Yahoo bought Associated Content. Most of you backlink collectors know AC as the place you go to drop your article on turtle shoes for the tasty link love. If you don’t know of AC it may be time to introduce yourself. As you know, Yahoo is pretty much giving up its search engine to Bing. So what is left is its properties and ad network. As I am a web sewer magician I have told you that the great Lost Ball has seen a future where quality content will fucking matter. Do you think Yahoo bought AC because it like the amount of article sewage it displaces? It bought it because it wants relatively entertaining and informative articles, photos and videos to place their ads onto without having to create the content itself. AND it wants that content to show up in the remaining search engines.
It is a tasty business model. For them and you. This outfit pays you to write decent articles. Apparently you can earn upfront payments and residual fees. It’s a much better deal than Ezine Articles. Screw EA. They want the content to monetize 100% for themselves. They grudgingly allow you a backlink to your website. If I’m going to take the time to organize 400 words in an easy to understand arrangement, I’d like to get a little something more than a hyperlink for the effort.
Have I been using AC? Nope. I’ve preferred to spew easy to fling garbage into the landfill while sending some of my better refuse to Ezine. I think I may adjust my model to collect some coin from AC. You are going to get the vast authority that is Yahoo working for you. You will have the opportunity to at least earn something from your extra efforts. And you will be able to collect the all important backlink. Yahoo is encouraging publishers to create entertaining and informative articles, videos and photos.
Some of you may already be using this outfit to disperse your data into the web server. Maybe you are happy with the money it provides. Perhaps you think it sucks. Either way let’s hear about it. I’m sure no one gets rich using AC but it seems, in theory, like a good deal. Whatever suckage AC has maybe Yahoo will make it suck less.
I realize there is nothing new here. But the fact that Yahoo bought AC really perked my interest. There are times when I can sit down and pound out 400 words on a topic in about 10 minutes. But I can’t necessarily, nor want to, build a whole site around the topic. Maybe I want to create a video. Or build a photo slideshow. Whatever. The point is I now have the full authority of Yahoo. That changes my thinking on using AC for content dispersal. The potential for collecting coin is a powerful motivator. Between Squidoo, Hubpages and AC, you could certainly do worse in your efforts to make some extra money on the cheap.
The shift to quality content rolls on.
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Does Associated Content allow you a backlink in your article? I browsed through it a few times because they outrank me for some of my target topics. All the links I found were internal.
Hey Splork, hows it going?
It also caught in my radar about Yahoo and AC although I cared about it for about the time it took me to take another sip of coffee and then move onto something more useful. Problem with AC as its always been is its only open to US players – the rest of us non-US savages are not allowed to enter their hallowed orifices. Never have been and probably never will be. Same with Yahoo PPC ads before they got swallowed up by the two dudes and their granny working in their garage and calling themselves Chitika…
So the news that xenophobic Yahoo have taken equally xenophobic AC met with a less than sharp intake of breath and a disinterested grunt.
Bet your so glad I cam in to comment… LMAO!!
I also like to focus on backlinks sources that I can make some money from, although I’ve never used AC, since they don’t pay people outside the US. Maybe Yahoo will change that policy, although I’m not holding my breath.
Sure you can add backlinks as long as you don’t overdo it or put in affiliate links. Check the FAQ on AC. On some of my Hubpages I internally link to other Hubpages and not go off site so that is not uncommon. If you are trying to make money on the articles you submit through residuals you want as many page views as possible. Keeping dipshit surfers funneling through your pages is a good thing.
Bummer about the non-US participation. Yahoo may change that. They have the resources to make those changes if they decide it is monetarily worthwhile to do so.
I use AC so I think I can explain how it works. I don’t take their payments. If they pay you, you can’t add a link. Instead I opt for performance payouts, and syndicate my content across their network.
I have been playing with interlinking content within their site to see how they “choose” related links and to see how much I can influence Google to choose one of my articles instead of an AC article that is “more optimized” because of the internal linkage.
Performance payouts are pretty small but the upside is that money is money. I think last month I made somewhere in the vicinity of $20. Then again, that was $20 for doing virtually nothing and getting backlinks in the process, all the while studying internal link behavior on a trusted mega site. Pretty priceless.
What Terry said I’m afraid.
But interesting news for anyone allowed to use AC’s hallowed orifices
Thanks for the explanation Leo. You’re right. Money is money. At this point it is surprising all the different places I have money coming in. Any one, other than Adsense can sometimes be dismal at times, but taken as a whole it is some nice coinage.
Aren’t the links no-follow and worthless?
Dunno. I personally never concern myself with the follow rules. Maybe someone else can answer that.
I never used AC before but will open an account. The Yahoo! acquisition is a good thing. I absolutely agree with you.
Splork, I know it’s been a little bit since you have posted about it, but have you seen any good results traffic wise from using Magic Article Rewriter and Magic Article Submitter yet?
It’s boosted some pages in Google and as a result the traffic has improved. But people don’t follow the links on the articles in the directories.
Well I gave AC a try and to hell with them. I wrote an original 400 word article for their use only and linked back to my website. I don’t care about the money, I want the links. This is the response I got:
Thank you for your submission. We cannot publish this content because it contains affiliate marketing links (or because it is related to, about or contains links to websites with content related to programs offering incentives to click links or ads, read emails, or surf other websites). Please be sure your content always complies with our Submission Guidelines.
Yea, it may not work for some. I haven’t decided how or if to use it. And I wouldn’t be remotely interested in it if Yahoo didn’t purchase it. But I wouldn’t be using it for links much. I think I’d go for some sporadic cash. I’m working on some other things anyway.
Do we have any confirmation whether AC is follow or no follow? I am inferring that they are follow if you do not accept up front payment, but not clear. Can someone help? Thanks.
This is an interesting development. I read about it on AC’s homepage. It is interesting how yahoo (and AOL as well) is moving to a content model or at least wants to gain more eyeballs to content it now owns. I guess they’re giving up on search, realizing they can’t win that battle.
I’ve had mixed experiences with AC, but I would say that if you are a prolific writer and know how to do keyword research and how to pepper your articles with the right keywords, give AC a shot. You earn money up front and per 1000 views. It doesn’t add up to a lot of money, but it might be worth it if you have your own websites and build relevant links to them.
AC’s links are no-follow, but still you can get some good targeted traffic to your own website’s pages, if you’re interested in doing that.
Yea I bloviated about it but never did much with it. I still prefer to simply use EA, AMA and MAS (not that it matters) for article distribution. I prefer to spend my time building Tumblr logs and Blogger blogs and link those up to Lenses and Hubpages and then further link up to money pages. That’s about all I do these days. I don’t have much use for AC at this point. Too much effort. Very little gain.