How much Google AdSense money can you make on HubPages?

One of the most asked questions on HubPages. Probably only second to "Does God exist?" and "Which is better - elephants or donkeys?".

Here are some of the useful lessons I learned from the experts at HubPages.

There are usually three classes of answers to the Google AdSense earnings or HubPages earnings question: lower Google AdSense earnings compared to you, about equal Google AdSense earnings compared to you, and higher Google AdSense earnings compared to you.

Each class of answer has a very useful purpose.

Lower Google AdSense earnings gives you hope. When you started out, you were earning peanuts as well. It is good to see that you are not the only one that is struggling with this crazy Google AdSense thingy. Perhaps all the stories of making it rich quick with an online business is not 100% true after all. Indeed it feels good to see that you are actually making some progress and are no longer the lowest person on the totem pole.

Equal Google AdSense earnings gives you validation. It is also encouraging to see others who are making around the same level of Google AdSense earnings as you are. Many of them, after all, are HubPages members that you truly respect and that write really high quality content. So to even be comparable to such a group, even if it is just from a Google AdSense earnings perspective, does the ego a whole lot of good.

Higher AdSense earnings gives you envy. Well at least that is one of the first things you may feel. I usually feel more discouraged rather than envious.

Discouraged because I try my best to write good quality hubs and a lower Google AdSense earnings implies that I am not really good enough for prime time yet. Yes it is silly to feel this way - but it is difficult not to.

I try to get over it quickly though. A very wise man once said -

"Envy consists in seeing things never in themselves, but only in their relations. If you desire glory, you may envy Napoleon, but Napoleon envied Caesar, Caesar envied Alexander, and Alexander, I daresay, envied Hercules, who never existed." ~~[Bertrand Russell]

Once I get over that initial feeling of self-pity, I find that I actually learn the most from this last group of answers. That is when I realize that I really should be feeling thankful that these generous hubbers are willing to share their useful Google AdSense knowledge. Not everyone is willing to do so, because it may mean more AdSense competition from other hubbers.

Here are some of interesting lessons I have learned from HubPages about AdSense earnings and affiliate earnings, including why others have awesome Google AdSense earnings and why mine just suck!

The general consensus is that it takes patience to get good Google AdSense earnings. Initially, you will be earning very little. You will be measuring AdSense cents rather than AdSense dollars. But that is ok, because it seems that most people go through this learning period.

However, hard work and persistence will ultimately pay off. You will reach a point in time when your cents turn to dollars, and when your dollars turn to tens of dollars, and things start to snowball. During this period of growth, many HubPages members report a doubling of earnings after every few weeks or few months.

Here are two Google AdSense earnings trajectories from two expert money makers and two really awesome gals on HubPages:

1. Lissie's Google AdSense trajectory.
2. Janet's Google AdSense trajectory.

Note - do not be too discouraged if your Google AdSense earnings do not exactly follow these trajectories. These are probably some of the higher end examples. Most people will experience more modest Google AdSense earnings growth.

Therefore the question becomes "Why does my Google AdSense earnings suck while their Google AdSense earnings are awesome?"

Is it because of quality of content? Do I need to be hot to win those Google AdSense bucks? Do I need to acquire an extra X chromosome? Perhaps it is my profile picture? Tell me! What is it?!

Well to get the answer, you must first buy this affiliate product - just kidding!

Ok, ok, here are some key factors that contribute to a high Google AdSense earnings. Remember though to read the Google AdSense TOS and program policies carefully so that you do not get banned from AdSense.

Click Topics.

One of the key reasons why my Google AdSense earnings suck is because I only write about what I am interested in, and not on click topics.

What are click topics?

These are topics that have a high probability of generating clicks. Some prime examples include product reviews. Electronic equipment reviews are a favorite because the item clicks pay better than many other items such as books or knick-knacks. Some other high value item products include women's clothing, women's accessories such as shoes and handbags, cosmetics, and baby products.

Why are product reviews good click topics?

Because people who are looking for product reviews are already interested in buying something. Therefore, there is a high probability that they are going to click on multiple of your Google AdSense ads. There is also a high likelihood that they will actually purchase something, in which case you will get a high value affiliate transaction out of it.

For an example of how effective product reviews can be, consider Nelle Hoxie's results. According to Nelle, she gets 65 clicks per 110 impressions! This is simply amazing!

Another class of good click topics is providing how-to information on popular, repeating events such as weddings and birthdays.

If you are organizing an event, you will need to buy a wide range of products for that event, which may be centered on a certain theme. A popular event that many hubbers write about is weddings. Weddings are generally high value, but they are also pretty rare events since they usually occur once in a lifetime.

As an alternative, you may want to target more frequently occurring events even though they may be lower value. Some good examples are children's events such as birthday parties, or holiday events such as Easter parties, Thanksgiving parties, or Memorial Day get togethers. These may be less grand, but they occur once every year like clockwork. Children's events are especially interesting because many parents are willing to go to great lengths to make sure that their children have a high quality birthday party.

Janet21 has done an excellent job in creating a variety of high quality hubs for themed birthday party events.

Travel is yet another popular click topic.

SEO skills and website promotion.

People who have stellar Google AdSense earnings and affiliate earnings tend to be the ones with good SEO (search engine optimization) skills. Many have had multiple years of web marketing, and have a feel for which keywords to go for, and which niche markets they can successfully capture on Google search.

They also do a fair amount of website promotion in terms of building backlinks and cross-promoting from multiple sites including HubPages, Squidoo, WordPress, Blogger, and many more. You can do this more effectively if you focus on writing a set of related articles around a particular topic - for example weddings, women's clothing, or Xbox gaming.

There are more articles on SEO strategies and keyword strategies than there are dollars in my Google AdSense account, so I will not go into detail on this topic here. I will only mention three tips based on early SEO mistakes that I made:

1. Don't be greedy with keywords. Target one set of keywords really well rather than going for the blanket approach. Decide really early on (before you write your article) what you want your main keywords to be.
2. Don't get too creative with your titles. Put your main keyword in your title and your web address. It is best to make your article title and web address match up. Do not stuff too many keywords into your web address. Make it clean and simple. Only include your primary keywords.
3. Use a keyword tool (e.g. Google AdWords) to determine which keywords will work well for you. Do not go for the most popular keywords as they will most likely have a lot of competition from other high ranking websites. Instead, pick a niche area, with average search popularity, on which you have a better shot at ranking highly.

Useful information.

Yes, useful content will also go a long way in enhancing your Google AdSense earnings.

This does not mean you have to write like Shakespeare or have the brain power of a nuclear scientist. What it means is that you must do some research and provide some good information that helps or entertains your reader.

Providing unique information that your reader cannot get anywhere else helps. Alternatively, you can provide more general information about a new topic that is not widely written about yet. Another possibility is to present the information in a style that the reader cannot get anywhere else. This can be really good organization or it can be a witty and humorous presentation style.

Janet21, for example, provides unique information on birthday events that a reader cannot find anywhere else. She also includes compelling photos, well written text, and a nice clean, easy to read layout.

I realize that my Google AdSense Earnings will never match those of many other hubbers. This is because HubPages is a fun activity for me, and I am only interested in writing about things that are of interest to me. This mostly includes my dogs, HubPages related topics, and occasionally the odd topic on relationships. None of these are particularly powerful click topics.

However, I will keep trying to improve my SEO skills as well as my content writing skills.

In the meantime, my goals are just to have some fun, learn some new things, and interact with some fun people. If there are some Google AdSense earnings, then I'll spend it on a new toy bone for my dogs.

Join HubPages and start making money with Google AdSense.