Is there any place here to know which articles made the readers buy?

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   anweshablogsposted 9 years ago

   Earnings in Hubpages are related to sales that have been made through ads displayed in our articles. The Ad programs, Hubpages and we, the authors are all waiting that purchase to take place. But as a newbie in this entire scenario, I am clueless about the way it all happens. I cannot find any link or hint, which type of articles are doing that job well, so that I can follow the lines and bring smiles to all corners including mine.

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      earnerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      For Amazon and eBay you can see which articles generated sales and what they bought.  Ebay sales are here: https://hubpages.com/my/earnings/ebay and Amazon sales here: https://hubpages.com/my/earnings/amazon
      
      For just general ads, the only way to tell is to use Google Analytics and put your ID number into your profile https://hubpages.com/my/earnings/affiliate/ - then, once you've got it set up right, you should be able to see exactly which articles made the money and all the usual GA stats.... although this isn't straight forward, nor a 10 minute job, for the uninitiated.

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         anweshablogsposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks Earner for that useful link, but I am more interested to know which articles in Hubpages made the deal rather than mine, which I know hasn't done anything yet.

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            earnerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Ah ... if we knew that we'd all be writing about the same things

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               anweshablogsposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               Oh no...not that way...  I just had an idea that if Hubpages had displayed a section wherein the articles are bringing business in, things would have been better for all, isn't it?

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         CatherineGiordanoposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         I want to know which product someone clicked on to make a purchase. My amazon sales are often products that I never included in my hub so I can't figure out which hub led to the sale.

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            anweshablogsposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Exactly Catherine, everything has been so vague so far, its been like scratching the wall in a dark room. When everybody is targeted towards making business, why is this hide and seek game being played on everywhere?

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               CatherineGiordanoposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               I would rather that the authors could see every sale made. HubPages could take their 40% of all sales. The way it is now I don't know what might be selling that I never see. I am losing important information. I don't suppose it matters if you are making 100's of sales, but it does matter to the most of us who have only a few sales.
               
               My guess is that HubPages doesn't show up the 40% of sales that they consider their sales because it could stir up resentment. People wouldn't like to see a big sale go to HP and might think it was rigged. Why not give authors all the sales, but just take 40%. That would be fair and the authors would have the information they need.

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                  Dressage Husbandposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  I actually suggested that to Paul Edmonson directly and he is open to the idea. However they have already set it up the way it is and changing now would be very difficult. He did indicate that he felt enough people wanted it then at the next major update it is something he would be prepared to consider.
                  
                  I stated that it would probably make sense to do it earlier as FTC rules and privacy laws are requiring more transparency especially where money is being shared like it is here. Currently we have now way of telling if the share is fair. 60% of all sales and 40% of all sales is a method that would be transparent and clearly fair to one and all. I think we should all indicate if that is our preference so that he does table the change for the next major update to the site. After all transparent businesses do better in the long run.

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                     Millionaire Tipsposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                     I would like to see the sales on my hubs that are on HubPages' portion of the time. It will give me a better picture of which of my sales hubs are successful, and as you said, the transparency will help ensure me that the cut is fair.

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                        CatherineGiordanoposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                        Thank you Millionaire Tips. You get it. That is what I want and why I want it.

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                           wildernessposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                           Even more than that, I'd like to know which hubs are producing the sales.  Or at least the clicks through to Amazon/eBay.  Most of my sales have nothing to do with anything I write about.

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                              relacheposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                              Amazon's own program has never given out information about clicks or where they happen or where product sales come from on your sites, so how do you expect HubPages to get this info to give to us?

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                        Susana Sposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                        The difficulty is that HP won't have any info on which pages produced which sales either.

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                           Millionaire Tipsposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                           Ah! I get it.  Since they use the same affiliate ID for their portion on all of the subdomains, they wouldn't have a way of knowing which subdomain got the revenue.
                           
                           Thank you for spelling it out. It really helps to have it explained so that it is clear instead of just saying "can't do that"

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                              CatherineGiordanoposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                              Millionaire Tips: I thought about this and I don't think you have it right. HP knows what each hubber sold  I can see the items that I sold for my share of views so HP does know which hubbers sold what.  People who sell 100's of items every month have enough data to make inferences, but if a person sells only a few items, knowing what items were sold for ALL of my sales (instead of just for 60% of my sales) would be helpful. Additionally, taking 40% of the top of all sales is more fair and transparent.

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                                 Dressage Husbandposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                                 Catherine, I totally agree with you.

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                                 Susana Sposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                                 HP knows what you sold because each hubber is given a unique tracking ID. HP only has one tracking ID.

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                              Susana Sposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                              Exactly right. How could they know unless amazon provided the information?

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            Susana Sposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Amazon doesn't provide information about which page led to which sale so I can't see how HubPages could give it to us.

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               CatherineGiordanoposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               On my blog, I can't see specifically which click led to a sale, but I can see all the ad clicks I got on the same day. Sometimes I can figure out which click probably led to the sale. Whatever information can be given, I'd like to have it.

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                  relacheposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  Amazon has never given that info out so to bug HubPages for those details is incredibly unproductive.

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                     CatherineGiordanoposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                     I'm not bugging HP for the information that they don't have. I reported the information that I get from amazon on my blogs. Presumably HP gets that same information from amazon.
                     
                     There is some information that HP has that they are not giving s and I don't see any reason withhold it. I would like to see all my sales instead of just the sales from 60% of my views. HP would continue to get 40% of the money. I don't have a problem with that.

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            wild4alaskaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Use heat means to look at your hub pages and see where the focus is the strongest

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      SmartAndFunposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Here is a link to a forum thread where Amazon tips are shared:
      http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/120197
      
      Here is a link to an article outlining what a "stellar Hub" is comprised of:
      http://hubpages.com/learningcenter/Elem … tellar-Hub
      "Stellar Hubs" have a better chance at becoming successful, although there is much more to earning here than creating a stellar Hub.

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   Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years ago

   anweshablogs and Catherine, I am not sure what exactly it is you want to see.  If you want to see what each hubber's hubs made sales and which product their hub sold, then that is confidential information.
   
   It is part of a hubber's success in knowing which Amazon or eBay products they choose to highlight based on the information they included in their hub. I certainly would not want everyone to see my confidential Amazon and eBay reports - that is for my own knowledge so I know which of my hubs is successful as far as sales goes. Why would I, or anyone, want to let everyone know a part of earnings made? That is, and should be, a secret and HubPages honors and protects our confidential rights.
   
   If HubPabes provided a report on every sale made and which hubs made the sales, then everyone could use that information to know which subjects and which chosen product is best to use. HubPages would then become so boring because there would be too much of the same things - and believe me, there are people who would take as much as they can from others.
   
   Do you really think "That would be fair and the authors would have the information they need." I do not need other hubbers information to know what subjects and products to focus on to be successful - if you feel you do, then may I suggest that you rely on your own creativity and talent.
   
   The way I understand the "40% of sales" means that HubPages takes 40% of the total amount of ALL sales. They do not go through and hand pick the biggest sales to claim as their own, they look at total sales amount for a certain period and take 40% of that total.  If all hubs, for one month, made a combined sales amount of $1500.00, HubPages will take $600.00.

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      wildernessposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      True, except for the 40% split area.  HP does not take 40% of earnings, but rather assigns 40% of readers (on a random basis) to their account.  Whatever that 40% of readers generates in income is theirs, while whatever the remaining 60% of the readers produce is yours.

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         CatherineGiordanoposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         I agree wilderness. That is what I said. HP says --40% of the views are theirs. Whatever sales are made on "their views", they keep all of the commission. Whatever sales are made on the other 60% of views--the author gets all of the commission. The end result is that I never see or get any information about the sales from "their views."

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         Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Oh ... okay, thanks for correcting me on that 40% deal, wilderness.

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      3. 79

         CatherineGiordanoposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Jusl ike HP shows me total views as well as how many views I am getting paid for, I'd like them to show me total sales and then give me 60% of the commission. Both HP and I would still make the same amount of money, but I would have more information.

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      CatherineGiordanoposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I am only interested in seeing MY sales. I never said anything about wanting to know what other people are selling. It is obvious that it is confidential information. I only want to know which of MY hubs made a sale.
      
      HP says they take the full commission from the 40% of the views that are their views. You can verify that by looking at the total amount spent on your sale and the commission you earned. You earned all of it.
      
      I didn't say HP handpicked sales. I believe that it is random.  I only said people might think that HP handpicks sales.Random slection makes it clear that HP will take 40% of the commissions from the combined total of all sales made on the site. However, when an individual hubber has only a small number of sales, the actual percentage could be more or less just by chance. 
      
      Phyllis Doyle: You have totally misunderstood everything I said. Maybe I wasn't clear. I'm glad for the opportunity to clarify.

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         Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Hi Catherine. Apparently I did misunderstand you. It was not clear to me what it was you wanted to see and I said that up front.
         
         On another point, you mentioned that sometimes a sale is made on an item you did not highlight. I used to wonder about that also. I often get credit for an item I did not select because Amazon sees that the purchaser came from my site/hub and gives me credit for the sale. I can usually figure out from which hub that person came from by the item purchased.

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            CatherineGiordanoposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            I know I get credit for a sale of everything purchased on the click from my hub.  A few days ago I got sale of shampoo. I never offered shampoo for sale, I never mentioned shampoo; I don't even have any hubs that are about grooming or personal hygiene. So did I get that sale because there is some connection between my hub/amazon capsule and shampoo that I am unaware of OR because someone clicked on a book I put into an amazon capsule and decided not to buy the book and then remembered he needed shampoo. If I had a sale of an item I advertised on the same day, I would assume he bought the item I advertised and then added shampoo to the order. However, if I had no such sale, I am left perplexed as to how I got a sale of shampoo.

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               Dressage Husbandposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               When a user clicks through to Amazon and places an item in his cart that activates a cookie and Amazon remember where they came from. If the purchase comes within 24 hours from the click you will get credited for the sale, whether or not the item is something you sell.
               
               If you have your own Amazon account and use one of the carts that are permitted then Amazon allow a 90 day cookie, but this requires an item you recommended be in their cart until the point at which they buy. You will get credited for everything they purchase whether you advertised it or not.
               
               However if they click out and return to Amazon with another affiliates link then the process starts over, at least that is how I understand it. One thing that has always bugged me is that Amazon do not show you where the purchaser arrived from and when exactly the purchases were made and how that relates to your site(s). This makes it very hard to fathom, which practices are best and also leaves you wondering if Amazon are cheating.
               
               Personally I think that transparency is the order of the day and that this data should be revealed.

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                  CatherineGiordanoposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  Dressage: Yes, I said that I get all sales from a click whether I advertised the thing someone bought or not. Just so long as they used my link to get to amazon. You said what I said, but in more detail. I am not questioning any of that.

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   Susana Sposted 9 years ago

   Aside from random sales which are a nice but unpredictable bonus, if you are not selling what you intend to sell (ie: the products displayed on your pages) then you have a problem.
   
   Either the products are wrong or your visitors are not in a buying frame of mind.

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      CatherineGiordanoposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Susana S. You are right. I haven't figured that part of HP out yet. My hubs are not designed to sell. I add the amazon capsules as an afterthought. That is my problem and I probably should address it, but it is not my concern today. I am not asking how to get more sales. I am just saying I want to see all the sales I am getting now and maybe that info would help me figure out how to get more sales.

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         Susana Sposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         What I'm saying is that info about random sales will not help you. You can't optimise or improve anything with that.
         
         The kind of info that helps would be along the lines of you have a page which promotes a particular dog lead but many people are buying a different one. That info you can use because you can add in this great dog lead as a buying option. And you can already glean that info.
         
         I would absolutely love to see which link led to which sale but it won't happen unless amazon drastically changes the way they track sales. It's an issue to take up with them not HP.

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   Fiction Tellerposted 9 years ago

   What you can do on your own websites is track which Amazon tracking ID resulted in sales. You can create up to 100 tracking IDs.  Not so useful for HubPages; I don't think HubPages currently is set up to accommodate more than one tracking ID per hubber.  Don't know if they could if they wanted to, or not.

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   anweshablogsposted 9 years ago

   Now comes the part, why things would be confidential when it comes to sales? Don't the sellers advertise their items that have been sold out? If the rules of profit margin are the same for all, what is there to be confidential about it? On the contrary, I think transparency in such matters would do good to all. Those who agree with the terms and conditions are only joining Hubpages, so what is the need for such confidentiality and privacy? Anyway we are not asking anyone how much in total they have earned, but even if we do so, don't you think that is perfectly fine and would be inspirational for others?
   In any case buyers would buy and sellers would sell, so what's the big deal?

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      SmartAndFunposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Anweshablogs, if HubPages published the titles and URLs of the site's most successful articles, these articles would immediately be plagiarized over and over again by thieves looking for a lazy way to steal some cash. It is nice to think that everyone in the world is honest and would never poach or steal, but the fact is that article thievery is rampant even without knowing which ones are the most successful.
      
      There is no way HubPages is going to publish statistics on individual articles for public consumption  -- thank goodness!

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   Rana Pecarskiposted 9 years ago

   It is not "perfectly fine" for anyone to ask how much in total sales I have earned. I won't speak for anyone else but I can't imagine too many would agree with it being "perfectly fine". Inspiration should not come in the form of someone else's financial gain. Writers write for the love of writing and they will be the one's making zero dollars and not care. There's your inspiration.

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      anweshablogsposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Yeah Rana...it is when we write only for writing's sake, say creative ones. But here the entire topic is on Affiliate program sales, where we are focused on sales and getting paid for it. So, I don't understand where can be the problem if there is transparency in it. After all this is not anybody's prime profession, and our social status doesn't stand on this. And now don't tell me you don't feel happy, if you get a cheque from Amazon just because someone purchased a product from your site.

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   Rana Pecarskiposted 9 years ago

   I'm happy if I find 25 cents on the ground. But you are correct. I only write here for writing's sake so this particular topic doesn't apply to me and I will bow out of the conversation. At this point, I don't even know what the conversation is about.

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