My Money Making Journey on HubPages

I am still a newbie on HubPages but after my 120 day journey I felt it was time to share a few tips I have picked up along the way. When I first signed up for HubPages, I had several websites, spending a lot of time and money trying to get them ranked and making money. I had a little success with AdSense, affiliate programs and by selling websites but.... I invested a lot of time for what I feel gave back very little. Before we get started, I want to let everyone know I am a true southerner and it I often write just like I talk...looong and drawn out, so I apologize for that in advance.

With that being said, although I am new to HubPages, I have been wrestling with the Internet for awhile. In all honesty the first three hubs that I did, I ended up deleting. I was still trying to figure out what HubPages was about (I am still working on it), and I did not do my best work in the first few runs, so I started over. I was still slow to start only writing and publishing a few hubs and then moving on to something else.

After the first month or two, I started to realize what a powerhouse HubPages was on Goggle, what a great community it was (everyone is really helpful) and if I just spent half the time writing on HP as I did on my websites, that I could make more money. This really started to make sense, so here I am and hope that some of the tips I have learned while at HubPages will help others who are just starting out.

Knowing how important keyword research is to successful internet marketing is one thing, it is totally something else to know how to perform good keyword research. There are a lot of free tools out there to get you started on keyword research but sometimes you get what you pay for.

I am still learning how to perform the right keyword research but I found this hub written by fellow hubber sunforged to be really helpful and there is no way I can improve on his explanation and tips for keyword research. I had used Goggle Adwords tool before but had never used it the way he explains it in his hub "Keyword tips - How to pick keywords that make money". His article really opened my eyes and made me realize I had been looking at Goggle Adwords all wrong. I realize now just how many mistakes I made on my other websites and blogs. If you are here to make money or even if you are here just because you love to write and you want people to see it, KEYWORD RESEARCH has to be first and foremost.

I mentioned Goggle Adwords which is a great place to start when you are new because it is FREE. I have tried other free keyword tools but...most of them are lacking. I have seen a couple of other people give some of them credit but from personal experience, they just have not really helped.

Some of the best Keyword Research Tools that I have tried are:

Keyword Country- they have a pretty intense program with several tools that help with your overall internet marketing campaign. They also offer a free 7-day trial which lets you see if this what you are looking for.

Market Samurai- I am just into my first week with the trial of Market Samurai and so far this is really a great tool! It has been fairly easy to figure out how to use and it has a wealth of information, letting you perform several different kinds of research that will help you with your keyword research.

Keyword Elite- This is another powerful keyword tool to have in your arsenal. It is from a well known marketer, Brad Callen. It never hurts to have more than one option to cross reference sometimes.

Like I said before, my first few hubs I just deleted, they were...okay, just plain terrible. I still need to go back and work on some of my hubs that are published but they are much better than my first few. When I started I thought the titles needed to be short and straight to the point or main keyword. After reading many hubs written by some of the Hub Experts, I realized they really need to be so much more than just your main keyword.

There are some really good tips on Title Writing worked in with other HubPages tips but I ran across this hub a couple of days ago and it really summed up what I had found scattered on various other hubs. So I think it's only fair to share this find written by Wright On Target, and hope it sets off the same light-bulb in your head as it did mine. You can find these very helpful tips here, "How to Write Article Titles That Attract Readers". Regardless of if you are writing for money or for the fun of writing, we all want to attract readers!

This can be so overlooked when you first start writing on HubPages but it can mean the difference if you make any money or not. I thought I had a pretty good idea about how to do the layout but soon found out that again I was approaching it all wrong.

I was looking around one day when I ran across a hub written by Marisa Wright (if you don't know who she is... you will and you should) if you plan on being part of the Hub community. She writes with the grace that I imagine she has when she dances. Back to the subject at hand, I found her hub "How to Optimize your HubPages to Make Money" and I literally could not quit reading it until I reached the end. It was not only informative but also interesting and creative. I can only hope to one day write with such wisdom. Marisa's hub is where you need to go to understand how you need to use the Hub layout depending on what you are writing for.

If you are monetizing for Adsense, there are some tips on how to set it up, if you are monetizing for Amazon or Ebay, then the layout needs to be completely different. Marisa's hub is really about so much more than just the layout and it is clearly a MUST READ for all newbies. Or even those Hubbers that have been here awhile but just are not making the money they want. It is really good stuff!

We all know the phrase "content is king", and it is so very true, even on HubPages. In order to write good content we need to spend a little time doing research on our topic. I find writing a rough outline really helps me in putting it all together.

Again I found a hub written by Charm_Baker that really caught my attention and think it is worth sharing, it really explains the importance of writing good content: "Writing Online: Content Is King, But Google Ads Rule"

Now we have come a long way by the time we have our Keyword Research, Titles, Layout, and content, but we are not done yet. We have to remember regardless of why we joined HP, we want to attract readers, to do so we must follow the rules at HP and participate in the community. Next we also have to please Goggle, these two things can sometimes cross making it hard to figure out what to do. I feel I also need to mention another good hub, full of information by thisisoli titled "Hubpages Money Making Guide". Check it out!

Some of the things that both Goggle and HP like are adding videos, pictures (slide shows), a good RSS feed, a news module, and polls. Now you do not need to add all of these to all of your hubs. As a matter of fact you need to alternate how your hubs are laid out, keep them interesting but also keep them showing fresh or new material by including a news feed or maybe a RSS. I have to once again refer to Marisa's hub "How to Optimize your HubPages to Make Money", she really covers it all.

Once you have completed these steps, you are ready to start making money. Okay, you are ready but it will still take more time than you want it to. Talking about making money reminds me of one of the first hubs I read that made HP start making sense by none other than Mark Knowles, it is appropriately titled "Making Money Online", another MUST READ. The last step is a little patience, and if the money does not start showing up, go back over the hubs I mentioned to see what you might have missed.

I have to say the first couple of months, I made a big fat "0" but since I've started trying to implement the tips found on HubPages, the money has actually started to come in. I have had a few sales on Amazon, Ebay and clickbank and my adsense is also starting to increase. I am not anywhere near my goal but I can actually see it starting to come together. Thanks to all I have mentioned and to all that give back (there are quite a few) to Hubpages with information and tips. And Good Luck to all who decide to take the leap into Hubpages, it is a great place to be!