After three months on Hub Pages and having secured a contract in Germany which will diminish the time and energy I have for writing,  it is time to review my strategy and reasons for writing.

To make things clear I am not money focussed but this article is written from a “business” point of view rather than that of the creative looking for an audience.

I want to generate a passive income that will let me research topics of interest to myself and others. Then I need to communicate what I find to others, for solitary research is fairly pointless. It seems sensible to publish my results somewhere I can hope for revenue and Hub Pages is part of my strategy. Clearly some people are making reasonable second incomes via Hub Pages but it seems equally clear that they re a small minority who have matched their writing to subcommunity that buys online, something I have not yet mastered. On the other hand I have a few fans who enjoy the topics I publish here and being a writer who is not read is rather futile.

So I am writing to be read and to generate an income to let me research and write about my research. Currently it does not look as if Hub Pages on its own will let me do this: The largest single sale via a click actually came from my technical blog and my photo blog is generating a promising number of page impressions (Pleasing though it is to get a lot of views, page impressions and clicks matter), though my photobox gallery is currently not selling any prints. Although I have made money from Adsense Amazon, Ebay and Kontera have generated nothing.

Squidoo, Knol, Triond and other revenue generating writing sites are also-rans, partly because of the time taken up drumming up business, helping with Badjao Bed and Breakfast in Edinburgh, keeping up with Capoeira, and various other things (I have also been looking at relaunching the CV writing service I ran before I moved into IT contracting. The major problem with that was needing new clients every couple of weeks as they got jobs). It is unlikely I will relaunch the translation agency – a bad experience with a translator killed that one before it started.

Sites like Hub Pages DO go belly up so I need to spread my work on the Internet even though Hub Pages is currently my favourite. One good point is I can focus my writing for each site and it is possible that a Hub that goes down like a lead balloon will take wings elsewhere.

A useful rule I came across is “Don't add without subtracting” also called “Something has to go”. This means I will try to  keep the  number of my published hubs constant and move poorly performing hubs elsewhere. Poorly performing means few views. Lots of views but  few clicks or page impressions means looking at the hub carefully and deciding whether what I want to say matters enough to justify keeping it here.  I estimate I can  maintain about 50 hubs and  which means some of my hubs will have to go.  A shame but that is business.

Eventually I will have  website or three, possibly   a membership site, that lets me run my own advertising. The topics I cover  will be determined by the best performing writing  here and in other places. And I will have enough funds to self publish a book based on my researches.

The challenges I am facing include matching my writing and advertisements to a target audience, managing free time effectively so as to be productive without burnout,  deciding what to write about and where to place it and improving my key wording skills.