So What Happened to me in Helium and Bukisa?

Well nothing really... there is only 24 hours in a day- during which I still need to raise a child, manage a household, work on building an online store at Zazzle, do ghostwriting at Textbroker, create fun Squidoo lenses and build a blog (which just became 2)... while all of these are fun...(and they are!) I had to draw the line somewhere to ensure that I do not spread myself too thin and give up on the quality of work that I publish on these sites. So for now, there is a pause and these are my articles over at Helium and Bukisa. I do hope that sometime in the future, I do write in these sites... as they are great sites to write in...

Aysha @ Helium


Aysha @ Bukisa

Writing at Helium

There are indeed many great writing sites for beginners to start their writing career, publish their work to the public, create a portfolio, and even earn some money through it. These sites are easy to use, and would show you how easy it is to start writing online and pursue a career in writing.

What I really liked about it is the fact that others could read my articles and and let me know where it stands. It also gives you the opportunity to read the articles from writers all over the world, learn more and also gain an insight on many writing styles and learn which is more suitable than others.

One such site is Helium. Helium is a article submission directory that gives people the chance to write articles on a wide range of topics. Each article is expected to be 400 words or above. Another great feature on Helium is their rating segment. Writers are not only encouraged to submit articles but also to anonymously rate the articles written by fellow Helium members. This way, not only did I learn alot about many other topics, I also got to see what are the different qualities expected in a good article.

So how do we get paid on Helium? Well part of the income comes from adshare revenue when visitors view your article. They follow the rating star system to determine how much you earn. The more active you are in the rating section, the more stars you get, the more your views earn.

For the written article, the amount you earn is determined by the number of writing stars you have earned. Helium is a community that wants to encourage good writing. Thus the ratings on your article earn you stars. When you get one-star or more, it shows that your article stand in high ranking. This would be an excellent assessment on where your article stands.

If you are looking for another avenue to write, or would like to explore this to start writing, click on this icon and check out Helium.com

Me?? Writing??

Now writing was an option that I used to consider and hesitate. I mean me?? write?? Why did I reconsider
1. I am no English scholarly writer. I mean my English was fairly good..but I am no Shakespeare or any famous novelist.
2. I won't even write my own personal diary

But then I liked the idea of exploring topics, finding out more, learning new things in the name of research. And it can be done online! So I did some search and came across hiring websites like Demand Studios and asked myself "Why would they hire me?"

I am yet to build a portfolio. I do not have a degree in the English language or Journalism ( I do have a degree though). Then why?

So then I started thinkin "How do I get hired as a writer eventually?" Answer: Create a portfolio!
But it didnt make sense for me to write random articles and file them at home. I needed to be out there. In the World Wide Web.. So I did some searches.

And lo and behold, I was amazed to find that there were websites that would let you publish your articles, and some even paid you a little for them. The money was almost close to nothing. But, I just found the perfect platform to build a portfolio.

So then I started trying out these websites.

Helium
Associated Content
Bukisa

There were a whole bunch of others I tried, but didn't quite like. Some were too spammy and others just didn't work...

So how did these sites help me build the portfolio and what happened next?.....



Image Credit: Shocked Classic Mickey by Disney @ Zazzle