My First Year with HubPages

Whoa, time blew so fast and I can’t believe I am already a year old with HubPages. I always wanted to do blogging, freelance writing or doing the like in the Internet then but me, my colleagues or friends doesn’t know how to do it as well, in plain words I don't have an idea to start off the blocks writing online. Good thing Lady Luck smiled on me as my hubbing exploits will never materialized without my dear friend (who I consider as a big brother) introducing me to this wonderful website, whom I met a year ago. I am very glad with this development that took place in my life since I finally discovered a way to earn extra income while writing online. I am a sports writer and editor before in the official students’ publications of my alma mater in college, and it will be great to write again, this time, not only with my favorite niche which is sports but also in other interesting topics such as education, Science and Technology, health and fitness, environment and nature and many more.

The memory of writing my first article was indeed very unforgettable. Last July 3, 2009 I made my very first article online, which is titled How to be Rich in Few Minutes. This write-up has something to do with knowledge and wisdom about priceless possessions that are in abundance in the face of this planet which is filled with vanities and this is a tribute too for my wonderful dean who was so kind and even considerate to me in the school I work for.

While having the first taste of writing online, there were a lot of questions that popped in into my mind like how to use the capsules well (nyahahaha, now I know these very well :D)?; Will it be worthwhile writing for HubPages?; Will my efforts be rewarded at the end?; Will I jell well with the people around in the Hubpages community?; and many many more...

1. Like polishing and honing my writing skills. Numerous people are already quite impressed with the God endowed talent I have with me, and this alone will make me so happy, I hope they are not telling some lies, though, nyahahaha. I hope I can use this precious skills even further in the days ahead and still improve even more.
2. The write-ups I have had whipped out here are like treasures since I can make them as part of my portfolio in applying for writing various gigs in other writing websites. I wrote for Mahalo.com from May to June this year 2010, and the bulk of the articles in my portfolio I sent them contains the write-ups I made here in HubPages. A restructuring of the writers in this fantastic site, however, cut my writing stint here short. The management sent me an e-mail to reapply for a writing slot but unfortunately I haven’t replied them yet until now since the school season just opened recently and it will be difficult for me to spread my time and energy doing a lot of writing and at the same time teaching college students. Mahalo is willing to pay well its writers but on a full-time basis which is not good for me since writing can be very taxing and the same time I have 30 units loads in a school I am working for back home.
3. Although not a monster yet in earning here as a writer, but still mighty proud that I overcome the $200 barrier in one year, nyahahaha, just a fraction of what ryankett earns with his vaunted Adsense earnings, rofl. I broke the $100 mark during my eighth month and another $100 mark on my eleventh month. I think this is not bad, since my SEO skills just begun to flourish, I applied for the Adsense account two months late and spent some of my precious time managing and posting articles in the websites in our sites.
4. The SEO skills I learned here are at par best with the best in the Internet. Great Hubbers like sunforged, Susana S, LiveWithRichard, ryankett and other topnotch SEO experts in HubPages are truly helpful to me.

1. One of my hub The Splendid Philippine Festivals made it to the HubNuggets wannabe and eventually won first place squeaking past a compatriot by a skin of a teeth margin. I won by just a single vote. This is perhaps one of the most exciting things that happened to me here, since, the nomination alone gave me too much euphoria already. Imagine a bunch of brilliant people finding time to take notice of your skills in writing, whoa, this is so cool and great… and winning as one of the HubNuggets doubled my celebration and elation.
2. Another dream come true for me, one of my Hub finally nailed the 100 Hub Score mark, which is a rarity in HubPages and I am so glad I reached this milestone already.
3. Getting a 100 Author score in many occasions is also very fulfilling.
4. Having more than 500 friends and I hope still counting. I met a lot of great people here, authentic, special and caring people. Sorry my friends I am very busy most of the time and for this reason I cannot able to read your wonderful masterpieces that often.
   
5. Joining the HubMob led by Princessa and HubChallenge by darkside were also a treat. Participating here was indeed a blast.
   
6. Being featured as a Hubber was also enthralling. Also, there’s nothing that will beat the feeling of seeing your articles making it as one of the Featured Hubs in the front page of HubPages wahehehe.
7. Getting awesome feedback from fellow Hubbers will definitely give you instant energy boosts anytime of the day.
8. Joining the 60 dc hatched by sunforged is also worth mentioning since it is with this endeavor that I realized the power of SEO and at the same time meet great writers.
   

At this moment of time I am busy promoting a website and paid per hour as a means of a sideline or making both ends meet (its tough earning here in the Philippines nowadays) and teaching college students. During my spare time, I am also busy promoting our three websites and has the intentions of getting active again with HubPages. I hope in the days ahead I will fully understand the SEO thing and take full advantage of it. I am also wishing that we we'll have our fourth and fifth websites in the coming days.

To earn or not to earn, for me this will not make a great difference since there are a lot of things that are priceless.

Thanks a lot HubPages and my dear fellow Hubbers.