Constant Content - Website Content, Order Articles Online

Getting Started with a Customer Account

Before you can purchase (or obtain free) content, you need to establish a customer account. Registering as a Constant Content customer provides you access to our content request system (also enables you to download free content) and allows you to purchase any content from the site. The site is a virtual warehouse of content on a wide range of subject matter so finding content is a matter of browsing our shelves. However, our request system allows you to make specific requests regarding topic, price, word count, etc…Customers make public requests that a wide array of authors may respond to and they also make private requests for specific writers who suit their needs.

You can also use this to join our mailing list. By using the subscription you will get notified of new content in the categories your request. You can unsubscribe at any time through your account settings.

Fill out the form with your email and password. Fill out each entry space. The last several entry boxes allow you to fill in your categories of interest. For instance, if you subscribe to gardening or landscaping as a topic, each time a writer submits work in these categories, you will receive an email alerting you to the article(s). If you are interested you can login to your customer account and purchase any articles you like. You may unsubscribe to this service or change your topics of interest at any time.

Once you have filled in all the boxes, click the create account button to activate your customer status. At this point you are an official customer of the site and may begin shopping for all your content needs.

Using your Account

Login and Account
Each time you visit Constant Content you will need to login to the site. From the main page under the customer heading, enter your email and password. You will be directed to your “Customer Account Status” page. On the bottom right of the screen you will also see a customer menu. This tutorial will take you through each item.

At the Customer Account Status page you will see a screen like this:

The first line, number of requests under review, refers to the requests you may make as a customer. Constant Content customers have the ability to make specific requests for the writers. Customers post public requests that any of the writers may submit work for. They also make private requests to commission specific writer(s) for a content project. While you may shop for posted articles, customers can best obtain writing that meets all their specifications by making requests noting subject matter, amount of words / length, price, etc…Initially requests are reviewed by the site before they are posted for the writers.

Open requests - refer to the approved requests that are posted on the site for the writers or a specific writer. Customers can monitor each request for new work submitted by the writers. By clicking on view and clicking on a particular request, customers can easily link to specific articles they may then consider for purchase.

Sent Offers - refers to your customer bids. Some writers may choose a “best offer” option when they submit an article. While the writer lists prices, they also state their willingness to accept bids. Customers may submit their offer that the writer may then approve or reject.

Content for download - refers to your purchased articles that are ready to be obtained and downloaded into your possession to be used according the license you purchased the article(s) under.

New received messages - refers to any communication the writers post to your request. They may have questions regarding your request. When a writer makes a post, you will be alerted here and may then answer the question or clarify your request in a message that will be sent to the writer. They could also be notifying you of new articles as well. You will receive a email of each message so you don’t always have to login to check for new messages.

The next heading on this page is General Information. In this section you will see

Total Amount of Unpaid Orders $xxx.xx
Items in cart 0

The amount of unpaid orders refers to the total amount due for items in your cart that you are purchasing. The line “items in your cart” refers to any articles you placed there for purchase. At anytime you may finish these orders by clicking "View Orders". Carts are automatically cleared after one hour of no purchase.

View Your Orders
This item on your menu allows you to view a table comprised of your orders. It will look like this sample page:

Clicking on any of the “view order” links allows you to pull up specific orders and the content therein. Once you pay for your order you will be able to download your purchases. For unpaid orders you can also click on the link and finish your order.

Sent Offers - refers, again, to any offers you made for articles allowing a best offer. This page pulls up the specific information you posted in your offer. It may look like this:

Once a writer responds to your offer (status: accepted, denied, or waiting) you may either purchase the article or make another offer if your first one is not approved—if you choose to. If your offer is accepted you can come back here to purchase the article.

Download Your Content - This is where you go to actually download the content that has been purchased. The chart organizes your materials allowing you to download as well as archive each individual article. Once you are ready to download, simply click on the link and save the file to your disk or hard drive. The process is simple, but should any issues or problems arise in the procurement process, be sure to email support.

The download screen can be a bit tricky if you're not familiar with how downloads work. When you download a file, you must have the program the file was designed with or another compatible program. Text files (.txt) can be downloaded and opened with any text editor such as Wordpad, Textpad or Notepad. Text files can also be opened in Microsoft Word and several other publishing programs. These files are just plain text with no special formatting, bold print or italics. You'll need to format the article once downloaded.

Important Note: If you have a preference of a particular file type, please include it when you make an article request. Every author is different in how they submit their articles, so you'll want to be very specific in your requests.

Buying Content and Your Rights
After requesting content, you're ready to select the articles that fit your needs. But what can you do with your content after a purchase? This depends totally on the type of rights that are available and the type of rights you purchase. Below is a brief explanation of each "rights" option. An article's author has full control over pricing and the type of rights offered - not Constant-Content. Be mindful of this when making a request. If you want to purchase Full Rights for an article, include this in your request also.

The screen shot below includes several options and their explanations of what you can and cannot do with the content. This checklist can also be found at the FAQ section of Constant-Content.

Below is what you can and can not do with licenses and content, please contact us with any questions if you are unsure:
	Free	Usage	Unique	Full Rights
Add to website, magazine, newsletter (unchanged)	X	X	X	X
Add links to content		X	X	X
Add to multiple websites, magazines, newsletters (you own)			X	X
Article is removed from Constant Content once purchased			X	X
Add to multiple websites, magazines, newsletters (you don't own)				X
Change content (adding words or removing words)				X
Remove writers name or byline				X
Take credit for writing content				X
Resell content				X

Free Articles
You are very limited in what you can do with free articles. You can add the free article to your publication or Web site, but cannot make any changes to the article. If the author wants to include a link to their Web site, you must include this also. Many writers offer free content hoping to attract targeted customers to their Web site. It's a win/win situation. You want valuable content, the writer wants traffic!

Usage
The usage rights option enables you to use the article in a promotional fashion by adding links within the article. You are not able to make changes with usage rights, and the article can be sold to other customers at Constant-Content.

Unique
A unique purchase entitles you to exclusive ownership of the article. In other words, no one else can purchase your article once you secure unique rights. You may use the article on multiple Web sites or publications (which you own) and add links within the article, but the article remains unchanged and the author's name must remain on the article.

Special Note: Some articles will sell as usage before selling as an exclusive (unique or full rights). Here at Constant-Content, we carefully approve articles that are being offered exclusively to be sure they haven't been published elsewhere. Articles which are approved can be offered for usage or exclusive. If usage rights are purchased first, you can see how many times an article has been downloaded before making your exclusive purchase. If the article has been downloaded only once or twice, you might still want the article exclusively. Once an exclusive purchase is made, the article is no longer available for purchase, and it is removed from the site altogether.

Full Rights
With a full rights purchase, you can do anything you want with the article. You can publish it wherever you want, change the text of the content to fit your needs, resell the article or even take credit for the article yourself. Full rights are an extended version of the unique rights, giving you full control of the article as well as an exclusive claim to the article (see special note above.)

The My Request - section lists your outstanding content requests. Customers are allowed to make several requests at once and this page keeps each one organized. Check out the sample screen shot:

Customers can easily monitor their requests by revisiting their own descriptions, reading and responding to writer comments and questions, and may even delete their request once it has been filled. The "Questions" link is where writers post articles you may be interested in or ask questions, its simply a message board system where you and the writers can interact. Please do not post contact information here, all comunucation should be handled through Constant Content.

The "Submit a Request"option on the customer menu will direct you to a request work form. This page will prompt you with all the necessary fields our writers need to know to get to work on a request. The following is what you will see when you click this link:

Looking for an article on a certain topic and you can’t seem to find it? Simply fill in the form below and all of our authors/writers will receive your request once you hit the submit button. Then just subscribe to your category and wait for our authors to fulfill your request and you will receive an email notice when content is posted. You then can decide if you wish to download or purchase the content.

Once you hit the submit request button, your request will be directed to Constant Content staff who will review your request before passing it along to writers. If you notice the top field, you have the ability to make your request public for all the writers or specific for one or several writers. Remember, the more specific and well-defined you make your request, the clearer it will be to the writers.

Viewing Submitted Articles
You can view articles that have been submitted by performing a search or browsing the categories. When you place a request, individual articles are submitted to you by authors to fill you request, so you won't have to search for these in most cases. Articles initially appear with only the title, price, brief description and the author's username. You can click on the "More" link of an article summary to view an excerpt of the article and more pricing details. Notice in the screen shot below, the options for purchasing rights, as explained earlier in this tutorial. There might be a price for each set of rights, or only one price available. Authors determine which rights options they will sell and the pricing for each option.

Notice at the bottom of the article screen, the available file types are shown and also the number of words for the article. The excerpt, pricing schedule, number of words and file types will help you determine if the content will meet your needs.

Of course, customers may forego the request form and simply shop the site for existing content. You can search for articles using several different methods. Searching by keyword, category or author enables you to be very specific in your search. You can also browse categories if you're not looking for anything specific. Choose a category and surf through the titles and descriptions of each article.

The “Logout” section of the customer menu allows you to end each session easily.

End Note
Using these tools will allow you to find the content you need whenever you need it. Again, any problems that arise may be forwarded to the site’s customer support who work hard to answer questions and solve problems as quickly as possible. Be sure to visit our writer / customer forum where you may also post questions, make suggestions, comment, etc…Whether you are looking for a few articles at once or seek to obtain content on a regular basis, Constant Content is your answer to dependable service and writing excellence.