I really don’t have most of the ridiculous, arbitrary rules imposed by other sites. But especially after Google Panda, some things are mandatory. Follow these rules when writing articles to get them accepted:
1. You need to give factually accurate information. Provide some reference for factual information included in your article. See Rule #7 below for details. You do not have to provide a reference for every single fact. But make sure you have at least confirmed its accuracy before including a fact in an article. If we find out that you are making up facts, then you will be terminated from the program and lose all accrued profit shares and profits to be derived from those shares.
2. Every article must be exclusive both before and after publication on WritingShares.com. You may rewrite other articles you have written and publish them here. But you must reword the entire article and change the title if you take that route. If you publish on WritingShares.com first, you can reword an article and publish it elsewhere, but you may not just copy and paste and publish it on another online website “as is.” You may publish an article “as is” in print, though. The important thing to remember is that every article published here must be published online at WritingShares.com only. This goes without saying, but you may not steal or copy someone else’s article. You must write your own pieces.
3. Do NOT copy sentences and paragraphs from one article and paste them “as is” into other articles. You have to completely reword every new article even if the same information pertains to multiple articles. Also, do NOT create a template for a series of localized articles and just change one or two words throughout the article. You may have the same basic structure among articles, but you must reword all sentences and paragraphs.
Exception: You CAN have the same basic title when localizing articles or writing on very similar topics. For example, you could use “How to Get a Divorce in New York” for one article and “How to Get a Divorce in California” as the title of another article. But the actual content of the articles must be different and specialized to that specific topic. For example, in this case, you would have to use actual California divorce law to make an informative article. Do not use generic material and just throw in the word “California” every few sentences. That article would not be useful.
4. Articles produced by article-spinning software or similar tools are ABSOLUTELY prohibited. If you get caught using these, you will be banned and lose all profits and other privileges.
5. Articles that you purchase as PLR or resale-rights articles are ABSOLUTELY prohibited. If you get caught using these, you will be banned and lose all profits and other privileges.
6. You may choose to pay someone to write an article for you, but it must be an EXCLUSIVE article written only for you. Articles sold to multiple people are not allowed.
7. Cite your references in the text or at the bottom in a “References” or “Sources” or “Resources” section. This rule applies if you are stating something that is not common knowledge. Post a link to the exact page where you found the information. There are no blacklisted sites, but find at least two separate sources if you are referencing a user forum or site with user-generated content like Wikipedia.
Examples:
Wikipedia: Britney Spears (you would hyperlink this text with the web address of Wikipedia’s “Britney Spears” page)
IRS: Form 1040 (same thing here; make a hyperlink to the website address with IRS Form 1040)
8. Every article must have at least one keyword or phrase for the search engines. For example, if you are writing an article with a recipe for guacamole, then at least “Guacamole Recipe” or the specific name of the guacamole dish needs to be in the title.
9. Articles must be at least 300 words but preferably more. The only exception to this is if you truly do not need more space to provide full information for a title. However, this is not a Q&A or Answers-type site. So generally pick topics that allow you to write at least 300 words. Most articles should come in between 300 and 700 words. If you are dealing with a very simple topic that requires less than 300 words, then you can add informative background material. If you need 2000 words to make a good article, go ahead. Just make sure it is all informative content, not filler. Note that you may not write poetry or other creative writing. This site is for SEO articles, not general literature.
10. I will not waste your time with whether to use AP style or any other supposed grammar or punctuation style. It is a complete waste of time, and companies who do this online are trying to copy a traditional editing style that is very inefficient online when hundreds of writers are involved. Just make sure you use proper grammar, spelling and punctuation. When more than one way is correct, you can use either one. For example, in a list with more than two items, you can write either “one, two, and three” (with the comma before the last item) or “one, two and three.”
11. No affiliate links are allowed. You can already put a bio at the end of every article and link to your own website or Facebook or Twitter page. Your goal here is to make money with profit sharing, not to promote affiliate products.
12. Do NOT write an article on an exact topic that is already written. For example, if a member has already written an article on the history of the Super Bowl, then you may not write another article on the history of the Super Bowl. Run a search from the main page first to make sure a topic is still available.
You can, however, write individual articles that recap each of the previous Super Bowl games if they have not already been written. You can also write news-related articles on trending topics even though others may be writing the same thing. For example, if you just finished watching the Super Bowl, don’t worry that someone else may be writing a Super Bowl recap. This is a news item about a trending topic, so feel free to write it. However, always use a unique article title that is not already in use.
13. Include a minimum of two and a maximum of five tags when submitting articles. For example, if you are writing an article entitled “The Best Dating Sites,” then use tags such as “dating sites,” “best dating sites” and “online dating sites.”
Forbidden List
We would like to stay within legal limits but also able to deal with adult topics at Writing Shares. This list attempts to strike a balance between those competing objectives. Keep things clean. Do not use abusive language or curse words in your writing. We want to encourage debate, but it needs to be civil in nature. You may NOT write on the following topics:
1. Things that glorify pornography. You may talk about things such as sex therapy, but keep it clean.
2. Anything that encourages or glorifies violence.
3. Anything that encourages or glorifies illegal activity.
Note: You may write political pieces that discuss legalizing drugs or other currently illegal activities. But salacious stories about taking drugs or engaging in other illegal activities are not accepted.
4. Anything that is blatantly racist, sexist or any other statements espousing discrimination or prejudice.
Note: You may write on political subjects that concern these issues, but keep it civil. Obvious racist or sexist rants with no real political discourse, for example, will be rejected.
5. Anything that is defamatory or falsely accuses someone will not be accepted.
6. Do not post anything that you know to be false. WritingShares.com is not a venue for spreading lies or false information.
7. Never violate another person’s copyright or other intellectual property. Doing this even once is grounds for immediate and irrevocable termination and loss of all profit shares and profits from those shares.
8. Do not promote specific money-making programs. You may review programs or provide specific tips based on your personal experience if people are searching for a particular program in search engines. However, do NOT include or regurgitate unsubstantiated income claims. WritingShares is not a place to peddle your pyramid schemes. As always, no affiliate links are allowed.
9. Due to AdSense policy, you may not write articles related to gambling. Similarly, you may not write articles on “Get Paid To” programs, which are programs purporting to pay you to click on ads, read emails, etc. Talking about regular affiliate programs like Amazon or affiliate marketing in general is allowed. Finally, do not attempt to promote or even review any HYIPs (high-yielding investment programs).
10. Do not write any piece where you have been compensated by a third party for a review of a product or service. These types of articles must be an uncompensated review, not one where you have contracted to take money or anything of value from the owner or a seller of the product or service. If you are an affiliate of a product, remember that you may not include affiliate links. But you still must disclose that you are an affiliate even though you do not include affiliate links.
If you are reviewing a product, service or website, include the following statement: “This article is an uncompensated review based on my own experience or observations. I have no association with the owner or the product.” If you do have an association, then you must state that association. This includes being in an affiliate program. Do NOT write a review of your own product, service, or website. If you are an expert in a field, then write relevant, informative articles in that field and link to your website or Facebook in your bio at the bottom of the article. WritingShares is not a place to post ads. It is a place to provide useful, informative articles.
11. Never instruct someone to do something that could be dangerous unless you give a proper warning to that effect. For things like driving a car that could obviously be dangerous, you don’t need to give a warning. If you are teaching someone how to use a tool that is not commonly used by almost everyone, then give proper warnings.
Tips:
1. You can research topics over at eHow.com or Voices.Yahoo.com. Do NOT copy those articles and do NOT use the same exact titles, but you can get ideas for keyword topics at those sites. You then need to do more exhaustive research by searching under the main keyword in a search engine to get information from more than one site. Quality is important. We need quality articles that are preferably better than those sites. And the way you make your articles better is by using either your personal knowledge or multiple sources.
2. You can use your own ideas if writing on ideas for something like holiday arts and crafts. But you can NEVER make up information if writing an objective article like how to fix a flat tire or anything that calls for specific instructions.
3. The way to avoid trouble for plagiarism is simple and involves only three steps:
a. Put things in your own words. Never copy word for word except for short quotes. It is permissible to use the same primary information and keywords from another article or source, but the information needs to be presented in your own style and word choices.
b. When possible, use information from at least two sources. This allows your article to be unique and helps get good search-engine rankings. It is not absolutely required to have two sources. For example, if you have a direct government source for licensing or legal information, then that is good enough.
c. Always post the link from where you accessed information. This is not necessary for information clearly in the public domain (such as who won the last Super Bowl). It IS necessary for less common information, such as symptoms of a disease and other specialized information.
4. Simple words like “computer” are not really keyword phrases. You need to target a more specific keyword phrase. For example, in the title “How to Get Rid of Computer Bugs,” the keyword phrase “computer bugs” is the main keyword phrase. When I use the keyword tool to check this phrase, it has a global monthly search volume of 2400. Whenever you write an article, you need at least one keyword phrase like this in the title. SEO article titles are NOT the same as headlines in newspapers. They need to be specifically descriptive of the topic by including at least one (preferably two) keyword phrases. In other words, don’t use fancy or cute titles because you subjectively think they are funny or attention grabbing. Instead, you need descriptive titles that tell the search engines and the readers the topic of the article.
5. Localization is very important in SEO. For some topics, there are both generic and localized keyword phrases. Let’s take the phrase “cosmetology license.” That is the generic keyword phrase. But there are 51 more articles that can be written on this subject: “Alabama cosmetology license,” “Texas cosmetology license” and so on. These are different keyword phrases, so you can write a localized article even if a generic article is already written here on Writing Shares.