does anyone really make money here?

1. 0

   lindashockleyposted 11 years ago

   It seems hard to see that anyone actually makes any money here. Can someone provide me a hub that I can look up on the internet outside of hubpages & see it? Before I commit any more time to this, I want to know if it will be worth my while.  Thanks.

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      SimeyCposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      How much money do you think people will make? Some people make pennies while others make hundred - there may still be a couple of hubbers making in the thousands. I'm making a couple of hundred a month on average (over a year) - Christmas and Halloween are my peek periods.
      
      The key is to remember that most hubbers do not earn for many months - some earn quickly but the vast majority do not see a decent residual income for a year or more - it took me over a year to begin to see any sort of pay-out.

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   2. 71

      poshcoffeecoposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      If you look at the success stories on the splash page and read some of them you will get a good idea how much can be attained. If you want to make 50 to 100 dollars a month, aim for getting accepted into the apprenticeship. This is where H P pay you for writing articles, around 8  per month. That way you will learn while you earn.

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         lovebuglenaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I have never heard of HP paying us for writing articles (aside from the Ad Program earnings). That is certainly a new discovery for me. What is the apprenticeship and where can I find out more information about it? Is it only for newbies?

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            poshcoffeecoposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Just follow the link for more information.
            http://hubpages.com/learningcenter/Appr … ip-Program

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   3. 68

      SylviaSkyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I followed the HP advice to become a "niche" writer. My articles are very specialized for a particular audience, which isn't huge, but when readers want and need them, the articles are there. Over 2-1/2 years (it takes time!) I have written 109 articles on various aspects of the niche topic, so readers can trust that I have been in that field for a while and know something about it. Choose one area in which you are an expert or willing to become one. Then find and present your readers with good solid facts. There aren't "riches in niches" from HP yet, just grocery money, but I have faith that if I do good work, good things must follow.

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         lovebuglenaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Aren't you limiting your audience and your earnings potential by focusing just on that one specific niche...?

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         WryLiltposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         You have to be careful with niches. You can be too broad OR too niche.
         
         ->Coats is too broad.
         ->Red leather coats is a good midway choice.
         ->Large size, hand sewn, silk lined, leather coats is too specific.
         
         Niches also come with their own demographics - for instance if you're niche attracts mostly younger and tech savvy people, chances are they are more likely to have "banner blindness" and therefore earn you less money.
         
         Even small niches can be very competitive too. If it's an area where a few people have started writing quality articles, chances are that even if it IS specific, it's already taken and not worth fighting for unless you have the SEO skills.
         
         I know that there are quite a few writers on HP who've attempted to break into the horoscope niche with little success. Although I think Isabella Snow may have had some luck.

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            Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            I'm  not sure your advice about niches is totally valid now.
            
            At one time, I would've said it was spot on, exactly right.  Now, though, I'm being told that I should be broadening my niche because the path to long-term success is to have an "authority" site, and in order to build a truly large site, you need the latitude.
            
            I know people who would've built an entire blog targeting "Red leather coats" at one time - and it would've worked.  Nowadays it doesn't work, because there's only so much  you can create about red leather coats without repeating yourself - so you'll have thin, repetitive content and Google won't like it.
            
            I could imagine creating a whole site (or a whole HubPages sub-domain) about leather coats, personally - but how long would I be able to keep adding content, before I ran out of ideas?  One year?  Two years?  That's why I'm hearing experts say, go for the widest niche.   You can still write a bunch of posts that target "red leather coats" and another bunch that target "blue leather coats" but you've given yourself the freedom to keep on writing for the long term.

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               WryLiltposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Ok I do agree with you... I think I used a bad example. I was basically trying to say that you can be too specific (and yes maybe red leather coats is too specific too).
               
               I've gone for the pregnancy niche and even though it's very competitive and a broad topic I've still somehow managed to get good authority in it - so often you can go for a broad niche IF you have a topic that you can write the highest quality content on.
               
               I guess it's hit and miss. Too narrow a niche and no one is Googling it. Too broad a niche and there's often too much high quality competition to rank.
               
               This is why I recommend people learn how to keyword research but I no longer use keyword research myself (or rarely). Often statistics aren't the best indication of a niche, but once you know how they work it's easier to get a "feel" for what works and what a good niche is - not to mention that backlinks and keywords aren't the only ways to get good traffic.

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                  Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  I think it's important not to confuse niches and keywords.
                  
                  A niche is a topic that you pick for your sub-domain, website or blog.    It's a topic area, and these days it's most probably a single word (pregnancy is a good example), which gives you plenty of room to cover multiple aspects of the topic. 
                  
                  Within that niche you'll target long tail keywords in individual posts.
                  
                  Your sub-domain is very heavily weighted towards pregnancy, you have lots of excellent information and you've promoted it intelligently.  Apparently an "authority" site doesn't have to be huge (though it helps), the important thing is to build a reputation as an authority on the topic - which you have.  So I'm not surprised your new Hubs do well automatically.

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            Pamela N Redposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Each article stands alone so there is no need to write niche material. You can even cause some of your articles to rate lower on the search sites due to over saturation.
            
            Just write well about what you know and you will make money. Everyone's income is different depending on your talent and how hard you work.
            
            The more you write the better you get.

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               WryLiltposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               I don't know how it changes based on the subdomains but this account has good authority in pregnancy... If I write a hub on it, it will do well almost immediately.

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               Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Each article used to stand alone, when HubPages was one big site.   Now it's part of a sub-domain and your sub-domain is judged by Google as an individual website.

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                  WryLiltposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  +1
                  
                  Unless you're good at drawing traffic from other sources. Which can take years of networking and building which I don't recommend.

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      To Start Againposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      type in "How to make money on HubPages" Or  "How to make money" in that little white search box on the top of the page and hit search. When a page with results pops up, click "hubs" or "forums" over on the right side and it will lead you right to all the answers you are looking for.

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      Susana Sposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I average about 1 million views per year and have just passed the 4 million views mark
      
      
      
      I don't do much with social media so nearly all of that traffic is from search engines - though I'm not going to share keywords. 
      
      
      
      It's definitely not easy, but if you're prepared to put the work in and learn a whole lot of new stuff, it can be well worth your while.

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         WryLiltposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         You're about 1.5 million ahead of me Susana. But unlike you, I use social media a LOT!

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         1. 96

            Susana Sposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            You've definitely cracked social media Wry! And kudos to you for doing so.
            
            I tend to focus my efforts on keyword choice, understanding visitor intent, copywriting and conversion optimisation. Oh and of course, staying up to date with the latest Google updates and working out how to make sure I'm not affected by them! Which I've mostly been pretty successful at.

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               WryLiltposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               I'm about the same with social media - I keep track of it and it makes sense to me. Hate keywords and SEO with a passion - it's like swimming in concrete!

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                  Susana Sposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  Lol - well I like analysing stuff and am not hugely sociable so I guess optimisation suits my personality better

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                     WryLiltposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                     

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   6. 82

      lovebuglenaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      You will definitely not become rich on here. And you certainly can't rely on Hub Pages earnings alone to support yourself financially. I usually make less than a dollar a day and less than $10 a month with the Hub Pages Ad Program. Takes me many months just to reach the $50 payout minimum with it. So far I've cashed out only twice with that program, just a little over $100 in total. Not sure how much I've earned on here with Google but it's definitely not a lot since I've yet to reach their $100 payout minimum. I find it hard to believe that people make hundreds if not thousands of dollars on here.

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2. 59

   jericho911posted 11 years ago

   I see the potential to make money. I haven't put in the time and haven't been approved for adsense.  So, my only hope of income is from affiliate links. So far..not a penny.  I'd think that someone with a lot of quality hubs and high traffic could make a nice little income. You probably won't retire on it, but I'm willing to bet that some of the writers here can pay their utilities and grocery bill from their hubs.  I hope that I can get to that point sometime, too.  I'll follow this discussion to get even more tips and suggestions from other responses.

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3. 83

   Simone Smithposted 11 years ago

   I guess my experience doesn't count as "genuine" as I'm HubPages staff, but I make over $10 a day and haven't published (frequently) in ages.
   
   Hubbers typically don't make significant earnings in their first year on the site and they have to publish a large number of REALLY high quality and unique articles (stuff that hasn't already been done 10000 times before online) to actually see worthwhile traffic and earnings, but it is certainly a possibility.
   
   I recommend getting involved on the site if you love to write and have a lot of unique expertise and passion to share. Don't join to make money.

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   1. 59

      jericho911posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      10 bucks a day is awesome.

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4. 89

   wildernessposted 11 years ago

   You will have a little problem with finding what you're asking for:
   
   1) You won't find any hubs outside of HubPages.
   
   2)  You are very unlikely to find any article outside of HP where hubbers are willing to list their incomes.
   
   3)  You are unlikely to find very many hubbers earning more than a few coppers that are willing to list their incomes.  Doing so is an open invitation to thieves; a declaration that they have good "stuff" to steal.
   
   So take it for what it's worth; you can make money on HP - a few hundred $$ per month is not that unusual - but you will not get rich and you will certainly not get rich quick.  Either be prepared to spend lots of time and effort to build a passive income or move on to someone that will scam you with claims of lots of gold for nothing.

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5. 0

   Jeanne Grunertposted 11 years ago

   You may want to visit some of the HubPages forums and read the success stories. Making money on HubPages requires good research and writing skills, as well as constant, consistent effort. It can be done but as wilderness says, it's not a 'get rich quick' kind of thing. Concentrate on topics you're passionate about, write well, research keywords, and visit the Forums and HubPages information pages to learn what makes a great hub.

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   Marcy Goodfleischposted 11 years ago

   I know several fairly new writers (on the site less than two years) who say they're earning a small but steady sum each month.  The days of huge dollars here are probably over (unless someone gives Google an algorithmic lobotomy).  But the site is a great place to learn and publish, a supportive community, and a way for productive writers to augment their incomes to a degree by doing what they love to do.
   
   The apprenticeship program indeed helps those new to online writing learn about Search Engine Optimization and Keyword Research.  However, since it is on hold at the moment, you can learn almost everything it covers by taking advantage of the wealth of resources in the Learning Center. Then, just keep writing good hubs!

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      Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Love the lobotomy comment!

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7. 0

   lindashockleyposted 11 years ago

   I'd like to see someone's hub on the internet, not in HubPages, just be able to do a search on the internet and find them. Any ideas whose I could find? Or how to find them?

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      relacheposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Go to Google, think of some topic you'd like to read about, type it in and see if you get any Hubs in the search results. If not, think of a new topic.
      
      Lather, rinse, repeat.

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         lindashockleyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Yep, I went, I saw, I didn't conquer but did see results. I typed "gardens in a small space" and on page 3 of the google results, there was daffodilsky's page!

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      dwachiraposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I won't know why you insist on searching a hub on the net because that particular hub will not say how much it earns for the author. But just to quench your need, search for "Top 10 most popular programming languages" or "Programming in Java Netbeans for beginners" and i bet some of the articles on top of SERP are from Hubpages. I wish you success on HP.

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      Barbara Kayposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Several of mine are on page one of Google, if you want to look for them. One just lost its indexed status here and it shows as #5 on the first page of Google. Just because a hub does well in Google doesn't mean it will get good traffic, as this one shows. You need to write about the right things too.
      
      The answer is yes, you can earn money here. The more you write and see which topics do well, the better you'll do. Read all of the Learning Center topics and you should do well.

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   PatriciaBesseyposted 11 years ago

   I make about a penny a day. I don't expect to retire any time soon. I would love to know what I'm doing wrong so I could make $10 (or more) a day. 

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   1. 76

      Barbara Kayposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      PaticiaBessey, All you need to do is write more hubs. I wanted to give you something to help, but you only have 6 hubs. It takes more to earn good money.

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9. 87

   WryLiltposted 11 years ago

   Search "ways to induce labour" and my hub is generally in the top 4 results.
   
   Yes, I make money here.

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10. 0

    SonQuioey10posted 11 years ago

    Google, "the wizard of oz is creepy," I should be number one.

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       wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         We've all got one of those, don't we? 
       
       Google "rotten egg pie" and you'll find me in top spot as well.  Who else would publish a recipe like that?

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          SonQuioey10posted 11 years agoin reply to this

          I think I'll try that recipe sometime.
          
          My wizard of Oz hub gets views all the time, been at the top of my hub account list since last year in September I think. If I could write more like it, I would get more traffic I think. It's truly my classic though. I think everyone needs to strive to create more classics. People love reading point-of-views and new and interesting recipes.

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             wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

             Better than my hub, then.  It gets just enough to stay featured, and that keyword is not one that is every used to get there.  My son used it just once and is almost certainly the only person to ever do so.

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11. 83

    aa liteposted 11 years ago

    Ok I'm not going to give you my best hubs, for reasons that have been mentioned already.  But Google "types of frogs", I should be 3rd (I used to be 2nd ).  That hub brings me steady traffic of between 20-30 views a day.  "Chameleon Facts" is another one that I get daily views on, and should be on the first page.  Of course my Google might not work the same way as your Google, what with personalised search results, but I have several hubs that bring me daily traffic for their main keywords.
    
    Overall I get about 400 views a day, with almost 100 hubs, or rather 80 hubs because some are not featured.  This is by no means great, I think many hubbers get much better views.  But I've been here for about a year, and when I started I didn't know as much about finding the right keywords as I do now. 
    
    I don't just rely on ads, but also earn from Amazon.  In fact I think Amazon is a better earner than advertising.  So yes I believe it is possible to earn a couple of hundred dollars on HP.

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12. 59

    AndrewMcMposted 11 years ago

    It is important to point out that you shouldn't join Hub Pages to make money. You need to be a little more clever than that
    
    The real way to make money from Hub Pages is to use it is a funnel to your own website or social media page where you can build a list for example. You need to solve a problem for a particular niche of people or make their lives easier in some way. Remember you NEED a niche. Do not go broad and write about everything. You need to be seen as an expert in your field. A go to type of person. Brand yourself.
    
    Be genuine, talk about what you love and remember do not sell to your readers in your articles. I have been writing for years and just joined Hub Pages. I have been using this technique for a long time and I am confident it will work just fine here.
    
    Connect with me if you need further help.

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13. 79

    alphagirlposted 11 years ago

    I think much depends on your willingness to devote time, writing, using social media, choosing the right subjects and using your own photos you take for layout. I came in as a hobbyist, curious person and learned a lot by doing observing and reading other hubs and comments. You can't get rich here unless you are a fabulous writer with hubs that really grab readers to buy and click those ads. I also think you have to have more than writing here. You have to write for other blogs or a blog of your own with a very needed niche that interests people.
    I am a hobbyist. I have met some great people here. It is a great community and they do a great job of constant improvement for the community. They offer an apprentice program you might want to consider to kick-start your writing. Hope you stay....give it a year.

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14. 92

    Will Apseposted 11 years ago

    A stat that Paul Edmondson gave lately about traffic explains why some people will never make money here. Apparently, high quality hubs get 5 times as many views as average hubs (average, not low quality).
    
    You really have to put the effort in to learn the trade.

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15. 71

    Mr Awberyposted 11 years ago

    If you want to see an article up there, type FIFA 13 guide to virtual pro - mine is second i believe

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16. 93

    prairieprincessposted 11 years ago

    Google, "reasons not to divorce," or "guide to second marriage," or "niece and aunts," and see what comes up. I make a small, regular income from HP, between $50 and $100 a month. I no longer have time to write often, because of my other commitments, but I continue to get the income coming in.

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17. 67

    Woodmckinneyposted 11 years ago

    From all of the research I've been doing; you can make a decent passive income if you utilize all of the resources available to you; SEO management, social media, networking... If you learn how to promote yourself online with a good online presence, you will be successful.
    
    I have been here for a week. I have posted 4 hubs and I have doubled my google Adsense earnings (it has been linked with other sources for about two years)..... Increase of %200 in a week - I think it is worthwhile.

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18. 59

    MelissaMelvinposted 11 years ago

    Agreed...

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19. 60

    yupperclubposted 11 years ago

    Yes, I believe it is really WORTH your TIME.  Forget about NICHES and just try to express how you FEEL about something.  Topic doesn't matter if you are sincere in your effort, you'll eventually get the recognition.  Self-satisfaction should be your goal above everything else.  Be pleased and happy with YOURSELF, first, and good things are sure to follow.

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20. 81

    Maria Ceciliaposted 11 years ago

    yeah I made money at Hubpages. and I consider it my passive income.  when I post my hub I really give it my time, take photos, post pictures etc. But I also rest and do some other things, the good thing is my articles continue to earn even at times that I was not posting a hub.  I just love to write first then it became a habit that I make a hub whenever there is development in my life, places I go, dog activities etc.. then I saw $....until I received my first payment....

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21. 71

    murphy80posted 11 years ago

    Linda, for the past 4 months I have been making just over $50 from Hubpages. This is combined with their Ad program and the Ebay links I've included in my hubs. This is just over the payment threshold, so YES, I've been getting a payment of $50 for a bit now. I actually haven't even written a new hub in over a month. You can check out my hubpages profile and read my articles. My success comes because I write about a specific interest that has a dedicated internet fanbase. I know I can write more and make more money, but I've been happy with the $50 as just extra spending money. Good luck!

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    Will Apseposted 11 years ago

    Just to point out that a niche is not necessary at all. A lot of people avoid niches because they get bored with them.
    
    Also, there is nothing wrong with going for 'flash in the pan' pages that deliver tens of thousands of views in a few months and then die. A quick flood of money is no hardship. Besides, unexploited evergreen subjects are pretty hard to find.
    
    Mostly, though, it is writing stuff that people want to read that matters. That takes practice.

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23. 60

    Mark Ewbieposted 11 years ago

    Whoever is looking for a hub outside hubpages you can have "rasta stickman".  I'm under the t-shirt seller. Woohoo - result!  Worth five cents a month.  But please don't nick it.
    
    I have managed to find a niche that pays absolutely nothing.  However, I remain convinced that a small fortune lies just around the next corner.  Indeed, it is why this very day I have put down a starter payment on a beef burger, which I intend to consume in monthly stages.
    
    I probably wrote a great hub on "How I made Money Hubbing my Hubs".
    
    edit: No.  I didn't.

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    1. 0

       Beth37posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       to nick: to steal

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