Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Yes, You CAN Earn Money at Home Writing on Hubpages

What is HubPages?

A "hub"  is a blank page waiting to be written on. The site as a whole is made up of writers who create and manage their own articles in exchange for a share of the  revenue generated by people reading the articles. HubPages provides the tools to design your page, does the work of keeping track of money and page views, and regulates the site to ensure quality.

You have only to abide by a few of the site's rules  about what subjects are taboo. You can write about anything along as it is not pornographic, illegal, or spammy. It has to be original and your own work. They have a duplicate checker, and you may lose the privilege of publishing on HubPages if you plagiarize or create content strictly to promote your own products or services.

The staff at HubPages is very responsive to questions. They regularly show up in the member's discussion forums to help out and answer questions. I had a  problem with my eBay account, and within an hour I had a response and a promise to fix it. For a site as large as theirs, that is impressive.

How do you earn?

There are a few ways to earn. HubPages  and Google Adsense display advertising on your hubs, and you get a 60 percent share of the money earned by pages views or ad clicks by readers. The RPM (rate paid by advertisers per thousand views) varies daily, so I cannot give you a direct dollar amount. I have heard it ranges between $3- $10  per mille. I can assure you I have not seen the $10 mille.  I have yet to discover the "golden goose" topic, though I have personally had a PPM at just under $9 .

In order to share in the revenue, you must apply to and be accepted by Google Adsense. When you apply, Google Adsense will view your hubs, and if you have ample content that is well written and abides by Adsense's terms and policies, you will be accepted.  The current thinking is that you must have a minimum of ten hubs to be accepted, unless you are an Asian writer. AdSense appears to want a minimum of 20 hubs and six months of being published for writers from Asian countries.  Most of the money I earn right now is through the HubPage ads, not AdSense.

Additional earning possibilities

With the HubPage program, you can make money when someone buys a product from eBay or Amazon.com through your hub.  A hub has a special feature to add text, photos, and eBay and Amazon modules. To earn off these two, you must apply and be accepted as an affiliate marketer by eBay and Amazon.  Your Hub page will have an earning tab which will help you apply for Adsense, eBay, and Amazon. EBay  and Amazon pay a percentage if a product of theirs sells because someone entered their site through your hub.

Once approved, you can choose which products to display on your page or let EBay and Amazon automatically choose an item. You will want to display items that relate to your topic. You will get an automatically generated warning if you try to place too many eBay or Amazon items on your page. Remember, too few words and too many ads looks spammy to Google, and your Hub may not be published as a consequence.

I give HubPages a thumbs up!


How much can I earn on HubPages?

This depends on what you put into it. If you throw up low quality pages and expect to make money - it's not going to happen. Like every other PPV site (are there any others left?), you need to have many (at least 10) quality articles that have been researched for SEO (search engine optimization.)  It is a slow process that takes work, research and lots of patience.

Each potential Hub goes through a quality review process. If it doesn't meet the staffs criteria for quality and clarity, it will not be published.

As to my earnings - I have been on HubPages for over three years.  I have weathered the upsand downs and the Panda hits,.

The first month I wrote only two articles. I decided to get into gear and wrote 8 more hubs two weeks ago. As soon as I finished, I applied to Adsense , and I  was approved a few days later. In the first week, I have earned more in PPV's on my  hubs than the entire first month PPV's writing for Yahoo.

I'm not getting rich, but I earn a nice residual income that comes in handy for emergencies and holidays. Some "hubbers" do support themselves through HubPage earnings. These people have been there years and have found a niche market.


Helpful hints for writing on HubPages

Write about things that interest you, unless you have excellent marketing skills; You will have more motivation and will write more frequently if you are passionate about your subjects.

Get involved with the HubPage community. Until the search engines discover your hubs,  you will want the views and support of others to keep motivated. You can also learn strategies, be exposed to differing  writing styles, and even make some new friends.

Certain topics earn more PPV. Technology, insurance, and medical gets higher rates than recipes or gardening.

Be patient! As you will see with my updates below, it does take time for Hubs to "mature" and start earning more than a few cents.  Not every Hub will be a winner, but most will earn some money every day.



Update 4/20/2013

With only one month of ad revenue, as of today I have earned $6.79 with 28 hubs. The traffic appears to be growing a bit every week, with Google and Bing sending  people to my webpages.  I have had no eBay or Amazon sales, but did not expect any because of the nature of my writing.
I also received a Rising Star award, awarded to new up-n-comers.  :) I plan on adding a few more hubs in the next month. I'll update then.

 Update 4-30-2013

As of today, I have earned $10+ through HubPages on page views alone. It is well shy of the $50 minimum payout, but you can see the steady progression. I hope it keeps up. :)


Update 10-29-2013

After being offline since the first of June, I made payout in August. I have added no new Hubs since May and as of now I have 39 Hubs. I did have 45 hubs at one time, but not all of the hubs were great performers, and some garnered fewer than 10 views a month. I removed these low performing hubs and put them on Bubblews where they could at least earn a dollar or two.

There was a drop in traffic in August, but my views are picking up again, and I anticipate making payout again in November. Like most people, I have just a few Hubs that perform really well, with the rest pulling in a few views a day. I am pleased with my progress, and I plan to add more hubs as time allows.  :)


Update 12-9-13

Not only did I make payout in November, I also had a pleasant surprise when someone purchased a used truck through my hub. I received 2.5% of the purchase price, though I am forbidden to give the exact dollar amount. I will say  the commission brought a big smile to my face and reinforced my commitment to HubPages.


Earnings as of  May 14, 2014


I am now earning between $1.50 to $2.50 a day on my Hubs. I also earn money on EBay and Amazon. Its not enough to live off of, but I expect to reach the $50 dollar payout threshold every month now.

I think it is great to be earning this money off of pages I wrote a year ago. If I only had more time to write more Hubs!


Earnings: 2015  

The Google "Panda" updates hit content sites hard. Many failed but Hubpages has hung on. I no longer earn payout every month unless my Amazon sales are good.  I do still earn approximately  $30 a month   at Hubpages. Not bad considering I have only 35 Hubs and  haven't added any new ones since 2014. :)


Earnings: 2016

Hubpages staff has decided to branch out and make niche sites dedicated to certain topics. It was a wise decision as earnings and views have come out the post-Panda slump and have started to earn again.

Click here to view my HubPages profile. Happy writing!

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