I admit I haven't read as much on HubPages as I'd like to, and I certainly haven't spent any disposable income on the wallet candy ringing a lot of pages. The reason I joined HubPages was done for a single reason: making money. All my previous jobs have been total wastes of effort. Real estate, retail, restaurant and supermarket work, delivery, newspaper driver management, online auctions, sheet metal fabrication, web contractor work, milling and spray finishing: all activities where my own resources were put on the line in exchange for virtually nothing, or free health risks. But HubPages brings to the table what I need for a writing career.

For one thing, it's automated. There's not some nasty boss sitting at the desk scratching his gut asking you to run out and grab donuts while he's telling you you've been denied a bonus. HubPages is almost entirely merit-based in the money I make. Sure, the company takes about half, but with its CTR (see below) it totally nullifies that with pay left to spare. Some of the traffic simply comes from fortunate random walk-in traffic, but I'm pretty sure the articles I've written have each performed differently, with the most thoughtfully written rising to the top and generating satisfactory revenue, and the lesser ones simply bringing down my score.

Second, the clickthrough rate for HubPages is insane. When I began blogging with AdSense, I had a clickthrough rate that was equal to a chance of winning a state lottery. Even when I spent hour after hour putting my best talents into an article, I would be embittered every week seeing a net loss after electricity. HubPages is a far cry from those lousy days, and being able to apply what I've learned from Joel Comm and Nick Usborne, I've been able to make money at a rate that could let me write all day, if only I had 1000 viewers a day. And I think that can just be a matter of time too.

Third, I'm blessed to have a very friendly audience, even when I'm wrong or writing about something controversial. Maybe I put griefers to sleep by the time they reach the bottom of the page, but the readers of HubPages have been instrumental in encouraging me to keep on and broaden my thoughts by answering requests.

So to sum up, HubPages is an ideal, professional, yet richly varied and flexible platform for me to make money with.