Am I The Only One...

1. 72

   CharMarieposted 4 years ago

   ...Who doesn't understand anything here at HP?  I feel really stupid. 
   
   In my opinion, it was much easier to publish and write on Squidoo.  And, personally, I'm wondering what's the point of writing here if I have no way to make any money. 
   
   HP wants to limit my affiliate links, and from what I'm reading, it looks like getting an Ad Sense Account is pretty hard.  And I don't care to have ads on my page that aren't relevant to what I'm writing about.
   
   Would I not be better off just to move my lenses to my own personal blog?  I may not make much money there either, but it just seems to make more sense. 
   
   I just feel really lost, and I'm just not "getting it".  Maybe it's just me.  Guess I'm just an "old dog" who just can't learn the "new tricks".

   replyreport
   1. 88

      paradigmsearchposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Everything everywhere is complicated these days. As an example, I have just started exploring another site and am a total idiot there.
      
      The good news? Nobody has a stopwatch on us. Not here. Not there. Not anywhere.
      
      I just do what I feel like on any given site for any given length of time, and the necessary knowledge eventually comes to me.
      
      No hurry. Explore. Trial and error. Take your time. Enjoy yourself.

      replyreport
   2. 80

      Sed-meposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Aw, CharMarie, let me just say, and Im sure everyone who knows me here can back me up... If I could earn ANY amount of money here, you can do it too. I don't know squat about the kind of things you need to know to be a successful writer, but (before I closed my last account) I had well over 80 hubs and $34 dollars just waiting for me to hit the $50 mark.
      
      Ask your questions. Everyone here is so totally supportive and encouraging. They go out of their way to help you understand something when youre stuck. So ask away! Take a little time to get used to the water and you'll be swimming with the big fish in no time!

      replyreport
   3. 95

      Marisa Wrightposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      You're not stupid!  It's always going to be hard moving from one site to another.  In some ways, the fact that they have so much in common makes it worse - you're not starting from scratch, and you know some things are the same but some things aren't, but which ones? 
      
      I wrote a Hub for Squids moving to HubPages, you'll find it on the slider on my profile. It might help, because I've tried to highlight the main things you need to know.

      replyreport
   4. 89

      SusanDeppnerposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      CharMarie, remember how confused you were when you started at Squidoo? Once you got going, you did great!
      
      Here's what I'd suggest for you here. First, go to this page - http://hubpages.com/learningcenter/contents - and start reading the "Beginners Start Here" section. You don't have to read every single article, but spend a good bit of time reading, following the basics first.
      
      After you've read the basics, put your transferred lenses/hubs on hold for a few days and create a new hub from scratch. That way you'll see how easily everything falls into place. When you have a question, go back to the learning center and find the answer. It's a great learning center and, really, almost anything you'll want to know is covered there.
      
      Now write a second new hub. It'll be really easy the second time. By the time you've finished the second one, you should feel much more confident about how they're structured and what you'll need to do when you go back and update the old ones.
      
      I know you're concerned about the summaries. I've been writing my summaries last, after I do the update, since going back through the article refreshes my memory on exactly what the lens/hub is about. Really, it's very easy to write a summary. If you don't like it later, you can change it.
      
      The most important thing is that you don't have to know everything about HubPages to write or update a hub. You'll pick up more knowledge as you go. Spend some time each day reading in the Learning Center, starting with the most basic information. Visit other people's hubs. Check out the Hub of the Day every day. It won't be long before you're speaking "hub" instead of "squid." You can do it, I know you can!

      replyreport
      1. 46

         Writer Foxposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         Excellent advice!

         replyreport
   5. 85

      relacheposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      1) When you start anything new, do you already know how to do everything? http://learningcenter.hubpages.com/
      
      2) I was with Squidoo from the beginning, as I have been with HubPages.  I made similar sized groups of pages, often on similar topics, on both sites.  I have made a lot more money here in the last eight years than Squidoo. 
      
      3) In my anecdotal experience over the last eight years, truly good writers have no problem getting AdSense because their pages are genuinely useful.  Fluffy spinners, not so much.
      
      4) If you think that putting all your writing up on a platform where all the tech stuff and interfacing with search engines is handled for you is too complicated to learn, are you really going to do better on your own?
      
      5) Are you really thinking this all through logically, or just having an emotional reaction?  If it's the second, just go be emotional until you feel better.  Then come back and slowly start editing your content.

      replyreport
2. 88

   Len Cannonposted 4 years ago

   If you want an Adsense account, go to blogger, write one blog post, and apply. You'll have it instantly (assuming you're an American or Canadian). It's owned by Google and they are pretty liberal with handing Adsense accounts out on their own platform.
   
   As for the rest, I don't know. It isn't hard to use ebay and Amazon and you won't be competing with every other article on the site to meet an arbitrary and increasingly difficult to hit rank compared to other writers. You'll just earn what you earn. But if you're not into it, you're not into it.

   replyreport
   1. 0

      calculus-geometryposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      +1
      
      Geez. Louise.

      replyreport
3. 72

   CharMarieposted 4 years ago

   It's not that I'm not into it, it's that I just don't understand how everything runs here.  It's very confusing to me.

   replyreport
   1. 97

      wildernessposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      If you haven't already, read through the learning center (help button in the upper right of the screen here).  It does a good job of explaining it all.

      replyreport
   2. 83

      psycheskinnerposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Every system takes a bit of learning.  Squidoo was familiar and Hubpages is new.  But the people in the forums are here to help.  It is not so hard to learn.

      replyreport
4. 0

   LisaKeatingposted 4 years ago

   If you ask specific questions, there are  plenty of people willing to help. It was hard for me at first, too.

   replyreport
5. 90

   Greekgeekposted 4 years ago

   Don't be discouraged just because applying to Adsense is a little intimidating. Even if you started trying to earn money on your own blogs, you'd probably want Adsense eventually, so it's worth getting it done.
   
   In the meantime, you can use your own Amazon Affiliates code in the Hubpages Amazon capsules if you have one. (go to Earnings > Settings > External Affiliates Settings).
   
   Then follow the advice here to  apply for Adsense. If you get an initial no, be patient, wait a month, then apply again. Google just wants to see a body of content that's been up for a little while.
   
   Remember, on Squidoo, lenses didn't earn a thing until they'd existed starting on the first of the month, so there was always a lag time in earnings there too. We just got used to that and to the vagaries of lensrank. Here, you don't have to worry about lensrank -- if a page is drawing traffic, it'll earn something.
   
   My lenses that have been converted to Hubs started earning immediately. They're now earning more than my existing Hubpages account.

   replyreport
6. 95

   Titiaposted 4 years ago

   Hi CharMarie, I know what you mean, but it takes some time to get used to HP and by the time you know a little more, you'll find out that it's not so difficult as it looks and that HP is a great site to be on.
   
   If you have FB, then look for a group called 'Lens to Hub Help' and apply for membership. You'll find all the help you can get in that group.
   
   Hang in there and don't move your hubs too fast.

   replyreport