Some things are well known. We all know keyword density is important so that Google’s crawler knows what your site is about. Titles are important. Text needs to be discoverable.

This is another reason that I like writing things at Associated Content – and one reason it is in some ways better than a blog.

How Do You Know What Works?

Trial and error.

Sure, you can read about keyword density and search engine optimization all day. You’ll never know if it works until you try it. And you’ll never know it was your optimization that worked until compare a handful of articles on the same topic with different styles.

Think of it as an experiment of sorts. By writing about a single topic with three or four different angles, you can see what works and what doesn’t. You might pick up some trailing phrases that you didn’t think of just by writing the same piece with a slightly different angle and some alternate word choices.

Do Your Readers Want to Read Five Articles About the Same Thing?

Probably not. If you’re trying to build a regular readership for your blog, you don’t want to come out with five slightly different articles about how NCAA football needs a playoff.

Ahh, but are you worried about subscribers at Associated Content? Well, some people are. I’m not. I see it as a playground to write things that are destined just for the search engine minefield.  My writings at AC vary across so many topics that it doesn’t really make sense for people to subscribe to it.

That makes it the perfect place to test out writing techniques. For example, today I wrote up two pieces about Fallout 3 – How Do I Finish Chapter 6 of Fallout 3 Without Killing Everyone and How to Complete Chapter 6 “Tranquility Lane” Without Losing Karma.

Each article says substantively the same thing – it tells the reader how to complete the quest in a certain way. They do so in different ways, though, from the title right down to the conclusion.

Oh, and Get Your Backlinks While You’re At It

Like I’ve written before, Associated Content is also a great place to create some links back to your own content on your blog.

In this case, I’m writing a lengthier, illustrated walkthrough on Chapter 6 in Fallout 3 on this site. The Associated Content articles tackle the same topic in a more concise way, and they include a few well crafted links back to my content here. A reader that finds the AC articles could want more information and click on the links back here – earning me more traffic.

I wouldn’t say that Associated Content is better than a blog or that it has more earning potential in the long run. It is, however, a good supplement to a blog – allowing you to hone your SEO practices and improve your site at the same time.

Why don’t you go flex your SEO muscles at Associated Content? It’s a great place to test out all those theories without boring your regular readers.

I didn’t actually write an article until September of this year. For some reason, I never got around to it. I was quite pleased when they offered me an upfront payment of $10 for my first article.

Since then, I’ve written another 30 articles and published them at Associated Content. I’ve gotten a better idea of what to expect, payment wise. The initial $10 seems to be a high payment to entice you to write more… and it definitely worked.

Like I wrote in this page about how much you can earn at AC, I came to expect an average of about $4-5 per article. For a while I experimented with non-exclusive articles and I saw that average drop to about $3-4 per article.

Since September, I’ve published 31 articles at Associated Content. A handful of those were not for up front payment. A few of them were already published on another blog, and I felt uncomfortable asking for upfront payment (although at this point I think I should have). A couple others I used to promote my own website – so I figured it wasn’t right to ask for payment for those, either. 

So, between the 25 or so articles that I published up front and the performance payments for the past few months, I’ve earned about $120.00. I also have not had any of my articles that I submitted for up front payment rejected.

Is this typical? I’d say it’s typical of what you can do without doing a lot of work. I didn’t attempt to publicize my work – so I didn’t reap a lot from the performance payment. I also didn’t experiment much to find a niche that was more popular than education. I found it very easy to write those 25 articles and earn over $100 – and I think anyone can do a similar thing.

I also wasn’t writing as fast as I could have. I just started a new job teaching in September, so my free time for writing was drastically cut back. When I sat down and wrote a few articles at a time, it was easy to make $20 – other times I’d just publish one article in a week for $4.

A lot of money? No. But it got me a little spending cash, and I really didn’t put a lot of time into it. This is, however, proof that the money is there – and they pay consistently. The amount that you make is based on how much you’re willing to work and how much time you’ve got to spare.

So if you haven’t signed up already… head over to Associated Content and write an article or two. There’s some spending cash waiting for you.