Yahoo purchased Associated Content. It was rebranded as Yahoo Contributor Network. Has anyone tried this?
Yahoo Contributor Network solicits articles, and pays authors. It seems to be pay-per-post. They give you a title and you write a post on the subject. The articles are reviewed, and published. You get a fee of a couple dollars per article, more if you are popular.
Thay also pay on an eCPM basis per pageview. I'm making $0.50 per thousand pageviews via AdBrite. Yahoo Contributor Network pays an eCPM of $1.00-$1.50 or more. I get 10k pageviews/month here, which would make me mid-tier by their standards.
If you give Yahoo a nonexclusive license, you get paid less. If you give Yahoo an exclusive license, you get paid more. If I wanted a decent rate, I'd be barred from republishing it here.
For example, if the post subject was "Bush Tax Cuts", I could write about "All taxation is theft." However, the posts are reviewed by an editor. I might not make the cut. I saw people complaining that their articles were unfairly rejected or that they were unfairly banned.
The payout threshold is $100. They could pull a Google AdSense, and ban me just before I earn $100.
My most popular posts are economics-related. One of the categories is "Business and Finance". I might do well there. It depends. If Yahoo's editors are pro-State trolls, it's pointless. If the editors are more openminded, it could work out.
There didn't seem to be an option for "automatically upload the RSS feed from my blog". They want me to write content specifically for them.
There's another negative bit. All payouts are done via PayPal. I'd have to open a PayPal account. My parents would probably veto that. They're deathly afraid of Internet banking. I know I shouldn't let that stop me, but an argument with them isn't worth it.
One rule of PayPal is "*NEVER* use your regular checking account for PayPal." There are too many horror stories of people having their checking account frozen or stolen by PayPal. If you do use PayPal, open an account at a different bank, and only use that account for PayPal. Keep only the minimum balance.
Yahoo Contributor Network seems like a decent experiment. I'd have to write posts specifically for them. I'd have to open a PayPal account in order to use it. My parents would probably object for a stupid reason. It isn't worth the hassle.
However, I'm going to be unemployed. I doubt I'd even earn minimum wage. Right now, my effective blogging income is approximately $0.10/hr.
Has anyone tried Yahoo Contributor Network? Do you think it's a worthwhile experiment? One of the categories is "Business and Finance", which I should be good at. However, if Yahoo's editors are pro-State trolls, then it's a waste of time. Also, I'm disturbed that, in order to earn a decent rate, I have to give Yahoo an exclusive publishing license.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
FSK Asks - Yahoo Contributor Network
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4 comments:
My understanding with paypal management is you set up a paypal account and a second account at the same bank. Then you set up a script to log in, check the balance, and if there is a balance, "sweep" it to the other account. The paypal contract does indeed give them control over the account it is associated with, but not accounts at the same bank. So then when (when not if) paypal decides to steal all your money, you only lose a day's income.
If you think you will only get chicken feed from writing Internet articles, take a step back.
Why don't you write a whole book?
You might be able to self-publish it - either in HTML or PDF format on the web with maybe a Donate button. Or maybe get it into a Kindle or eBook format.
An organized book might be a better way to get money.
I always though getting money via online advertising was a bit hit and miss.
Unless you can get a contract with a mainstream media publisher, writing a book and self-publishing it isn't going to be profitable.
Yes, online advertising is pretty lame. I'm only making $5/month, and I have a pretty good blog. I don't see how any startup can survive on a "make money advertising" plan.
The way I thought PayPal works is that they periodically freeze/steal your checking account. I heard that other accounts at the same bank aren't necessarily safe either.
There are other online payment processors such as Google Checkout.
You seem to declare the certain forms of action won't work.
Perhaps you are right.
BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN YOU SHOULD NOT TRY.
DON'T DECLARE FAILURE WITHOUT EVEN TRYING.
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