How Article Submission Sites Work

Article submission sites work through various means. There are two basic types of sites to consider, however. These sites are upfront payment and residual payment sites. The upfront payment sites may either include payment for articles submitted when they are purchased or when the article submission site chooses to add it to its featured content section. Some sites will offer upfront payment for particular types of content but not for other types.

Residual income article submission sites focus on a pay-per-view type of payment model. These sites may either use something akin to AdSense, where a visitor clicks on ads or they may be paid specifically for each view the article receives. Residual payment models usually involve very low amounts of money, often only a few cents, for viewers. Typically these sites pay per thousand views, a concept known as CPM. $0.50 - $1.50 per thousand views is fairly common. Sites that use AdSense style models do not usually pay for views, but do pay for clicks. This can cause the income stream for the site to be sporadic, but possibly more lucrative, than straight CPM.

The payment methods for some article submission sites involve hybridization of these two payment concepts. They may pay a small amount upfront then allow for residual income based on views made on the material provided.

The article submission sites that pay upfront tend to come in three primary forms. These forms include what are known as "article mills". These sites allow a writer to receive or accept orders for specific types of article content. This ghost writer approach to online article writing income can be lucrative if the writer is prolific. However, most article mill sites pay one penny per word or less for general content. Article submission sites that utilize a bidding system or an open pool of content with preferred pricing can be more lucrative, but the payout has less of a guarantee. That is the trade-off.

The article mill sites have a buyer who wants a specific type of content at cut-rate prices, while the bidding sites are more of a gamble but often pay off better in the long run. The third type of article submission site with upfront payment is more akin to the freelance writer model. Instead of selling articles directly the freelancer sells their supposed talents. The writer is hired to write an article based on their worth and writing skills. This is different from the article mill concept only in that article mills generally have a pool of required articles and any writer can fill them if the buyer likes what is written. The freelancer approach is more direct. The writer is commissioned specifically.