My First Year in HubPages: The Most Popular Virtual Writing Community

I was tinkering my surviving netbook. My laptop of two years have been busted by viruses and transporation anomalies. I have to try the latest offering from a rugged yet affordable product and reliable companion to hub. And here it was. I began reminiscing about the things that happened to me a year ago. I cannot blame myself to like HubPages. It's addicting to write about something, huh?! And my adventure started with the word...hub.

As the Goggle Search toolbar quickly presented hundred thousands of searches, the first in the search was HubPages, an online writing community.

Hmmm...interesting, I said to myself. Better avail of the invitation to sign up, write an article and earn money for free. No other requirements needed but the activation of affiliates, mainly the Google AdSense ( with its Analytics), eBay, Amazon, Kontera, among others and the rich content of every hub a writer made. The monetization is soon to follow as readers and fellow hubbers follow you, click your ads, read your stories, poems, articles or even picture hubs.

After a year, I'm still here, enjoying my stay as I counted my earnings every month and waiting that my first threshold will come this September 2010.

Gaining more friends than fri-nemies (juggling between friends and enemies) is my end goal here at HubPage. As an online writing community, your neighbor-hubbers can look up and down upon you, depending on how you participate in the diverse activities that HubPages staff did cleverly or wittingly came up and devised.

I cannot single out my most admired hubbers because we're all worthy to be here, as part of this 4-year old unique website for writers in all walks of life. You do not pretend your life's status in here. You share what you've done good or even bad in this community as part of learning and growing up. Really, you can feel a sense of belongingness as readers and hubbers left comments appreciating or commenting the outcome of your hubs.

As a man, I'm not good at flowery words when appreciating the comments of my female counterparts. But I am paying attention and silently observing what's happening in the HubWorld, err HubPages. One fellow hubber invites everyone to visit his hubs and in return he will visit other hubs, too. I'm not like that. If someone is really interested with what I've written, I'm sure that he/she will leave a comment, whether it's a pat on my shoulder for a hub well-done or just drop-by remarks in order for me to follow him/her.

With my mind working 24/7 just like others are doing, I seldom participate in the Forums or even ask Questions last year. With my total hubs that were published nearing my target of 300 and the daily issues and news around the world getting hotter everyday, my resolution is to have a schedule when to write a hub, participate in other activities (60-Day Hub Challenge, HubMob Weekly Topic and the monthly contest). I AM CERTAIN THAT THIS ONLINE WRITING COMMUNITY WILL BE FIRST CLASS IN DUE TIME.

It's not as easy as you think. I thought about it a year ago. My bad. The world is watching me, baring myself through the hubs I started creating. With the span of 365 days after, I started to consider the following to match the achievements of prolific hubbers who now belong to HubPages Elite and HubNuggets, a well.

1. Keeping My Profile 'Low' - Some of my hubber-friends (those who follow me as I do the same with them) bombarded their profile with many achievements at the internet. I think that should not be the case because, even their hubs are worth reading, still their HubScores suffer because of enumerating too much links on their profile. I only made a link on my blogspot account and my first HubNugget Wannabe nomination, nothing more, nothing less. Maybe, I made the right move and see my HubScore rises steadily everyday (at the level of 90+).
2. Upgrading My Hubs - More hubs, more score and more monetization. That's what I thought. But the reminder of HubPages Staff that every hubber should write a hub with 'rich-content' and truly 'original', I can never commit errors. Self-inventory, review and upgrade of hubs are things I prioritize these days in order to generate more comments and of course, earnings.
3. Updating Affiliates - I admit, I still cannot set up my eBay account, although, I sign up at the only store (e-store) a year ago. I was denied by Google AdSense once, but luckily they agreed to include me in their list of 'hubber-employees'. I set up my Amazon affiliate and see my earnings rose to my first threshold of $100 but I'm still waiting for my first payout. Right now, I am trying to activate my Kontera account. With all these glitches, I am not impatient that I'll do it right in due time and earn more. It is very imortant to consider SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and see how fare in the list as you try to search your own hubs on Google Search.
4. Maintain only 'one' account - With the lure of generating more money as you add accounts to your name, there's a warning made by HubPages Staff that a hubber should only maintain one account. It's their prerogative, so, we must follow. Our stay in HubPages is not 'permanent'. Obedience is a must in order not to be flagged or banned in this virtual writing community forever.
5. Be friendly at all times - You can never dictate friendship to all hubbers. We have different status in life, rich or poor or just in the middle class of world's society. I did one grave decision to flag one hubber, because of his unnecessary comments on my hubs and my hubber-friends, too.