Hey! I Don't Think the Content Manager Read My Article!

If you've spent any time in the Associated Content forum, you've undoubtedly seen the complaint. It's rarely so succinct, and often liberally peppered with indignation, but the gist is: "I can tell from the rejection I got my Content Manager didn't even read my article!" Gasp! Guess what? Not only do the Content Managers NOT read most of the content before deciding whether to make an upfront payment offer, they can't read it, nor do they have to.

With submissions from tens of thousands of Content Producers coming in ever day, 24/7, it simply isn't feasible for the Content Managers to read everything in their queues. So, what do they do, and, more importantly, how are you supposed to sell them on your work's worth?

The Content Managers run articles through a program that determines their value. The formula specifics are the Associated Content secret sauce--closely guarded, undisclosed proprietary information. However, Content Producers have, over time, taken hints from Associated Content staff and combined them with their own knowledge and observations. This has evolved into a working theory of what matters to the program.

One disclaimer here--for the sake of brevity, I presume a basic knowledge of internet writing terminology below. Associated Content is brimming with sources of information on these concepts, both in published articles and in the forum.

Legend has it that the four most important elements the program analyzes are, in no particular order:

DISCOVERABILITY

Discoverability is a catch-all word for several factors, notably keyword density, title, keyword/topic search volume, uniqueness, and existing competition. All things SEO (Search Engine Optimization) matter here.

RELEVANT PRIOR PERFORMANCE

This is a consideration of how well articles about similar subjects and using similar keywording have performed. How well your own content on related topics has performed is likely a factor as well, though not necessarily as part of the program.

AVERAGE PAGE VIEWS PER ARTICLE