How To Make Money on HubPages
By Maddie Ruud
What's the main reason you use HubPages?
See results without votingI'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.
Making Money on HubPages
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.
Types of Traffic
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.
Building A Money-Making Hub
Once you understand the types of traffic, and which one you're going for, you're already half way 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.
Comments
The best hub I found about making money on hubpages.com, If someone want to earn money form his hubs, he must have search engine friendly contents and it is only possible if he has a little knowledge of SEO. Thank you for sharing this secret. Voted UP
you rock. thank you
Thanks Maddie, the more I read your Hubs, the more I addicted to it. Thanks for the resourceful Hubs, voted up!
Wow. Thank you for sharing. As a neophite, I can use all the help that I can get.
Thanks for helping those of us who are new get started.
Nice of you to share.
I find that the biggest problem is that people who are surfing the web are not necessarily buying products or related material. How do we get people to buy? I have heard so much, both good and bad about google, I'm not sure what to think... I have my own opinions about google, but that is for another day.
I love this article. I have several hubs now, but I keep going back to re-read the basic hubpages information. I am still early in the learning curve, and it is good to go back and refresh my memory on the basics!
Thanks for such a useful article - you're an inspiration to us all!
Your writing is so clear and personal. You deserve the big bucks and i am so happy to hear that HP has brought you such success. I really like the community aspect of HP. I have a clear picture of what I should focus on for now and I will be looking at your other hubs as well. Thanks again for passing on your experience.
Such a useful hub. Thanks!
Yay! Useful info :)
wow! today,i feel extremely fortunate. just stumbled upon hubpages, and especially upon learning about your great generosity and expertise.my sincere admiration and thanks.
Thanks so much for the great tips, I am new here and I don't have a clue!
Thanks for the tips.
KKalmes,
Definitely, some categories/niches will be more likely to make you money than others. Often, writing about politics means writing about current events, which will probably stop being searched for a month from now, if not tomorrow. Also, people looking to read about politics are not necessarily in a buying mindset.
Thanx Maddie, I feel like such a dolt when it comes to this side of hub work... teaching old dogs new tricks can be hard, but every article helps penetrate a little deep into that dark recess called my brain.
Do you feel some categories are less likely to be money-makers, like political hubs?
Again, thanx...
This is going to be very helpful for a lot of people.
Very inspiring. Thanks.
Thank you very much for the great hub. I'm off to read the next hub in your series.
trying my best not to get confused right now
Cool hub!!!
Great info! I plan to check out more of your hubs!
Thanks i am reading every hub i can find to become successful.Every thing is helpful to get a right start.
Thanks, Maddie. I am just trying to learn how this all works. So I write an article - publish it - index it - and then what? people search google - find my key word in the article - my article appears on the search list - they click on it - and where do ads come from? just clicking on my article makes money? clicking on an ad makes money? I'm 80 years young, semi-retired and would really like to start making some money with my writing ability. I did put an article in a hub - but then what?
Thanks.it is very useful to me to know about making money from hub pages
Was searching for "easy ways to make money online" saw your how to make money on hubpages. Great info on quick easy ways to make money.
Thanks for sharing these useful tips. I especially appreciate the tip about how to get the most out of traffic. I look forward to reading more of your hubs. Peace and Blessings.
Thanks.yes, I got an idea
excellent, especially for a newbie!
How do you promote your hubs for better search engine placement?
Thanks,
George
I love people who get straight to the point and who present a logical argument. Your article solidifies for me what I believed was likely the case. Thanks for giving me a more clear direction.
Very helpful and honest. Thanks
Making money on Hubs requires a lot of work, but it of course can be done with the right type of hubs. Mostly products I think.
thanks a lot for the most relevant pieces of information
Good to see someone pointing out the obvious flaw in targetting social media traffic. I fell for the twitter thing months ago. It is so obvious really that you just get lots of browsers but no buyers. It does make you feel good to have lots of page views but it feels even better when you make some real money!
Thanks for the tip Maddie,
we will keep all that into considerations
Thanks for your help.
i just found hubs. Where have I been hiding. Having read the comments I must give it a go.
Congratulation on your 200th hub! You have been busy! Thanks for the tips about how to create a money making hub.It is a given (for most people) to write a hub that makes sense and is useful and helpful.What many people find difficult is how to get the right keywords, the kind of keywords that produce $ from your hubs?
Thanks for your clarity on this topic. You make perfect sense. You are an inspiration.
I am a newby, thanks for the info. It is wonderful of you to want to help others to do what you do so well!
with hubpages hope to see myself sweaming in a ocean of money
Maddie Ruud
Thank your for the great tips. I am still finding my way around hubpages after 5 months! How do I get my scores up?
This information has been quite helpful.
Blessings
Thanks for this hub very informative. I want to make some additional income from writing hubs and I will follow your advice. One thing puzzles me however. How on earth do I get Ebay adverts to work? Do you know?
I just started recently and I thought adsense was just another hidden scam to go to a pay sight.I'll be look'n for you and all the help you can offer.You are very thoughtful to really want to help others.thanks from the bottom of this page to the top of my heart.
Thanks mate! a great resource.
Personally I have found social bookmarking to be a waste oil time if you want to actually make money from any website or Hub Page. The only good thing that can come from them is a possible one way link and that only happens if your content is especially good or highly engaging.
This is good information. I have just published two articles. Thank you for so much of information.
Great informations, Maddie, thanks for this!
Just sigend up and am very happy to say that this is the first hub I have read yet, and I am very pleased thank you , look forward to reading more or your work :)
This great and I have just added it in one of my hubs on Google Adsense Contextual, thanks for sharing
Hi,
It seems many people are after making money directly on the hubs. But shouldn't we consider hubs and other places as an important backlink to our other websites and link them together?
I always use social networks to bookmark everything I consider important, doesn't mater if it's my own website or not. This way, I am not considered spammer in the social programs by having bookmarked only my pages.
First of all congratulations on having such a nice and open mentality of sharing you knowledge with fellow Hubbers.You are no doubt a good writer and look forward to reading more of your hubs.
Thanks Maddie for sharing these helpful information. I also enjoy your discipline culture here in the community.
Thanks for your help Maddie and being so generous with your knowledge and for being so very gracious. Be sure and let me know how I might returne the favor :-)
good view very vital thanks
Thanks Maddie, very insightful. Also thanks for answering my question.
This makes a lot of sence. I have been on hubpages for more than three months, but only began posting in May and I've had only 45 visitors from Google. Rest of the 600 visits were from the hubpages community.
Thanks for sharing your experience! I'm looking forward to your next hubs on this topic.
Thanks for the great hub and info--I appreciate the tips very much.
Thanks for all information. Certainly I will be visiting your other hubs related to this.
Thanks Maddie,
I will be following your series intently. I've just registered and I can feel the anxiety building. Your level headed and generous contribution to all us Hubbers is a great tonic.
Very good information. But to get good on google rank doesnt it required to social bookmark your site for backlinking
Thanks for that imformation.
Thanks, Maddie, I'm learning from you!! Keep writing...=))
Very good information and I enjoyed your Hub.
Man Maddie, I wish I had come across this when I first started. I amdoing the correct things on hubpages and I can already see that adsense is starting to trickle in. After a month I got my first click, now I'm up to a click per week after taking a month off because of a jam-packed schedule. I got on yesterday with the feelings that I didn't care about not making my monetary goal but I just want to share information with others, you helped to encourage my goals again. Thank you, especially for your comments in forums!
thks for this great info. it is very useful like a text book.
i like your writings it is both informative and helpful
Hi Maddie. I use this great hub as a guide and reread it often. Looking forward to the next in the series.
Not to mention, all your hubs are great pieces - way to go... girl...
THanks for this, Maddie. I hadn't thought about actually making money from Adsense, but you make it sound easier than I thought it would be. Much appreciated!
Thanks, Maddie. Wise words from someone who knows. The only social bookmarking site I deal with on a regular basis is Digg. I've never made the front page, but I have done well in converting Digg hits to Adsense. Maybe I just got lucky.
Great hub! And thanks for the info. I joined hub pages about 4 months ago and have 22 hubs so far. I've made about 24 cents from adsense so far and would like to know how to make more money and you've provided good insight. I have the feeling that, while I have many tags for my hubs, they are not quite the right ones, or are worded in the wrong way. I also wonder if my titles are tripping me up with the way they are worded. Any advice would help. Again, Thanks!
Thnks Maddie
I am Murali .. A very good information in a clear way.. keep it up
Thanks Maddie,
Good insight
Thanks Maddie, there is soo much information to absorb when you are learning and is so important to get the right information from the right source in the first place. You are that right source for me. Congrats on your 200th hub. I am looking forward to the rest of the series. Great Work!
As I see, all your hubs are greatm this is no exception! Great stuff
Maddie, Thank you for the tips I am going to take them and run!!:)
I used to be a squidoo guy, but then I discovered hubpages and I became a big fan. 200 hubs; WoW! keep it up. great hub.
Hello Maddie,
Awesome information especially for a newbie such as me.
Thanks
Great Hub. Your nailed it on the head that traffic from search engines is normally always targeted traffic. Thanks for some great info
Hi Maddie, Fantastic Hub and great information. I look forward to the rest of your series as it flows along. Thanks so much for providing such helpful insight.
Great hub!! Thank you so much. I just signed up and am very excited by the possibilities here. I look forward to reading more.
I'm on it, Hup. I plan to lay it all out, bit by bit, breaking it up into separate hubs addressing separate aspects of hub building. Just be patient... I still want to write the stuff that actually makes me the money too. ;)
Great tips, Maddie....a solid way to breek through the 200 mark. It's also probably worth telling how long an average Hub takes you to complete and what steps you go through before actually sitting down and writing. Things like research, organization, finding media to insert, etc.
Great hub you have here. :) I'm trying to make money from HubPages myself hehe.
Again, great information! I'm looking forward to the other hubs in this series.Thanks.
Hi Maddie,
thanks for sharing your secrets, I enjoy reading your hubs and looking forward in reading more of this series. Wow...i wish I can make a 1000 a month from adsense..... right now I am very happy that I receive 100 a month from adsense.
All the best!!!
Hi Maddie! I am also looking forward to your hubs. I write about seniors and attraction marketing and give before you take is the concept of attraction marketing and you are surely giving.
Thanks
Jerry
i agree, you can help with the how to but not do it. i can't wait for your series also. i definitely need help though once i'm more free in the near future, i'll be coming back again to look through your tips and start writing again. for now, on hiatus hehe and grats on your 201 posts now^_^
Paul:
I think it's true that many people are protective of what they might consider "secrets" to success (often because they want to make money selling them), but the great thing about HubPages is that me making money and someone else making money are not mutually exclusive.
Also, I just think it's good karma. When I joined HubPages, I sort of floundered around and hit upon these things through trial and error. What seems like common sense to me now was Greek to me then, and I could have used someone pointing out some of the things I now take for granted when I write hubs.
I don't feel threatened by the prospect of sharing. In the end, I can impart knowledge, but not necessarily wisdom. I can help people with the "how-to," but I can't do it for 'em.
Hi Maddie, I'm looking forward to your series. It's rare that people who are successful actually say how they do it. I'm sure your over 1400 fans will appreciate the series.
i sincerely thank you.
I have not attempted to make any money from Hub Pages. May be one day when I have served my apprenticeship, that day may come.
Again thank you and congratulations
Congrats on Hub 200 Maddie and thankyou for sharing some of your secrets lol, the truth is that you are a great writer first and foremost and your work deserves to be read.....jimmy
Hot Hubs on Hubbing
- How many Hubs do you need to make a living from Hubpages?
I am going answer the question that every Hubber wants to know about, AND explain why its important to keep up with your Hubpages profile! - 2 months ago
- 5 Basic Things I Wish I'd Known as a New Hubber on HubPages
There are five basic things I wish I had known as a new hubber. Knowing them would have saved me time later on. - 4 months ago
- How Do You Feel If Your Comments Are Not Replied To?
You've spent hours writing your hub. Editing again and again to make it just right. Finally, it's complete and reading to be published. But you worry that your comments may be few...if any. - 4 weeks ago
jiro 2 months ago
thank you for the information provided