How does working for Mahalo compare to working for Associated Content and Demand Studios?

I'll answer this one, since I've written at Demand Studios, Examiner, Suite 101, and others. :) Mahalo is the perfect hybrid of all of the above sites, in my opinion. Demand Studios is an up-front pay content mill, meaning you pick your articles from a queue of thousands of titles and they will pay you $5 - $15 per article depending on the format (About, Strategy, How To, etc.) The pay there is VERY reliable (2x per a week) and consistent.

However, it's just that. I've written probably 50 articles for Demand Studios, and now I haven't logged in since September, which means I haven't made a DIME from there since. Compared to Mahalo, where my pages are continuing to earn me dollars even over the holidays when I haven't been logging in as much.

Sites like Examiner, Suite101, eHow, and I *think* Associated Content don't give you upfront pay, instead you earn a percentage of either the page views or ad clicks that your articles get. They let you write about whatever you want but if you don't know quite a bit about SEO or promote your pages, you don't really get what you put into them. Mahalo is different because you DO get up front pay (anywhere from $5 - $10 depending) AND you get 40% of the AdSense revenue on the page.

This means that even if your pages don't earn you anything after you write them, you still do earn the upfront money. Better written pages, well-researched with good keywords and use of SEO will ALSO earn you page revenue. The difference is that you write an "article" which actually is a page on Mahalo and then you get to manage that page and keep it up in standards.

How well your pages perform is up to you, you have direct control over them. Another advantage is the use of Google Analytics on Mahalo. On Suite101 and Demand Studios, you don't really have any idea how your work translates into dollars.

You don't know how many page views you really get on each article. This means that you aren't able to make tweaks or learn about what pages perform better. Mahalo allows you to plug Google Analytics code in and keep track of traffic sources, page views, length of time on your pages and really mentor yourself into being a great, high-earning page manager.

Another advantage of Mahalo is TRANSPARENCY. Other sites like to claim "one writer here makes $5,000 a month" or "earning potential up to 50,000 a year" but you don't really know that is the case. On Mahalo, you can see the Leaderboard that shows exactly what people are making.

You can click on any user and see their pages and their earnings. When payout comes around each month, Mahalo staff will post up the cash out values, so you can literally see just how lucrative Mahalo is financially for the freelance writers who work here. And, unlike AC, Examiner, DS, etc. - Mahalo staff are available, friendly, helpful, and accessible.

They're here in Mahalo Answers, they're available by email. Having them around is excellent and is quite a resource when learning the ropes. The community here is positive for the most part, friendly, and there is always someone willing to give you tips.

There's really a community feel here -- every page that is improved and made better makes Mahalo as a whole better, which in turn means success for everyone. I've made almost $1000 on Mahalo and had fun the entire time. I made several hundred on Demand Studios, and it was extremely hard work and felt like a 9-5 job while drudging through articles.

And that's the REAL difference. Mahalo is fun and has a community feel that no other site does. For more information, I have a blog that I've been writing about freelance writing at: http://finallyfreelance.blogspot.com.

I have used all three and Mahalo offers at least three ways to make money continuely. You can make money from creating pages either by creating How-tos or barnraisers. You can earn royalties from those pages you create.

Another way for you to make money is by answering questions on Mahalo. I also think another major difference is there is like a real economy on Mahalo. People on the site pay others to have their questions answered and Mahalo money is added to questions every time someone wants to rate questions.

Mahalo also promotes more interaction between itself and its users and users themselves. *I also think Mahalo is trying to centralize all aspects of information that is useful to people seeking it. There are many more differences but these are the ones that stand out most.

The main and most importance difference is the nature of the relationship. Below is an e-mail I sent to a Mahalo recruiter regarding payment: Dear Mrs. Jane Doe: I received an e-mail today from another Mahalo associate regarding the initial assignment you mentioned below. I feel a bit confused and misled regarding compensation.

When I replied to the advertisement, I was under the impression your company was looking for quality writers and would pay them for quality work. After receiving the e-mail today, this appears vaguely true. The company's compensation and content requirements complicate the matter.

Mahalo works off these Mahalo dollars. But as your own website notes, one dollar equals seventy-five cents after the Paypal fees. And no payment can be requested until more than one-hundred fifty Mahalo dollars are earned.An examination of your style guidelines for "how to" pieces shows this seriously shorts the writer.

Each step in your "how to's" is supposed to be approximately two-hundred words. But with most "how-to" pieces requiring multiple steps, this puts just the "steps portion" of the article at six-hundred words or more. And after adding your introduction, quick- fact paragraph, video links... Basically, I can't afford to write for you.

Each how-to piece I currently write is five-hundred words. Each piece earns me ten dollars. And payment is with a check, not Paypal.

It's as honest and straightforward as that. I would suggest, going forward, openly discussing compensation from the get-go. This will determine whether a writer would even be interested in your company.

Just placing an add that says each article will be paid twelve dollars is not forthright and misleading. And revenue sharing is based on trust and very indeterminable. Other writers may see your advertisement as giving the promise of a straightforward business relationship, but only find there is mostly stipulation hiding a very meager payment.

I can talk only about Mahalo since I never tried the other sites you mentioned. I can answer the questions in Mahalo as well as do the tasks. Once the task is approved by the QC team the page is mine to keep.

I can keep it updated as often as I want. My pages are not making much money compared to some of the best pages in Mahalo. I am probably making few cents or may be a buck here and there for my pages.

If you are good enough to get in to the how to team, which I tried several times and failed, you really have an opportunity to make money from the system. If you get the power to create your own tasks, you can make more money from tasks. Remember, Jason, the CEO of Mahalo said the money and the points are just for fun.

The system is not to make anybody rich, but to give some fun. Anyway, when you are just answering questions, you won't feel like you are working. But, if you are looking for some good money, better to go for a regular job.

That is what exactly I am going to do in the next month. Hope you will have fun in Mahalo!

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.