Yes, you’ve heard it before. “Associated Content is unethical! It’s a scam!” This unfounded smear occasionally rears its ugly head around the blogosphere, and I feel the need to directly correct these misconceptions and rumors about Associated Content. Despite the fact that AC is NOT unethical and NOT a scam, there are, unfortunately, inflammatory posts out there claiming it is. I contact their authors directly when possible in an effort to open a dialogue with them. Amazingly, many of them have never published with Associated Content, so they don’t understand the way our publishing process works. I explain it to them, we have a nice conversation and often the issue is settled. On a few occasions I’ve come across posts written by disgruntled individuals we’ve had to ban from AC for trying to scam us. Below are my answers to the Associated Content scam accusations.
CLAIM: Associated Content is not truthful in our page view reporting or Associated Content lies to its Content Partners
RESPONSE: FALSE. Associated Content views our relationship with our Content Producers as a partnership that is critical to the success of our business. We strive to provide the best, most honest publishing experience on the Web because we want our Content Producers to be happy. We keep users apprised of their page view information frequently (numbers are updated site-wide twice a week), and we are working every day to shorten that time. CPs see the same traffic numbers that we do at the AC offices. We keep our system as transparent as possible so that Content Producers continue to place their trust in AC and publish their content with us. Some of the shady operators in the online content world do not share exact page view numbers on articles or allow you to continue to earn residual payments for content that has been paid for up front. Working with us is safe. Associated Content is not unethical because we are honest, reliable and we truly partner with our Content Producers. Are things perfect? No. But we are striving everyday to make our system quicker, more user friendly, and as transparent as possible.
CLAIM: Associated Content is a scam because it doesn’t pay enough
RESPONSE: FALSE. Associated Content offers the most versatile payment options for your content. Other sites only offer you a deferred payment based on the eventual performance of your content over time or a single, one-time upfront payment. Unlike any other site, we offer performance payments in addition to upfront payment for your content. We can do this because we have developed a sophisticated and proprietary set of algorithms that helps us to evaluate the future performance of content right when you submit it. With this system in place, CPs can get paid in a matter of hours or days, not weeks or months like the other guys. And your content keeps earning for you. If you want your content to earn more, be proactive about promoting your work and driving page views to your articles. You get out of it what you put into it. Scam sites are those that promise easy dollars, magically appearing in your bank account for little-to-no effort and we don’t make those kinds of claims. Our PPV system of Performance Payments at $1.50/1,000 page views is a higher rate of pay than most ad networks that are commonly used on blogs and personal websites (not to mention your rank in search is far higher on AC than it is on a personal blog). Additionally, our new “clout” program gives our most successful producers higher levels of compensation on the back end. If a CP is unhappy with their earnings, there are numerous ways to learn how to up earning potential outlined by tutorials and helpful articles by other Content Producers, as well as a great community of Content Producers in the Forum.
Many Content Producers have addressed these topics directly. For testimonials about how Associated Content is not unethical or a scam straight from the keyboards of actual site users, visit our Forum section to check out these threads:
Payment per article
Monthly Page View bonuses
If you want some outside analysis of our business model, read Work at Home No Scams to see what people who don’t work for Associated Content have to say.
I and everyone else at AC stand by our honesty in our relationship with our Content Producers. We truly believe that Associated Content is a great opportunity for everyone to earn money in the new content economy. Flame-war blog posts and libelous slams crying "scam" may be easy in this age of Internet anonymity, but they’re not professional or constructive.
Anyone who has experienced problems with Associated Content is welcome to contact me directly (email me through this blog!) and engage in a reasonable discussion about our business.
Posts
3 days ago
7 comments:
As a Content Producer who has been with AC over a year, I can honestly say that I have seen zero signs of AC being a scam.
I have always been paid any and all monies due in a timely manner - often on the same day I get an offer.
I have tried various writing venues, some during the same time I have been writing at AC. AC far outweighs any others I have tried out, as far as timely payments, communication with other writers, simple platform, and earning potentials on content.
AC is definitely not a scam. Oh, and it's also free to join - most scammers charge the "victim" some type of $$ at some point, right? AC has never asked me for even a penny for any reason. Why someone would consider the site a scam is beyond me. LOL
Oops. My comment was almost another post. LOL Sorry. :-)
As a Content producer for AC for almost half a year, I have not ever had a problem with the AC system. AC's system is clear-cut and AC is upfront with the performance system. I always know exactly what to expect. 1K page views = $1.50. Plain and simple. I love that. True if you get technical, you can start grumbing, oh it took me two hours to write this article; I'm working for only $2 an hour. Baloney. Once I learned to write popular, searchable content, I have watched the page views roll in. If my article gets 1k page views a year, and keeps that performance going for 10 years, that's $15 in my pocket while doing absolutely nothing! Now let's say I publish 1,000 articles which average 500 views a year. (Kinda low; some CP's do a lot better than 500 PV a year.)That's $7,500 in ten years for doing absolutely nothing! Of course, those numbers are actually low. Once I et to clout 7, my earnings on page views will actually increace. To have that ten-year performance as a clout ten CP would mean $10,000 actually. Plus the upfront money as well for those articles. Now how cool is that?
I don't think for one minute the page views are mis-reported. AC does seem to strive for utmost accuracy in page views, and I'm pleased with mine in general.
I don't have a problem with AC's payment structure. Do I wish they paid more? Sure. I wish everyone would pay me a million bucks per article, but that's not going to happen. If you work hard on AC, the money can be there. It's not as much as print writing, but it's one of the higher paying 'content' sites on the web today.
AC is not a scam and I don't think they are unethical either. Frustrating as the site can be at times with all the growth and changes and the CPs along for the ride, I've been with the site for going on my third year now, and I plan to be here for some time to come. It has something, and there is potential untapped yet.
I've always been paid, and usually paid quickly too, so it sure has that going for it! There were days when I first started, AC got me through some tough financial times. Of course, that 1000 bucks I got for the PMA rocked!
Good blog!
Love and stuff,
Michy
I have only had the pleasure of being a Content Producer for a little over one week, but I can tel you Associated Content is my choice to submit my articles.
AC openly details the payment policies to current and possible producers, and everthing is listed in your account details. You do not have to request your balance because AC pays you within 24hrs (at least for me they have!) of an accepted offer.
I like the fact that AC also gives you the option to choose between 3 payment tiers, each lets you choose to keeps rights to your article or to let AC have exclusive rights to it. As a writer who plans to eventualy publish on my own, thisoption is a great way to strum up loyal followers with an interest in my work.
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