Associated Content: Great way for SAHMs to earn money (and working mom's to supplement income)

Some of my readers may have noticed the appearance of an Associated Content button to the right of my blog. I just can't keep this secret to myself! A friend referred me to Associated Content in April of last year. I must confess, I was somewhat hesitant. Surely it sounded too good to be true... I could actually write content from home, submit it for payment review and get paid via PayPal? It is absolutely true. I earned approximately $475 last year writing on a variety of subjects. Some of the articles below do link to relevant content produced by yours truly and I am proud to tell you that I was one of 1000 top content producers last year and received a designation on my content page.

What do I write about? That is one question I am asked frequently. While some do tend to write in certain niches, I try to write about a lot of different things. For instance, last May, I wrote an article comparing Secret Clinical vs. Degree Women's deodorants that currently has over 6,300 views, and has been steadily gaining since last Fall. Another article, a political one, is limping along with about 50 views and is about Virginia Senator Jim Webb's Immigration platform, which is Pro-Amnesty. I find if I write about a broad range of topics, I usually come up with a well received piece which gets page views.

Now, what is all this talk about page views? Well, Associated Content, unlike other paid to write sites, offers a bit of an incentive to us writers by way of a page view bonus. Basically, we earn $1.50 per 1,000 views, above and beyond any offers for our content. In recent months, Associated Content switched to allow writers to get paid page view bonus once per month for the previous month's views, before that we had to accrue at least $15 before they would pay out. I have made probably $35 this year in page view bonus. It does pay, literally, to promote your work via social networking sites and Associated Content does give you tools to help you promote your work.

Give it a try, click that button up there and sign up. You might find that you like it so much that you will stay with Associated Content for a long time. I do not write steadily. I write here and there, in spurts and as inspiration strikes. Writing can help you fill in the gaps or provide money to spend at online merchants who accept PayPal.

One caveat here is that this isn't exactly free money. While Associated Content does provide you with a 1099 if your income from their site is in excess of the $600 threshold for IRS reporting purposes, it is still income nonetheless. I earned less than the $600 threshold and still reported it as income on my tax return.