Dismally low earnings across the board.

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   GwennyOhposted 8 years ago

   I have had the lowest earnings from since the time I first made anything on HubPages as of late. I took a look through the forum and couldn't find reference to others having the same problem. What I'd usually make in one day, all of a sudden it is taking me a week to make. Is anyone else getting this? Or what can you tell me? This began last month.

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      Solarasposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      CPM sucks these days for me too.  Also, one of the Advertisers is on the fritz, so we don't have HP earnings in for the last 5 days.

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         GwennyOhposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         I wonder if anyone knows when the advertising partner problems first began... last month was so very slack for me! Near 1/4 of what's typical.

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      peachpurpleposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      you are not alone, my earnings also drop drastically and so are my hub scores. Today, the HP earnings had just revived. I am sure you can see yours now

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   DzyMsLizzyposted 8 years ago

   I don't know the technical or political ins and outs of the matter, but earnings are, indeed, WAY down.
   
   I used to reach pay out approximately on a quarterly basis; now, I will probably get a paycheck either at the end of April, or more likely, the end of May, given their 30-day delay protocol. All I know, is that as of right now, I am just a few bucks over the threshold, and had to go all the way back to NOVEMBER of last year to see that result!
   
   While it has been said many times that the income should not be your main motive for writing here, and indeed, it was not for me at the start, it has become more important.  Those extra few dollars into my PayPal account did help with some annual bills.
   Now, I don't think it's worth the time and effort anymore, given that I seem to have neither the tech savvy to grasp the SEO thing, nor the energy or time to invest in learning all the details therein.
   And that "other site," where you wrote whatever you wanted, and didn't need to know SEO has crashed badly and re-adjusted their payment schedule to below viable limits, so it isn't working out, either.
   
   I think I'm done here.

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      Solarasposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Dear Ms Lizzy - I hate to hear this.  Try putting one of your best producing hubs of the past in the forum for review and advice.  That may help you to grasp the SEO thing. People have been giving excellent advice.
      
      Bubblews is indeed a dog pile.  I don't think they are paying out for anyone. And they are hawking a new product to be sure no one ever reaches payout, since the mobile version is not connected with the account of the original, crippled version.

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         DzyMsLizzyposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks, Solaras, but I think I'm past it.  I have had several HOTD hubs as well as over 20 EC hubs.  That make me inclined to think the issue is something other than my writing, but rather something to do with formulas and algorithms. 
         I'm just too old-school, I guess, and if what grabs people's attention and the SEO factor is fluff and nonsense about pop culture, celebrity gossip and scandals, and product reviews, then I'm just not interested.  That is not the kind of writing I care to do.

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            Barbara Kayposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            My earnings keep going down too. I'm just not getting the traffic from Google I once did. The best idea though is to leave your hubs here, because they aren't going to earn more anywhere else unless they are ones that aren't getting hardly any traffic. Those are the ones I'm moving.

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            Solarasposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            I am not suggesting fluff, but terms people search for change over time, new expressions and such. I say just throw one out there and see what happens if you implement the suggestions.  You might do better than ever before.

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               Jean Bakulaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               Hi DzyMsLizzy,
               I think the administration could explain the SEO business a lot more simply than they do in the TOS. I was here for about a year before I understood we didn't make any money from other hubbers reading our hubs, that we had to attract the Google audience with catchy titles and research like that. Many people put more work into the title than the hub.
               
               You seem to do well with so many HOTD and EC hubs, maybe try just looking on Google to see how others are titling there hubs on the same topics, and changing your titles to something more original. It's worked for me on a few hubs.

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                  DzyMsLizzyposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  Hi, Jean--
                    Yes, I agree; the explanations are a bit...cumbersome, to say the least.  I'm all in favor of the old "K.I.S.S." principle.
                    And yes, I've tried re-titling things from time to time.  What is hard for me, is that Google doesn't actually seem to like "catchy" titles, which is what I learned back in the dark ages--to write a catchy 'hook.'  Those don't do well at all online.  It has to be a boring, down-to-earth plain-Jane title, and I hate that.  It is not in line with my creative spirit. 

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                  NonCopyBookposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  Hi there, I'm relatively new here and though I have a few hubs up (currently 18 with some more to come soon) and have engaged in questions this is my first look round the forums, and this is my first forum post - so! - I hadn't realised hubpages users views didn't count (as paid views)? In a way it makes sense (though an argument can be made for the reverse), but it hadn't occurred to me. Thanks for your thoughts - cheers, Nick

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                     chasmacposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                     It's not literally true that we don't earn from Hubbers' views, it's just that we normally earn a lot less than from Google views simply because in a healthy, well-established Hub, the amount of views from Hubbers is small compared to views from Google. If you get a HOTD, you'll see a surge of views with matching earnings courtesy of fellow Hubbers - for a day at least.

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                        NonCopyBookposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                        OK that makes sense - looking forward optimistically to a HOTD or Editor's Choice!
                        Cheers, Nick

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                        Barbara Kayposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                        Sorry, but we don't earn from views from fellow hubbers.

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                           Jean Bakulaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                           Correct. You may see a surge if you get a HOTD or EC hub, but it's mostly from people on HP, and there is no money from that. If you promote that hub on Pinterest, or in other ways, then some of the traffic may be from outside of HP. That will make some money.
                           
                           Traffic from fellow hubbers is just your friends and readers from here encouraging you. That's a really nice thing, to know they like your writing and found your hub interesting. But it won't pay you a dime.

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                           Susana Sposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                           Can you link to a source for that info? It's just I've never seen it stated categorically like that before.

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                              Matthew Meyerposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                              Authors earn from their share of ad impressions when a Hub is viewed.
                              http://hubpages.com/faq/#impressions
                              
                              As @chasmac mentioned above, the reality is that most readers come from search so you are likely to earn far more from search visitors than people on HubPages.
                              http://hubpages.com/forum/post/2723503

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                                 Susana Sposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                                 As I thought. Thanks for confirming Matthew.

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                        colorfuloneposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                        +1 @chasmac

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            clivewilliamsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            agreed

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            WannaB Writerposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            You  have expressed my feelings pretty well. I'm putting most of my efforts into my own sites now, since third-party sites all seem to be losing traffic. Even some of my best hubs fell asleep. I'm leaving them here with hopes they will revive, and I'm updating those that badly need it. I'm earning less now for two accounts put together that I used to earn for my primary account. Worse yet, I'm making more on a non-writing site every day just by leaving my browser open and making a few clicks that total about five minutes a day of my time,  than on any one writing site in a week.

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            Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            MsLizzy - you are an intelligent woman so the basic essentials of SEO should be easy for you to grasp! 
            
            The most fundamental essential is - look at your Hubs, ask yourself "what question does this satisfy?  what problem does this solve?".   If you can think of an answer, try typing that question or problem into Google and as you type, watch what auto-completes:  that's what real people are typing into Google, so choose one of those as your title.  Never, ever, ever use a cutesy or clever title.
            
            Now, people will chime in with all kinds of other advice and SEO hints, and I think that's when you get overwhelmed and think it's all too hard - but if you ignore all the other stuff and just fix your titles, it can make a massive difference to your traffic.
            
            Of course, if you pick a Hub and can't think of an answer to those questions, then the subject isn't a money-making one.  There's no point putting further time and energy into Hubs like that, because they will never make money (unless you can think of a way to revise it so it does answer a question or solve a problem).
            
            There are, of course, other things you can do but I suggest investing some hours fixing your titles first, before you worry about anything else.

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   MariaMontgomeryposted 8 years ago

   You'r not alone, GwennyOh. My earnings have been pathetic. This month, so far, is worse than usual. Not even a whole dollar yet. I didn't make a lot on Squidoo, but did a lot better there, even though I have more traffic here. Go figure...

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      Solarasposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Are you using the HP Ad program or AdSense program.  The HP program is much more profitable, although less so than is once was. Please check your settings!

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         MariaMontgomeryposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Yep, using the HP Ad program.

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         GwennyOhposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, thanks for asking, that's the first thing I checked when I noticed how bad earnings were getting.

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   LongTimeMotherposted 8 years ago

   I believe the first thing to do if your traffic and earnings are dropping is to check if someone has stolen and copied your content.
   
   Start with the hub with the greatest drop in views. Copy and paste a distinctly 'unique' sentence from within the hub into google search with "inverted commas" around it ... and then see what results come up.
   
   If there's a note at the bottom saying there are more results not shown (because they're similar), click on it to reveal all.
   
   Then start filing DMCA's to have your stolen content removed. There's lots written on HP about how to file DMCAs.
   
   Work your way through your hubs. (Sometimes you might need to try a few different examples from a single hub, because the thief may not have copied the entire text.)
   
   Don't wait for a 'copied' notice on your stats page before looking. In my experience, the first and best clue is always a drop in views. Anyone with a drop in earnings should do some detective work.
   
   Good luck.

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   Sue Adamsposted 8 years ago

   I am using the HP ad program and my earnings suddenly dropped to  a third of normal last month and don't seem to be picking up much this month either. I have the same amount of traffic as before, so what is going on? Maybe HubPages attracts fewer well paying advertisers than before for some reason or other. Has anyone's earnings increased during last month or is this decline in earnings a general issue? And if that is the case, what could the reason be?

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