10 Great Ways How to Increase Your Hubpages Traffic and Earnings

This year I started to realize that there was a real money making potential with Hubpages. I wrote 22 hubs last year and then forgot about them. When I came back, I found that I had made $41.88 in 2011. I started thinking about how this money could increase over time with a little work. I got to work.

Over the past few months, I have been exploring ways how to increase my earnings with Hubpages. I've now doubled my number of hub articles and of course I've seen traffic increase as a result. But there are many different factors that have led to my increased earnings over the past few months and I would like to share them with you.

Here is a breakdown of my earnings in 2012:

Don't forget to FOLLOW THIS HUB to keep up to date with my progress by clicking the green button at the bottom of the page!

1. Write Quality Hubs - Often

I think the biggest mistakes that new hubbers make are the type of content they're producing and the frequency that they're writing. First, it's a good idea to take a look around at some of the top hub articles on hubpages and see how they're constructed, the subjects they're about, and the length of the article. Hubpages suggests that your articles are at least 1,500 words with at least 5 high quality photos, a video, a poll and other engaging capsules.

Next, you'll want to set a goal for yourself. How many great quality hubs can you write each day? Each week? By producing content, you're going to increase traffic to your hubs and earn more money. Link between the hubs and even try creating a series of hubs that relate to each other. Once you'll get the ball rolling, it will be hard to stop!

Why not try the Hubpages 30 day challenge to kickstart your articles and earnings?

2. Share The Love

Once you start to write your hubs, you'll notice that most of your traffic is from Hubpages itself. It is a great community of people who love to read and write. Some of the top Hubbers are the ones that actively participate in the community by posting and answering questions, commenting on hubs, and encouraging other Hubbers any way they can. Hubbers are very inquisitive people and like to peruse other Hubber profiles and articles. All of the visits from other Hubbers will help to increase your earnings.

Another way to share the love is to link to other hubs with the suggest links tool. By using this tool, you can highlight words or phrases in your hub then have Hubpages suggest links to other hubs based on the words chosen. By doing this, you have the potential to raise your Hub Karma, and in turn raise your Hubscore. Although these two things do not earn you money, they do earn you credibility. However, other Hubbers will in turn link back to you, helping you gain traffic and earn more money.

3. Refer Up-And-Coming Writers

One of the biggest mistakes I made when I started on Hubpages was ignoring the referral program. I thought, "who is going to sign up and how will I get them to do it?". Two months ago, I decided to give it a whirl and really put an effort into gaining referrals, and here's how I did it: I placed a link on every one of my hubs with my referral link. In those two months, I gained 30 referrals. I didn't have to coax anyone into doing it or spam my friends with desperate attempts to get them to sign up. My readers liked what I was saying and just signed up.

Now, what do you get when you refer others? When you have someone sign up for Hubpages under your referral link, you have the potential of having your affiliate ad codes to be displayed on their pages 10% of the time. Note: you do not earn 10% of their earnings. If you don't think this is a big deal, just wait until you refer a great writer who has a high level of traffic to their hubs. You'll see your earnings soar with very little effort on your part.

4. Submit URL's & Backlink Effectively

My biggest secret to gaining traffic is submitting my links to Google and other search engines. This won't guarantee that your hubs will be on page one, but it will help the search engines index your hubs faster, in my experience.

There is a lot of talk about Google's new algorithm Panda and how hubs are being indexed (if at all). To make it simple, gain backlinks to your hubs by submitting them to relevant webpages. If Google sees that you're backlinking to tons of webpages that aren't relevant, you will be thrown into the sandbox. Don't see Google as the bad guy in this. They just want to make sure that everyone is getting a fair chance at page one. If you write great quality content and let the most relevant people know about it, Google will share the love. I've never gone wrong with Reddit, Digg, Facebook, Twitter, Stumbleupon and my blog. By getting the word out about your hubs, you will earn traffic and money fast.

5. Write a Great Profile Description

Hubbers often underestimate the power of a great profile description. This is not something you'll want to overlook, as many readers will look at your profile to find out who you are, what you do, and what kind of hubs you write. This is the perfect chance for you to provide them with links to some of your best hubs, your blog, or affiliate networks that you're apart of. Don't forget to include a referral link for them to sign up for Hubpages, if they haven't already.

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6. Use The Hubpages Ad Program

Hubpages gives you the option of using only Google Adsense ads in your articles or to use their own ad program. If you opt-in to the Hubpages program, they will place 3 ad units and 2 link units on your pages, one of which will still be Google Adsense. In order to be approved for the program, you will need to have a Google Adsense account.

I don't know about other Hubbers, but I have never really seen any results with Google Adsense alone. Before Hubpages introduced their Ad Program, my earnings were very minimal with Adsense. Now I am making a whole lot more by using the Hubpages Ad Program. I would highly recommend opting for the Hubpages Ad Program. This is the real money maker on Hubpages.

7. Always Link To Affiliates

Hubpages provides writers with great ways to earn extra money with affiliate networks like Amazon and Ebay. I would recommend always linking to one or both of these. But as well as these affiliate networks, you can also link to other networks that you're apart of. For example, you may be writing about a particular product where the company will provide you with a referral link, earning you extra money when a purchase is make through that link.

One way that I earn extra money is through my hub called How to Make Money as a Freelance Contractor with oDesk. When someone signs up for oDesk, either as a contractor or employer, I get paid. Affiliates need not be tangible products, but can relate to services, holidays, ebooks, or anything else you can think of. Be creative when linking to an affiliate. They'll be happy for the traffic you're sending their way, and you'll be happy with the extra money in return.

8. Review Keywords & Trending Topics

Before you choose a topic to write a hub about, make sure you carefully research it by using tools like the Google Keyword Tool. This is a great way to determine the amount of traffic you should expect and what advertisers are paying for each click of their ad. To effectively use this tool, ensure that you are signed in (if you don't have a Google account, I highly recommend you open one). Next, type in your keyword or phrase that relates to your topic. On the right, click the boxes Broad and [Exact]. You'll also want to refine your search by going to the column button and only ticking the Global Monthly Searches and Approximate CPC. Now you can see how many people are searching for specific keywords and what is the cost per click.

You may also want to research trending topics on Google. The topics are updated in real time and could give you ideas on what people are looking for at this given moment. If you click on the links provided, you will be given all news articles and blog posts related to that trend. This is also a great way to research content for your article.

9. Use Tags & Summaries

New Hubbers often overlook or forget about adding tags or a summary to their hubs before (or even after) publishing them. Again, you may want to use the Google Keyword tool when adding tags to your hub. Tags help readers find your content. Use as many as you can think of and even use phrases with two or three words each.

Before hitting that publish button, remember to write a great summary that will entice the reader to click on your link. You have 500 characters to describe your hub with key points you will be outlining. This summary will not only show up in Google searches, but it is also displayed in your Hubpages activity feed.

10. Engage Your Readers

People love to talk and to share their views. It's just a natural human instinct and one that I'm fascinated with. Social media is now the driving force behind civilization and how we interact with each other. Everyone wants to tell you what they're thinking and they want to know what you think about it. Creating engaging articles is the same thing as creating great social media campaigns. People like to get excited about what they're reading and become engaged in the conversation. This will get people talking about your hub and you'll undoubtedly earn more traffic and money.

Check out this article on the best social media campaigns of 2011 for more inspiration. Also, learn about Creating Evo-Hubs to Increase Hub Traffic, Followers and Earnings.