allisonshell.com

There’s been a lot of buzz this week about Google’s adjustment to its algorithm, and how it has majorly affected so-called “content farms”, like suite101.com, wisegeek.com, and ezinearticles.com. These sites are notorious for optimizing poorly-written content to rank well on Google, and as a result creating “dirty results” for the average web searcher. (To read more about this issue, click here or here after you finish reading MY post, of course:-)  Long before all the buzz this week, there has been constant debate amongst writers about these sites, the argument being that they take advantage of fledgling writers by making money from their work and paying them a pittance, if at all.

Well guess what? I’ve written for Associated Content and Yahoo! Contributor Networks, and I’d say everyone involved has been pretty pleased with the arrangement–that would be me, the websites, and the readers. A few key reasons could be:

* I wasn’t writing for the money.

* I wasn’t just getting started in the business.

* I write with integrity.

* I knew what I wanted.

I Wasn’t Writing For the Money.  Are you kidding? I think to date, I’ve banked less than a grand from my adventures at Associated Content and Yahoo! Contributor Networks, and that includes residuals that I’ve continued to receive for years. Nope, money wasn’t the issue.

I Wasn’t Getting Started in the Business. I’ve been a writer for a looong time. I have a degree in journalism, I have been a business writer, primarily a marketing specialist, for years.

I Write With Integrity. Sure, it is possible to churn out a bunch of well-optimized junk and score high in the rankings with these sites, but for my purposes–I wanted to use these short pieces as clips–I wanted to publish work to be proud of, despite the fact that there wasn’t a hard-core editor breathing down my neck.

I Knew What I Wanted. Ahhh, the most important part. I wanted a few very specific things. See, at the time, I was a year into juggling motherhood, my (previously adored but suddenly overly demanding) job at a Fortune 100 company, and Erik was starting his own law firm. Talk about pressure and burnout. I saw freelance writing and marketing as a possible Big Way Out, but realized that my only remaining fiber-thin connection to the writing world was the parenting blog I had managed to sporadically maintain over the past two years. So I set out to find an outlet for my writing that, quite honestly, demanded very little of me in some ways, but could serve me in a few specific ways:

•  I wanted to write for a site that offered analytics of my work. I was new to this whole internet thing, and needed a site that was going to give me reports (I never met a report I didn’t like) so I would know how many people were reading, which pieces they were reading, etc.
•  I wanted to write for a site that offered some kind of guidance for writing online. I knew that things had changed since my last corner office marketing job, and I needed some clue as to what those changes were, and how I could adapt my writing to master the field. The site I chose offered tutorials, and had a great forum for writers to exchange feedback with one another.
•  I wanted to write for a site that enforced deadlines. I wanted some kind of soft accountability, and I wanted to be able to challenge myself to write faster. I’ve always been a pretty slow, precise writer, and I sensed that the game had changed.
•  I wanted to write for a site that  paid SOMETHING.

While the pieces I published via Associated Content won’t win any Pulitzers, I learned how to write online content for an ever-changing marketplace. I’m still learning, for that matter–aren’t we all?

photo credit: sxc.hu/kakaopor