Much speculation has abounded since it was announced that Yahoo was buying Associatedcontet.com. At one point it was rumored that AC would be closed but that has since been denied. Now it appears that the deal would be closed and that was taken to mean that AC itself would close.
Associatedcontent.com founder Luke Beatty Tweeted that “AC is not closing! The DEAL is closing in the 3rd quarter – not the site!!!!! Sheesh” and also “we’ll still have the same great team and same great roles!” You can follow “AC Luke” here on Twitter.
Yahoo buying Associatedcontent.com may be great for us content writers here or it could be not so great. My own biggest fear is that we will lose our page view payments. I myself could care less about upfront payments but I sure love that monthly payment for the hits.
I do think Yahoo will tighten the standards here for the content. That may hurt me since I have the grammar of an Ape. I for one don’t see Yahoo spending between $90 Million and $100 Million (depending on who you ask) to close down a site. I also don’t think they will want to lose most of the Associatedcontent.com writers. We already know how to draw traffic and that is the name of the game in content writing.
Freelance writer Michelle “Michy” Devon put her thoughts about the sale of Associatedcontent.com to Yahoo on her writer’s blog here. Among other things she recommends making copies of any AC content you own the rights to, in case it disappears. She also advises not to put all your eggs in one basket in the writing trade.
People don’t usually like change, especially when it affects their bank account. I know many “Real Writers” look down on content sites like Associatedcontent.com. But for many of us it is a real source of income. It is not my only job but it is my (by far) biggest source of writing income.
Of course Yahoo buying Associatedcontent.com may work out great for all involved. Yahoo may be planning to use AC to compete with AOL’s Seed.com which many of us write for as well. For the record I like AC better than Seed but I did enjoy the $100 I made for two articles there.
Only time will tell how the new bosses at Yahoo will treat us AC writers. I wonder if I can get by with putting “Yahoo sports writer” on a resume now? Just kidding, sort of. Some people have asked me if they should remove AC content that they own. I say heck no, let it soak up PV money as long as it can.
In closing I say congrats to “AC Luke” and the gang for building AC up and selling it to Yahoo. If this is really the end then thanks for a great experience and not so bad money along the way.
