How To Make Money on HubPages

I'm not going to make money on this hub. I'm not selling an eBook promising some magic formula that will shower you in effortless wealth. Heck, I'm not even running ads on the page! After all HubPages has given me, I'm just giving a little back.

I first started hubbing a year and a half ago, and by the time I joined the HubPages team as Community Manager six months ago, I was already making over $1000 a month from AdSense on my hubs. (Yes, it's continued to grow since then.) By popular request among users, this, my 200th hub, is dedicated to passing on some simple tips for boosting traffic and earnings.

Note: When I sat down to write it, I quickly realized that I have much more to say on the subject than could possibly fit in a single hub, so look for forthcoming hubs that address the points I make here in more detail.

The key to HubPages success is this: write good hubs.  I know that's not what your average user wants to hear, but it's the truth.  If making money were as easy as copying, pasting, and link-dropping, you could train your pet monkey to do it.  Unfortunately, it requires some thought and effort, initially.  The good news is, on HubPages you only have to do the work once, and it keeps on paying off.

So now the question becomes, how do you write a good, money-making hub?  Since this isn't an English lesson, I'll take you through some important aspects of building the hub itself, and let you fill in the details.

When creating a hub for the purpose of making money, it's vital to understand that traffic alone won't bring in the bucks.  Not all traffic is created equal.  Traffic from within HubPages, for example, will not make you any money at all. 

HubPages Traffic

If you think about it, this is common sense--people who are already here on HubPages read your hubs in a mindset of community participation.  They often leave very thoughtful comments, and might join your fan club, which feels great, but they are not going to click on any ads.

Social Bookmarking

Likewise, visitors from social bookmarking sites like Digg, Stumbleupon, Mixx, and Reddit are probably reading your hubs in the mentality of casual web-surfing.  They are not necessarily looking for a page on your specific topic, they are simply browsing things that other people have found interesting.  I, personally, do not bother bookmarking my hubs.  Most of these sites have policies against submitting your own work, so you can not only get yourself banned, you may also penalize all hub listings across the entire site.  If one of your hubs is on a topic that is likely to be popular on social bookmarking sites, someone else will probably submit it.

Search Engine Traffic

The type of traffic that monetizes best is search engine traffic.  Visitors who come from Google searches (just as an example... Yahoo or AOL or any other search engine as well) are actively seeking out information on your topic.  And if they're doing that, there is a higher probability that they will click on ads that offer relevant information or related products.

Once you understand the types of traffic, and which one you're going for, you're already halfway there. It's important to pick a good topic, title, and relevant tags, but these tasks become infinitely easier when you have a goal in mind: making your hubs search-worthy and searchable.

Over time, I'll be adding hubs to this series, addressing particular elements of hub building and sharing specific tips to make hubs that make money!  If there's a specific topic you'd like me to address in more detail sooner, rather than later, leave a comment with your request.