My Journey Through Content Mills: Blogging and Marketing Insights from Helium, Examiner, and Wordpress

I’ve come a long way from making $20 on obsolete sites

Image by This_is_Engineering from Pixabay

Helium.

Examiner.

Wordpress.

Writing for content mills has been a major part of my life since 2006. After graduating from college, I was looking for ways to make extra money and build my writing skills. Back then, I knew nothing about marketing strategies or SEO — those concepts might as well have been foreign. Over the years, as I worked on platforms like Helium.com, Examiner.com, and Wordpress, I gained insights into the world of blogging and online marketing.

Helium.com: Early Days of Blogging Without SEO

Helium.com was my first experience with blogging for money, and its maroon-and-white design is unforgettable. It was the first place where I realized I could earn by simply picking a topic and writing.

In those early days, I didn’t worry about SEO or keywords. I focused on psychology and education topics, enjoying the freedom to write without thinking about digital marketing tactics.

Helium’s pay was minimal — sometimes 10 cents per article, with a rare $10 per month…