What I've Learned From Writing 1,000 Hubs
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Two years and a thousand Hubs: It's a bit of a milestone, so I thought that I would share with the Hub community the little inside tricks and tips that I've learned along the way, along with the humbling realization that there is still lots more that I need to learn before I can call myself a consummate Hubber.
MAKE SURE TO READ TO THE END FOR THE 1,000+ HUB AD INCOME CHALLENGE!
First of all let's look at the Hubs that really worked and why:
Revealed! 2011 Jeep Phoenix Based On Fiat Panda 4x4!
I sat down with my Photoshop, grafted on some Jeep features onto a Fiat Panda and called it the 2011 Jeep Phoenix. What happened within a few days boggled my poor addled mind. Darn near every auto blog on the planet picked it up and displayed my images (complete with Hal Licino - HubPages credit right on them) as a real Jeep to be, although I was very clear in the Hub that it was just my imagination. Google Jeep Panda Phoenix right now and you'll see more than half a million references... all originally generated by lil 'ol me and my faithful Adobe CS4.
Lesson Learned -
Come up with something that is striking and innovative enough, and the world will beat a path to your Hub.
The series of Hubs I'm most proud of have to be:
Hal's Master Motorcycle & Scooter MPG Reference Hub
That was a triumph all the way. It's a huge series of Hubs with the conclusive fuel economy figures for virtually every motorcycle and scooter currently for sale in the North American market. The biggest problem in compiling a list that extensive is that there simply isn't any comprehensive source of fuel economy figures for two wheeled vehicles, so I had to completely abandon what passes for my life for a couple of weeks and delve into single track MPG research every waking instant.
As I stated in the Hub:
...in the absence of any form of official MPG figures, I've undertaken an extensive research project which took the better part of two weeks full-time to arrive at the best feasible estimates of what many of the most popular motorcycles and motor scooters will return in the way of fuel economy. To arrive at these estimates, I checked countless online reviews, figures, quotes, and owner's reports on each model as well as road tests in various motorcycle and motor scooter magazines in North America, Europe and Asia. In some cases, I've had to compare similar models to extrapolate the MPG rating and used a broad range of statistical tools to arrive at the stated medians and ranges.
By the time I was done I was exhausted, but goldurn it, I had Hub Gold in my hands. That series of Hubs now appears at the very top of Google results in Motorcycle MPG and Scooter MPG, and draws solid traffic each and every day.
Lesson Learned -
Hubs are like anything else in life: If you work your butt off and fill a market niche in demand, success is sure to follow.
Then there was...
86 Mac Plus Vs. 07 AMD DualCore. You Won't Believe Who Wins
That is my all time top Hub with over a quarter million page views. Surprisingly enough it was one of my first Hubs I ever published and although I have often tried to emulate its success, I never really managed to. I've often wondered exactly what made this such a runaway hit, and I have concluded that it was due to two important factors:
1) Two years ago it was far easier to get high in the Digg and Slashdot rankings and get attention. These days you can't get up there unless you're related to one of the website owners.
2) Traffic can be drawn to a collection of empirical data that is unique and striking. The problem is finding such tests that haven't already been done to death by every other techy website, or require a few million dollars worth of lab equipment.
Lesson Learned -
If you can come up with a test that has never been done anywhere else and that falls within the interest area of a large number of internet users, you've got a Killer Hub on your hands.
Along more or less the same lines was another massively successful Hub, although it drew less than half the traffic of Mac Plus:
Hotmail Fails To Deliver Up To 81% Of All Attachment Emails
It also got a huge amount of interest on the various tech news sites, but the problem was that the conclusion seemed to many people as being too extreme. I was absolutely meticulous in designing and implementing the test, and made the criteria and process very clear in the Hub for anyone to duplicate, but it seemed that many critics didn't want to bother duplicating the test... they would rather just write that "Hal is out of his freakin' mind." Fortunately about half of the nearly 200 commenters agreed with my findings and reported huge numbers of hotmail attachments going awry, so that was some level of vindication.
Lesson Learned -
Innovative, unique tests make great Hubs, but beware of the ones with results that fall outside the comfort zone of your audience.
One of my primary Hubs With Legs has to be:
How To Turn Off Vista's Useless Junk And Speed Up Your PC
It is completely unbelievable how much steady traffic this Hub receives day in and day out. I can't remember a day when it didn't pull at least 100 page views, and it often gets stumbleupon'd or something along those lines and the daily page views shoot to the thousands. Considering it is not only one of my shortest and simplest Hubs, but also basically just a brief list with a reference to a much more comprehensive website, I can't believe that it's as popular as it is.
Just a smidgen behind Vista's Useless Junk is:
DDR1, DDR2, DDR3: Navigating The RAM Maze
Which due to HubPages' incomparable Google affinity is the number one result in a wide range of RAM searches thus also pulls in about a hundred a day every single day.
Lesson Learned -
If you can hit a resonant chord with a common belief or experience of your audience, sit back and enjoy the long term page views.
Controversy is good... most of the time anyway. There's nothing quite like picking a market segment that inspires wild-eyed evangelism and die-hard loyalty and then slapping it in the face by pointing out that the object of such ardent desire has all the aesthetic attraction of a skinny dipping date with Cloris Leachman:
Top 10 Ugliest Motorcycles Of All Time
...and the series of followup Hubs:
Top 100 Ugliest Motorcycles In History - The Ultimate List!
...have generated countless hundreds of comments, most of them calling me every filthy name in the book, questioning my parentage, and expressing a desire to use my face as traction for their rear wheel burnouts.
My:
Honda Fury vs. Yamaha Raider: Perfection Meets Grotesquerie
has received outrageous traffic and ranks more highly in many Google searches than either the Honda Fury or Yamaha Raider official manufacturer website! My tenet that the Fury is gorgeous while the Raider is ematogenic has caused dangerous blood pressure spikes in countless Yammy enthusiasts.
Lesson Learned -
A controversial Hub is a well read Hub, but make sure that you are firm in your convictions as you are going to be challenged within an inch of your life!
Not all my motorcycling Hubs have been the subject of global pillory. For example:
Could MPG Alone Get You On A 250 Cruiser?
Was very widely lauded and sparked a considerable amount of comment about the pros and cons of smaller motorcycles.
Lesson Learned -
If you can answer a question that a considerable number of your readers are asking themselves, you've just published a great Hub.
I have to categorically state that the Hub I had the most fun writing was:
75 Sarah Palin Joke One Liner "Quotes"
It was in the midst of the presidential election and I truly believe I captured the essence of the doe-eyed Alaska Governor.
Lesson Learned -
If you can be truly funny, your Hub will be found and rewarded with traffic.
One of the most surprising Hub Successes I've had has to be:
The Secret To Making The Best Braciole On Earth
It turns out that whenever a particular episode of Everybody Loves Raymond airs in syndication which deals with Braciole, my page views go off the charts for a couple of days. Then it dies down to nothing until the next airing, and it spikes again! The reason why it's so surprising is that when I wrote the Hub I had no idea about this sitcom connection. I just wrote it since it's my mom's great secret recipe!
Lesson Learned -
If you can key a Hub to a recurring, widely followed program or event, you've struck Hub paydirt.
Then there was:
How to destroy your CPU by lapping it
It was a fairly simple Hub: It maintained that the practice of "lapping" or yanking your CPU (microprocessor silicon "brain" of your computer) out of the case, and sanding it down with gritty sandpaper and soapy water as if it were some rusty hunting knife until the protective metal covering is worn away and the copper layer that touches the extremely sensitive microelectronics is exposed is a profoundly idiotic practice. Not only is your warranty immediately voided by engaging in such stupidity, but it has no effective benefits which warrant damn-near destroying an entire CPU.
Well... this Hub really caught the attention of the morons of the world, leading to death threats where I had to call in the federal police, as explained in:
Writing Hubs For Fun, Profit... And Death Threats
I can definitely assure you that sitting down to write a Hub and ending up with a cyberfatwa on your head is not pleasant. I don't recommend it. But I'll be damned if I let a gang of forum punks stop me from saying whatever the hell I want and whenever the hell I want.
An unbelievable amount of vehement, vile, and illegal threats were also sparked by my publication of:
Is Demonoid A DOJ Trap To Catch Unsuspecting Pirates?
Ban Hayabusa, CBR, ZX, YZF, etc. From Roads Now!
and
How freelancewritinggigs.com Exploited Its Own Writers
The last one caused a near riot on the website in question as I was libeled, slandered, maligned, reviled, jeered, mocked, taunted, defamed, disparaged, slurred, and smeared by its followers for weeks on end. My absolute conviction that my claims were correct and I was not about to back down on anything didn't help quell the uprising, either...
Lesson Learned -
When writing a controversial Hub, you have to recognize that you might severely offend some people and you had better be prepared to face a firestorm which might even end up in police action.
This Hub should have been the one that I am proudest of:
Apple's New TV Ad Uses The Italian Version Of The "N"-Word!
... but it did turn out to be a major disappointment. Little old me, a mere online writer on a public article site, managed to get one of the world's greatest tech corporations to immediately pull from all future broadcast one of the TV commercials for their leading product, and the news media of the world was far more interested in armadillo umbilical cords. I expected a huge amount of exposure for this "real tech news" and got zilch. Thanks for nothing, news media. Next time I'll write about something really newsworthy, like Spencer and Heidi Pratt's existentialist philosophy. Pfffft.
Lesson Learned -
The only way to get the major news media to pay any attention to you is if you're young, sexy, rich, half-naked and stupid. If you expect your Hub to make national headlines, you're unfortunately deluded.
When you're hot you're hot... and when H1N1 was hot, so was my series of twenty Hubs:
Stay Safe From The H1N1 Mexican Swine Flu
... although H1N1 has continued to spread wildly and the WHO is just about to declare a full blown global pandemic, the news media lost interest within a couple of weeks when millions of innocents didn't start dropping dead in the streets, and of course, my traffic on these Hubs dwindled down. Oh yes, I do have a high regard for the news media... NOT!
Lesson Learned -
If you go the topical route with your Hubs, beware that the vast majority of trends are flashes in the pan and so will your Hub traffic be. Evergreen is always the way to go.
Then there were the "What the hell were you thinking, Hal?" Hubs:
MPG Of 11,250 Cars In 6 Real-World Driving Styles
This was a series of well over two hundred Hubs which were the result of six weeks of solid, full time research and statistical analysis. I spent over three times the amount of hard research time that I did on my series of Motorcycle and Scooter MPG Hubs, and... well...
MPG Of 11,250 Cars In 6 Real-World Driving Styles: 2007 - 2008 Mercury
got 5 page views since it was published nearly ten months ago, which work out to one poor unsuspecting soul wandering onto the page every two months. None of them got more than a couple of hundred page views in all that time. Ouch!
Why? My motorcycle and scooter MPG Hubs made it to the top of Google as there wasn't much competition. There have to be zillions of car MPG sites, so mine sank to the bottom of the sea of results, never to be seen again.
Lesson Learned -
Just because you succeed in one type of Hub doesn't necessarily translate into success for a similar type of Hub: You have to try hard to maintain uniqueness and don't overwhelm your fans with too many Hubs at once... they'll run away screaming!
NOW FOR THE 1,000+ HUB AD INCOME CHALLENGE
It's a damn good thing that I don't write Hubs for ad generated income as by any measure I have been an abject failure at it. As I've stated in:
Adieu, eBay & Amazon! Thanks For Nothing!
I never made more than a couple of bucks off eBay and Amazon capsules and no longer even bother to include them in my Hubs. I never did manage to get Kontera to sign me up after repeated emails, so even though I show Kontera links on all my Hubs, I've never seen one single solitary cent from them. I hope someone is getting that income as it sure wasn't me, so I might have to add Kontera onto the "Thanks For Nothing" list. The only ad related income I make off HubPages is Adsense and I have yet to have a single month that was over $200. I can only profoundly thank the consistent generosity and good will of Paul Edmondson and his crew in continuing to compensate me for writing my thousand Hubs or I would not have been able to make it this far.
I read some Hubbers report that they are turning 50% of their page views into clicks, etc. etc. etc. I have gone on record over and over again in stating that I don't write for SEO as I couldn't give a rotten rodent rectum about compiling repetitive keywords into unreadable dreck copy just to make a buck. I'm a writer, not a huckster.
Therefore, the only conclusions I can reach after 1,000 Hubs is:
1) The online writers who claim untold riches from ad income are a bunch of filthy, lying scammers
OR
2) I'm doing something completely wrong in my Hub writing and thus missing out on all this avalanche of ad money.
Therefore, I lay down the gauntlet:
If any Hubber can provide a solid, effective set of guidelines whereby I can increase my ad income to match some of these impressive claims, I will split 50/50 any increase in perpetuity over my current baseline ad earnings.
Keep in mind that I will not change my writing style to keyphrase stuffed crap such as:
The best way to buy Viagra now is to proceed to buy Viagra now from any of the sites which advertise buy Viagra now and allow you to buy Viagra now, so why don't you buy Viagra now as the ladies will be glad you did go ahead and buy Viagra now, so buy Viagra now!
OK, the challenge is on. Let's see if anyone can actually come up with a way to increase my earnings on my 1,000+ Hubs to these stratospheric levels and receive half of them forever.
So... willing to take the challenge? I'm ready to write another thousand Hubs, and a thousand after that, and a thousand after that...
CommentsLoading...
wow... the big 1-0-0-0. You've just upped the level of my HubPages ambition.
great guide, loved the 86 mac v 07 AMD article by the way. i've seen at least half a dozen articles and blogs linked to it. I'll be eagerly awaiting that Heidi/Spencer pratt hub. :)
you make my 100th celebration almost silly....only almost :) Everyone has to start somewhere. Thanks for being a writer first - and if anyone takes you up on that challenge and succeeds in helping your earnings, let me know...I've been considering some similar sort of offer - anyone want to make what I write make money?
Congrats, Hal!
I've made $29 so far Hal, but don't consider HubPages a way of generating income anyway. To me it's a way of showcasing my work, and the easiest way to publish and update a website on the planet (one day all website interfaces will be like this).And if you, the most consistent and hard-working hubber, can't make more than $200 a month, it shows that this really isn't the route to riches.
PS What do you mean "the consistent generosity and good will of Paul Edmondson and his crew in continuing to compensate me"? You mean you get paid directly as well? Is this some kind of favouritism?
Congratulations on your 1,000th hub. It's a real achievement.
Gypsy Willow: Believe me you start slow and it does pick up over time. The earnings for Hubbers seem to be all over the map, with quite a few reporting very significant income, so that's what I'm hoping my Income Challenge will do. Actually, I'm really doing this as part of research into achieving income to write a Hub about it but that's just between you and me, so don't tell anyone... heheheh... But I'd be kidding you if I told you that if there is any extra money coming my way I would reject it, of course if I don't have to modify what I write in any way whatsoever.
Koby: If a fat, old, balding, ugly, unwashed writer with a terminal case of body odor and HALitosis like me can do it, you can too! GO KOBY! :)
artfuldodger: Thanks artfuldodger, much appreciated! That Mac Plus Hub does seem to have seeped right through the net in the last two years. I regularly get traffic from all sorts of strange countries. They love it in Uzbekistan! :)
dineane: Thank you very much! Your 100th celebration is a major milestone, and I can only encourage you to keep on Hubbin'! I will most certainly keep all my readers informed as to what, if anything, happens in the Income Challenge. As I just told Gypsy Willow, I really want to write a Hub about its success (or failure).
CJ Stone: Thank you, my friend. I truly appreciate your warm wishes. I fully agree that HubPages interface is 99% perfect and just about the best one for online writing anywhere, and with its astounding Google Elevator quality as I outlined in my Hub:
http://hubpages.com/hub/Harness-The-Awesome-HubPag
... HubPages simply has to be the undisputed fastest way to get way high on Google's returns. I can't conceive of any other public writing site that could even come close to the virtually instantaneous results. As for the "riches" there seem to be too many Hubbers claiming outrageously high earnings to totally ignore. Many of them seem to be ethical in every other respect, so it's difficult to separate the bravado from the truth. That's why I tossed in my Income Challenge. This way I'd have real, hard, factual data to work with and to write a Hub about... not to mention that I could use a couple of more bucks in my size 98 jeans! :) As for the compensation, I found out about HubPages over two years ago in a post looking for writers on a freelance writing site. At the time they were offering an Online Columnist Contract to writers with verifiable credits, much in the way that about.com does. I'm not aware that they are continuing to solicit writers in that way, though. And let me tell you, in my loooooooooooong years in the writing business I've run into all sorts of organizations, from the profoundly ethical multinational publishing conglomerates to the worst scumbag ripoff artists on Earth: I once worked for a publisher who had just been released from prison and proceeded to bounce $100,000 worth of checks per week... a fair number of them to ME! Out of all of them, I can without the shadow of a doubt place HubPages management as the by far #1 best, friendliest, most ethical, most consistent, and most understanding (and... dang... I've given them more than enough cause to not be so understanding with my inherent proclivity to raising hell) of any publishing company I have ever worked for. I'm not just puckering up when I say that HUBPAGES IS THE BEST!
Hal, great hub! Your hubs are amazing and clearly you know how to capture the Google love, so I think there's got to be a way to increase your income with what you already have going here.
Do you know what hubs are currently making you the most with Adsense? If not, figuring that out is the first step. Even if you decide to only track the first 20 or so of your highest traffic hubs, I think it would give you some valuable info. But if you can, I would track your top 200.
Once you are tracking, then it is time to start tinkering. I would leave the MPG hubs exactly as they are, but for a lot of your other hubs I would move the photos that are to the right of the first text capsule.
There are two ways to experiment:
1. Move the photo up so its the top capsule and takes up the width of the hub
2. Bump the photo down the page. (Sometimes I cut my text into two capsules so that I can display a photo partway down a long text page.
What we want to see for no. 2 is Adsense ads immediately to the right of your first paragraph of text. For no. 2, it will basically be Adsense, Photo, Adsense (which is the way your MPG hubs are already laid out).
See Lissie's hub on Adsense placement for visuals: http://hubpages.com/hub/Adsense-Placement
I would also add more tags and see if you can get the Adsense ads a little more relevant. For the MPG hubs, you have four tags, and don't include the brand names of the vehicles you are writing about in your tags. So in the Honda MPG hub, I'd add Honda MPG, Honda Motorcycle MGP, Honda Sixes, Honda Boxers, etc.
I think if you start just with tweaking Adsense, you should see some results. Then you can always add Ebay back in there later if you want to. Ebay motors can be very lucrative, but that would probably require much more tinkering with your stuff and you may not want to do that. Increasing your adsense income though shouldn't be too difficult, as long as you are tracking things to see what works.
Congrats on the 1000. You've got a great writing style that's very entertaining, even when keyword stuffing. Keep up the good work and good luck with the ad income.
I haven't shut my mouth yet. 1,000 hubs? 1,000 hubs!!! Ok, maybe in like 10 years. I enjoy your writing style and can see why you stand out in the crowd.
embitca: I have taken the liberty of including your courteous and highly informative comments in a Hub:
http://hubpages.com/hub/Two-Million-Page-View-Hubb
in the hope that many Hubbers can learn from your examples!
Gregg Cleland: Thank you very much! I love keyword stuffing as much as I love getting stuffed like a turkey and plunked in a hot oven.
mulberry1: Thanks for your kudos! I'm sure that you can do it if you try, and it won't take you anywhere near as long as you might think! And it can really be FUN! :)
The sad truth is that writing 'original, information packed hubs' is only a small part of making money with adsense. To make money you have to understand what Google is interested in.
Google is interested in sites that find people who want to buy something so Google can introduce them to advertisers who want to sell. If you underperform in this basic task Google will hammer you.
If you have never heard of 'smart pricing' you should Google it. Simplifying grossly, if your click rate falls below 2%- as often happens if you get a lot of social websites traffic- Google cuts your ad revenues from dollars per click to cents per click.
If you get into Google analytics you should be able to see which of your pages actually pay something. It might be that taking ads off all the other sites gets your CTR up to a healthy level and makes Google think you deserve a better ECM. It would need a lot of monitoring if you try this.
On the other hand, it might be you have another problem altogether which is causing such lousy returns for all your labor.
The worst thing with all this SEO stuff is that no one has a clear formular for what needs to be done. The second worst thing is that so many people spout pious nonsense about writing 'richly detailed informative websites' without pointing out that unless your websites contribute to selling something, you are not going to make money.
Just quoting Sockpuppet here because this is spot on:
"The second worst thing is that so many people spout pious nonsense about writing 'richly detailed informative websites' without pointing out that unless your websites contribute to selling something, you are not going to make money."
I just posted my 100th.... it's not so impressive now. I just have to do that 10 more times and then I can be happy. By then, you'll be at a million or something.
WoW - a 1000 hubs. Amazing!! I loved this hub too - thanks for sharing your experience and congratulations on your amazing feat!!!
The Sock Puppet of Fear, you are absolutely correct in your statement that in order to make money on a webpage it is important that it sell something. That is certainly a commendable attitude and I would be a hypocrite if I were not to agree that I like money as much as the next guy. I am definitely going to take a good long hard look at the superlative information you and embitca have provided and see what can be done to increase my earnings.My basic problem, however, is that I've been a journalist, editor, publisher and author for my entire adult life, and somewhere along the line I inherited a profound allergy to advertorial content. I appreciate and enjoy almost all aspects of the HubPages experience but none so much as writing exactly what the hell I want to, when I want to, in the way that I want to. Sometimes I make a buck off AdSense. Sometimes I don't. That's not my primary motivation. I write on this platform because I have wide ranging information I want to share with a general audience. Sometimes a quarter million people read it. Sometimes five people read it. Either way I know that I've touched somebody somewhere with my words and none were wasted.As I have stated previously, your information is priceless and I am certain will help a significant number of Hubbers increase their earnings.
embitca, I fully agree that The Sock Puppet of Fear is spot on and that if a Hubber wants to make some money, they had certainly better listen to the great advice both of you have so eloquently given.
Terri Paajanen and Shil1978, thank you so much for the congratulations. Much appreciated! :)
Actually, Sock Puppet, according to Google Click Through Rate isn't factored into smart pricing... it's your conversion rate (which publishers have no way of knowing).
"2. Clickthrough rate doesn't affect advertiser return on investment (ROI)The percentage of clicks that convert for an advertiser is the most important factor in an advertiser's ROI, so it's not only possible, but common, to have a low CTR and a high advertiser conversion rate. It's also possible to have a high CTR and a low conversion rate. Don't remove the AdSense code from your site just because it has a lower CTR - it may be one of your best converting sites."
You are amazing and here I thought my measley 180 something hubs was an accomplishment!!!! Well done.
Thanks for the clarification, lumberjack. I appreciate the information.
Thanks for the kind words dwilliamson! Keep on Hubbin' and your 1,000 mark won't be far! :)
Congrats Hal - 1000??? Wow! Stupendous! And I'm sure the next thousand will roll off your keyboard even faster :)
1000 hubs is so hard to even comprehend! What a fantastic accomplishment! I've just published a few over 100. But, I am up to almost $50 in adsense earnings! Hope to have my first payout in a month or two. Thanks for sharing what you learned. You're an inspiration for us all! Thank you!
well done to you!!! Keep it up :)
Shalini Kagal, to receive congratulations from you is indeed an honor. When I die and go to my maker (whether upstairs or downstairs is not yet clear) I will eternally and proudly state that of all the wonderful people I have had the pleasure of meeting on this mortal coil, you are most certainly among the greatest. And I mean that from the bottom of my heart.
KCC Big Country: Thank you so much! It is very gratifying to learn that I may be assisting Hubbers in continuing to publish on such an outstanding platform such as this.
Ed: Thank you very much, I appreciate it!
Hey Hal,
Very insightful Hub! Wishing you Health, Wealth and Happiness!
Thank you very much! I appreciate that! And same to you! :)
Hal ....*blush*...thank you.
The slot for 'greatest' of course, is reserved without a doubt for you - despite all your efforts to make everyone think otherwise :D
What an accomplishment! 1,000 hubs! I've not yet achieved 100. At least I accomplished the 30 hubs in 30 days challenge! From what you say, I should probably drop putting Amazon ads on my hubs. If they do not pay, why gunk the hubs up with clutter?
Hi Hal Licino,
You've written great hubs and I am pround of you. It is very difficulty to understand that you are making less than $200 per month.
G'day Hal, I have read many of your hubs and they all have a strong ring of truth about them. You are a fine writer and bring honor to hubpages while still managing to keep the readers interested to the end!
Shalini Kagal: Sorry to make you blush, but I meant every word. I appreciate your appealing to my humility, but I have to assure you that (since I am very likely meant for the downward bound purgatorial elevator) I can not possibly ever make a case for me having been the greatest anything, with the possible exception of sinner. :(
Peggy W: As I've outlined in that Adieu, eBay & Amazon Hub, whether it is a fault of my writing philosophy which creates an allergic reaction in my typing fingers whenever I try to write advertorial copy, or whether it is just a fundamental waste of time, those two capsules have never done much of anything for me. eBay has made me a total of two bucks so far and Amazon less than $25. Neither one of which payments I've seen as it's "below the threshold"... which has to be one of the biggest scams in the history of scams. Hmm... I smell a Hub coming on... let's see... I might just do that... :)
ngureco: Thank you very much, and I'm as puzzled on my earnings as anyone else! :)
earnestshub: I thank you profoundly for your exceptionally kind words and your long term unyielding support. It is much appreciated, Mate! :)
Dear Hal, Congratulations on your success! Although I am not a technical buff I thoroughly enjoy your Hubs. I just want to say thank you for sparking a niche interest for me. I have always written hubs about what i wonder about...do research...and churn out unrelated hubs on things I find interesting. Now, you have sparked my niche and I have decided to write about my career in Pastry arts. It's by passion and I hope folks will "beat down a path" to my hubs for this specific information.
Thanks again Hal and after a hiatus I am looking forward to getting back into the swing again (3rd wind) of hubbing. Take care!
Thank you very much Andromeda 10. You are one of the Hubbers which enrichens this site to the greatest degree, thus I not only want to encourage your ongoing efforts, but want to state that you can count on my perpetual support and encouragement! :)
1000 hubs, that is unbelievable, not that I dont believe you, I am in total shock but I now have a goal.
I want someday to be able to announce my 1000th hub.
I , obviously dont know you well yet but you can sure bet I will be following your work as it sounds very impressive.
Amazing! I just started with hubs and can't even figure out RSS feeds. Congrats on the success!
Well done Hal! That is an amazing achievement. You are fortunate to have such a good renumeration package direct from Hubpages because your Adsense income is relatively low for your number of hubs. Well done on your efforts though - I have read a fair few of your hubs and they have always been very informative!
babedoll50: Thank you very much for the extremely kind words and support. By all means keep your eye on the prize and I'm sure that you will find that the 1,000 mark comes up faster than you might think! :)
SheMis: Thank you! As for the RSS, check:
http://hubpages.com/guide/hubtool/capsules
and scroll down to the RSS section. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to assist.
BristolBoy: Thanks, the kudos are much appreciated! As for the Google income, I am a profound believer in the Tao thus since Google so outrageously rewards many of my Hubs with top positions and gets me so much traffic, the opposite side is that I don't earn much through them... at least that's what I could figure out by reading the Google Te Ching. :)
Props! That's awesome you've posted so many Hubs. :-)
Thanks so much KieraInk! I'm sure you can do it too! Keep Hubbin'! :)
You are far too kind. Thanks! :)
Congrats and thanks for the nuggets I pulled for myself. I'm not doing this to make money but to improve my writing and have a place to put my pieces.
all your hubs on really unique ideas
RGraf: You've really hit on what is by far the best aspect of HubPages and why this platform has been experiencing such explosive growth, now cracking into the top 150 websites in the USA: "to improve my writing and have a place to put my pieces". Sure, there are some Hubbers who are here for the $$$ and some of them are quite successful at it, but writing for the sheer joy and to gain the ability to reach people all over the world is the greatest gratification.
So to you and techie, I sincerely thank you for your kudos.
You have done a excellent job of coming up with interesting topics and writing good content that people actually want to read.
Thanks, Camping Dan! I'm happy to provide that content. I love writing it! :)
I liked the advice on this hub, I was going to write an article on "Buy Viagra Now" but you seem to have written the definative blog. Will try penis enlargement instead.
You have often considered penis enlargement but have worried that penis enlargement may not be for you, as penis enlargement is a complicated and costly procedure. However, penis enlargement is now within your reach as penis enlargement is now available to anyone who wishes to achieve penis enlargement for any reason. The ladies will love your penis enlargement, so why not click on this penis enlargement link and you will be able to learn how penis enlargement is quick, easy, and affordable to obtain. Penis enlargement is for every man, so why suffer in the lack of penis enlargement when you can have penis enlargement today and go on to join the club of penis enlargement men who have experienced the benefits of penis enlargement and get penis enlargement right now!
Is that ok? :)
Thanks for all the excellent info - you were lucky by the way to not get accepted by Kontera - it is not a good place to make money - there is a little known Clause 4.2 in their T&C that says if you make less than $5 a month then not only Kontera doesn't pay you but they remove it from your account and keep it for themselves - see -netmonetization . com/2009/03/kontera-ugly-truth.html - Kontera the Ugly Truth - particularly the comments
Thanks for the information. In my case it wasn't that Kontera did not accept me, there were ridiculous technical problems in signing up that no number of emails back and forth were able to resolve. That was very disappointing, but in reviewing your link, it sounds like there are definitely problems there. Not good at all!
Doing good. Seems as if eHow is for US residents only at least the money making part.
Writing in 1000 hubs in 2 years is a tiring job, but challenging. Congratulations. You certainly have a lot of experience that can be a lesson.
1,000 hubs is great going. You can tell you're a journalist and able to set your own deadlines and meet them! Your content reads well too, so I'll be looking out for more of it. Roll on 2,000...
Rudra: Thanks! A growing number of pay websites are starting to restrict their payments to US residents only which although can make IRS sense is fundamentally biased against residents of the other 200+ countries on Earth.
hsofyan: Thank you very much and I hope that my experience can help other Hubbers to keep on Hubbin! :)
jymsym: I appreciate your kind words. 2,000 coming up! :)
Congrats Hal!
I have been stuck on 16 hubs forever and I now will be getting my butt in gear to produce more Hubs as you have inspired me!
As for increasing your revenue, I have to agree with the crowd that says that you have to write about something that will sell. A hub about the best iPod color will probably unfortunately do better than hubs on jokes about an Alaskan Governor, although the latter is most likely the better of the two.
I look forward to the email notices that say "We just wanted you to know that Hal Licino has published 27 hubs today" and will use them as inspiration!
Thanks!
I like your honesty and your Hub is very entertaining. I'll be reading more of them!
I chuckled my way through your hub - glad I'm not the only one who spend so much time researching that I feel knackered at the end of it.
Regarding where you are going wrong with your Adsense income - I'm sorry to have to tell you it's because you write too many hubs on motorcycles.
Here's the chief tool you need to use (It's free to use and belongs to Google):
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExter
Type in the keyword in question (in this case "motorcycles"), when the results come up click the little drop down box labelled "choose columns to be displayed" and select "Estimated Average CPC".
What the page is showing is the average monthly traffic Google gets for each keyword and the average CPC (cost per click) that they charge to the advertiser. Remember that you the Adsense publisher will only get 20% of that should a reader click your ads.
Now look at the pitiful amounts that are being paid for motorcycle ads and calculate what your share would be if someone clicked... You'd need ginormous traffic to make it work, and bear in mind that the competition for traffic for those keywords is huge, so you won't always get to number 1 in the serps, and of the traffic you get no more than 5% will actually click on ads (it's often just 1%).
Now if you wrote about "e type jaguars" instead... You get the picture. Before you write something, dump the keyword into the tool and see what is displayed. Once you've got your selection of lucrative keywords, you don't have to keyword stuff. Just drop them into the text of your piece at least once and maybe add it to the tag as well (the tag thing is useful for words you can't work naturally into prose). Having your keyword in the title helps as well as having it in the URL. That's it.
After that you need to get traffic to your hubs, but you seem to know how to do that already (in case you didn't know, backlinks help).
P.S. You will have to continue writing about politics and celebs for fun only - the traffic that reads that stuff does so to while away time at work, they never ever click on ads.
LOL Hal, you are definitely wrong. :) And to tell you the truth you have extremely outdated views on SEO. Keyword staffing does not work for quite some time. Yet the keyword research is an extremely important thing to do, and you should try to learn it and use. Also, some amount of promotion/backlink building is necessary too for most of the hubs, so they get noticed and start attracting links all by themselves. :)
Superbly interesting observations. I bookmarked it when I read the first paragraph. Obviously you do write what you know, and that has served you well. I know nothing aobut motorcycles and I don't care to, but obviously a lot of people do.
I have enjoyed many of your hubs on many subjects. Thanks for this. I think there is something for everyone in this.
Congrats on this amazing accomplishment. I too would love to one day write a Hub regarding hitting the 1000 hubs written mark!
Hal,
Excellent hub. Informative and entertaining as usual. But - you do not need to change your writing style - just think about writing about things that people are dumb enough to buy. This single hub earns me between $200-$600 a month. :)
http://hubpages.com/hub/Five-Best-iPhone-Bluetooth
And I did not have a single nice thing to say about any of that rubbish. lol
jvillekid: Thank you very much! I'm very happy that I am able to inspire you to provide even more content onto this superb platform. You might be interested in reading my new Hub: Hal's 40 Best Google-Topping Keywords & Adsense Earnings
http://hubpages.com/hub/Hals-40-Best-Google-Toppin
as I deal with my top forty Google rankings and the income that they (don't) bring in. I've written my fair share of "product-heavy" Hubs, but the income result unfortunately seems the same. Thank goodness that I get my primary satisfaction out of attracting readers, not their money! :)
Dorrene R: I appreciate the compliments and your continued support! I hope you find my Hubs informative and entertaining.
Silver Rose: I appreciate your comments, but I've used the Keyword tool in Google many times, and many of the tags and keywords shown in motorcycles I've implemented. Some of those words seem fairly good paying, but they've done next to nothing for me. BTW, motorcycles consist of about 20% of all my Hubs... my subject range is quite varied from cuisine to PCs to Bengal cats to publishing, etc.
Misha: I have to tell you a little secret. Make sure you don't tell anyone. :) For a series of Hubs a way back, I actually had someone work for almost a week full time in "backlink building" to them as an experiment. Guess what? Although there were literally hundreds of varied popular websites with links to my series of Hubs... NUTHIN'! I dunno. Maybe Google Rank Position Algorithms love me but it's made up for by the Google Adsense Earnings Algorithms which HATE ME! :(
Rochelle Frank: Thank you very much! Again, 80% of my Hubs have nothing to do with motorcycles and are in the following Article Groups:
PC Technology; Cuisine; Bengal Cats; Authoring & Publishing; Cars; Medical; Fiction; Sports; Socio-Economic; Nature; Religion; Places
Not that any of them make any considerable Adsense bucks. Please see the new Hub I've just posted (link at the top of this comment) for all the details on what I do and what I don't earn through Adsense.
BuzzWorthy: Thanks! It's not hard to hit the Big One Thousand. Just keep on writing about things that you love to write about and that motivate you, and the milestone will be upon you before you know it.
Mark Knowles: Thank you very much, sir! I appreciate the compliments. I'd like to steer you to my new Hub: Hal's 40 Best Google-Topping Keywords & Adsense Earnings, as if you have figured out how to write one Hub that averages hundreds of dollars a month, if we can expand that to my 1,000+ Hubs, we can both retire in style by Christmas! And as I state in my Hub Income Challenge in that Hub, I'll split the proceeds with you! 50/50 right down the middle. What do you say? (BTW, no Hubs on Bollywood stars or fashion accessories as I have a low tolerance for vomiting...) :)
I guess I will be waving bye bye to Amazon soon then. Only been around hubpages a few weeks currently so earnings are pathetic :( Having a blast though
Hey, ethel, that's the main part of HubPages: Having a blast! Keep enjoying it! :)
Count me in. Bollywood is broke for the next 2-3 years anyway lol
Hal, link building without proper keyword research first is a total waste :)
Mark Knowles: Ok, but let's also leave out pimple medications, Ashton Kutcher, Jonas Brothers, Viagra... :)
Misha: I must have spent three hours going through keywords on Google before I wrote that series of Hubs. Still nooooooo money! :)
LOL for me keyword research for a serious project takes days if not weeks - if it does not get interrupted, than it takes months - ask Mark, I owe him two already :D
OK, Misha, why don't you get together with Mark and we'll go one thirds each on the Massive Hal Re-Hubbing! 1,026 Hubs all making a couple of hundred bucks a month each! Nice, huh? That will pay for a whole whack of food, water, ammo, and a nice remote cabin to wait out Armageddon! :)
LOL we might talk about it later, first I have to deal with flood - literally :(
well done Hal and thanks for sharing such great information....cheers
Hi Hal!
Your hub was a very interesing and informative read.I like ur style of writting. I am very new to hub pages and hope to get a hang of it.
Hal,
Misha is dead right when he says keyword stuffing is dead. A hub that is optimised for a keyword phrase should look just like ordinary writing, and you would not have to change your style at all.
Just looking in Google for highly searched keyword phrases is not sufficient to find effective keywords.
You also have to consider how many other sites are competing for that keyword, and how effective they are in this competition. I think youi'll find you've hit these factors dead on with your highly viewed hubs.
There are also keywords that indicate a person is wanting to buy something, and other keywords that show they are just looking. There are MANY factors to consider when choosing keywords to use.
Have a look at www.micro-nichefinder.com to see the principles involved. (Note: You'll have to provide an email address to get access to these videos, but it's worth it. I use this tool myself, and it is the best one I've found to choose effective keywords)
Hal, I've enjoyed reading many of your hubs. I wrote a discussion about keywords for my clients. I'll email you the link.
Cheers, Eric G.
Congrads! Thanks for your honesty!
Impressive number of hubs - over one a day for the last 2 years, that's some writing flow you have. Thanks for sharing your knowlege.
Wow, that's a staggering number of hubs. You definitely deserve to be making far more than that. I'm noticing that tags play an important role in the adsense displays, so maybe changing the tags across your best hubs could make a big difference? Thanks for sharing all of this info.
Misha: What's this about a flood? Be careful, and don't forget your snorkel! :)
ajcor: My pleasure and thanks!
gauri seth: I cannot possibly encourage you and all the other new Hubbers enough. HubPages is not only a phenomenal writer's platform, it is absolutely unique. It has now left its arch-competitor Squidoo in the dust as it is far more successful and popular, so from now on HubPages is the place to be!
Eric Graudins: Thank you for your comments. I will definitely check out that site and look forward to the link to your discussion.
It's too bad about keyword stuffing since I was really looking forward to writing a whole series of Hubs about making money online, since I have learned so much about making money online and I can now share my making money online tips, my making money online tricks, and all the ways that I have found to making money online quick and easy to the point that anyone can start making money online today without waiting any longer to be making money online and stuffing your bank account with all the cash made from making money online by following my simple making money online plan that allows you to be making money online quickly and easily, so why not start making money online right now so you can join the people who have been making money online and gettting rich by making money online?
:)
Kimber777: Thanks! My regular readers will tell you that I may be a royal pain in the rectum, but I am nothing if not honest! :)
Jewels: Thank you! After three decades in the publishing business writing to me has become almost autonomic, like breathing! :)
kiwi91: Thanks and I appreciate the kind words! I have experimented with various tags and had a series of Hubs that had almost thirty tags. Unfortunately they haven't registered as much as a beep in the income levels.
LOL Don't need them anymore. :) Got my first floor flooded last night, we have unusually cold and wet summer in DC area this year, may be the wettest on record. Water is gone already, but dealing with aftermath of a flood is no fun... :(
Hal, what an awesome accomplishment! You've got a huge audience and following for all your work.
Hopefully someone will match that following with serious adsense income to pad your pockets!
A great hub...I learned a lot from this...thanks! My most pouplar hub so far is about sex with an older woman....800 + hits. I wonder....if I did a hub called," Paris Hilton has sex with Donald Trump's midget hair piece designer in a 60 hp.,4 speed golf cart"......would I finally break a thousand?
Thanks again Hal! :)
Misha: Climate change should be renamed Climate Insanity. It seems that most of North America has had a bizarre winter/spring. I'm sure that the unforeseen prolonging of La Nina and its delayed transition to ENSO neutral had a lot to do with it. Watch out for the upcoming El Nino... it looks to be a monster if NASA forecasts can be believed. Anyway, stay dry, dude! Use lots of bleach on everything as it will save you from living in a moldosphere in a couple of months from now! :)
WeddingConsultant: Thank you very much! I'm still waiting for someone to take me up on the Hub Income Challenge and split all my future immense Adsense riches! The first thing I'm going to do is get a Bentley Continental, then a few collector motorcycles, then a waterfront mansion in the South Pacific, complete with girls in grass skirts that I can chase around the beach all day with a lawnmower... :)
Tom Cornett: You're very welcome and thanks for your comments and kind words. Go for the Paris - The Donald Hub... it sounds like a riot! :)
You are awesome!
Thats a lot of hubs congratulations thats a great result and thanks for the tips this is a great hub thanks again :)
Thanks for the useful information. Had the opportunity to learn several importnat things.
axeny, dipless, and laswi: You are far too kind and I truly and profoundly appreciate your kudos. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. :)
Now if receiving props like this isn't enough reason to write for HubPages, I don't know what possibly could be! :)
i have no idea what your talking about but hi axeny
You don't understand this Hub? Huh?
Congratulations! I've just started with Hubpages a couple of weeks ago... and, you are one impressive and inspirational person. I'm glad i saw this article early on...gets me in gear to sit behind the keyboard - I hope in a year, I'll be writing a similar article, only telling tales of incredible profits! Good luck to you and congrats!
Thank you very much and I have no doubt whatsoever that once you get those keys a-tappin' and you'll be at 1,000 Hubs in no time at all! Go for it! And when you figure out the incredible profits, clue me in willya? :)
wow good for you great article keep up the good work ;-P
After reading your hub I wrote http://hubpages.com/hub/best-way-writers-earn-mone . It covers some points for beginers, but it also goes into ways to make more money from your writing. Let me know whether any of it helps you.
I don't know how you have the physical energy to write so much, but more power to you for doing so. I work full time and am physically exhausted when I get home at 7 or 8 pm at night, but I would like to know how or how many hours you spend writing a hub. Also, I don't know who Paul Edmondson is. Would you please explain?
yes.i think we can't make much money on this site easily
Excellent things to learn from a veteran hubber.
Do you think you might have missed your vocation...perhaps you should be designing autos????
As a newbie - I really appreciate this hub and the sharing.
Thanks.
Congrats on 1000 hubs!
I absolutely love this hub! I can't believe it though, 1000 hubs, wow! As a writer myself, especially a freelance writer, it's hard to find work or anything that pays half way decend on a regular basis, but it's what I do and enjoy. I'm sure my husband would love it if I made millions from my writing, but I write because I love it and I don't really care about making anything from it.
I really hope to read more of your work, as I hope you will mine. And hope to see you reach the 2,ooo mark!
This is just amazing, how much money are making!?
I hope I can get as good as you.
Interesting Hub topic.. Congrats on your success and volume of Hubs!
Thanks for a great hub! I'm new to Hubpages, but I really like the community spirit here. I found what you said about earning money by hubbing and blogging intresting because whilst I wouldn't say no to a little extra income, I do wonder if it's actually worth bothering with. Congratulations on your 1000 hubs!
Wow, yet I have to get the position "publisher of 100 hubs". Would like to get more interaction by the hubber like you !
No1beautytips: Thank you very much. I definitely intend to keep on Hubbin'! :)
jGaunt: That is an excellent and comprehensive guide, and it's honest too which is truly a blessing. No "write just one Hub and make a million dollars" advice. Great job! :)
Innovator820: Contrary to popular opinion I do not operate my own Meth lab. :) I am a lifelong journalist and author from waaaaaay back and I just have my work habits etched into my DNA. Each Hub is different. If I am writing something that requires a lot of research, I can take several hours to write one. My series of Hubs on motorcycle and scooter MPG took two weeks full time, and it's one of my best performing series ever. If it's just stream of consciousness like the Hub I just posted: Touring The United Socialist States Of America's Capital...
http://hubpages.com/hub/Touring-The-United-Sociali
...then I can just rip that one out in about 20 minutes. It helps to type 90 wpm. Of course the Photoshop work of the Lenin Memorial took a LOT longer. It took me an hour just to find the right Lenin head to stick on Lincoln's body! As for Paul Edmondson, he is one of the nicest, most supportive and most patient human beings I have ever had the pleasure to encounter and is the Hallowed Leader And Resident Deity of HubPages.
raj: I believe that if we are to follow the lead of legitimate and honest Hubbers like embitca and many others and do our keyword research as well as dedicate ourselves to writing SALES-FOCUSED Hubs, then significant profits CAN be made. I'm just a pain in the butt set in his ways old writer fart who just can't bring himself to write reams of advertorial copy, I guess... :(
llanishen: Thank you very much! :)
Tonii Elliott: Been there, done that, got the T-Shirt... Would you believe that I worked with a "notorious" car designer on a three wheeled, 1 litre, 85 mpg, low emission car that wouldn't be out of place on today's highways in THE SEVENTIES when gas was pennies a gallon and nobody cared? Well I did... but that's a whole 'nother story. :(
lakeerieartists: Thanks! :)
vkent7441: Thank you very much! With the collapse of traditional publishing there are some great, established authors who can't give their work away these days, so we should all be extremely thankful for HubPages! I'm shooting for 2,000 now! :)
LightningBoy: Thank you very much for the kind words. As for a complete rundown of my earnings:
http://hubpages.com/hub/Hals-40-Best-Google-Toppin
Reynolds_Writing: Thank you very much! I appreciate it!
scramblingman: Thank you for you kudos! By all means follow the lead of embitca and others who are legitimately making decent money on HubPages. If you follow their advice, you can make a good, solid ongoing income. Of course, only a fool would expect to become a millionaire from online writing on any platform.
servesbest: I'm happy to interact with you in anything you like. How may I assist?
Hi Hal! You're the 1k Man! 1,000+ hubs is huge accomplishment so congrats. I have found no matter how much effort I put in somethings online simply don't work. For example, I have lots of webpages linked up to ClickBank products. I get lots of click-throughs every day but have never made a dime from those guys! Anyways, I'm an immediate fan here! Cheers! -dawei888 :-)
Thank you so much for your kudos. Much appreciated. I've never dealt with ClickBank, but their $1.3 billion payout figure on their home page makes me VERY SUSPICIOUS!!!
Nice work! A feat almost impossible to surpass. =)
It's not so difficult if you apply yourself and just keep on pluggin'! I'm sure you can do it. Give it a try! You'll find it extremely personally rewarding! :)
Thank You
I enjoyed the photoshop Jeep article
1000 hubs, that is impressive output. This one gives me food for thought that hopefuly will improve my hubs.
Congratulations on producing so many hubs, Hal!
foreclosure2010: Thanks! I had fun doing that Jeep. And it turned out to have set up seismic waves across the auto blogs on the net. Jeep Panda Phoenix has half a million Google results! So I say it again: COME ON, CHRYSLER, SEND ME SOME ROYALTY CHECKS! :)
Bob Ewing: Thanks, and keep up the great work!
Journey*: Thank you very much!
like the computer one interesting!
How do you know that what worked for you will work for someone else?
the important thing is to learn from your hubs - if you find ones that do well, then do more in the same style or on the same topic. Otherwise ditch them!
mwaky: Thanks!
ahpoetic: Simple. I apply the Hub Transference Equation. You take the number of keywords in a Hub, divide them by the number of socks in your drawer, multiply by the number of Free Enterprise supporters in the White House, then do the square root of the birthday of the Hubber in question and if it's an odd number it works, but if it's even it doesn't. :)
Mark Pearson: I've done a lot of that and I think I'm running a 9 out of 10 failure rate. I have so many Hub concepts in the ditch that it's turning out to look more like a hill. :)
Thanks for sharing! With my experience with Google ads off and on Hubo making more then $200 as you wrote isn’t an easy task (even with more then 1000 hubs). I don’t think you're doing anything wrong, and besides, you can not control your ads much when it comes to Hubo. Same goes for Amazon. eBay ads on the other hand, are something that can bring you some nice income, so I wouldn’t give up on it just yet. Try putting a decent amount of relevant eBay items on your hubs and monetize your clicks. I would say that once you start bringing 1000 to 3000 + targeted visitors to eBay (and you can do it with so many hubs) you will see some nice income from this cannel.
Thanks Hal for the great tips and congrats on the 1,000 hubs - WOW! (and BTW those Jeep pics are totally rad!)
tomerr: Thanks for your comments. I have around 500 Hubs all diligently equipped with eBay capsules dating back to 25 months ago. Some of those Hubs are very specifically product Hubs which I wrote out of interest and for my readers, NOT for ad clicks, but the point remains that there are many eBay avails for those Hubs. So far my total eBay earnings over 25 months and 500 Hubs are two bucks. That's not even half a cent per capsule. I'm not exactly elated. :)
Dorsi: Thanks for the kudos. Much appreciated! I loved doing that Photoshop Jeep and apparently 500,000 other websites loved it too! :)
Hal, I'm truly amazed you wrote 1000 hubs. I haven't even gotten to 10!!! I've signed up to your fan club and look forward to reading more.
Thank you very much for the compliments, celistina! Just keep on Hubbin' and you'll reach the thousand mark before you know it!
Thanks for sharing great information
Congratulations on publishing over a 1000 hubs. I have enjoyed reading this hub very much though it has taken me a long time to finish as I followed most of your links on the way through and then read through the comments as well. I am fairly new to hubpages and I like the sense of community here and the wide range of topics covered, I learn something new every time I come to hubpages. I loved your 50 funniest photoshop photos. I doubt the way I write that I will ever make any money on hubpages but I would love to be able to make it to a 100 hubs, 1000 is probably too ambitious for me. Again congratulations on your achievement you have a new fan who will be returning to read more of your hubs..
Compzone08: You're very welcome!
maggs224: Thanks! The only thing holding you back from 1,000 Hubs is just your perseverance. But any Hub that a good writer creates is wonderful, and it's all about quality, not necessarily quantity! :)
Wow, 1000 hubs and some great tips.
I've just writte my first hub, this is great encouragement to create some more hubs.
Tim
Thanks, and keep up your Hubbing, Tim! You'll be at a thousand before you know it! :)
1,000!!!!! I don't even know if I can manage 100 hubs in 2 years! You're my idol Hal.
Wow, emievil, that's a great compliment! I really appreciate it! Thanks! :)
Thank-you Hal this hub is brilliant, I am still a relative newbie and still don't really know what i'm doing, however after reading this I am now filled with new drive and some great ideas. Congratulations on 1000 hubs, I am impressed.
Thanks for the very kind words, wrenfrost56. Just apply yourself, don't give up, and the 1000 mark will be yours as well! :)
Nice tips! I have in mind to write about "save money by eating ants - great protein source", probably can make more than 1 cent from Google Adsense
Make sure you coat them in chocolate first. :)
Hi Hal, you have so many Hubs I must have missed this one. I'm hoping you're now making considerably more than $200 a month on your 1,000 Hubs (an update would be good!).
If I extrapolate my earnings on my 94 Hubs, I'd expect to be earning over $1,200 a month with 1,000 Hubs. And I've never chosen a Hub subject based on keyword searches in my life! Nor do I do much backlinking or promoting.
Three simple tips that improved my earnings - all my Hubs now have a first paragraph long enough to trigger an Adsense ad in the top right hand corner. I also try to add a few links out to relevant authority sites, after the comments and the News capsule - I didn't believe it would make a difference either, but it does. Finally, like you I removed all my Amazon and eBay capsules, except where I could target a specific product - I didn't want the pretty pictures to distract people from the more boring Adsense ads.
I thouroughly enjoyed reading this and will check out your other hubs.
I was wondering if your 1,000 AD income challenge is over? Well I have to recommend checking out thekeywordacademy.com if you are truely interested in improving your income with hubpages.
1) Keyword Selection is crucial
2) Stuffing your post with keywords is not recommended. It's better for it to be or sound natural
3) BackLinks + Rankings in Google = Income
I highly recommend you read information on their website to learn more about how SEO works and how you can improve your hubs to improve your earnings. The Keyword Academy also provides a course that gives step by step video and live monthly webinars on how to create profitable niche website, which can be applied to Hubpages. The mebership cost only $1 for the first month, you can join watch the videos and see if it's worth it. It cost $33 a month after your first month, if you do not want to continue simple cancel your member in Paypal.
Well I hope I provided you with some good information, let me know if you apply the techniques from TKA and if it increases your earnings. I would Love to recieve 50/50 off your hubpages income. :)
Marisa Wright: Well, the update isn't much in the update dept. My Adsense earnings per Hub have barely budged... actually they've overall gone down slightly.
lovelypaper: Thanks!
dcsantos7: With all due respect: Ladeeedaa deedaah deedaaah....Give me $396 a year and I'll teach you how to play the banjo with your toes... laaa laaaaaaaaaa laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah... Hmm... the sound of Hal SHUTTING UP before he goes off on a tirade he might end up regretting... la la laaaaaaa la la laaaaaaaaaaaaaa... Get me the significantly higher Adsense earnings and the 50% is yours. But the $396 is staying nice and safe in my bank account. :)
P.S. At my advanced age I have enough trouble with my member so cancelling it in Paypal is not an option. :)
good reading !
Thanks! :)
Great Hub. I don't see how people can make a lot of money from Hubpages but it's all about the writing. Congrats on 1000 hubs.
Wow I have bee here for two years and I only have twenty hubs that have been written in these past few months you rock.
Very informative hub. I have just started actively writing on Hubpages and find this helpful.
I love this hub. I find myself referring to it often. Thanks for your insight.
Well done - you must be well on the way to your second thousand by now!
When you find out how to make significant money without compromising your integrity please tell the rest of us!
As always Hal, you are... victorious! Try not to sleep - give us more fresh hubs instead.
Congrats on 1000 hubs! That's commitment for sure!
Wow, what great advice. Linking this to my own hub about One Month at HubPages, and voting this Up and Awesome.
Gypsy Willow Level 5 Commenter 2 years ago
Awesome hub, thanks for sharing and good luck. I can't share in the challenge as I've only made $1.60 in 2 months so I'm obviously crap at it. Good luck!