

But back to the question about AC: I would be most interested in hearing the further details of their policies and how they have affected you. I have read the online claims of three or four satisfied AC writers who say they do make money. A bigger sample of people with varying experiences who give details of those experiences is the best way to decide.

Thanks and looking forward to more details!

–Rosie

Rosie,

You beat me to the punch. When folks claim companies are scams, I’m always interested in hearing more details. I know too often there is always two sides of the story especially in this industry.

So hopefully James can chime in and answer some of the great questions you posed to helps us all have a better understanding of what may have transpired.

By the way I’m very opposed to folks looking at one resource for the be and end all for research. (i.e. BBB) I think it provides a very limited view of given companies and situations. I prefer reading various resources to make an educated decision about a given company or situation. Because some folks can be biased or just dishonest like the blog you referenced. So I’m totally in agreement with your cautious words.

Thanks for providing some good insight.

Eddy

James…

That is the biggest crock I have ever heard in my life. The only reason you have $2600 pending is of 2 reasons. 1. You never went into your payments section to approve the payments or 2. You never submitted a 1099 to file taxes! If you make over $500 you have to fax AC 1099,… have you done so I am sure AC emailed you to let you know this, because they are always ALWAYS on point! Are you an american Non american citizens do NOT get paid. So before you so quickly throw out such a fraudulent statment check your facts, AC would NEVER leave you sitting! -An angry loyal CP of AC!

Ive made over 6k on the site, it is NOT A SCAM!

Woa there Melissa. You’re being a little harsh on James. He’s just sharing his experience.

With that said, maybe some of the reasons you mentioned is the reason he may have not got paid. But let’s not beat the guy up and make any assumptions.

I do appreciate some of the scenarios you mentioned. Maybe it will give James some things to look too or others that may have had the same experience he had.

But its good to hear from someone that has been paid by this company because it provides both sides of the stories.

Thanks.

Eddy

I’m one of those average, in-between writers; if not AC, where else can I go Have done decent at Helium…rating-wise. My articles average in the top 25%. Granted, Helium is throwing pennies at me, but it is simply a place to practice writing. I also contacted a steward at Helium who gave me writing suggestions that helped my article float up to the top 20% range. As Helium puts it, the “cream floats to the top”. ha.

If you’re trying to sock away a couple of bucks on the side working at home jotting your opinions, AC is probably your best bet. That is, if you’re comparing AC to Helium, Suite101, etc. The good writers don’t seem to complain about these writing sites as much, especially the more educated-talented-experienced writers who use AC as a dumping ground. So, if you’re not getting kudos from AC, then it is clear that you have a lot of practice ahead of you. write on, dude, write on.

Eddy,

You probably saw these, but I still wanted to share a couple of links to articles about Helium’s status quo:

http://elanso.com/ArticleModule/J2MlUUKzKzVwPAUAPpRbVwIi.html

http://www.fuckedstartups.com/2008/10/26/just-in-heliumcom-huge-layoff/

Hello..

I am not US citizen..Can I still join with Associated Content and get payment from them Is there procedure that I have to do if I want send article to AC What is meaning, only display or exclusive , non exclusive articlewhen we send article to AC.. Which should I choice..

Thanks a lot..

Hi Deni,

The best thing for you to do is actually visit the associated content website and look for their contact us or help page to ask your questions there.

They’ll be better able to answer your questions about their program.

Hope this helps.

Eddy

Deni,

“exclusive” just means that such an article is published in one place only - not shared with any other publication.

Deni,

AC do not pay non US writers for articles. I queried this and they gave me some story about tax.

However, they do pay royalties for reads. If you market your article and get reads they p0ay you about $1.50 per thousand reads.

You won’t get rich doing this but over a couple of years I have built up a following of readers and I make a few dollars a month. This is paid via Paypal regularly. The money may be little but they do pay.

i have joined AC and get paid for 6 month, well AC i s best choice to work at home

Posts and blogs stating that Associated Content is a legitimate or good opportunity to make revenue writing haven’t researched them very well. They absolutely are not legitimate although they appear to be high quality and a top executive website. This is a front and they are in reality completely unfair to their “Content Producers”. Articles must be clicked 1,000 times before $1.50 in commission is made. When compared to other websites offering writers compensation this is the bottom of the bucket. If you have articles on Google Adsense sharing websites, readers clicking articles may click only one ad and you make more commission (even when your split is only 40% to 60%), than you would with hundreds of clicks on your articles at AC. In addition to this they subtract commissions due to you, if you rub them the wrong way. If you doubt this do a search using “dishonest”, “unethical” and “Scam” together with “Associated Content” and you’ll find dozens of writers/bloggers complaining about this happening to them. AC also threatens writers who register a complaint to them by e-mail or will ignore multiple attemps by writers submitting important questions. They often remind writer who are concerned about their articles on AC’s website that they have taken total and eternal ownership of them. They have somehow made their offer sound good to writers and is why they have a steady supply of them to perpetually continue their scamming. It’s unfortunate and a shame something has not already been done about them but each passing day may see retribution for all of these unfortunate writers because thier unethical behavior is inexcusable and harming a lot of innocent, sincere writer/authors.

Markus,

Thanks for chiming in. The fact of the matter is there is always two sides of every story. I am glad you’ve been able to express your views about their site. Ultimately people have to be able to read information from both sides and then make a decision based on that.

There have been times where I read negative comments about certain companies and then when I joined the same company I never experienced any of the stuff people were complaining about. So I take complaints and positive feedback with a grain of salt and balance the information out before making a decision.

So that’s my take. With that said I do agree with one thing that you said which is to do your research. But people should always keep in mind that everything you read isn’t fact whether it’s good or bad.

Eddy

Markus

Your comment about them paying a little is correct to that extent that there are places you get more money for your clicks. But that doesn’t mean they’re unethical, they tell you how much or how little they are going to pay you. I joined a a while back because I could get ten dollars for writing 5 articles, piece of cake. Did it and cashed out. My articles have also gotten views… I haven’t promoted them yet, though I’ve recently started.

Eddy & Jussi, the problems at AC go beyond the low compensation and in regard to complaints, these are not by just a handful of people. Much of the problem has to do with reasons AC comes up with for not releasing payments or for what one comment above referred to as being “penalized”, in which case they may actually subtract from payments due. Melissa mentioned in her comment that James may not have been paid because he is not a US Citizen. She is referring to a complaint other former AC “rejectees” (per Rosie) have cited about the site. If AC knows they will not pay a non-citizens of the US, why are they entering into agreements with them The reason is that AC will take content anywhere they can get it and fully intend to benefit from overlooked clauses in their incredibly detailed agreement. As far as the proof Rosie asks for it is already evident by the many complaints you find online (do a search). Very few people who feel wronged will post all of the details online because of the legal possibilities of the information being tracked to them. Complaints you find online commonly state that the rejectees or penalized AC content producers tried to request explanations from AC and were ignored or sent disrespectful replies. The life blood of AC are these very people and they do not deserve this type treatment. When you do enough search on this and read the comments on this subject, you can’t help but to see that AC relentlessly pursues content they can gleen from prospects. They do not show respect for all of their content producers regardless of their effort but coddle those who have shown the ability to make profits for them. Certainly most online business have this same attitude but AC takes it further than any of them.

I have been a published writer (for whatever that means) for Associated Content for near a month, I haven’t really tried promoting my content other than telling my friends and family and I have posted links in a couple bulletins so my page views are still under 500 but thanks to AC I found this site. I came across WAHNS by accident, I spotted an article about working from home and I clicked it; it rated this blog (Eddy’s) in the top 5, I believe, for information on legitimate work from home programs and ways to weed out the scams. So that’s how I ended up here and have been a subscriber ever since. I am still looking for a work from home job but every lead I find has some kind of fee to get started. I don’t have any funds to spare to be able to get a program started. I even applied as a medical transcriptionist and submitted the dictation sample and passed. It took about a week total from the time I submitted the sample and in between emails, then I was able to read the agreement, that’s where I saw they do offer free training and live connect but I’d have to pay for books and software before training can begin and that was 60.00. I stated in one of my comments on here that I only get 50.00 a week, period, so that is not possible for me. They do however have a payment plan but I can’t even get into that yet because of the funds I have need to go towards my internet and household stuff before I can commit to anything. I did apply for a few affiliate programs that I found through linkshare.com but it’s only been about 3 days since I put them up. I’m watching to see how it goes and believe it’ll take some time to get off the ground. I did find out some sites wouldn’t allow certain affiliations to be pasted to their site. Like an advertisement for brewing an alcohol beverage at home, the company I won’t mention, wouldn’t stick, so to speak. Myspace and My Yearbook, I guess, won’t allow it because when I tried to copy and paste the banner it just came back with a violation note in it’s place so I took it off. They did however allow a few others including my write and join AC link. I do know that AC will take some time to make money with their 1.50 per 1,000 page views but they do also offer upfront payment for some content which I have not seen proof of yet since I have only recently submitted 1 article for upfront payment. So we’ll see. I welcome any information in the meantime on work from home ideas that do not charge fees or any other ideas that might help. Thank You Susan

Thanks for chiming in Jussi. It’s always great to hear different people’s experiences about a given opportunity. And you’ve just shared another side for people to consider.

The fact of the matter is that AC does pay. It may not be a lot and not worth it for certain writers. But for some people that are looking for any way to make some money at home then it may be an option for them especially if they haven’t be successful at landing traditional work at home jobs.

So thanks for letting us know about your personal experience and honest assessment of it.

Eddy

To Jussi and Eddy. I will say something about AC. I have in fact been paid for four of my articles published there of upfront money. It isn’t a very quick way to make money as Eddy stated is not a lot. Even though it’s not a lot, it’s worth getting at least more than a buck for each articles as long as they were not previously published anywhere else.

If you want, check mine out. This is one of my articles and my other three listed. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1108392/free_or_low_costs_ways_of_learning.htmlcat=55 Let me know what you think. I would really appreciate it a lot. I need to get working on writing some more articles for them before I posted it at ehow which I also write at. This month and in October, I got paid by them. Let me know if I can be of more help as well.

Thanks Eddy for this site. This is one my fave.

I won’t say much, only thing that AC is an unethical business is due to the link in my profile. It’s a firm belief, and you should stay away from AC after reading it.

Thanks Lenin

Feel free to highlight some of your basic points here in this post so the discussion can begin with our readers.

Eddy

Associated Content has it’s good points, and bad points! I certainly wouldn’t call it a scam from my experiences, but it’s definitely not the place to base your entire writing career on either!

F