Would you rather have 1) High hub traffic 2) Great Google Rank 3) High CPM or 4) Top grade content?
I think if you have a well written and top grade content, as you say, other things are bound to follow, sooner or later.
Great Google rank would lead to high traffic and you won't keep high Google rank without top grand content so I'd say the Google rank because that makes money. I have a few sites of my own and trust me high Google rank is no easy task after all the recent updates and I'm actually happy about that now. It means no more junky, spammy content placing above my well-established content and more clients and ad income for me.
I wish people would learn that shortcuts are not profitable in the long-term, only hard work and dedication.
High hub traffic. Part of google rank and top grade content are involved in achieving that point.
The 1st one, though in reality all 4 should come in one great package. Hubpages and Google screw us over on a regular basis though so I guess I can't expect too much.
It would be for me, great Google rank. For this would always lead to high traffic to your hubs. High traffic leading to more earnings and your work being exposed to more an more people.
I rather have high hub traffic because my google rank is relatively low as i can see my earning in adsense. With high traffic, my HP earning went up 15x more than adsense.
I am unsure what a CPM is because I am new. I'd probably still go with Google rank though as it leads to high traffic and more revenue... on the other hand, if my content was top grade, I'd get a higher rank and high traffic. So Top Grade Content it is!
CPM is ad-speak for cost per 1000 impressions. Basically, its the rate at which HP pays you for views on your hubs.
Ooh, thank you very much for letting me know. Always nice to learn something new. Thank you paxwill!
I would definitely go for 1) High hub traffic, as long as it was consistent, not just a sudden peak that will disappear in a few days time.
Great google rank does not necessarily mean you will have a lot of traffic. If you rank for a keyword that has no, or very low search volume, your hub will hardly be read. One of my hubs here is number 2 for its main keyword, it gets about 30 views a day, which is not bad, but nothing amazing.
Of course it is difficult to get high traffic if you don't rank in SERPs, but your hub is found through a lot of keywords, including some really long tail keywords, so you could get high traffic to a hub even if you fail to rank for your main one.
High CPM is nice, but is useless if you don't get the traffic.
Of course I want to have great content, and if everything worked as it should you couldn't get high traffic without it (everything does not work as it should). But great contet is useless if nobody sees it.
Higher CPM. That's been the issue with low earnings around here. People whose traffic is good and whose hubs rank well still are seeing only pennies.
If I had to put them in order, I'd say #3, #1, #2, #4.
Above all else, you need to have high CPM if you're going to make any money. Niche, topic, and keywords matter here. On one of my own blogs, I had some posts with keywords that got over a dollar per click with AdSense blogs. Other posts made pennies per click (literally one or two cents). When one post makes 50x or 100x as much per click, that's a huge difference.
Next, you need traffic. Traffic leads to views and/or clicks, which translates to money based on CPM or CPC. If you have an estimate of CPM, then you can estimate your earnings by multiplying CPM and Views. Those are the two variables. Increase those, and you'll increase income.
Google rank is good. It typically leads to more visits, which leads to more earnings. However, if you've got another traffic source (referrals, social media), you can make up for this. Also, on high volume keywords it's ok to be ranked in the bottom of the top 10 or at the top of the second page. And don't forget that some keywords get next to no traffic. It doesn't matter if you rank first for, "Really Obscure Keyword Number Two" that gets exactly 1 search per month. As long as your ranking translates into traffic, then it's good.
Finally, content quality is important, but it's really indirectly related to the rest. I'd never publish complete and utter nonsense, but mediocre content with high CPM, traffic, and/or rankings beats superior content with low CPM, no traffic, and/or no rankings any day.
The "Build it and they will come" idea is nothing but a myth. You want to write great content, yes, but at the end of the day keyword value, traffic, and rankings directly impact your earnings. Quality doesn't. Quality doesn't magically translate into traffic, rankings, or earnings.
With HP Ads the CPM does not vary that much, probably only 4x between highest and lowest. I don't think anybody has a CPM under 1$. So for HubPages I don't think it's the main factor in earnings. But you are right, I hate the 2 cent clicks!
Well that's good to know. I haven't been on HubPages to know, speaking more from experience with AdSense.
by Paul Edmondson 13 years ago
We have always cared deeply about providing the most rewarding place for people to publish online and we continue to work on improving overall monetization for your Hubs. One of the benefits that the HubPages Earnings Program is about to offer (scheduled to be released between October 5th and...
by Melanie Palen Shebel 11 years ago
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by Lena Kovadlo 7 years ago
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by Dr. John Anderson 13 years ago
I would like to convey my congratulations to Paul E and the HP Team for their efforts in overcoming the Panda Squat. I know it is early days, but the recovery has been sensational and has occurred much sooner than expected. Well Done! Great Work and Cheers!
by Seth Winter 14 years ago
I recently signed up for hubpages Ive written a few articles and so far I have about 500 views and my CPM shows about 7.50. I assumed the 7.50 was how much money ive made on people visiting ads on my page but a friend said otherwise...I know read something about CPM being you hubs per thousand...
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