Monetizing A Hub

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   Gavinoposted 10 years ago

   I don't know if I'm in the right place here but I'll give it a shot. I just got my first hub published and would like to know how I can make it better and what's the best way to monetize it for multiple earning streams?
   
   How can I best utilize eBay and Amazon? I really want to learn the right way. How and where do I go to get my hub seen for constructive criticism and learning insights without looking like I'm spamming?
   
   Thanks for all your help>

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   1. 89

      Millionaire Tipsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I recommend reading the Learning Center articles, especially the How to Make Money on HubPages section.  http://hubpages.com/learningcenter/contents
      It will give you a great overview.

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   2. 86

      Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      If you're going to use eBay and Amazon capsules, then the first step is to be signed up for those programs (eBay through HubPages, Amazon direct with Amazon).   Then use those capsules very judiciously, because they won't make money unless you get them exactly right.
      
      Why does that matter?  Because you want to control how your readers leave your Hub.  Ideally they should leave it by clicking on an ad that pays you.  Failing that, you want them to visit your other Hubs and find an ad they like there.  You certainly don't want them to leave by clicking on an Amazon or eBay ad unless they're going to buy (because you earn nothing if they don't buy there and then).
      
      So, use an Amazon or eBay capsule only if:
      
      (a) in your text, you're directly recommending the product or type of product in the capsule; or
      (b) the product in the capsule is essential to carry out the process you're describing in your Hub; or
      (c) it's a book or DVD giving further detailed information on the specific topic of your Hub.
      
      If you can't give your reader a compelling reason to buy the product in your text, don't bother with the capsule.

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   3. 86

      Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      If you want feedback on that specific Hub, there is a special thread here:
      
      http://hubpages.com/forum/category/2885
      
      Quick feedback:
      
      - You need at least one image (please make sure it's legal)
      - I felt the Hub was a bit too general and didn't give me any new information.  Why not add your own examples of how you've applied these ideas yourself?
      
      I notice you're a member of Buildabizonline.com.  It's a MLM scheme which is still peddling strategies which were outdated years ago.  If you're not having much success making money online, being involved in operations like that is likely the reason - I suggest you think again!

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      1. 60

         Gavinoposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         So tell me would I do this within the same hub, or make new hubs about the various  businesses that will compliment an online auction business and link them to the main original?

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         1. 86

            Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Think of each Hub as an article in a magazine.  If you're going to write a lot of Hubs around the same topic, then a good strategy is to make each one around 500 words and interlink them to each other (having said that, a Hub should be as long as it needs to be, to cover the material - up to 1,500 words).
            
            You could use your first Hub as a summary Hub and link to the others as you write them, but I do think it needs a revamp anyway. 
            
            First of all, your title is misleading.  Your article has some helpful tips for someone who has lost their job and needs to make money now.  I'd be using a title that reflects that.
            
            I'd start the Hub by explaining that in future articles, you will be giving tips on how to build a long-term home business, but first they need some stop-gap ideas to get money on the table.
            
            Use headings that are informative, and use more of them, e.g. instead of "an ingenuous starting point", it could be "Temporary Work".  I'd also have a heading for "Yard Sale" and so on.
            
            Reading the article again, it seems you're really talking about starting an eBay selling business, yet not one of your headings refers to that.

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   4. 90

      Cardisaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Everything Marisa told you is on point. I felt the hub was too general. You have a great title but the hub does not live up to the expectation. I expected to get ideas and maybe a little advice on how to implement these ideas. I have written several hubs on making money. I just wrote one on "Make Money Fast This Christmas". You may take a look at hubs which are written in this category and see how it's done.

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      1. 60

         Gavinoposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         When you say ideas are you talking about the benefits of, and how the service businesses are operated?

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         1. 90

            Cardisaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            As mentioned before, the hub in question seemed too generalized. You did not mention any specific ideas. This is your title "Best Self Employed Business Ideas". When someone clicks on that they are actually looking to get idea on how to make money, not a general how to about making a list. they want specific ideas and how to implement them. So I suggested reading through some other hubbers hubs on money making ideas to see what they've done.

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2. 62

   ktnptlposted 10 years ago

   Even I am new to hubpages but I can say It's nice place to write articles and share your knowledge. You can find ample support and it's nice community. I just published my 6th article and will be publishing some more. I usually publish article each week. Coming to monetization, I think it's nice site but I think it will be better if someone experienced reply you who already made money through hubpages.
   I can say keep writing good stuff and it will come back to you.
   Good luck.

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3. 0

   rcorcuttposted 10 years ago

   Pictures, organization, good content and topic.
   I myself do not focus on the pictures and organization nearly as much as i should but I have hopped a lot of HUBS and seen some pretty cool ways of getting everything to flow more smoothly. Good luck.

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4. 75

   electronicianposted 10 years ago

   To monetize any kind of web content you need traffic. So my advice would be to focus on quality writing and building up readers before you even think about new or better ways to monetize.

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   1. 86

      Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I know this is the usual advice these days, but I have to say I disagree strongly.
      
      I see internet gurus saying, "wait till you have 1,000 visitors a day before you start monetizing".   If I'd done that, I'd be about $20,000 poorer today.   
      
      That's because some of my blogs have never reached 1,000 visitors a day or anywhere close to it, and that's the income they've generated.
      
      The theory seems to be that advertising will alienate your readers, so you want to wait until they're loyal followers before you start marketing to them.  That's totally missing the point, IMO.  If you're recommending products and solutions which are genuinely helpful to your readers, you won't alienate them - they'll thank you for it.  If you shove useless products down their throats, you'll alienate them whether you have one reader or fifty thousand.

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      1. 75

         electronicianposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Sure, you make some good points and I certainly wouldn't tell anyone to wait that long, but he said he had just published his first hub so I definitely think you should get the hang of writing good hubs first - not necessarily wait till you get a certain amount of traffic, but just till you have learned about making good hubs.

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         1. 86

            Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Correct product placement IS part of making a good Hub, and the rationale is fairly simple, so why not get used to it from day one, instead of having to go back and revise Hubs later?

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               electronicianposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               I just think there are better priorities. He was asking about monetization for new revenue streams, not product placement to complement a hub for the benefit of readers.

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               1. 86

                  Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  He was asking about how to use Amazon and eBay capsules.

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5. 89

   Suzanne Dayposted 10 years ago

   To be honest, I had a lot of hubs with Amazon and Ebay. I made a grand total of $30 over 2 years from Amazon and about $10 from Ebay. The capsules interfered with my hubs and writing and turned off the traffic. For me personally, it would have been better to write more and not worry about Amazon and Ebay at all. I am doing this currently as I get more fun from writing new articles (plus more traffic) than by ruining my traffic with spammy ads.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Suzanne, were you really using your Amazon and eBay capsules in a "spammy" way?  I can't imagine you would - but if you were, it's not surprising you sold so little!
      
      Amazon and eBay capsules should be used ONLY when they add value to what you're writing about, and if you do that, they can be helpful to your readers and make money at the same time.  For instance, you can feature a book or DVD with more information on your topic, or a product you recommend using.   Such capsules won't interfere with your Hub and your reader will appreciate them, not find them annoying.
      
      People used to write "sales" Hubs here which contained lots of Amazon or Ebay capsules. They were labelled spammy by some, because they contained so many capsules.  However, the good ones were n not "spammy" at all, becauase they were offering a useful service, listing and comparing a variety of products to help readers decide which one to buy.

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      1. 89

         Suzanne Dayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Hi Marisa, no I wasn't too spammy, but then again, it was 2 years ago, when it was all the rage to feature quite a few of these capsules in any hub! I thought I did the right thing at the time and made sure that the capsules were completely useful to the reader in terms of suitability.
         
         The strange part was, I made the money by people buying completely different items to the ones I was discussing, for example, my hub on Russian Dolls with Amazon capsules to interesting dolls like the Michael Jackson set, resulted in people buying baby goods from Amazon. Very weird. There seemed to be lots of interest in the paint-your-own doll sets, but no one bought them.....the sales at Amazon seemed totally unrelated to what I was talking about in the hub, hence it didn't work for me.
         
         Removing the capsules has resulted in better organic traffic from Google....maybe there was an algorithmic bit which looked at how many Amazon items on a page and penalised it with Panda?
         
         I don't know, but am getting better traffic now. I imagine that one well placed Amazon capsule would work better, but to be honest, I feel that people who want Amazon goods tend to head straight for Amazon anyway. I'm glad someone was able to make use of them, and I'm glad I made a little bit of pocket money, but they didn't work for me in general....not quite sure why.

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         1. 86

            Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            If people were buying, even if they were buying the "wrong" products, then those capsules were working for you - they were making money!   Does it really matter that they didn't buy what you wanted them to buy?  You still get the commission.  That will always happen because it's human nature - readers start out genuinely interested in the product in the capsule, but then they spot something cute on the site, get distracted and wind up buying something completely different.  Why is that a problem? 
            
            I think you over-estimate how educated people are about the online world.  There are thousands, not to say millions, of people who don't even know Amazon or eBay exist, or don't know how to use them.   I see that every day!   
            
            I have dance blogs which include product displays created by software which finds dancewear on eBay.   My home page starts with a paragraph explaining that my product pages are an eBay portal bringing together  products from sellers around the world, to save my readers the effort of searching on eBay themselves.  Each page has a big heading such as, "flamenco shoes on eBay".  Yet every week, I get emails from visitors who clearly don't know what that means - they think it's my shop.
            
            Also, I get a lot of repeat customers who don't have a clue how to search for stuff on eBay so they'd rather come back to my blog because products are easier to find.
            
            As for Google penalizing Amazon capsules - yes, they can do.  As you know, HubPages got a warning about excessive affiliate links and that's why they reduced them. But the key is that they had to reduce them, not remove them.  That's where HubPages' current limits come from.  If you're using too many affiliate links, you'll get a warning on Webmaster Tools. 
            
            You may have seen an increase in organic traffic around the time you removed the Amazon capsules - but you can't be absolutely sure that was cause and effect.  If it was around the time the site as a whole was making changes, that could have had an impact too. And you never know - if it was the capsules that made the difference, perhaps it would've worked just as well to reduce rather than remove!

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6. 60

   Gavinoposted 10 years ago

   Thanks everyone for all of your helpful information. One thing I have noticed though is after reading all the comments and then removing the Amazon capsule my score has jumped.

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   1. 86

      Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Don't assume cause and effect.   Scores are influenced by lots of things!

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