The Secret to Making Money on Hubpages
94Everyone was doing it. My online friends. My online nemesis. They all knew how, but I didn't. I was afraid to ask, because the answer might be something like: "Oh, you just have to know how to do it, that's all." I was afraid to let them know that I didn't know how. That I'd never done it. That maybe I never would.
Every once in a while, somebody who had started on Hubpages later than me would announce gleefully: "I got my first payout. Woohoo!" I would congratulate them, and then I'd check my earnings, and all it read was $27.43. Dejected, I would go back to writing hubs. And then a few weeks later, somebody else would announce that they had had their first payout. And I would congratulate them, and go check my earnings, and it was still just $27.43.
This went on for over a year. I made the 100,000 pageview landmark, and still my earnings were only $27.43.
"They all know something that I don't know," I told myself. "My hubs aren't that awful. They ought to have earned me $100.00 by now. "
Hubpages: Easy and non-Techie
- HubPages Debuts New Look, Ad Yield Technology
San Francisco based HubPages, a revenue sharing community content destination, debuts a new look and ad yield technology today, building on a portal ...
I have never been popular, and I don't know how to make friends and influence people. I've also never known how to make money. The secret to my success is that I spend a lot less than other people in order to stay alive. I also spend a lot more time than other people for every dollar I earn. I have very little sympathy for those who complain about making minimum wage when I have never made that much, if you count how many hours I spent working and what my return on that time has been.
When I was a lawyer I not only earned a lot less than other lawyers, I earned less than many of my indigent clients. When I got my Ph.D., I earned a lot less than other academics. It's hard to explain, but I don't think it's about the quality of my work. I think other people know something about how to get by in life that I don't.
When I discussed the situation on Hubpages with my family, it seemed natural to them that I wasn't earning anything. "Well, at least you have a place to publish and a certain kind of loyal readership," my mother said. "That's something!"
It's true. It was something. It's what kept me going.
Bow had this to say: "Every mommy wants money. They don't want to give you money."
It's not exactly that I asked Bow for advice on this issue. He heard me talking to other people and he offered his unsolicited opinion.
Other real life friends thought that maybe my online chums were all lying, and they weren't making any money, either. I began to accept the idea that maybe bragging about making money on Hubpages was a rite of passage, like the way certain people in high school bragged about their imaginary sexual conquests.
The Forum Thread Where I Finally Broke Down and Admitted I don't know what I'm doing
- My hubs have been viewed 100,000 times....
My hubs have been viewed 100,000 times.... in the HubPages HubPages Knowledge Exchange Forum
|
The 100 Greatest Ideas for Making Money on the Internet
Price: $76.68
|
|
Making Money Online - the Easy Way
Price: $0.99
|
|
Internet Marketing Survival Guide
Price: $3.99
List Price: $3.99 |
![Secrets to Making Money on the Internet [VHS]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ECS4D0MVL._SL75_.jpg){kind=small}
|
Secrets to Making Money on the Internet [VHS]
Price: $24.95
|
The Forums Thread where I Found out about the PIN
- Is it normal on Adsense for there to be a message of .....
Is it normal on Adsense for there to be a message of ..... in the HubPages HubPages Knowledge Exchange Forum
When I hit the 100,000 pageview landmark and still hadn't received a payment, I finally broke down and started asking questions. I started a Forum thread in which I basically admitted that I didn't know what I was doing. I asked for help in figuring it out.
Everyone was very sympathetic. Some thought my hubs were just not commercial enough. Others pointed out that when they visited my hubs, there were no Google Adsense ads. They asked if I had signed up for Google. I answered that I had, and there were in facts ads on my pages. But it's true that the ads on my pages came and went, and they were there less often than on other people's pages. This had never bothered me before, because I don't actually like the ads. My pages look better without them.
I began to ponder what it meant to be non-commercial. Was I non-commercial because I had fewer ads, or were there fewer ads because I was non-commercial?
People gave me advice about SEO. People gave advice about ad placement. I added Halloween costume ads to my Star Trek hub. I tried to not to put a photo capsule in the first slot on my Obesogen hub. Traffic was good. Hubscore was decent, but still only $27.43.
I let it go for a while, but then yesterday I noticed that there was no data at all about my earnings in October. I wanted to understand why it was that I hadn't earned a single penny in October. And when I wanted to look at October's earning, they told me that data was not available. And then I read that annoying pink notice that had appeared there for months. The one that said that they were running public service announcements on my hubs until I filled out some forms.
Yes, I had seen that pink thing before, but it was obstructing my view of the numbers, so I tried to ignore it. It was just in the way. This time I didn't ignore it. I posted another Forum thread to ask if this was normal. Turns out it is. There is something called a PIN. It arrives by snail mail. If you don't input it within a certain amount of time after they send it, they stop running ads.
When I signed up for Google Adsense, I didn't take their request for a physical address seriously. Why did they need to know that? After all, this is all taking place online, so what does it matter where I am? Besides, they had other requirements that were hard for me to comply with. They wanted me to answer the phone while I was online. The computer was in the pens, but at the time, the phone was not. I couldn't be two places at once.
When they asked for a snail mail address, I gave them a local mailbox that I hardly ever check. Last night I checked it. There was a whole pile of mail for people I have never heard of before. And there was the Google Adsense postcard with the PIN. It had been waiting for me for nearly a year. It was sent in November of 2008.
There were Google Adsense ads on my hubs all along. They were commercial ads, not public service announcements. But they were only running during the 40% of the time when ad revenue goes to Hubpages. For a while, the Google people let us earn even though they are not sure they know where we are. But after a while, they shut off our ads, until we confirm that we're living somewhere on the planet and that they know where. Space aliens, apparently don't get to publish on Hubpages. Neither do the homeless.
From the Google advanced revenue reports, I've been able to ascertain exactly when they stopped running the ads for my account. The last day was Saturday, March 7, 2009. The next date that shows up in the report was November 2, 2009, the fateful day when I input my PIN. So I have lost revenue for about eight months. Would I have made $100.00 in that time had I been running Google ads on my hubs? Only time will tell. So far, my total has increased by sixteen cents since I input the PIN!
I'm just wondering: do all of my problems have a solution that is that simple? Is it just that I've misplaced the PIN to life, the universe and everything?
(c) 2009 Aya Katz
Other Hubs about Making Money on Hubpages
- I Got Paid This Much? That's NOT Much!
Money and Google AdSense seems to be a big topic on Hub pages. We all want to make a bit of money, but as some hub writers have said, it's hard for them to make money from google AdSense. I know it is, it's a... - How to make money on hubpages ?
|Being Rich Overnight|Hard work|Do not Copy and Paste|Which Topic to Choose|Niche|Quality Matters|Do not fool Search Engines|Make Money using Pictures|Home Work| - Can You Make Money on Hubpages
Hubpages is an internet community of writers where you can publish articles on a revenue-sharing basis. Many writers use Hubpages as a way to supplement their income working from home. There are four ways to... - Make Money on Hubpages and a Whole Lot More
I have seen lots of hubs and even in the question and answer section talking about making money on hubpages. I think the idea is simply fascinating to be able to earn something extra. Question is, when I... - How To Make Money on HubPages
No ebook. No gimmick. Just free, straightforward tips for making money on HubPages, from longtime Hubber and HubPages Community Manager Maddie Ruud. - How to Make Money on Hubpages!
How to Make Money on Hubpages! Well there are many other Hub's out there that are similar in telling you exactly how to make money using hubpages. I am making this hub due to the fact that there are some...
PrintShare it! — Rate it: up down flag this hub
Comments
Scott.Life, thanks for your refreshing honesty!
Bless you, Aya - such a simple thing, yet to lose money for it - very easily done. Still, you seem to be the type of resourceful lady that will dust yourself off and carry on. I can relate entirely to the not making minimum wage yet making it last longer - the story of our life in Greece!
The good thing that has come out of this is that you have shown that you are popular - that number of fans and page views shows that. If you follow some of the keyword tips given by sunforged et al, you should also be able to make some money as a reward for your hard work.
If you really want to make a monthly income, you have to sit down and write some commercial Hubs - not much fun, but the ends justifies the means. Hard to motivate yourself to write when you have no passion for the topic, but I have a wishlist of books that kept me going - something to look forward to.
Best of luck with it :)
Sufi, thanks for your warm and encouraging comment! I'm still pondering what it means for a hub to be commercial, though. Why couldn't it be fun to write and still be commercial? This ties in to our other discussion about ethics. I think that pain and pleasure were given to us to help us make sense of the world and to make wise decisions about our lives. If something isn't fun, maybe it's also not good for us to do. If I could find a topic that is as much fun for people to read about as it is for me to write, then wouldn't that generate revenue? There ought to be a win-win situation -- and I'm bound and determined to find it. What is good for us should not feel bad.
Nice job turning a forum thread into a full blown hub. I am glad you found the postcard with your PIN# on it, hopefully things will start to turn around regarding your earnings.
1974, thanks! You contributed a lot to my finally solving this mystery!
Wow, Aya. I must admit, I laughed at your story (at the right times, by the way). It's unfortunate that you weren't able to reap the rewards from your clicks, but hopefully now, things will be peachy. My ultimate goal is to make $1,000 a month, but I'm sure now that this will take a while to accomplish, as this will mean that I will have to sell my everlasting soul to Google Adsense in order to do so :(
However, even if I don't reach that goal, making a bit of passive income for the piggy bank while doing what I love isn't all that bad! Whoever said that you should be paid for doing what you love? That's for the lucky people in this world, right?
Oh Aya - you are so unworldly and you know what? Therein lies your charm. So you lost out on a few months - you'll make it all up, never you fear. Good writing always pays - takes time but it does. And no, you'll never lose the PIN to life - not when you've got your two wonderful 'kids' and bring them up so well! :)
Aya, I am totally there with you. I don't make money on my hubs and I didn't really think others did. But I don't do Forums, so perhaps this is why I am clueless. It might be a good idea to get going on this Google Adsense concept, as I get lots of flack for making zero money. Thanks for sharing your story. It helps others a great deal.
That is certainly another angle - I happened to choose the subjects I did because they are areas in which I had experience, so the writing process was fairly quick. On the other hand, I have had to write articles about incontinence products and security systems - if I was not being paid for them, I could not have found the motivation!
This Hub may be a case in point - many people will read it and enjoy it. Some other people will say 'who is this woman? I have no interest in reading her musings," and they will hopefully click a paying advert and go elsewhere. A win/win situation ;)
If you want to generate revenue from things that you enjoy writing, you could optimise Amazon, too - I looked at your hyperlexic child Hub, and nearly missed the Amazon adverts at the bottom. I could imagine that people reading your 'Bow' hubs would be interested in buying some of the books about the subject - handpick the products that have four or five star reviews, if possible.
The other thing that you could try is the keywords - you have 'making money on Hubpages,' in the title - try to sprinkle that through the article. Ideally, once in the opening paragraph, once at the end, and again about every 150 - 200 words. Google likes this! A small compromise, but it will help people to find you.
I am not an expert, and guys like Mark Knowles, Sunforged and Darkside have forgotten more than I know about SEO, but it can work. Sorry to write such a long comment, but I would dearly love to see you make some money for all of your passion and hard work.
don't think i got a pin number either..... or did i
Dohn12, thanks! Better to laugh than cry! One thousand dollars a month would be lovely. Let me know when you reach that goal and how you did it! As for getting paid for doing what we love, I would like to see a world in which everyone can do that. The thing is, sometimes it's not that other people will pay us to do what we love, so much as there will be a natural payoff. But that might make a good subject for another hub.
Shalini, thanks! It's nice to have comments such as yours. Hope you are right. Anyway, if I ever discover the secret to life, the universe and everything, I'll be sure to write a hub about it!
Storytellersrus, thanks! I hope it does help. I don't spend a lot of time on the Forums, and I've found one has to tread very softly around politics and religion. But the Forums about hubbing have a completely different feel to them, and people are very helpful and willing to share information -- if we're not afraid to ask.
Sufi, thanks for the extra tips. I still don't have a handle on SEO, but I'm willing to learn -- especially if the repetition of keywords can fit into a particular style of writing. Shalini had a good hub about that. I should probably reread it.
That's an interesting idea that you suggested: that it's people who are interested in the topic but not in what I have to say about the topic who will actually click the ads.
I wonder if it works this way for other media as well. I no longer watch broadcast television, but I used to. During commercials I would mute the ads. Our whole family did this. So then we never understood what purpose the ads served, and I still have trouble imagining someone buying something that he wouldn't otherwise have bought, just because of an ad. Are the people targeted by ads on TV the ones who aren't fans of the show they are watching? Is this why shows with cult followings so often get prematurely canceled?
Poetlorraine, thanks for your comment. It would probably be a good idea to double check which address you gave Google Adsense. It may be the PIN is waiting for you someplace else!
Really enjoyable hub... I can completely relate to your account of living on less than most people. Apart from a brief period of relative affluence in the late 80s/early 90s, my life has been pretty much the same. I just do without a many of the things that other people take for granted, such as a car and holidays. It seems that a lot of people are adept at either promoting themselves or playing the system. I suck at both! I've been reading a few hubs and forum posts on SEO, and have started to write what I hope are "commercial" hubs. Actually they're quite enjoyable to write - perhaps this is because I like writing to a brief and using the Google keyword tool as a brief concentrates the mind somewhat.
EmpressFelicity, thanks! Welcome to the club of the honest and thrifty! It's good to hear that writing commercial hubs can be enjoyable. I'll have to read up on Google keyword tool, as I know nothing about it at present!
I'll get back to you if I ever have any success with the tool - so far my earnings stand at £0.59, so it's a little early to tell LOL.
EmpressFelicity, I look forward to an update when you've had more practice!
LOL! Aya, I've found my fellow-sufferer in this hub journey. People like us, with no money-sense, might as well be working in the sweat shops--long hours for little returns. So, why do we keep chugging away?Go figure--my kids laugh at me, my husband shakes his head--still i go relentlessly to the computer and pound away. Talking about working for the love of it--our faces should beam from such banners. I possess such lousy sense of money-making, it's laughable and totally pitiful.
I've come to the conclusion that hubpages is a great place to write whatever I want and it gives me a great sense of control over what I want to include but i've resigned myself to making pennies.
Aya, there is a site that I recently found that pays for every article you write -$15 per article (not a lot to most people, but for people like us--it's sufficient)--check it out:
Demandstudios.com
They are however pretty picky and will have you do edits if they are not happy but you will soon learn what they're looking for and eventually cut down on edits.
Let me know what you think and in the meantime, if you found the magic formula to crack this money-making thingy, let me know too. I know there are many advice here on hubpages, but i need one for dummies.
Thanks for sharing.
anglnwu, a fellow-sufferer! At least we suffer from the joy of writing. There are far worse afflictions!
I'll take a look at Demandstudios.com. Thanks for sharing.
And if I find the magic formula for making money on Hubpages, I'll definitely let you know!
Enjoyed your hub and realism. I haven't received pin either. My income is 0 - so you are doing well with your 27.43. Is it worthwhile writing for advertising links to my web siite? Also it is a little extension to the site. If not - I'll stop as busy helping out on new site.
Don't be so hard on yourself on this one.
You have my complete sympathy and empathy on this. I had my own pin number woes in the beginning. I was looking for something in a letter and no doubt threw the first post card out with the junk mail and had to request it a second time. Missed the phone call because I don't answer the phone if it isn't a number I recognize, and on and on. So I definitely got a slow start.
It appears that the vast majority of hubbers don't see a payout from adsense for about 6-8 months, and that was certainly true for me. Do I make a lot off it since then? No. Since that first check I get one every other month.
There probably is a magic formula, but it's at least partly a mystery to me, even though I seem to be cracking some of its secret code.
I do agree with Sulifidreamer about writing some commercial hubs. Right now I'm only at 17% of my hubs designed specifically for that purpose. I know I can do more, but for me writing is not all about making money at it. Yes, I want to get paid for my efforts but that is secondary to my personal goals.
With commerical hubs -- I struggle with justifying writing "derivative" hubs, which will get the $$ but doesn't satisfy my writers soul. Makes me feel like I've taken a step back to technical writing and political ghost writing jobs I had years ago. But then, that's probably just me, others seem to be OK with it. How to make a commerical hub enjoyable and useful at the same time, that's a balancing act I sit on the fence on. I think to myself, who wants to read them? How can I write one and it not be the same ol' same ol' that everyone and anyone else can write using those keywords that the secret code holders all know? Not me.
Where I see income from hubpages is in the building of a following of eager readers, a portfolio of good writing available to all the world, etc. It's in that where I receive not only satisfaction but also money in my piggybank. Currently up to around $1400 a month -- all indirecctly via Hubpages from clients and entities who read what I wrote here and liked what they saw enough to contact me. That's where I find the value in hubpages monetarily.
Outside the $ aspect of it, Hubpages feels like a large extended family and circle of friends and I really enjoy reading what many others write -- including and especially your hubs.
Hi Aya - I had a similar few months - though I knew about the pin number at the time. I even knew where it was - 3000 miles from where I live most of the year! It's sorted now, but I still don't make a lot here. It's just not why I'm here. In quite a few of my hubs I deliberately switch adverts off, to avoid distractions. Maybe commercial hubbing is my retirement project!
Aya, this is great info. I had NO idea about the PIN, which I received in the mail just a few weeks ago. Now I know what the next step is for sure. Thanks very much for such a helpful hub.
Les Trois Chene, I think I can offer a tip that will help a little, in your case. You currently seem to have the links to your website on individual hubs, and not on your profile. Hubpages penalizes hubbers on their hubscore (and in other ways) for being "too commercial" if they link to their own private site too many times. This probably accounts for your hubscore below 90 when you have such great hubs. If you take the links to your own site out of the hubs and place them in your profile, you will probably do much better on Hubpages pageviews and revenue.
If you haven't received your PIN, you probably should ask them to send another one.
Jerilee, thanks for your encouragement! Definitely, one of the benefits of being on Hubpages is the friendship and camaraderie among hubbers, and I value that above any money I might make here. Your friendship has been one of the highlights for me!
If you don't think it will be giving away too much, could you tell me which of your hubs were designed specifically with commercial goals in mind? I would love to study them so I can learn more about what makes something commercial, but still worth doing!
Paraglider, I see now that the PIN troubles are more universal than I originally thought. Google probably didn't design this system with itinerant or nomadic workers in mind. In a global economy you would think it wouldn't matter where anybody lives. But it matters to governments.
I noticed your hubs are more streamlined and easy to read. I guess it's because you turned off the ads!
Dan, thanks! If this saves you the trouble I've been through, it will be worth it.
Aya,you might wish to submit Vacuum County or The Few That Count to this venture. http://www.selfpublisherstore.com/store/index.php?
Most of the books they are distributing have first been published in CreateSpace, which does not charge for an ISBN nor has an initial fee. You can read more about them in the createspace forums, where they have 3 or 4 threads. Here is one: https://www.createspace.com/en/community/thread/63
F.L. Light, thanks for thinking of places where I might be able to market and publish my novels. That means a lot to me!
I checked out selfpublishersstore.com, but they seem to charge an annual fee of $40.00. I try to steer clear of any publisher or distributor who charges upfront for services.
The problem with vanity presses and vanity distributors is that they don't necessarily profit from selling books. They can profit just from selling services to people who hope to sell books.
I want to find someone who believes in the value of my writing and who is willing to take a risk on it.
I want to find someone who has a stake in my success.
Thanks for the insight, I went back to make sure I had done everything right when signing up. Sorry for your trouble, but this will help the same from happening to others.
Sandi3m, thanks. If this keeps others from having the same trouble, then I feel good about making this contribution to the Hubpages community!
Hi Aya - Looks like you are receiving lots of good advice, here - proves what we said about the popularity thing!
Re. the advertising on TV: That is a very murky world. Too much to go into here, but you are right not to watch too much TV. When you see adverts for Toyota and WalMart etc, they are not aiming them at you, but at Sword. It is called 'Brand Imprinting,' and the idea is that she will grow up subconsciously trusting their products. Now, they are using techniques to target certain areas of the brain - very shady :(
Great advice, as always, from Jerilee - sometimes, you have to compromise a little. I keep my ratio of commercial to 'pleasure' Hubs at 1:1 - every commercial Hub I write, I look forward to 'treating' myself to an interesting Hub. Mind you, it is slightly different for professional writers because every Hub adds to our portfolio, so they can all be considered a little commercial!
Re. the book - Have you thought of writing a semi-academic book about your life with Bow? With your experience, talent and qualifications, that would be a much easier market to crack than creative writing (1 in a 1000 chance, and that is a conservative estimate!). It is the sort of specialist book that a publisher would seriously think about.
Distribution in Wal-Mart or the US Navy base exchanges may be worth it or may not, depending on how quickly both deals are altogether confirmed The entrepreneurs are quite open to criticism and doubt and on the threads they have answered (sometimes in a satisfactory manner) all the querulously propounded questions. The introductory fee was 3 titles for 40. I have my doubts but "while the grass grows, the proverb is something musty."
Sufi, I don't know how brand imprinting is supposed to pay off. By the time Sword is old enough to buy a car, I have a feeling that all the current automobile manufacturers will have long ago gone out of business. However, I do see the value of not having her constantly bombarded by toy and cereal commercials.
Nevetheless, if Sword wants to watch a toy commercial, she can and she does. She finds them on YouTube! It's different, though, because she is actively seeking out information about a product she's already interested in. She then makes her own wish list, including the prices, and I set the annual toy budget. That's how we handle it here.
I would love to publish a semi-academic book about Project Bow. I suppose, eventually I will put a book proposal out there. So far, though, all the agents seem unapproachable. Often, they don't even read what I send. So I haven't made a lot of effort in that direction as yet.
F.L. Light, you are probably right that sometimes it's better to do something than to do nothing. I'll think on it again.
well, I did everything right with Google ads and I still don't make any money. Heres my theory. Dumb people don't get my hubs or yours. There is much more money to be made from dumb people than from the people who read my hubs. Plus dumb people are more numerous. Write an opinion piece speculating on when Britney got her first boob job and they will come. However all people, dumb and smart, will read a hub about how to make money, whether it works or not. I read it because you wrote it! So this one should snag you a few quid.
Hot Dorkage, I wish it were as simple as segregating all people into clear-cut categories such as "smart people" and "dumb people". I'm afraid some of us fall into the dumb category on some things and the smart category on others. For instance, what I did with the PIN issue up until recently probably falls in the "dumb" bin. I'm glad you were able to figure out yours right away.
While neither you nor I are particularly interested in Britney Spears, it's quite possible that those who are in that category know a thing or two about making money that you and I don't. Not all of them, mind you, but the ones who are good writers or good marketers.
I'm still hoping that there will be some topic that I am sufficiently interested in (and also know something about) that will catch the attention of a big enough share of the market as to matter.
It's true that this hub has generated some traffic, because everybody wants to know how to make money. However, since I don't actually know how, and I've admitted as much, I doubt that my future is in writing hubs on this topic!
I have written three hubs already and am new to hubpages and I feel totally lost. I applied for a Google adsense account, but when am I suppose to get a pin number? I don't even know how to advertise my work for people to read. I love to write, but to me this is all confusing.
I agree with scott life,I'm only up to 7.47 cents and I get about 300 to 400 hits a week.I had no Idea about the pin number either,if you're getting a hundred thousand hits that means you're on your way,maybe you should write a E-Book and send some of that 100,000 that way,you will definetly make more than a 100 bucks a month.
Sholley, I don't honestly know exactly when you are supposed to receive the PIN. I joined Hubpages in the summer of 2008, and I signed up for Google shortly after. The PIN wasn't sent to me till November. By then, I had already established a routine, and there were paying ads on my hubs. I didn't realize it when the ads were removed due to my neglect of the PIN issue, but apparently that took a few months, too.
Hubpages sends some traffic our way, but we also can help by letting friends know about our new hubs by email, and by using social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
Bill Yon, thanks! I'm not sure whether I'm really "on my way" or just starting. I was thinking of putting out some books by "print on demand." Is that the same as an e-book?
I had no idea about the pin number, I've been on Hubpages about six months and I have about £2.02p in my Ad-sense account. If you think that’s bad I have absolutely nothing at all in my Amazon account. Most of the £2.04 has come in the last six weeks and a day with no earnings is not unusual at all for me. I am not good at making money, and I get embarrassed when asked to set a price for something I do, and out of this embarrassment invariably I undercharge or I do it for nothing. If I had to choose between a loyal following who enjoy my writing and who give positive feedback and earning money I would choose a loyal following of people who liked my hubs. A loyal following means more to me than money but I must admit that it would be really nice if I could have both as the money would be really helpful. Lol
I could identify with so much in this hub and it seems we are very alike in so many ways especially when it comes to making money or rather not making money. When I say we are alike I mean alike apart from the PhD, the books you have authored, the rearing of a chimpanzee and the 100,000 page views lol. I know that my humble opinion is no substitute for an income on Hubpages but your hubs are among the most interesting, well written and enjoyable hubs on Hubpages you are right up there with the best and I always enjoy the style and quality of your hub, it is just a pity you can’t take this to the bank and exchange it for cash lol.
Maggs, wow! That was such a great comment! You made my day! Thanks! I guess I do have a lot to be grateful for. Cash would be nice, too, as you say, but I would not trade this for anything!
Relax, at least you still have your Adsense account. Google terminates the Adsense account of some people due to invalid clicks, and they cant make money from Adsense anymore
Hi Aya - just checking in again! I have to echo the words of Maggs - you do write very interesting Hubs. Without going into too much detail, we are just in the process of publishing and marketing academic books. Still a lot of work to do, but you never know. If it works out, we will have to see if we can organise something about Project Bow :)
For those asking, I believe that Google sends you a PIN when you reach $10 or the equivalent in other currencies :)
Hi Aya, checking bad again. You've certainly hit a responsive topic that many struggle with. I value your friendship too. On my commerical hubs and some other thoughts I have for you, I'll email you as I'm wordy as we all know.
Scheng1, thanks for your comment. Do you know people whose adsense accounts were terminated for invalid clicks? Were any of them unjustly accused? If that happens to someone, is there an appeals process?
Sufidreamer, thanks! I'm intrigued by your foray into academic publishing. Who is "we"? When you feel that the time is right to share more specific information about this, I will be very interested in hearing more!
Jerilee, thanks! I look forward to your email!
Making money is simple but not easy. I think of it this way, lets say you get 1000 hits on hubpages in a week. Obviously, you need to think about your strategy. Anyhow, lets start with 1000 hits. Maybe, 10% of people click an ad. Of those 10% of users, some will be repeat visitors and might only click once. Per-click is not going to pay you out very well on those figures. Hubpages alone would be a tiresome way to earn a living. I will make a living from web-authoring, webmastering, web hosting and affilliate marketing, in time. However, although not a formally educated IT wizard, I am very familiar with computers since owning one pretty much since birth. I was using forums by 10 -11 years old in the early 90's. I remember the bulletin boards and I am only 26. Still, when I decided on my quest for online income, I was in a whole new world. I buy magazines occasionally but mostly, for countless hours, I research online. I would be glad to offer any level of advice to any person. I am not an expert but perhaps I could be of use to some people beginning this sort of thing, seeing how I am not yet the mogul I one day hope to be. Thanks.
Bovine Currency, thanks for the tips. I do have a private homepage, but I have never monetized it, and quite frankly it does not get much traffic. Perhaps in the future I should look into that more.
Anyway, welcome to Hubpages and good luck with your own projects!
an E-book is a pdf file that can be downloaded easily from pc to printer or from pc to your cell phone,there is a huge market and a lot of money to be made in e-books,how to books can make you a killing.you can also make e-books out of the articles you have already written here on hubpages,or just write about what you want to write about and create a webpage for your e-book and charge like 5 bucks for the download and hook up with paypal or google check out,every book you sell the money will be deposited directly into your paypal or google checkout account which you then down load into your bank account(an account set up just for this sort of thing not your savings or checking account.)You can turn around and sell the resell rights of your e-books to webpreneurs that don't have the knack for writing,if you don't know how to set up a webpage you can go through CLICK Bank and have affilliates sell your books for you you decide how much percentage to pay them.reseller rights go for like 40 to a 100 bucks a pop because it gives the webpreneur the rights to sell your information.once you set up your landing page and your paypal/google checkout accounts you will have a automatic cash generating page that will run by itself.its a numbers game lets say you sell 40 ebooks a week at 5 bucks a piece thats 200 dollars a week lets say you sell 20 reseller rights to your book a month at 30 bucks a piece thats 600 bucks,its passive income.once started it will run on auto-matic until you take the website down.all it takes is a lot of research and writing skills.If you can write it you can sell it.I should have made a hub out of this.but give it a try.Information is the number one selling thing on the internet.
Bill Yon, thanks for coming back with that detailed explanation. I had heard of e-books, but I had no idea what they were!
If you do write a hub about how to publish and market e-books, post a link in my comments box here! It will get my attention, and also will net you some traffic!
Great Hub Aya, i am so happy for you that you did not just give up, you persevered with it until you found the solution. Never give up hope and 100,000 page views, Wow! Thanks for the Hub.
Lloyd Christmas, thanks! If I were doing this just for the money, I would long ago have given up. But because the Hubpages writing environment and community of hubbers fills an important need for me, there was no way I was giving up!
Aya thank you very much for sharing your beautiful hub with us i have personally learnt alot and i will keep checking my hubs all the time for any detail because since i started writing i see no progress and i was beginning to wonder what they are talking about earning while writing. I will go on writing and see the results again thanks.
Dodonet, thanks! I think many of us are just learning the ropes, and if we can help each other by sharing what we've learned, so much the better. Good luck with your hubs and please stop by again to report on your progress!
Good Hub! Like the way it is worded and it reflects the community well with how they helped with SEO etc.
~thranax~
nice hub
good hub, thx for the usefull tips!
Hi Aya, thank you for this hub. I am fumbling my way around hubpages - I don't even have a clue if I have signed up on adsense properly yet. There was an automatic process, however, and all I can do is assume that all is ok. I look at my earnings - on one column I have 0.08 and the other zero - what is all this about. I can't even find a pink notice. Is this in the actual account? Anyway, I will keep on fumbling and see what may present itself. At least I am informed ... and this is because of you Aya! Thank you x
I love this story, it's so funny. Your writing is very drily witty.
Thranax, thanks! The Hubpages community is definitely what keeps me coming back, even when I am discourages with my progress.
Loveislam, thanks!
Samsungbehold, you are welcome. Hope this helps.
Shazwellyn, it sounds as if you have signed up correctly for Google Adsense, but haven't generated enough income to be sent the PIN yet. According to other posters here, they only send the PIN after you have earned $10.00.
I don't really understand what all the numbers on the report mean, either. However, I have gathered this much: when we generate earnings for Google, they let us have a small percentage of what they've earned thanks to us. In your case, maybe you helped Google to earn eight cents, but that is not enough for you to be entitled to a single penny yet as payment for your efforts, because your share is less than a penny. If you keep at it, though, you will eventually earn ten dollars, and then it is a good idea to keep an eye out for the PIN!
Ollie Hicks, thanks! Glad you appreciated the humor in the situation.
Hi Aya - looks like you will be receiving a flurry of e-mails! I will send you one later tonight re. the academic books :)
Sufidreamer, thanks! I look forward to your email.
Hey Aya,
you are not the only one that has gone through this sort of thing. Many others have. It is a painful part of learning. When learned it gets learned for good. I will post a YES to those that mentioned a couple different ways to boost the hubpage traffic. SEO is crucial - keyword relevance, and social bookmarking. Pop over to my blog as I have many posts about different forms of advertising (FREE advertising) for whatever it is you are doing. I will be glad to add a post and link back to your hubpages from there. In fact, send me a hubpage post of your choice and I will submit it for free to my personal synndication family. That means a couple hundred plus people all going to bat for you posting it on their networks. This is on the house! So, set up a good hub, fully loaded. Send me details at joe@mlmbabysteps.com. My blog is http://www.mlmbabysteps.com
cheers,keep smiling
it is going to get better!
- joe
Hi Aya, yes, there is a process to appeal, but then it's way too long, and Google team has to manually check the entires. It's very rare for Google to reinstate the Adsense account, even if they reinstate, it's more than a month later.
I appreciate the hub. I'm waiting to hear from Google, and they don't make it very obvious that you get your pain in the mail. Thanks.
JoeYoung, thanks! I will look into your site. However, I have read articles by other hubbers, such as Nicomp, for example, that suggests that the value of a backlink is very much dependent on the page-rank of the site that is linking. In other words, unless your site is ranked high, it can't help much by providing that free link. But anyway, I will look into it, and thanks for offering!
Sheng1, I'm sorry to hear the appeals process is so convoluted. I suppose this is normal for any large organization, though. You've seen one bureaucracy, you've seen them all! I do wish it were possible to pick up the phone and talk to an actual person when there is a real problem with a Google adsense account.
Writetolife, thanks! Hope your PIN arrives soon.
I wish all lives problems did have such a simple solution - but then I suppose its only simple when you know what it is.
Kephrira, yes! You hit the nail on the head. Most problems in life have a solution that, in retrospect, can seem quite simple. But finding it is not so easy!
Hi Aya Katz,
Nice to go through your hub. I am new to this just wondering how to go ahead.
Cindrilla, welcome to Hubpages! I like your avatar. I hope reading this hub helps you to get a smooth start.
I have had good results, hope to reach the first payout after 4 months. I get maybe 100-150 hits a day total on all my hubs which is low but have read the tips articles here on hubpages to try and get ad placement in the best areas. The content here is valuable. I don't use Google Analytics yet.
Ellen_C, reaching your first payout after four months is great! It looks as if you have really made good use of your resources. I'll have to check out your hubs and see how you do it!
After reading this hub, I don't feel as guilty anymore! LOL I understand what you're going through girl! Thanks for sharing your side of the story.
Mayhmong, thanks! I take it you've been through something similar?
Wonder what you think about the statement "the enemy of an author is not piracy but obscurity"? As someone with a marketing background, I listen a lot to some of the ideas and concepts presented in http://toccon.blip.tv/file/970223/ and other ideas of Godin and think he's got a handle of the changing pulse of what is happening in publishing and getting published.
The secret is to run Adsense? You are way to pessimistic about things. Sometimes however we learn very important "lessons" from our mistakes. Look on the bright side you didn't lose that much money. Now you know how to you can scale up your efforts. There are a lot of things to know about adsense other than just including it on your hubs.
Read this on how to find keywords: http://hubpages.com/hub/Adwords-Keyword-Tool-How-t
And this on how to maximize your Adsense Earnings: http://hubpages.com/hub/Adsense-Discover-EXACTLY-H
And once you get things kick started you won't even care about the $100 over the past 8 months.
As you learn to leverage the right niches and products you'll be amazed at just how much money you can make with Adsense. 6 figures is not out of reach. I can not publish my earnings per agreement and I use Adsense on a whole lot more than just HubPages... but I will say that if you keep learning and working you will be amazed at how much money you make.
Jerilee, I agree. Obscurity is the worst enemy of an author. I used to try to explain this to some of my friends, and they looked at me as if I were crazy. There are so many other problems in life, how can you worry about obscurity?
I went to listen to Godin on the link you gave, but my internet connection is too slow at this time of day. I'll try again in the morning. Once again, thanks!
MikeNV, the secret is to find the PIN! (I thought I was running Google Adsense on my hubs!) Anyway, it's a very small secret, but a necessary step along the way.
As you say, I am really just starting to learn about this. Thanks for your encouragement. I will definitely check out the hubs you linked about keywords and maximizing earnings!
Hello Aya,
We started with our own website (looklovely.net) and set up a google ads account. Then we started publishing on Hubpages because it is a good way to test what topics are popular. It also allows us to write about issues that are not relevant to our website. We thought we might earn a little money from Hub pages. But for months we earned absolutely nothing. Then, like you, we discovered the PIN. So pleased we were not alone in this bit of mental blockage.
Good luck with the earnings.
2Patricias, it's good to know that I am not alone in this. Did you open the Google Adsense account only for Hubpages, or did you also use it to monetize your own site?
yet to try Google's Adsense yet but have some ideas what canimpio
We used the Google Adsense account to monetize our own site. Because we were earning money (not much!) for our own site, we thought nobody was clicking on our Hub Pages ads. Guess we're just natural born pessimists... (plus dumb).
Anyway, now we've got it sorted. We can also see how many clicks we have on Hub pages, and how many on our own site. Some days the total is still zero, but at least we're properly signed up now.
This is one of the saddest hubpage articles i have read. I was looking for secrets to hubpages and was misguided. You simply need to write more and to find your niche. A topic that has relevance to others will surely increase your revenue. Be more selective with what you write about and write more. Congrats on the 98 hubscore.
Response, thanks for your comment. I hope this helps you avoid at least the PIN problem that I had, if you do sign up for Google Adsense.
2patricias, thanks for the clarification. I am considering monetizing my private homepage. Will I need to expect another PIN in the mail if I do this, or is one PIN enough per account?
LindaGoffigan, thanks. Sorry if I misled you with the title of this hub. However, for me, discovering the PIN was like uncovering a real internet mystery. I can see that you are way ahead of me on this one!
A really informative Hub -- I had no idea I was supposed to be expecting a PIN. Have also learned quite a bit from reading through all the comments your Hub has generated. Thanks all!
E. Nicolson, thanks! I, too, have learned quite a bit from the comments, and that's part of what made writing this hub worthwhile. Good luck with your Adsense account!
This hub was really helpful to me as a newbie. Thanks!
It's a pitty, but I'm glad that you finally found your PIN... ;)
I feel sorry for you that you forgot to put the pin. Sometimes life can be very unfair to some people.. But it's always good if one can have the time to ask oneself if one is the hunter or the hunted.
But seriously though, eight months is a long time for you to realize you were not getting any page impressions.
MissMarsh, thanks! I'm glad this was of help to you.
Gennifer, thanks! I'm glad, too.
Ngureco, thanks. To a certain extent, we all make our own luck, and no doubt many of the things in my life that seem unlucky to me are in fact based on ill-considered decisions.
Yes, it does seem odd in retrospect that it took me this long to notice. However, if you look at the way things developed, then my losing interest in checking my daily reports will not seem so odd.
When I first signed up, I tended to check on my earnings religiously, and when a hub generated traffic, say 400 page views in a single day, then I was thrilled. But then, one day I got about 48,000 hits, and my statistics spiked, and after that, I could no longer see anything in my statistics chart, because nothing could top that, and the minor fluctuations on a daily basis became invisible to the naked eye.
At the same time as this happened, or very shortly thereafter, I got my feelings hurt on one of the Forums. For a while, I just sort of dropped out of Hubpages. I was not motivated anymore.
So, when I had licked my wounds and finally came back, I was not at all surprised that I wasn't earning anything. I thought it was due to my absence and the fact that I had stopped trying.
I renewed my efforts, but by then I had pretty much accepted that earnings were not in the cards, because if 48,000 page views had produced zero revenue, how could I ever hope to do better?
I skimmed your article and skimmed your comments and want to come back and join in the conversation. You are a talented writer with a wonderful readership. I'd be willing to help you off line if you like. I haven't looked at your articles in a while but I know you have a lot to offer and I did the exact same thing you did and didn't earn anything in my first 6 or 8 months. In fact Google Adsense was a mystery to me. Anyway, rating up and bookmarking so I can come back to this when I can give you some real time.
Wannabewestern, thanks! I look forward to hearing what you have to say, when you have time.
Found this to be very helpful added your link to my own hub! =) Good luck, and take care! - Nataliya
Aaah, the road to Salvation is paved with good intentions. We have to speculate in order to accumulate. Read - write our butts off and kiss serious booty to ever get ahead in the world. Oh well, so the Internet is just like everything in life! Heh! I don't mind. This is a great Hub and full of good advice here! I have nine Hubs here and have been on Hub Pages for 2 months. I am not sure if I am commercial. But I learn more and more here every day. Thanks for this Most Useful Hub!
Nataliya, thanks! Every link helps!
Cheeky Girl, yes, in many ways, learning the ropes on Hubpages is just like learning the unwritten rules in real life. Thanks for your comment, and I wish you success with your own hubs!
Very good read, good post.
Thanks
Thanks, BillRz!
I received the pin too; and I've slotted the number a few days back. Waiting for my ads to regain back its vital health, :)
I haven't made my hubs for income, although I have ads, I put them on because I can, that's just butter, my bread comes from other sources. i don't think it's really possible to make a living off hubs. I wouldn't expect too much rev from them.
Hubpageswriter, I'm glad you got your PIN and have input it right away. Hope your ads start paying off!
Jawa Lunk, you have a good attitude toward all this. There is no guarantee of revenue, and so this is not worth doing unless you actually enjoy it.
i didnt know that you could make money on hubpages! thanks!
Crazy888, you're welcome.
Ha, ha, ha, ha, Aya the same thing happened to me...I was even better then you: I earned circa 115 US$, but when I received PIN I throw it into garbage, he, he...so I asked for new one, it never arrived, and then I asked again - but twice. So they finally sent me 2 envelopes with the new pin, but for months I did not earn anything.... My mistake, he, he....
Now is OK, PIN is on the right place, and GOOGLE is sending me my checks regularly.
Thank you for making me laugh....
Tatjana-Mihaela, I'm amazed that something like this has happened to so many of us! You must have been doing really well right from the start at marketing and generating traffic, if you managed to accumulate over a hundred dollars before they even sent you the PIN.
Glad I made you laugh! Sometimes that's all we can do.
Hmm, I've never seen a PIN, and this morning there is "no data available."
Better check this out--even though I'm not yet close to $27.43.
Doc Snow, it could well be that the dreaded PIN has been sent but not yet received! According to others who posted here, it's when you have earned $10.00 that they send you the PIN. Hope you get your ads back soon.
Thanks, Aya..... very enlightening. ;)
Maggie, thanks!
I feel like an idiot on Hubpages.... Your article helped quite a bit..... Now to get busy and start doing it the right way.... ;)
Maggie, I've felt that way myself! Hope this helps with your hubs.
What an enjoyable read!
I treat this whole online writing thing as a hobby so I only write about topics that interest me. If I were to focus on making money, I would have to write about totally different topics and it would quickly become more like work :)
As far as hobbies go though, it is pretty cheap! I make enough to finance my addiction to buying 3d-models and software.
In terms of own website vs. other, I think it is better to focus on promoting your own site because there, you have total control and you also get to reap all the benefits. WordPress is a pretty awesome system and the sky is the limit in terms of what you can do with it.
Here is one of my sites running on WordPress
http://www.shibashake.com/wordpress-theme/
Not a big earner because it does not target people who click, but it sure was a lot of fun to create!
Btw. would love to read a follow-up hub to this that summarizes all the comments and e-mail tips that you learned from this one.
Shibashake, thanks! I'm like you. I wouldn't be doing this if it weren't fun. However, I still hope to have fun and earn a little. Deep down inside I still don't fully understand how anybody could hope to make any sort of profit by writing boring articles. Does anyone want to read boring articles?
Of course, I do understand that what's boring to one person might be interesting to somebody else. ;->
I've got my own site that I wrote all the html for by hand. I'll have to look into wordpress and see if that is better.
And, yeah, that's a great idea. I might write a follow-up to this hub that summarizes what I've learned from the comments!
Consider broadening out your offerings to include eBay and Amazon as well. I find that earnings will shift from one area to another and often it seems to be quite random. If you have several parts of your hubs that can generate earnings, you will perform much better in the long run.
"Deep down inside I still don't fully understand how anybody could hope to make any sort of profit by writing boring articles."
One time I got a click for $15! I was so excited and wondered which article it came from. Turned out it was from someone else's article. My best guess was it came from a car insurance article.
Don't know how interesting the article was - but that definitely falls under the "work" category for me :)
"However, I still hope to have fun and earn a little. "
Depends on what you mean by "a-little". I think it is definitely possible to earn a coupla hundred a month writing about fun topics, but anything in the 4 figures will be difficult.
This would also be an interesting topic to write about :)
Congrats on the 100 score! That won't put food on the table, but it sure gives one a nice warm and fuzzy feeling.
Lender, I do have Amazon and eBay capsules on my hubs, but I haven't earned anything from them yet. Possibly the eBay one isn't really properly working. It shows active in my affiliate settings but doesn't seem to be doing much. Is it possible there's a PIN for that, too?
On Amazon, they have reported that I have actually sold two items: both books on health and nutrition. Yet, despite this, my earnings are zero. And that's for all time!
Shibashake, now I am really confused. How did you earn $15.00 off someone else's article? Is that a "referral"? How does that work?
I really enjoyed reading this hub. Sometimes I feel confident that I am doing well here then other times I a definite lack of confidence lol. It is nice to know others have felt that way too! I don't remember giving my address to google and have not yet received a pin number but now I know to keep an eye out for a pin number in the mail so I don't lose precious clicks! I guess the secret to making money on hubpages is to be persistent with writing and don't hesitate to ask questions! The community here does love to help out when you ask a question so don't ignore that help.
I have made money with hubb pages and adsense, there are certain factors and some seo that needs to be done , read livin with richard hubbs he tells exactly how to make money not only on hubpages but all over the internet follow his advice its practical and easily understandable
Kirstenblog, thanks! I feel the same. At times it feels that I have really mastered an important aspect of Hubpages, but there is always so much more to learn. The Hubpages community is a wonderful resource. People are very helpful and willing to share information. But sometimes it takes us a while to sort through it all.
Starme77, thanks for the tip! I'll look into the LivinwithRichard hubs, when I get a chance.
"How did you earn $15.00 off someone else's article? Is that a "referral"?"
Yeah that was from a referral. I imagine I got lucky and the user clicked on the 1 out of 10 ads that had my ID on it. It is not possible to tell (as far as I know) exactly where the referral came from, so I just guessed it was from someone that signed up through me.
I believe you also get about 10% ad impressions from people who enter hubpages from your referral ID (for a short period of time) - so it could also be from that.
Darkside has a hub on referrals and on how to set that up.
http://hubpages.com/_orec/hub/Referrals
For example, I used my referral ID on the link above :)
Hi Aya - checking in again and I am absolutely delighted with that this Hub is still generating great comments. It is turning into a How to Hub and Make Money 101!
Just one thing to say, building on from Shibashake's excellent input.
"Deep down inside I still don't fully understand how anybody could hope to make any sort of profit by writing boring articles. Does anyone want to read boring articles?
Of course, I do understand that what's boring to one person might be interesting to somebody else. ;->"
That is the point - you have to separate 'reading' from 'finding information.' I have written articles about life in Greece and our animals, but I don't expect to make much from those. If people read and enjoy them, then they were worth writing.
On the other hand, 'finding information' goes back to one of the oldest rules of marketing.
"Identify a problem and provide a solution."
Put it this way - we are about to buy a new cooker (range), so I just spent a couple of hours researching what I need on the internet. If we are spending a chunk of money, I want to make sure that we get the right one. It was boring to read through articles, but I came out with a nice shortlist of affordable options. My problem was 'What is the best cooker for our needs?" I found the solution - I didn't click on any adverts but might another time.
Strangely, whilst I am no expert on the technical side of making money online, it is amazing how much of my experience in sales and retail holds true :)
Thanks for the info. I'll look for my PIN! I love your closing line.
Shibashake, I have so much more to learn! Thanks for the link to the hub on referrals.
Sufi, are you going to write a hub about the choice of ranges when purchasing a new one? It could be a fun thing to write, if you include your own personal experience of shopping for one...
I'm not against writing about specific products. I just don't think there is any such thing as pure information without bias. And since we all have a bias, why not share it? Our bias is the context that gives meaning to the text.
Betty Reid, thanks! Hope you find your pin soon!
It's a tricky world on the Internet. I guess we all have to remember that when something looks too good to be true, it possibly is.
awsome, thank you!
Diane, what's even trickier than recognizing an out and out scam is learning how to get the most out of something, like Hubpages, which is not a way to get rich, but still has a modest income-producing potential.
It's kind of like the conventional wisdom of going to college, getting a degree, and then making a comfortable living from a stable although not particularly fulfilling job. For many of us, that way of getting by is not any more practical or realistic than thinking we can all be movie stars and professional athletes. There are only so many of those modest, stable jobs -- and there are fewer and fewer of them these days.
Sometimes it's a question of learning the rules and the limitations of a new medium for generating income -- and that takes time and effort. I'm just starting on that journey...
Bestcellphones, thanks.
hi Aya, I like you, have been following your remarks at forum and I like the way you respond to it, I have a feeling you are a really educated person and attuned to different people, I like that you understand people and you have compassion for them and where they are coming from, and you respect other culture too, thats my reading of you!
I can see your story here, I dont know but I think that you are not so agressive when it comes to money thats why, you said, even before you are still not making enough, you know why because you are a nice person, thats it..I can see myself in you too, maybe we will be a little more aggressive....
more power to you and have a good day!
Thank you for your fun-to-read, and informative hub! I'm going to make sure my pin is where it's supposed to be!
Prettydarkhorse, thanks so much for your encouraging comment! It's always nice to feel appreciated! As for nice guys always finishing last, maybe it does not have to be that way. You and I can find methods that work for us, that are not aggressive, yet do give us worthwhile results.
MaryGarrison, thanks! Hope you get your PIN where it belongs before you lose any earnings!
You said "I'm just wondering: do all of my problems have a solution that is that simple? Is it just that I've misplaced the PIN to life, the universe and everything?"
That's an interesting question! What's your answer?
did u start earning after this PIN problem?
hi there sorry to hear about your trouble but i went and had a look to make sure everything is ok they are thanks again great hub will elp a lot of people
Good Luck, great article. Hope you find the earnings you are hoping for. If you put out to the universe what you want, and you truly believe in it, you will get it.
Vveasey, thanks for asking! I don't know the answer, since obviously I have yet to solve all my problems, but, yes, I have found that whenever I do find a solution to a problem of long standing, the solution is usually much simpler than I ever imagined. Many times it's something that ought to have been obvious, if only I had had more perspective.
Emdi, yes, I did start earning. Nothing spectacular, but with time it adds up. Also, it's now something that I can work to improve. Before, I was discouraged, because anything times zero is still zero. But now, if I can double my daily take by better SEO and the like, it could make a difference.
Dinkydos, thanks! Glad to hear that everything is in place in your account.
Slwr138, thanks! It does help to visualize what we really want before we go for it!
So many good advices and such revealing information!! Thanks Aya for sharing your story! I am new in Hubpages and your hub was very useful to me. Sounds like you are a wonderful person and call me a romantic but I think that's much more important than all money in the world. lol :))
Wild Cherry, thanks and welcome to Hubpages. It's nice to meet another romantic!
great information thanks
Truth From Truth, thanks!
Finally ! A honest person ! Thank you so much. Your information is very valuable.
EllenGraeger, thanks! I hope this helps!
I think this hub...and the facts about homo sapians are the best one!
Crazy888, thanks. Does that mean you've read through all 95 of the hubs I have published so far?
There is a lot here, I am new to Hub pages, so Ill be back. Thanks for the info. on adsense and making money throug Hub Pages. I really am very please with the Hub community, they have in general been very supportive and I have appreciated the support. I will check back here later blessings to all.
BL Tween, thanks and welcome to Hubpages! You are right: it is a very supportive online community.
You can't earn anything from Hubpages, you use hubs for the keyword links to YOUR money site.
Google: 'affordable digital camera repair' I own the entire page partly due to Hubpages, Squidoo, etc.
I like your hub - makes for interesting reading. (Also I'm impressed to finally meet the only lawyer in the world who's no good at making money!)
Well Aya, I am totally there with you. I don't make money on my hubs and I didn't really think others did. But I don't do Forums, so perhaps this is why I am clueless. It might be a good idea to get going on this Google Adsense concept, as I get lots of flack for making zero money. Thanks for sharing your story. It helps others a great deal.
Thanks for this. I just registered my account so I'm excited to see how this goes!
Darntoothysam, thanks for the pointers. It is not exactly true that you can't earn anything from Hubpages, but I'll agree that it would be very had to earn enough to live on from Hubpages alone. It looks as if you know a thing or two about cornering the market for digital camera repair. Good for you!
Gilo, thanks! I don't practice law anymore, but when I did, I didn't charge by the hour. I charged by the job or task. I did a great job undercutting the competition, I can tell you that much! But... it wasn't a happy life.
Denise Earwen, thanks for your comment. You must have a lot in common with Storytellersrus, because your comment is word for word the same as hers!
Dfantasy, thanks! Welcome to hubpages. Hope all goes well for you with your new account!
I did not know about the pin, but I am not yet making any money anyhow. I have been wondering about I have Google and Amazon ads in my hub, but keep seeing zero. I think I did put a question about it in the forum! Thanks for writing this hub. It make me feel that I am not alone in this subject.
Dao Hoa, thanks! There's always something new to learn, and things can get pretty tricky. I have yet to earn anything from my Amazon capsules, but hopefully that will change soon.
Goodness no! I would never read all 95 hubs! I like to read..but not that much. Dont think i spend my time reading your hubs all the time on hub pages! I spend most of my time making more hubs!
Crazy888, that's good to hear. I look forward to reading more of your hubs.
Indeed you have unlocked the secret to making money on HubPages: follow the directions!
Nicomp, yes, that's definitely it! And, yes, by following the directions, you, too, can generate earnings!
Aya, I enjoyed how disarming and honest your writing is, I too feel as though I have lost my pin in life! I still haven't added any eBay ads to my hubs, and it's a nagging feeling to be sure! I look forward to reading more of your work, keep your chin up, and thanks for reminding the rest of us to follow directions!
Ben
Ben, thanks! Let me know if you find the PIN to life first!
Thank you for these poignant, witty words. I have made $47 with only 50,000 page views! I'm jammin'!
James, thanks! Good for you! Let us know what your secret is!
thanks Aya! I will get to that then!
Crazy888, looking forward to it!
I felt as I am reading my ow story half way. About earning from a decent job...even doing PhD with not much to hope to earn. In fact, I never bothered about money in my life, so it never came to me. But I was surprised why I am not getting when I want it now. Later on realized as I have no experience of that sort, I lose track and do things that please me rather. I search for pleasure first and money later. But till that latter thing gets its chance on me, I change my track...lol. The case with you was different; I left back as I never tried much to find the right way.
Now I wish I also get a chimpanzee ...lol :P
All the best to you.
Bhwana Sharma, thanks so much! I actually believe that writing for pleasure is a good thing! The joy is in purpose. The purpose is joy. Don't give up. May all your dreams come true!
Hey Aya,
I think you need to change you attitude about money. The first part of your post you mentioned that you never make much money and you always make less than others. With that kind of attitude, you will pass up on real opportunities right in front of you...
I believe there is lots of opportunity out there and that mistakes are just learning what doesn't work. I can make as much money as I need. I just need to put in the right amount of focused work.
Wow, this is a funny story. Sorry to hear about the possible loss in earnings. Hopefully when you iron out the PIN number issue, you start to see higher earnings. Best of luck! Silly stuff happens to the best of us.
:P
Hi Aya - nice hub ! :-) For what it's worth I have around 50 hubs and make around $3 a day. Doesn't sound much to me but at least it shows there are possibilities if I just keep churning out the hubs. There is more money to be made in blogs however - if you are interested you should check out Grizzly at - http://makemoneyforbeginners.blogspot.com/ - and read the archives - there is also money to be made from e-books apparently as someone else mentioned, although I haven't got round to figuring that out yet myself - but this guy has - http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/ - he suggests signing up at e-junkies.com - with your writing talent it should be possible to put together an e-book and find customers for it. There is also self-publishing via Lulu.com - it's free but it requires a fair amount of marketing to get your books known.
Thaninja, I understand your point about the attitude toward money. However, I think really the issue is my attitude toward work. If you're interested in learning more about it, here is a hub that I wrote about work:
http://hubpages.com/hub/What-is-Work
I don't think it's a good idea to do things just in order to earn money. This doesn't mean that I don't like money or that I don't want to have money. Money is good. Money means freedom. But, if you enslave yourself to other people's desires and tastes and do anything they want (or that you think they want) just for money, then the money you do earn loses its power to give you freedom.
That's why I am trying to find ways to do what I want, and find a market for what I do, instead of doing what I think the market wants, and feeling miserable! I think we can all be happy, if we never cede the creative side of ourselves to the perceived wishes of collective humanity. Often, we are wrong about what other people want. Collectively they seem awful. But individually, most people are good!
Melbel, thanks! The PIN issue has been straightened out, and I have already started to see remarkable improvement in earnings!
Singular Investor, thanks for the suggestions! My earnings on Hubpages are approaching yours. I do plan to look into Lulu.com. It's quite possible I could use Hubpages as a marketing tool for my books!
I use hubpages for SEO and also as a marketing tool but I have never seen hub pages as a money making website. Well, there are a lot of other ways to earn money in an easy way.
Chairs India, you are probably right. It may be difficult to rely on Hubpages alone as a source of revenue. But it's a great place to start!
Wow, I enjoyed this. Your sense of humor about the whole thing is great. If only we could find the PIN for life...interesting idea. Thanks for this hub!
U Deserve to be a number one position in HUB ..
I really like ur work.. its outstanding ..
Keep it up
Jeffrey Neal. thanks! I'm still looking for the PIN to life. If I find it, I'll let you know!
Shaz123, thanks!
Thanks! This is very informative hub, I had no idea about a pin. I'm still so clueless on many making money topics, and It certainly doesn't seem that easy but I'm keeping my hopes high. In the mean time I really enjoy writing and reading the hubs.
Madison, thanks! I think it's really important to enjoy the process. The results will come in time!
Cool tips. will try
Great Hub! I too have been there, Done that, and I didn't even get a stinking t-shirt.
TnFlash, thanks! That's a great idea. I should market T-shirts to commemorate this milestone!
Thanks Aya, I really love this hub, your last paragraph made me think a lot.
Yes sometimes we didn't go smoothly with our life, all our efforts seemed resultless, we struggled hard but there was no improvement in our life, maybe all the hardships we've gone through were just because we lost the PIN sent from God before, so what exactly is the PIN in our life? It's obviously not that explicit as a postcard from Google, but it's there waiting for us to pick up! As for me, I've also lost some of my PINs in life regretfully, but I am happy that I still keep the courage to go on.
Hope you all the best!
Hey nice one aya, you are an honest guy. Many people say they make thousand's of dollars every month but i don't believe them. Maybe they have contacts with administrators anyway i would love to get some tips from you to increase my income and i would love to help you if you need any help.
thank you
Videl05, thanks! You're right. The PIN to life doesn't come in a postcard from Google. But it can be somewhere close at hand, where we just haven't bothered to look.
Cleanclover, thanks! I'd say I'm a fairly honest gal. As you can see, I know very little about the process of marketing and earning on the web, but I am trying to learn a little at a time. Some of the comments to this hub have offered me useful tips, and I've followed up on them and learned more. If you are interested, I have a new hub out about Google Keyword Tool. You can read it here:
Great hub, good luck. I admire your honesty.
Good read as well
Jay the Reviewer, thanks!
I really like your post... If some body really want to promote his hub or website he can read this:
http://hubpages.com/hub/SEObusiness
Thank you
Sheezi, thanks! I will check out the SEObusiness hub you linked.
The secret to making money at hubpages is to be the owner of hubpages (^__^), I would imagine. I doubt that there's any real money to made here for individual writers. I'm NOT here to make money, however - I'm here to write about what I have learned from experience. It's good practice.
Whoever wants to parasatize my words is welcome to do so with their ads. If I make a few cents in the process, then all the better.
RK
Robert Kernodle, you've got a good point there. However, I think there's a significant distinction to be made between "making a fortune" and "making money". Even a few cents a day counts as making money, and that's definitely doable here. However, it's not worth it unless you enjoy writing. It's a good thing that you and I both do!
Aya I am brand new to hubbing and it was good to read this to learn what mistakes not to do in the beginning. I will be checking my mail everyday now. I never even knew a pin was to come in the mail so I would have probably been in your same position after awhile.
Playathome2, thanks! I hope this helps you avoid what I've gone through! Best of luck with your hubs!
Scott.Life says:
3 weeks ago
I've pretty much said the hell with it, I'm just going to write what I feel like. I've made some money on here, but between classes and waiting to reach Google's pay out limit this has become a huge waste of time. So I'm just not going to care anymore and do what I want. I have no interest in writing reviews or what amounts to nothing more then free advertising for companies like Google, and Hubpages. they're making money off my work and I'm not getting squat for it.