Content Aggregators

There are four main types of content aggregator:

1. those that sell your article for a cut (e.g., http://www.constant-content.com/ ),
   
2. those that pay you up front for your article (e.g., http://www.associatedcontent.com/ ),
3. those that generate ad revenue with your article, and share a percentage with you (e.g., http://www.triond.com/ ), and
4. those that merely host your article for free (e.g., http://www.goarticles.com/ ).

As you progress through the types, the pay becomes less, but the rules regarding article content become less strict.

Constant Content articles typically sell for $10-$20 per 500 words (and sometimes much more), but are hand reviewed by an editor before being accepted on the site. Grammar is expected to be perfect. All claims of fact must be backed by references. Revise and resubmit instructions are common. Authors may choose from among nonexclusive, exclusive and ghostwrite licenses. Prices of $50-$100 are not uncommon for ghostwrite licenses, under which the buyer may present the article as their own work. Skilled writers can earn perhaps $40/hr in this way.

Associated Content pays an average of $3 for 500 words, although regulars can earn up to $10. The articles are human reviewed, however the reviews are much less strict mostly checking for blatant gibberish and plagiarism. People talk of submitting 10 and 15 articles per day. It seems quite possible to earn $10 and later $20 per hour with Associated Content and very ordinary writing skills.

Triond only checks that articles meet basic standards of human decency before publishing them. Authors are paid 50% of what the articles generate in ad revenue. New bloggers won't be able to beat that revenue generation without paid promotion but, with a little diligence and a reasonable niche choice, should outrank Triond and its ilk after 3-6 months.

Which brings us to free article directories. Why would you use one of these directories if you could be paid for your efforts? That in turn, brings us to the topic of search engine optimization (SEO) for your money making site. Several article directories like goarticles.com rank highly with search engines. Hosting articles there with links to your site can boost your site's search engine rank. Since article standards are quite loose at free directories, the article can be furthermore optimized just for this purpose rather than for human readability. It's also possible that your article will be copied verbatim to other websites, further enhancing the SEO effect.

Constant Content isn't going to make anyone rich, but for skilled writers, it could be an excellent way to pay the bills in the meantime. For most, Associated Content will likely be the better option, particularly once a good relationship has been established. Sites like Triond would be more useful if they outranked the free sites, but recent search engine algorithm adjustments have downranked them as a class. Free article directories have also been downranked, but in many cases, have made up the difference with sheer volume. We'll certainly be returning to them when we talk about traffic generation for affiliate marketing programs in later posts.