Don't give away [to] the farm

Content farm websites like Associated Content, Answers.com, Demand Studios, Examiner.com, HubPages, TextBroker, Squiddo, and Suite101 exist for one reason: they profit from your work.

While content farms compensate contributors with modest up-front payments or ad revenue sharing based on search engine performance, they often ask for many—if not all—of the legal rights to the content you create. If you currently write for a content farm, you already said yes to their terms when you clicked a hasty "Accept" to the Terms of Service agreement at the time you signed up.

Content farms typically seek evergreen content that remains relevant —and profitable— over time. This is why you should question signing over your rights to this kind of work. Seasoned freelance writers know that with the proper content marketing and contract negotiation skills, they can re-use and continue to profit from the content they create—if they've retained the rights to it.

Unfortunately, content farms often attract novice writers who don't take the time to consider copyright agreements, or whether a few dollars is a fair one-time trade for hours of research and creativity. Sometimes it isn't. Be sure you know when you're getting paid what you're worth.

How the Copyright Guide can help

At left, under Overview, see information about what a content farm is, deciding if writing for a content farm is worth it, general information about copyright terms, and recommended books.

Under Analysis of copyright agreements, I have summarized the payment models and types of content accepted for six sites, in addition to providing a copyright rating, and details about the copyright agreement for each service. The copyright ratings indicate the following:

• Green: You retain copyright, and the license granted to the service is generally non-restrictive.
  
  
• Yellow: You may or may not retain copyright (see copyright details for each site), but you are required to make a complicated choice about license agreements, or may have to accept a restrictive license agreement with the site.
  
  
• Red: You sign over all copyright ownership to the site.