Back in 1997 I saw this new site called The Mining Company.  It was organized around specific themes, and each theme had a series of web pages with articles on the theme.  Each theme had a guide.  A human guide, who wrote the articles, assembled resources on the topic, and was considered a quasi-export.

 Just a fad, I thought.  So I didn't apply for any guide positions.

Now I kick myself, because The Mining Company became About.com, a New York Times company, and some About.com Guides make six figures a year writing on their topics.  Competition for open guide positions is extremely tough, with a month-long training process that has been well documented at the Absolute Write message boards. That long, LONG (133 pages and growing) thread is the best education any SEO writer searching for an About.com job could possibly get.

No guide position has opened up in an area that I feel I could write with any authority, but About.com has created a new position: the Contributing Writer.  Contributing writers work with About.com Guides to fill in gaps on certain topics.  I just applied for a CW position (not sharing the details, but I'll post if I'm accepted for training).  CWs earn less than guides (minimum $500/month vs. $625/month) and write less (12 articles/month) but receive page view performance payments as well.

The appeal of this sort of freelancing writing, with an SEO twist (SEO + steady upfront+ high performance pay rate = YAY), is that it's stable.  No chasing editors, no hour-long queries.  You know where you write, when, how, and what you're getting (for minimums).  Unlike content mills, part of the pay is based on performance (and much higher than Associated Content's performance pay), so there's a strong SEO incentive.

So wish me luck, and comment if you have experience or plan to apply.