How to Make Money Writing for Associated Content

I should start this article by stating that I am in no way an expert on this topic, yet. However, I have been writing online articles for pay for two years now. Originally, I did it for extra money. Today, it is all I do. I should also state that Associated Content is not the only site that I write for. However, I am focusing more of my efforts on this site than ever before. By the end of this article, you will understand why.


What To Write

One of the best things about writing for Associated Content is that you can write about whatever you wish, within reason of course. If you want to write articles about how to build a bomb and use it to blow up the world, you will need to publish it elsewhere. Other than common sense forbidden topics, the sky is the limit.

Ideas for your articles are everywhere. The more specific, the better. For example, writing about how to train dogs is good, but how to train beagles is better. What Associated Content wants more than anything is content that is not common. I learned this the hard way. While I was paid for articles that covered broad subject matter, these articles receive very few page views. You will understand why page views are important shortly.


Submission Types

There are three ways to submit your content: Exclusive, Non-Exclusive, and Display Only.

Exclusive allows you to submit your article for upfront payment, and then receive income based on the number of times it is viewed once published. If you submit your content in the manner, you cannot republish it elsewhere. You are selling the rights to your article to Associated Content when you choose this option. Because of this, this type of submission qualifies you to receive a larger upfront payment. Your article will be reviewed within one to two weeks.

Non-exclusive submissions are still eligible for upfront payments, however, the amount will likely be smaller. This method allows you to republish your content elsewhere, and you will still be paid for how many page views it receives. This method also has a waiting period of one to two weeks before it is reviewed and can be published.

Display only articles can be published immediately, and are only eligible for payment based on the number of page views it receives. Since Associated Content offers no upfront payment for opinion, editorial, or review based work, you will want to choose this option for those type of pieces.


The Importance of Page Views

You will earn money in addition to any upfront payments in the form of performance payments. This is a dollar amount that is assigned to a specific number of page views. You will continue to earn this money for as long as your article is published on Associated Content. This is the beauty of writing for AC. The ability to earn residual income is a powerful thing.

In order to get the maximum number of page views, you should not rely solely on the major search engines indexing your article. You will have to do some promoting of your own. Occasionally, I post my articles on Facebook if I think they are relevant to my friends. In fact, this article with be posted there because I know there is interest. I also post article links that are viewed by my 11,000+ followers on Twitter.

Never spam a social network with your links. They should only be posted when appropriate. If you over-post your articles, you could lose your right to use the site, and even worse, lose friends. No one appreciates spam. I hate it, you hate it, do not do it.


What Else Should I Know?

A few things actually.

Try to keep your articles at least 400 words in length. Any shorter, and the search engines will not feel there is enough "meat" in them, and may choose to ignore them.

Use keywords. Basically, keywords are words or phrases that are repeated more than once in an article. These keywords make it easy for the search engines to find and index your articles. I am still trying to master this, and am constantly reading up their proper use.

Always list information sources. These could be pages that helped you formulate an article idea, or pages to support what you have written about. You will notice mine for this article below.

Never post affiliate links in your articles. This is not the place to promote your get rich overnight eBook. Associated Content is for providing useful and interesting information to readers. Nothing more, nothing less.


This article is just a general guide for those looking to make money on Associated Content. There are many AC authors that have written about this topic, and have certainly covered aspects that I may have left out. To learn more, search the site, and read all you can about how to make money with Associated Content.

After that, write your first article and submit it. There is no greater feeling than getting that email that notifies you that Associated Content is willing to pay you for your writing.