Bonus Program

1. 89

   SimeyCposted 11 years ago

   I've read the recent forum about the beta bonus scheme that never worked - so why not make it really simple. You earn a bonus based on how much you earn on the HP Ad program:
   
   >$500 - 1% bonus
   >$1000 - 2% bonus
   >$2000 - 5% bonus
   
   etc.
   
   You get to $2000+ you get a bonus of $100  - certainly worth it in my opinion....

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   1. 87

      Len Cannonposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Hah, well, I think that maybe earning $2000 is a reward in itself.

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2. 92

   rmcrayneposted 11 years ago

   I think the intent was to motivate hubbers to write more hubs.

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3. 55

   webquestionanswerposted 11 years ago

   Can you tell how it works

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   1. 68

      Pearldiverposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      If like me you are prepared to wait 3 years to get the whole lowdown on it... we can start the clock  for you .....  TODAY! 

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4. 86

   Marisa Wrightposted 11 years ago

   I always understood the intent of the bonus scheme was to get Hubbers to write more Hubs, so it stands to reason the bonus has to relate to the number of Hubs not the dollars earned, surely?

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   1. 88

      Simone Smithposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      That's what we had thought, yes.

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5. 89

   SimeyCposted 11 years ago

   Surely the two go arm in arm? - The bonus scheme was initially setup to make people write more hubs that were profitable - the idea being that the average earnings per hub had to be over a certain amount.
   
   Making some of the top writers produce a minimum of four hubs may be counter-productive. Some hubs that earn $100s a month will take several months to develop - thus forcing a hubber to create a new hub every week essentially reduces the chance of creating stellar hubs that are evergreen and will continue to earn for years.
   
   Thus the idea that it should be linked to total earnings rather than average earnings.
   
   Perhaps changing my idea to 'Earnings from hubs created in the last three months' would be more effective and encourage people to write more quality hubs....
   
   As it stands the beta bonus scheme rewards passed achievement but doesn't enourage stellar hubs - if I have an average earnings thanks to a couple of hubs way back in the past -then creating a couple of new hubs is not going to change my average much -there's nothing to encourage me to make commercially viable hubs now...

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   1. 95

      wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Don't think so, Simey.  "Earnings from hubs created in the last three months'" will result in writing a few hubs and then spending the time promoting the tar out of them.  In the short run they'll do better, but over years the earnings won't be any different.  Except, of course, that you won't have nearly as many hubs.  I would expect doing this would be a short term gain but a long term loser.
      
      The beta program was a nice idea, but hasn't worked and I don't see how it really can.  If a bonus could be paid for each stellar hub that would be great, but also means that each and every hub must be read (really read, not scanned) by a human, making human objective judgements.  Can you just imagine the hue and cry in the forums over such a thing?  Give people concise, clear cut rules for what makes it "stellar" and that's what you'll get without any creativity thrown in - it will be just another game to beat.  Don't give those rules and everyone that is turned down will be furious because we're all "excellent" writers and should have been paid that $5 or whatever.  And nobody is going to care that that magnificent payment is actually 50 cents per hour for their work - they'll just be mad they didn't get it.

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      1. 89

         SimeyCposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         But Amazon do just that-  the percent you get is based on the number of sales you make. Many people complained when HP was going to create seperate Amazon IDs - they would lose out on the higher percentages on their other Amazon sales outside of HP.
         
         If you take a look at any business - bonuses are always based on recent performance. If I wrote a hub 4 years ago that constantly earns big money - why should I continue to benefit from that? In the real world if you have a stellar year you get a bonus for that year - if you perform badly the next year you don't get a bonus.
         
         In most sales jobs you get paid bonuses on what you sell. HP is a business - it benefits by people making more money - stellar hubs make more money - so at the end of the day having an earnings related bonus will produce more stellar hubs....

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         1. 95

            wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Yes, Simey, but sales (amazon or a car salesman) don't continue to produce income.  If you put all your efforts to "making the sale" (promoting the hub for quick traffic) you aren't writing any more hubs.
            
            In the long run you'll get the traffic anyway, but having blown your time promoting instead of writing you won't have any more hubs to earn with.
            
            Or so I see it, and I know others disagree.  I promote each new hub - about 15 minutes worth of time.  Then it's back to writing, making another hub to earn with (or playing on the forums! )

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      2. 86

         Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Actually, I don't see why, if the promotion is done properly.
         
         Most successful internet entrepreneurs have always said writing online is 10% writing and 90% promotion. The promotion side of things has got more difficult since Penguin but fundamentally, things haven't changed - Google still counts backlinks and likes and Tweets, so you still need them.  They're just harder to get, which means the time you spend on promotion should be longer, not shorter.
         
         The right kind of promotion has a long term effect, not a short term one.
         
         By encouraging Hubbers to write more Hubs rather than spend time promoting, HubPages is pushing the "just write and they will come" model.  That used to be one of the unique features of HubPages, that you could just write and traffic would arrive - but it's no longer the case and I doubt very much those days will ever return.  These days HP is like every other website - you need to promote to do well.
         
         So perhaps Simey is right, rewarding on the basis of success might not be such a silly idea.

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         1. 89

            SimeyCposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            It works in every other performance based industry and sadly that seems to be the way online writing is going!

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