Associated Content Special Offer good thru 6 April 2007

Associated Content is guaranteeing a minimum of $8 for every exclusive Product Review received through Friday, April 6th.

What do you own that you couldn’t live without? Whether it’s a pair of jeans or a set of golf clubs, a handbag or a headache reliever, a kayak or a camera, we want you to write about it! Discuss why you bought your product, specific features you love, even what you wish you could change.

Each article should:

• Provide a brief synopsis in the first paragraph. Web users tend to scan information, so you want to engage them quickly or else they’ll click away.
• Be descriptive and use your keywords (words or phrases a web user would enter when searching for information on your product) throughout.
• Use the name of your product in the headline.
• Be at least 400 words.

Make sure you type “CSO” in the sub-headline field so your content qualifies for this special offer.

Maximum 5 product reviews per Content Producer. AC reserves the right to decline any submissions due to poor quality.

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Other Topic Ideas
These are not included in the CSO above, but AC is looking for articles about:

• Activities and Restaurants for Mother’s Day/Father’s Day/Graduations
• Must-Have Gifts for the High School Grad
• Celebrities
• Home Remodeling and Repair Projects
• Wedding Reception Halls, Dresses
• New Model Product Reviews
• Where to Take ___ Lessons in ___ (City)
• First-Hand Travel Reviews
• __ City/Neighborhood’s Top Restaurant

Associate Content Tip of the Day 30 March 2007: Referrals

Here’s a video that walks you through how to use the AC referral system.  Spread the word and get paid for doing it. Thanks to Timothy Scheiman

Associated Content Tip of the Day 29 March 2007: Editing Your Pre-published Article

After you submit your article for payment you still have time to proof and edit.  Anytime before you accept the offer you may open the article in view and/or edit mode to proof or change.

Click the My Content tab.  To the left of your queued articles will be three small letter/icons “v” “e” and “x”.

Clicking the “v” will allow you to preview your article in the same manner as the final step of the publishing template.

The “e” will take you back into the 5-page publishing template allowing you to edit anything that you want to change.  From there you may make corrections to the body of your article, add/edit takeaways, add photos (sorry deleting a photo is not currently an option), etc.

The “x” will delete the article from the queue completely and it will be forever gone.  Be careful with the “x”.  There’s no undo.

More Music!

It was like pulling teeth to get this on-line, but with the band’s permission and AC’s audio support I was able to post Chris Berry and the Retrofitter’s 24 Hours for your consumption.

The interview with Chris was a blast.   He’s a funny character with a big talent. The CD (Emerald River Project) runs the blues to reggae to western genre.  If you like the cuts (another is available here) drop chrisberryandtheretrofitters at hotmail dot com a note.  You can pick it up for just 10 bucks and Chris may even sign a copy for you.

Note to Self

Bottle cheap liquor and brand name it “Responsibly.”  Then I’ll have tons of free advertising from all the other liquor manufacturers when their commercials say, “Drink Responsibly.”  Then wait for the money to roll in.

Why TMNT?

Be true to yourself. Make sure the kids are in the bed. It’s quite possible I’m in this video. Spot the nerd. Feel the burn. Catch the drift.

My wife made me play this other video of the 3-year-old monster slayer 12 time and laughed harder every time. Consider it a cute extra.

Associated Content Tip of the Day: 26 March 2007

Today’s tip is brought to you by the letter P and the letter G.  I’ve been meaning to write something like this for a while.  Thanks PG.

Associate Content: The honest company you have to shake a stick at

Associate Content is huge and growing. Like any growing company they are experiencing growing pains. The nice thing is they don’t let the fact that they get behind sometimes change the fact that they are honest in their dealings with their content providers. In a world of Enrons, it’s refreshing to find a company that will stand up and say, “Yep. You’re right. Our bad.”

Case in point their referral program. Like many web sites, AC gives perks and bonuses when you refer others to participate. They have changed the offer a few times. It used to be sign up 5 and get $5 each. Then they changed it to $3 a head. Right now they have a whole slew of new ways to pay.

I have been with AC since July 2006. According to their records, 14 people used my referral link to join. I had never seen a dime. Was this slight, dishonesty, maleficence? No; it turns out it was a simple oversight. After posting just such a question in the AC forum, I was asked by AC to send the list to a particular address.

Without so much as a “hiydee-ho,” I got a deposit email from PayPal for $42. The note attached was, “This payment is for 14 outstanding referrals…” Implied is, “Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Our bad.”

Shaking a stick or being the squeaky wheel have their places. It never hurts to ask. Some companies will blow you off. It’s always refreshing to deal with an honest company like AC. They are willing to listen and make things right. So much on the web today is a scam. The internet is full of “you pay us to write” sites. Associate Content is a rare internet company that does what it promises…pays you to write. The extra is they put a human face on your computer. There are actual AC employees who interact with the content producers.

If you’re thinking about joining the AC community or even if you are already a member, don’t overlook the AC forums. There is where you can find information that is available no where else on the site. Most of the participants try to help each other navigate the choppy waters that arise from time to time. It’s in the forum that you can make quick, direct contact when questions arise.

Somehow, somewhere the forum got a bad reputation. Like every free-for-all there are moments that devolve, but in the long run, the information and comradeship is irreplaceable.

Associated Content Tip of the Day 24 March 2007: Creating Bullets

The Associated Content editor does not contain a bullet maker when you are creating your article. The safest way to create a bulleted list at AC is to use some basic HTML. It’s not hard. Just remember to close all your tags and everything will look fine.

In HTML you have two choices for the list you want to create, ordered or unordered. An ordered list will create numbers starting at 1 and increasing for each bullet. HTML will track the numbers automatically. If you add a bullet to the middle of the list, all the following numbers will increment.

An unordered list will create simple bullets. The web site’s style sheet will determine what the bullet looks like. Your article preview may show simple circles, but once published they may change to arrows or whatever AC defines as a bullet.

To create an ordered or numbered list, use the OL tag. For an unordered or bullet list, use the UL tag. Within each OL or UL block, designate your bullet with the LI tag. HTML tags are denoted by using the less-than (<) and greater-than (>) keys. Every HTML tag needs an open and close point. To open a tag type “<tag>”. To close the tag type “</tag>”.

Here is an example of an ordered list:

1. This is point number 1
2. Here is number two
3. Hehe, I just said “number two”
4. Now you know the basics

The code for that list is
<ol>
<li>This is point number 1</li>
<li>Here is number two</li>
<li>Hehe, I just said “number two”</li>
<li>Now you know the basics</li>
</ol>

Here is an example of an unordered list:

• With a bullet
• From a gun
• Made you look
• Made you run

The code for that list is
<ul>
<li>With a bullet</li>
<li>From a gun</li>
<li>Made you look</li>
<li>Made you run</li>
</ul>

One word of caution
Once your article is published at AC your bullets may be partially hidden by some of the other columns of the AC layout. This is true of lists that appear at the top of your article’s page. They tend to be hidden by the picture and/or takeaways. If you rely heavily on lists in your article, consider not including a picture, fun fact, and takeaways. This allows more space for your text and more room for you bullets to shine.

Associated Content Tip of the Day 23 March 2007: Jargon

Every business has its own jargon and acronyms. Working in a government environment, I’ve held entire conversations that sounded like a spelling bee. Associated Content is no different. Some of these are obvious, but let’s spell out some of the terms frequently thrown around Associated Content especially in their forums.

• AC = Associated Content (We’re starting off slowly).
• CP = Content Producer: A contributor of articles, videos, and audio content to the AC site.
• CM = Content Manager: An AC employee who reviews CP submissions.
• Offer = A monetary bid made by a CM to a CP for their submission.
• Rejection = A no-bid offer made by a CM as in “We can’t pay you for this, but you can submit for free.”
• CSO = Content Special Offer: an email or newsletter that AC sends out requesting/suggesting topics. Often the CSO will be accompanied by a minimum guaranteed rate, but not always.
• Taxes = Monies owed the government on income. Even a single dollar is taxable. Any money you earn with AC is taxable. Once you reach $600, the IRS requires the company to send you a 1099. If you reach $600, expect AC to ask for your SSN/EIN.
• PV = Page Views: A count of the number of hits your article has seen. See also “non-real-time counter.”
• Bonus = AKA PV Bonus: The amount of money your article(s) made from the number of page views. See also “non-real-time counter.”

These last few may or may not be accurate

• AC Ambassador = A long extinct mythical creature similar to the elemental of Leap Castle.
• Sam = The coolest CM @ AC because he actually talks to us and offers help.
• Jerk = A CP that posts in the forum under the name theBarefoot. He frequently bashes noobies and posts useless crap.
• Low Offer = Getting less than your previous offer. Usually the result of low keyword density or just being too lazy to roll with the punches and figure things out for yourself.
• High Offer = Another long extinct mythical creature similar to a meteorite.
• AC Video = Something that when it actually plays makes you feel like you won the lottery.
• AC Audio = Something submitted for free that still takes more than 2 weeks to publish.
• Submission = Anything you submit to AC. A CP that makes a submission is also known as a supplicant.
• Beta = associatedcontent.com a web site in a constant state of flux both from a technical & business model point of view.
• BOL = Best of Luck: what you will need on your adventures at AC.