Massachusetts-based Helium.com is an up-and-coming website that allows writers to post their articles and get paid for the ad revenue that they generate.The revenue is based on targeted advertising through Google Adsense, but the exact figures on what a single page impression earns a writer is not revealed.
The idea is that as Helium grows, it will become a source for information-seekers, and that through their writer-based ranking system, the best articles written by the best writers will "rise to the top."
Helium is in its earliest stages, though I see a few potential problems on the horizon that will have to be sorted out. For example, the quality of writing on Helium is frequently low, as articles are not weeded out for quality except though the ranking system. Some articles appear to have been written by non-native speakers of English and some consist of a single word: yes.
Another issue I see developing is that there is no incentive to be accurate in your articles. If it sounds good, it will "rise to the top" and earn more money, whereas an article featuring accurate information but consisting only of a couple sentences may drop in the rankings. I don't necessarily see people going to Helium as a source of information when there are 10 articles on "the dangers of chocolate for dogs" and 5 of them say chocolate is alright, 5 say it's poisonous, and of those only 3 use paragraphs and punctuation.
But only time will tell whether Helium is a financial success or not.
There's no doubt, though, that Helium is free and fun to use. You can write and receive feedback on your efforts, and earn some money in the meantime. It's also a great way to come up with ideas to post to your own website, and since the rights to everything you write remain yours (you grant Helium non-exclusive rights to your work), you can do whatever you want with it.
So there's really nothing to lose, and lots of experience and good times to gain.
