If you have been writing for HP for one year, how satisfied are you with the tot

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   lrc7815posted 11 years ago

   If you have been writing for HP for one year, how satisfied are you with the total experience?
   
   Today I celebrate my 1 year anniversary here on HP.  I have made some amazing friends and improved my writing skill set.  The money I've made is the stuff jokes are made of and the views I've received from search engines is equally funny.  What have you learned from your experience?

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   tillsontitanposted 11 years ago

   Linda, I've learned it takes more than a year.  The first year you are finding your way, as you did.  Meeting people,making friends and learning the ropes.  Hopefully,. in the second year all that you've learned helps push you forward.  You'll be surprised to see hubs you wrote six months ago suddenly being read, not necessarily by hubbers either.   Google will discover one of them and move it to the top.  I know its been said before but the more you write the better your changes. You're a great writer so hang in there.  It will pick up!

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      lrc7815posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      You are so encouraging and I appreciate you.  You've been a frequent reader of my work and so I value your opinion.  I am hopeful about the year to come and look forward to building even better friendships and sharing our sucess together.

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   Faith Reaperposted 11 years ago

   Congrats dearest Linda!!!  I just celebrated my one year on March 31st.  Well, I really love the community as a whole, and have actually met such loving and amazing people with so much great talent, that I have been truly blessed by the whole experience.  I was not signed up to "earn" money then, in fact, I just signed up this week to do so, so we shall see as far as that aspect goes.  I really did not join HP to "make money" but to just see if anyone cared to read what I wrote.  And, so far, I am pleasantly surprised.
   
   Please know you have been in my thoughts and prayers sweet friend.
   
   God bless you.  In His Love Always, Faith Reaper

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      lrc7815posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      There you are my dear friend Faith.  Always faithful, aren't you?  lol  I appreciate your friendship and concern so very much and look forward to many years of benefits from our combined experience and friendship.

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   lburmasterposted 11 years ago

   Quite satisfied. It's a good hobby, a great way to continue writing if you wish to, and the money is a nice bonus.

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   bravewarriorposted 11 years ago

   Linda, I've been here for a year and a half.  I've made some outstanding friendships, such as with you, and have learned a lot (thank you, Bill!).  I have yet to earn a paycheck but that's probably because I don't concern myself with the SEO rules to gain search ranking.  I'm here to write freely with only common courtesy rules as my guidline.  At the rate I'm going, it'll probably be another 4-6 months before I hit that magical $50, but I'm here to stay!

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      lrc7815posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Me too Shauna, I'm not going away.  I asked this question simply because I enjoy measuring my progress with the progress of others who write similarly.

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   JThomp42posted 11 years ago

   First of all congratulations! For me HP has been a series of ups and downs. The money I cannot complain about. The freedom to really express one's self is not where I would like it to be. I understand some censoring should be done, but in which font you choose to write a poem? A little harsh I think. I have really gotten out some feelings on here that were very therapeutic for me as well. All in all, I suppose I consider it to be a good experience.

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      lrc7815posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I do think HP allows us more freedom to express than some other sites however, I certainly agree about the font censoring.  Seems sort of silly to me.

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   chef-de-jourposted 11 years ago

   What have I learned in one year? The short answer is - not enough!!
   I suppose one of the steepest learning curves was getting through the actual process of writing a hub and getting it out there - the first few months for me were traumatic. Being an online dinosaur didn't help. Setting up all the earnings links and what have you, despite the very helpful HP guidelines and offers of advice from more experienced hubbers, was enough to finish me off!!
   I still struggle to come to terms with SEO, linking and all that jazz.
   
   I think the biggest plus for me has been the willingness of others to help out. HP is renowned for this and it's something we should never take for granted. Through Answers, forums and comments we support and learn about generosity. That's vital for a site like this.
   
   Like you I try not to get too involved with payments! It's not my aim to earn cheap dollars in as quick a time as possible by spewing out bad quality hubs. I know HP is a long term affair so I'll bide my time and write hubs at my own pace - another advantage of HP.
   
   Thanks for the question and I sincerely hope your second year will be more than fruitful.

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      lrc7815posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I think your perspective is practical and one that I too will embrace.

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   Ericdierkerposted 11 years ago

   What timing!! Happy anniversary to me. Do you know what a Cicada is? They are very special little bugs that live for 17 years under the ground and then come out a flourish for a bit. I am still underground but perhaps this year I will grow wings and flourish for a bit.
   I have learned about you. And that alone is worth the time.

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      lrc7815posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Hello Eric.  Yes, I do know about the cicadas and they are beginning to appear in my area.  I too hope that both you and I will flourish in the year ahead.  I appreciate your comment and it has been my pleasure to become your HP friend.

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   btrbellposted 11 years ago

   Congratulations on your first year, Linda! That is quite an accomplishment! Like you, I cherish the experiences I have had on hp so far. I have had the opportunity to meet many great people and to read so many amazing hubs, including yours. I am not altruistic enough to say that earnings are not important. Like most of us I'd love to quit my day job and just write but hubpages is a group effort do we are only getting a piece of the pie. The upside is that we are being given a pretty great platform to write on with amazing tools! You are a great writer. I believe you will always have an audience. Good luck and keep it up!

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      lrc7815posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Randy, you are so precious.  I completely agree with your assessment.

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    sunilkunnoth2012posted 11 years ago

    Good question and I have even good answer too, which I wrote well on my hub titled:  Why-I-Love-HubPages-One-Year-of-Successful-Hubbing.  Since it contains all my feelings and experiences, I need not attempt to write it here anymore. Please read the same. Congratulation on your achievement. Wish you a successful stay on this platform.

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       lrc7815posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Thank you!

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    xstaticposted 11 years ago

    Hello Linda,
    I am a few months past my one year time on HP and have really enjoyed it a lot. As you say, I too have made some great friends here (including you). Money, I have made none, but smiles and laughter and a lot of empathy have made HP worthwhile for me.

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       lrc7815posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       You said it perfectly and I have found the personal growth to be of much higher vaule than the financiial gain.  My friends here on HP have made me a better person and you can't put a price on that.  :-)

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    dorothy0328posted 11 years ago

    I have been here for several years and I have received checks from the hubsense program as well as a few from google adsense. I am very happy with Hubpages and my experience with them.  I will continue to be a member of Hubpages and write hubs and answers when I have time. And congrats on your one year here with us I hope you decide to stick with us because after all we rock...

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       lrc7815posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Dorothy, you're so right - the HP commuity does rock.  lol   I'm not going anywhere although I will probably write a little less and hopefully better quality as the trade off.

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    BlossomSBposted 11 years ago

    Congratulations on your first anniversary. Making friends, getting ideas from others and honing writing skills are really great here. You are doing so well with your writing. You can belong to other sites as well as here and you will probably find that they earn you more money, sure, but you may find that the writing is not of the same standard and comments are often so brief as to be of no help at all.

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       lrc7815posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Blossom, I agree with you about the quality here on HP and it is my primary reason for remaining here and not digging for the elusive gold on other sites.  Thanks so much for your input here.

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    Dennis AuBuchonposted 11 years ago

    Congrats on your first year.  I have learned much not only from other hubbers but from the comments I have received on my hubs.  I have been on HP for two years approaching three.  The quality of the hubbers and their comments have helped to provide feedback on the topics I write and sometimes a comment can and has spurred another hub as a spinoff topic.

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       lrc7815posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Dennis, you bring up one of the more valuable assets of writing on HP and I needed to hear that.  Thank you.

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    WalterPoonposted 11 years ago

    I feel as if I've been here for a year. I just checked my profile and it says 6 weeks! This place has so many good stuff, I wonder why I didn't find it earlier. I wish I had more time to read all the hubs, but the number of hubs that I've written so far is far from satisfactory.
    
    Money-wise, I can't complain because it took me more than 4 years to receive monthly checks from Google with my own websites. My first month was a pathetic 3 cents but here, I've already chalked up some dollars.

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       lrc7815posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       WalterPoon, I remember that first 3 cents well.  I can assure you it will increase if you keep writing and concentrate on quality.

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       WalterPoonposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Irc7815, I was referring to my own websites regarding the 3 cents. In HubPages, I had almost 28 times in 2 weeks (I opted out of Ad Program for a week to test on direct AdSense and got zero, LOL.)

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    Marcy Goodfleischposted 11 years ago

    I'm very satisfied with some elements (what I've learned, and the friends I've made).  Less satisfied with the overall payback for effort expended. I joined about 17 months ago, and I'm a longtime experienced writer (newspapers & magazines).  At the time, there were widely publicized success stories on the front page of the site, and many people joined thinking the success mentioned there was still attainable.
    
    But that wasn't true - even the success examples admitted publicly they were no longer making the type of money touted in those promotional pieces.  One writer openly posted she had had a 60% drop since the success stories were published.  But by that time, many of us had invested tons of time and effort in creating hubs, etc. These issues were known at the time the success stories were posted, but we were not informed.
    
    So, I personally would like to have had better information on which to base my decision to sign up.  I guess my experience is similar to the OP's - I have met people I truly view as friends.  But my original reason for joining hasn't been realized.

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       WalterPoonposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Marcy Goodfleisch, HubPages was badly hit by Panda, and so are many other user-contributed websites. I greatly admire the Management for trying to regain its former glory. Had it not been so, I would have run away, after I found out, LOL.

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    DrMark1961posted 11 years ago

    I joined about one month prior to you, and have learned a lot at this site through reading questions, forums, and comments on my hubs. I live frugally and was not really concerned about making money, but was hoping to get some information out there. My blog had few visitors, but by learning here I have had about 250,000 page views and have reached a lot of readers that I would never have been able to before Hubpages.
    Yes, there are problems on this site, but it is still a great platform for learning. I am glad I found it, and have learned a lot by reading great articles like yours!

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       lrc7815posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Thanks Dr Mark.  I too have learned a lot from your wonderful writing.

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    Abby Campbellposted 11 years ago

    I've only been with HubPages for 5 months writing. However, I've had an account for two years. I love HubPages! It's a great place for me to share my niche knowledge, but it's also a great place to make friends. I also like the way HubPages does business. They have a wonderful Apprenticeship program that has helped me with online writing, and they also have one of the best practices I've seen online with boosting traffic for hubs that are quality. Though I have made a few dollars with the Apprenticeship program, I can only buy a cup of coffee with my regular earnings. Though I would like to make more, I will continue writing and see what other benefits HubPages brings me. However, I hope the benefits others receive from reading my hubs are much greater. :-)

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       lrc7815posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Great attitude!

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