How I Finally Started Making Money With HubPages

I am excited to report that I am finally making money with HubPages! To be sure, it's not a lot of money, but it's definitely something and I couldn't be more thrilled.

After three years of writing on HubPages, I now earn about $13 a month.

One of the nicest things about HubPages is that anyone can participate. If you have a computer and internet access, you can write. In addition to earning some extra money, HubPages is an excellent place to learn from other writers and improve your skills. This sentiment has been said before in many different ways, and I think it's true: The only difference between a writer and a non-writer is... a writer actually does the work! I find that to be true the more time I spend on HubPages; by reading others' writing and by writing my own Hubs, I improve all the time. I am looking forward to many more years on HubPages!

Actually, it isn't!

With my 13 HubBucks a month, I am able to buy a Netflix Instant subscription ($7.99/month) and a couple cups of coffee from the local coffeehouse. It's awesome!

The most amazing part about earning $13 a month on HubPages is... I don't even do any work! I have been "writing" for HubPages since 2011, but the truth is, I wrote most of my hubs a long time ago in a fit of industriousness, and then I pretty much stopped. In total, I only have 27 Hubs.

I wrote my MoneyHub (the only hub that really gets pageviews - it's about astrology) in 2012. After that I checked HubPages occasionally and imagine my surprise when I got my first payout.

It's quite nifty!

As I see my earnings start to creep up ever so slowly, I am more motivated to write Hubs. The fact that I'm getting something "for free" (Netflix) that I would otherwise pay for with my regular income is rather mind-blowing to me. Getting an actual service for free finally made me realize that I can and should put more work into my HubPages account. Bonus: It's easy and fun!

Some things I have done so far that have led to small successes on HubPages:

• I wrote a bunch of Hubs, and the ones I most enjoyed writing are the only ones that get pageviews
• I decided to stop writing things I felt would be moneymakers (they weren't) and concentrated on things that interest me
• I followed and commented on other Hubbers' work

Since I have fewer than 50 Hubs, I know it's still early days for my HubPages career. If I write 500 Hubs, for example, will my earnings go up accordingly? I don't know, but I'm excited to find out. I would like to:

• Finally understand SEO and implement it in my Hubs
• Learn about ways to format Hubs to make them more interesting to read
• Get more involved with the HubPages community by reading hubs and participating in forums