Earning Money Online With Groups Like HubPages

“If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, and has tail feathers like a duck, there is a very good chance that it is a duck.”

As I thought about writing this article I was reminded of that saying.

The fact is that online writing sites like HubPages or Squidoo or the host of others are primarily businesses. They are in business to make money. They are not benevolent sites constructed to further your writing career and help you to pay your bills. They are businesses attempting to pay their bills.

I do not write that as an expression of bitterness, but rather to clear up some misconceptions about this writing community of HubPages and others like it.

I have written for HubPages now for over a year, and I think I can safely state that I am an established member of that community. I have written over 400 Hubs and I have enjoyed close to 150,000 views. I have won some awards and I have earned some respect. What I have not done is earn money online and quite frankly that is not the fault of HubPages.

Allow me to explain.

I’m going to simplify this for those of you who are considering writing for HubPages, or one of the other sites, and do not understand how it all works.

HubPages earns money on every single article (Hub) written on their site. They do this by offering advertising space on every Hub. The more popular the article is, the more views it receives, and the more views the advertising receives. HubPages is, in a very real sense, a cash cow, because they literally receive millions of views each year. They are in the Top 50 of viewed sites on the internet.

Let me repeat: HubPages is a business.

Now, if you are a writer, how do you earn online through HubPages? You make money based on the number of views that your article receives, but more importantly your earnings are based on the number of ads that are clicked by readers of your Hubs, and also by the number of products that are sold based on the advertising on your Hubs.

Traffic is driven to your articles based on subject matter and content, but more importantly based on keywords and other SEO techniques that attract the attention of search engines.

In other words, the more proficient you are at using SEO techniques, and the more proficient you are at writing content articles that will attract a large viewing, the better your chances are of making decent money on HubPages.

The opposite is also true, which explains why I do not earn much money on HubPages.

Are poets allowed on HubPages? Most definitely! Do they make much money on HubPages? Rarely!

Are essayists allowed on HubPages? Most definitely! Do they make much money on HubPages? Rarely!

Are short story writers allowed on HubPages? Most definitely! Do they make much money on HubPages? Rarely!

Do you get the point yet?

Let me put it this way. I don’t for a second believe that the staff of HubPages sits around in the corporate office devising ways to help poets make money. It is not in their best interests to do so. What is in their best interest is to teach writers through their Learning Center how to write an attractive and well-written article that will attract millions of viewers. Thus we see an abundance of How To articles and recipes and advice articles on the best products to buy if you are a mother with a young child.

What do people search for on the search engines? Well, for the most part it is not poetry and it is not essays on the trouble with government. What people search for are answers to daily problems like a clogged drain or how to boil an egg, and those articles, dealing with those issues, are what make HubPages money.

This is not brain surgery.

The whole point of this is to point out that if you are not making money on HubPages there is a very good reason why you are not. If you want to make money on HubPages then you will learn how to write good content using SEO techniques. Period!

And that is why I say God bless the poets and the dreamers, for theirs is the Kingdom of Poverty on HubPages.

Lest you think this is a no-win situation if you are a poet or essayist, I want you to know there are great benefits in writing on this site.

HubPages gives any writer a forum and an open door to the internet. You have a platform from which you can send your work out into the netherworld for all to see.

HubPages gives any writer a supportive community of writers from which encouragement and help can be drawn.

HubPages provides a helpful staff (thank you Simone) and proven techniques that can help you in being more successful.

HubPages allows you to practice your craft in a huge public setting, and gives you the vehicle from which you just might be discovered by an agent, publisher or prospective employer.

And they give all of that to you for free!

I really think this discussion boils down to what you expect from HubPages. Monetarily I have been a dismal failure on this site. I average a dollar per day and that is after a year and 405 Hubs. By any standard you wish to use in judging monetary success, I have failed. Having said that, there is a very good reason why I have failed. I have not played the HubPages game, so I was destined to fail from the outset. I give very little consideration to keywords and SEO techniques. I write few “evergreen” Hubs. I write essays on life and reflective pieces on happiness and love. In the internet world, I am still scratching at the door waiting for someone to let me in by accident.

If money is the determining factor for success then you might as well throw dirt over me and say some prayers because I am dead. My style of writing will never garner a large income from HubPages.

However, I love HubPages, and the reason I love it is because of the community of writers, many of whom are now dear friends. I receive support daily from people just like me who struggle in relative obscurity but who all have the same passion that I have, the passion of writing.

I have nothing but praise for HubPages. I understand that they are a business and I understand that I do not give them what they want, so there are no hard feelings. Nobody is forcing me to write the way I write, in a style destined for poverty, and to HubPages credit they do not try to change me. They allow me the freedom to perfect my craft and they are supportive and helpful when I ask for assistance.

If I want to make more money on HubPages then it is up to me to change. All the pissing and moaning in the world does not change the fact that HubPages is a business, a very successful business, and they will do quite nicely whether I am a member or I am not a member.

Since I choose not to change my style of writing it would seem to me that I have no reason to complain about the lack of online income.

Until that day comes when I need the income and I’m willing to change my style of writing, I will continue to sit on the fringes with all the other poets and essayists and work on my craft and try to improve my writing abilities. I kind of like the group I’m in. We have our own secret handshake and we have decoder rings and we have very little pressure on us because you see, nobody expects us to make it in online writing.

We are so uncool that we are actually cool.

Remember, if you see something with tail feathers, and it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, there is a damn good chance that it is HubPages!

2013 William D. Holland (aka billybuc)